Page 115 of Stepping Up to the Plate

That hits me in the feels. I was fully prepared to shut this idea down, but she put real thought into it and I’m a sucker for praise.

“And who is yours? Aphrodite?”

“That would be too obvious,” she retorts, tossing her hair. “I identify with Eris, the goddess of chaos.”

Carina chokes on her margarita and I can’t hold back my laugh. “I think the boys would definitely agree with you there,” I say. “What do the goddesses have to do with the tattoos?”

“We could get symbols that represent them. That way, we all have the same theme tattoo. We should also get them in the same spot. I was thinking behind our ears. We’d get them small enough to be dainty and hidden by our hair when it is down.”

“That actually isn’t a bad idea,” I hedge. Tiffany’s eyes twinkle with mischief and satisfaction that I am seemingly on board.

“Now, if only we knew someone who had the number of Nashville’s premier tattoo artist…”

Rolling my eyes, I pull out my phone. “I’ll text Zade and see if we can get appointments soon.”

“I was thinking right now,” Tiffany responds.

“You want to go now?!”

“If we don’t go tonight, I’ll probably chicken out,” Carina states. “Or I’ll tell Robby and he’ll want to come, which will ruin our bonding time.”

“Ugh, fine,” I grouse. Surprisingly, when I explain the situation to Zade, he says we can come by his shop in an hour. We call Raven on the way so she can join in as Hestia – goddess of the hearth and home. By nine p.m. we are finished with strict care instructions and permanent symbols of our friendship.

Present day…

“Lola,” Brady cajoles in a silky voice, closing in on me. “If you don’t take that scarf off right now, I am going to use it to tie you up later.”

“Is that supposed to be a threat?” I tease.

“It is when I’ll edge you all night long,” he counters.

With a squeak, I unwrap the scarf and hand it over. He smirks at me victoriously until he spots the wrap on my neck.

“What happened?” He questions. “Are you hurt? Who did this to you?” He grabs my chin and gingerly tilts my neck to the side to get a better look.

Leveling me with his glare, he asks, “Is that what I think it is?”

“That depends. If you think it is a hickey from a sexy Brazilian tennis player I met at the grocery store, then no. If you think it is a tattoo, then yes.”

His lips tip at my joke but his eyes remain locked on my neck, studying the sunburst that decorates my skin under the plastic.

“Did Zade do this?”

“He did.” Something akin to jealousy flashes in his eyes.

“Did you go alone? When did you get this done? It wasn’t there yesterday when we woke up. I know I spent more time between your legs than by your ear, but I would have noticed it.”

My mind travels back to waking up yesterday to a wet tongue licking me. Brady stayed down there until I orgasmed twice and then made me come on his cock while he ‘cleaned me up’ in the shower. It was a fantastic morning.

“Stand down, caveman. I went with the girls. We got friendship tattoos.”

“Friendship tattoos? You know what, we can dive into that later. Dinner is in the oven and then I have a surprise for you.”

My eyes widen. Brady loves to surprise me with little and big things. The last one was when he rented out a movie theater and invited all our friends to watchLegally Blondeto celebrate me hitting 100k followers.

“A surprise? What is it?” I ask.

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” he says with a boop to my nose. “There is a glass of wine poured for you on the island. Dinner will be ready in ten.”

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