Читать книгу The Marked Men Series Books 1–6: Rule, Jet, Rome, Nash, Rowdy, Asa - Jay Crownover - Страница 21

I was still trying to figure out my new phone. Instead of replacing my broken one with the same model, Rule had gotten me the brand-new version with all the bells and whistles, and the thing was ten times smarter than me. I was trying to text Ayden that I was running late for our coffee date because one of my classes had run over. I hadn’t seen her for more than a few minutes at a time in the last couple of weeks so we were meeting to catch up. She was still acting a little off. Between staying at Rule’s place or him crashing at ours, and being constantly vigilant to avoid a run-in with Gabe, pinning her down and making her talk to me hadn’t been possible.

I was developing a pretty good rhythm. On the days I worked, I stayed on the Hill with Rule, since his place was closer to the bar and he didn’t mind coming in for a drink while waiting for me to get off; he and Lou were best pals now. On the days I was at school or volunteered, he would show up sometimes around dinner but often right before bedtime and spend the night at my apartment. I had decided to drop my Saturday shift in order to have one weekend night off to spend with him. He liked to go out on Friday and Saturday nights with his friends so I figured it was cool to let him have a night to get his bro-time in while I was working. Plus it was fun to have a weekend day off to go shopping or watch a movie when I was so used to being busy all the time. Being with Rule was teaching me that my time was precious and I needed to spend it doing things I wanted as well as the things that were required of me. That was partly why I felt justified in ignoring the calls from my parents that had been coming in nonstop since the trip to Brookside.

I finally got the text sent and got one back saying she already had a seat and had ordered for us. When I got to the coffeehouse the place was packed, but Ayden had secured a spot by one of the windows and was messing around on her phone. A table full of geeky-looking guys was trying to get her attention by talking and laughing loudly, but she seemed oblivious. I missed our girl time and I wished she would talk to me about what had been bothering her the last month, but with so much on my own plate I was well aware that I hadn’t been the best friend as of late. I flopped in the seat across from her and gratefully scooped up the frothy drink she had ordered for me. She made a face at me and put her phone away. “I almost saw your boyfriend naked this morning.”

I laughed at the look on her face. “I don’t know what to say to that—you’re welcome?”

She crinkled her nose at me. “He doesn’t have much shame, does he?”

“You’ve met Rule, right?”

She picked up her own drink and peered at me over the top of the cup. “I guess he doesn’t really have much to worry about, does he? I don’t know how you don’t get distracted by all that stuff inked all over him. I think I would spend all my time looking at his tattoos rather than getting down to business.”

“It’s fun.”

“I bet.” She had a faraway look in her pretty eyes that I just couldn’t let slide anymore.

“Come on, Ayden; tell me what’s going on with you lately. I know I’ve been wrapped up in my own stuff but I can see the change in you. You look so sad all the time and that’s just not like you.”

Her whiskey-toned gaze shifted from one side to another before settling on the table between us. She set her coffee down and traced the rim of the cup with her finger.

“I don’t know. I mean, I know, but not really.” I just watched her because I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. “I used to think I had it all figured out—school, boys, my future, all of it. I knew that coming from nothing and no one didn’t matter because I was on the right track and I was going to be something great, and now I just don’t know.”

“What brought this on?”

“The night at the rock bar, the night I had Jet take me home, I practically threw myself at him.” I saw her flinch a little. “He was polite enough about it all but said I wasn’t really his type and that nice girls like me deserved better.”

“Well, that seems chivalrous and nice of him, not life-altering.”

“That’s the thing, Shaw. I’m a nice girl now but you have no idea about the life I lived before I moved to Colorado. When I was in Kentucky, I was out of control. I partied, messed around in all kinds of bad stuff, played around with too many guys, and I was a mess inside and out. It took a miracle to get me into this school and away from all of that, but part of me is still that girl, and when Jet turned me down it just made both parts of me go a little sideways. He’s cute and in a band, and I was mad, really mad, when he rejected me on the basis of being a good girl. That’s just not who I think I want to be. I’ve been struggling with it ever since.”

I set my coffee down and looked at her out of narrowed eyes. “You let a guy get all up in your head after one brief encounter? That doesn’t sound like you at all.”

“There was something about this guy, Shaw. I don’t know what it was.”

“Ayden, you’re amazing. I don’t care what your life was like before, because now you’re loyal and kind, you make me laugh, you’re smarter than practically anyone I know, you’re ridiculously beautiful, and we both know that there have been times in the last couple of years when the only thing holding me together was you. I’ve met Jet a few times and he is nice and definitely a babe, but he’s also a rock-and-roll guy who comes with legions of rock-and-roll groupies fawning all over him, so whatever moment you had with him is not worth this mopey self-doubt he seems to have spawned in you.”

“This from the girl who pined over her guy in silence for half a decade?” Her sarcasm was biting, but well deserved.

“Yes, and look how miserable and lonely it made me. All I’m saying is that if a guy can’t appreciate you for how wonderful you are, then he isn’t worth it, and if he doesn’t want to sully your good image, whether it is real or not, then I hate to say it but that just sounds like maybe he wasn’t interested. You are pretty country and he is pretty rock. I mean, I know I’ve been drowning in opposites attract and all that nonsense for my whole life with Rule, but maybe they really don’t and you just weren’t his type. I’ve seen the girls who gravitate to these guys when they go out. Heck, I’ve walked in on Rule with them over and over again, and trust me, big brains, self-confidence, and ambition are not things these women bring to the table.”

She exhaled loudly. “Maybe. It just made me wonder about what I’m doing. I date, I have a pretty good time, I love living with you, and I’m awesome at school, but I feel like something is missing. And when I see your superhot, half-dressed boyfriend covered in tattoos looking all sleepy and satisfied I get a little burn near my heart that hurts. I think I’m lonely and not for something casual and simple. Trust me, I had plenty of that when I was younger.”

I laughed a little and scraped some of the foam off my drink with my finger and popped it in my mouth. I think the table of geeks gasped but I wasn’t sure, because when I looked back up at them they were all frantically typing away on their laptops.

“So you pick a heavy-metal singer to get all mushy and sentimental over? Man, we’ve got marvelous taste in men.”

She laughed with me and leaned back to cross her long legs at the ankle. “I think it’ll probably fade away, but in the meantime I need to figure out how to move forward without totally forgetting who I am. I mean, look at you, you’re not suddenly covered head to toe in ink and sporting a face full of extreme piercings. You took Rule’s make-your-own-rules philosophy and used it to mellow out and take control of your destiny, not turn into a different person.”

She was partly right. I figured it was probably too much information to tell her I had been seriously considering getting my nipples pierced. Rule was always telling me how sensitive they were, how easy it was to get me turned on and all worked up and ready to blow by just playing with them. After having intimate contact on a repeated basis with someone who had piercings through strategic parts of his anatomy, I knew exactly how the little pieces of jewelry could enhance the experience. It had always been Rule for me, so I didn’t know what it was like to be with anyone who didn’t have barbells in his cock and through his tongue, but as good as it was with him, I had no desire to find out how it was with someone unadorned. I didn’t want them for him; I wanted them for me, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to commit to something that big yet.

“He influences me, he always has, but I don’t want to be with someone who wants to be with me just to change me.”

“I know, and neither would I. I think when I left home I had the idea that if I didn’t change, I was just going to be stuck in that endless rut forever, and somehow I lost everything, even the good stuff, about the pre-Denver Ayden.”

I reached out and squeezed the hand she had resting on the table. “Maybe you’re just entering a new phase; maybe this isn’t new Ayden or old Ayden but an excellent new incarnation of both. You’re fine; whoever and whatever you want to be is just fine.”

“I sure hope so. So, have you seen or heard anything from Gabe?”

I shook my head and kicked back in the seat. “No. I’ve seen him on campus coming and going but he keeps his distance. Rule’s retired cop friend says he heard that Judge Davenport wasn’t happy to have his son’s name come up in open court, so maybe he put a leash on him. The guys have been really good about keeping me close, so I don’t think he has the nerve to go up against Rule or Rome. I’m purposely avoiding all contact with my parents, so if he’s trying to enlist them it isn’t doing him any good.”

“So, what’s your long-term plan? Rome has to go back to playing soldier soon, and as much as I’m sure Rule likes keeping you close, eventually it’s gonna get old. The honeymoon phase won’t last forever.”

I was worried about that myself. Right now he seemed to like hanging out at the bar and didn’t seem to mind juggling our hectic schedules back and forth to see each other and to keep his eye on me, but I agreed with her that it couldn’t last much longer.

“I don’t know what to do. If the legal system can’t help and my own parents are working against me, I just don’t know. I wish he would find another girl who is socially acceptable and forget about me.”

“I don’t know, either, but I’m glad you aren’t trying to handle this all on your own.”

“Rule is good for me. I feel like my life is finally my own with him in it.”

“Have you told him that you’re in love with him and have been for eternity?”

I gulped down some of my drink and it went down the wrong tube. I hacked for a second until tears filled my eyes. “No! Are you nuts? Why would I do that? He already knows that I’ve had a crush on him since forever and I think that just weirds him out. I don’t want to put all kinds of pressure on him to feel the same about me. He wants to be together and he’s making a true and honest effort to be in this relationship with me, and for now that’s good enough.”

She clicked her tongue at me and waved a finger back and forth. “If you think you hide the way you feel about him at all, you’re so wrong. The feelings you have for that boy radiate out of you like a bright light. He has to see it every time he looks at you.”

I fiddled nervously with the ends of my hair. “Well, he’s never said anything about it and that’s just fine by me.”

“You are so silly. You’ve been in love with this guy since you were a teenager and now you have him and you’re still worried about being open and honest with him? It just seems to me like you wouldn’t want to waste any more time.”

“This is Rule we’re talking about. He’s unpredictable and doesn’t deal with emotions in a typical way. I don’t want to scare him off by getting too intense, too quickly. I’ve seen what he does to people who push him and it isn’t pretty.”

“For what it’s worth, I think he’s just as sprung on you as you are on him. That glow you have, well he has it, too, just in a darker, slightly more confused way.”

“Well, that’s nice to hear. I don’t know that I believe it, but still, it’s a nice thought.”

We spent another hour and one more coffee each catching up. We talked about school and I told her a little about Margot’s breakdown when Rule went to get my car. We talked about work and how ridiculous Loren seemed to be every time she opened her mouth and we made plans to go shopping the following weekend after another trip to the salon. By the time we were done talking, she had to run to get ready for work. We left on a hug, which I’m pretty sure caused the table of geeks to spontaneously break into juvenile erection territory, and I headed up to Capitol Hill. Since I was off and Rome was back in the Springs for another checkup, I had promised Rule I would meet him at the tattoo shop and wait until he was done with his last client.

I hadn’t been in the shop during business hours so when I pushed open the door I was slightly taken aback at how busy it was. There was a girl behind the counter with supershort hair bleached out as white as mine and spiked up all over the place. She was answering the phone, handling the people milling about the waiting area, and pointing prospective clients in the directions of the appropriate portfolios. There were three other artists set up in the stations not filled by Nash, Rowdy, and Rule. I noticed one of them was a very pretty girl with black and green hair that looked like something out of a comic book. There were also six clients in varying positions getting all kinds of designs and making all manner of awful sounding noises and looks of discomfort that had their friends and the artists laughing and making lighthearted comments. Against Me! was blasting over the sound system and the entire vibe was energetic and exciting. I couldn’t fathom how anyone earned such a good living in such a crazy environment, but it seemed to suit Rule’s personality to a tee.

I stood unsure in the doorway for a full minute just taking it all in until I was jostled to the side by a girl in too-tight pants and disgusting UGGs. Her hair was teased up and I could see she had swirling sleeves of ink under her supertiny T-shirt. I guess she was good-looking in a trashy, desperate kind of way, but the girl behind the counter apparently had no time for her because her voice, loud and clear with a hint of an East Coast burr, told her none too graciously, “Fuck off, Liza. I already told you over the phone that he was booked up for the next two weeks and he has no interest in working late to touch your shit up.”

The girl mumbled something I couldn’t hear and leaned over the counter. The receptionist or whatever her title was rolled her eyes dramatically. “Look, let me break this down for you: he is not interested in you. You are a client—you give him money to tattoo you, not to date you and not to flirt with you. He’s busy, and I mean busy, so if you want work done, you will get put in the book like everyone else and come in for your scheduled appointment. Besides, he’s got a girlfriend now and has no interest in the little ink bunnies anymore.”

I blinked rapidly in surprise when I realized she was more than likely talking about Rule and that I was more than likely the girlfriend she was referring to. How strange was that? The girl continued to have a little bit of a fit until it became clear she wasn’t going to get past the blond fireball. She shoved past me on the way out the door, and a clean-cut college guy took her place at the desk. He made his appointment with no fuss and I continued to watch the ebb and flow of business for a while until the girl’s attention finally landed on me.

“Can I help you with something?” She wasn’t exactly friendly, more like matter-of-fact, so I started a little bit.

“I’m just waiting for someone.”

“Well, you can have a seat over there if you’re waiting for a client.”

I tucked my hair behind my ears and cocked my head to the side and regarded her carefully. “I’m actually waiting for Rule.”

Now that she was looking at me I could see she had really unusual-colored eyes; one was dark brown and the other was a swirl of green and blue. She gave a really heavy sigh and narrowed her eyes at me. “Like I told the other tattoo tramp, Rule is busy. If you want to see him, you have to have an appointment just like every other client.”

I snickered against my will. “Tattoo tramp? Is that what you call them?”

She seemed surprised by my question. “Yeah. You have no idea how many poor girls are walking around this town with stupid lower-back tattoos just because they wanted to pull their pants down for one of the guys.”

“Oh, I would totally believe it.”

She leaned her elbows on the counter and sized me up and down. “What did you say your name was?”

“I didn’t, but then again you didn’t ask. I’m Shaw. I’m not a tramp of any persuasion and I don’t have any tattoos, so neither of those things apply to me.”

As soon as I said my name her jaw dropped open and she shoved off the big leather chair she was sitting on. Her wicked-colored eyes went wide and she smacked her hands down hard on the marble surface separating us.

“Holy shit! You’re Shaw? You’re freaking real? Unbelievable! Guys, Rule’s girl is here and she’s like an actual girl with an actual brain. Un-freaking-believable. The terrible trio has been talking about you for weeks and I just didn’t believe it, but here you really are.”

Like something out of a movie all eyes in the shop suddenly swiveled up to where I was standing. I had spent plenty of time with Nash and Rowdy over the last few weeks, so they both just offered up brief “heys” and went back to what they were working on. Rule’s look turned my insides out and he gave me a wink before saying something to the kid he was working on and sitting back to wipe the excess ink off. The other three artists stared at me openly, which would have made me uncomfortable, but the blonde had sprinted around the counter and was now standing right in front of me. She was almost the same height as me but weighed a good thirty pounds less, though somehow her wild hair made her look taller and it was hard to believe that loud voice came out of such a tiny package. She was like a punk-rock pixie.

“Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for one of those guys to land a serious girlfriend? Forever! Sending away the ink bunnies has never been as satisfying as it is now and I never ever would have pegged Rule as the one to go down first.”

She waved a hand over her shoulder toward the opposite side of the shop, where the three artists I didn’t know were working and pointed to each one. “Bixie, she’s married to a firefighter so she’s never caused too much fuss with weirdo client stalkers. Mase has an on again-off again girlfriend so he can behave, but when they’re off he can give Rule a run for his money in the manwhore department. Jasper, well, we call him Jaz, keeps his liaisons quiet because he’s got ties with the Kings of Sorrow, the local biker club, and apparently that’s supposed to be hush-hush so the bunnies don’t hover around for him too much. But the terrible trio, man oh man, I show those bitches outta here all day every day, and even with Rule being hooked up with you it still seems like it’s my full-time job.”

She talked so loud and so fast I had a hard time tracking everything she was telling me. Plus, Rule had snapped off his gloves and was prowling toward me in the way that made my legs go all gooey. He moved with a limber ease that was just sexy and confident; also his hair was starting to grow back in and I liked the near black fuzz covering his scalp.

“Are you telling my girl stories, Cora? I told you Shaw’s been around for a long time—you aren’t going to be able to scare her.” He came around the corner and before I could get myself all worried about whether it was appropriate to touch him at work he had me all wound up with his hands in my hair and his mouth slanted across mine. He tasted like coffee and peppermint, and he didn’t seem to mind that all eyes remained on us while he thoroughly devoured me, like we hadn’t seen each other in weeks rather than just a few hours. He gave his tongue one last flick, clicking his tongue ring against the back of my teeth. When he pulled away I’m sure my eyes were glassy and I was breathing hard. I cleared my throat and put a shaky hand on his chest until I regained my composure. “I’ve got, like, a half an hour left. Are you cool to hang out that long? You can come chill in the back and do your school shit or whatever.” I nodded and took a step back from him. He was potent and went to my head fast.

“No, let her stay up here and hang out with me. I’m dying to know all about this mystical creature that got you to act human for once.”

He shot an annoyed glance over his shoulder at the pixie. “Shaw, this is Cora Lewis. She’s the shop manager and our resident body modification expert.”

She wiggled her eyebrows up and down and gave me a leer. She twirled a finger in Rule’s direction. “Since you’re with this guy I’m sure you’re familiar with my work.”

I choked back a laugh and put a hand to my mouth as a hot flush worked up Rule’s neck. “Seriously, Cora?”

She shrugged a tiny shoulder. “What? It’s true, isn’t it?”

His arctic eyes landed back on me and the chagrin in them made me laugh out loud. “She’s from Brooklyn. None of us know where Uncle Phil found her and they refuse to tell us but she keeps the shop running like a well-oiled machine. Most of us wouldn’t know if we were coming or going without her.”

“I can stay up here and wait for you. I’m hungry, though, so you need to feed me when you’re done.”

He bent down and put his lips right next to my ear. “Oh, I’ll feed you when I’m done all right.”

A hot shiver shot through me so I gave him a heavy-lidded look. “Goody.” He kissed my cheek and made his way back to his waiting client. I shifted my gaze to Cora and blushed when I noticed she was grinning like a demented Cheshire Cat.

“So it’s like that, is it?”

I blinked and shifted from foot to foot. She grabbed my hand and pulled me around the counter, actually shoving me into another leather chair that was stashed back there.

“Like what?”

She swiveled her chair so we were facing each other and gave me a level look. “It’s like all hot and bothered but sweet and fuzzy, too. I didn’t know the asshat had any of that in him. You make him human.”

That was the second time she had mentioned something like that but I had to wait until she fielded a couple phone calls to question her about it. “What do you mean about that, exactly?”

“I’ve worked with Rule for the last five years. I was here when he and Nash started their internships right outta high school. Phil and I go way back so I’ve known the boys for a while. I adore Rule. I think it’s genetically impossible not to be kind of in love with him when you come equipped with a vagina. It’s just something about all that angsty, moody swagger he has that makes you want to cuddle him up and make him feel better.”

I knew exactly what she was talking about so I just nodded in agreement. “But he’s also arrogant and explosive, he treats women like crap because too many of them let him get away with it, and for a long time after his brother died I watched him just go through the motions of living his life. He came to work, he hung out with his boys, he gave me shit on a daily basis, and he screwed his way through the entire Front Range. But he was doing it all locked inside this bubble that none of us who loved him could get through. He was cold and unreachable but then all of a sudden there were cracks, and some of the old Rule was showing through. The robot version of himself he had been operating from for so long started to fade and the good ole human Rule was back, and I think it has to do with you.”

“That’s a really nice thing to say.”

“It’s not nice if it’s the truth. So tell me how a vanilla girl like you, all virgin skin and no piercings, gets into a guy like Rule. From first appearances I would never peg him as your type; you look more Brooks Brothers than Dickies if you know what I mean.”

I twirled a piece of hair around my finger and watched as she typed a bunch of stuff in the computer. She was freakishly efficient and fast and I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk about how sexy I found Rule with someone who already had intimate knowledge of my boyfriend’s junk.

“When he was sixteen he came home one day with an awful tattoo of a horseshoe and a shamrock on his forearm. Phil had given Nash a tattoo machine and some ink for his sixteenth birthday and instead of trying to learn on pigs or melons they decided that they would try to learn on each other. Both of them were always really gifted artistically. Nash was more into street art and graffiti-type stuff where Rule just fiddled around with it and happened to learn he had some real talent.

“Anyway, I was over at his house and I don’t know if you ever got a chance to meet Remy, but identical doesn’t even come close to how those two looked: the same eyes, the same dark hair, and the same innate sense that they were out-of-this-world good-looking. So Rule came home with that terrible tattoo and suddenly he was a new guy. He claimed his skin as his own, made the mark to define who he was and how he was different from Remy, and it was just beautiful how much he loved what changing his outer appearance did for his inner sense of self. He’s always been a babe, but when he started to customize the hotness it just made it better and better. Without all the tattoos and piercings he just wouldn’t be Rule.”

“And what about you? You’re not into any of it?”

“I don’t really know. I had really particular parents growing up and if I had come home with a tattoo or any kind of extreme piercing they would have grounded me until graduation, so I never even thought about it.”

“How old are you now?”

“I just turned twenty.”

“You still live at home?”

“Nope.”

“Then shouldn’t you be allowed to do whatever you want with your body without fear of their reaction?”

I sighed and swiveled my chair back and forth. “Yeah. I’ve actually been thinking about getting a little something done.”

“A tattoo? You know Rule would give you something beautiful, especially since he’s the one who would have to look at it all the time.”

We shared a laugh that had the guys in the shop looking at us curiously.

“No, I was thinking about getting my nipples pierced.” I wasn’t normally so open but I figured since she did it for a living it was kind of like talking to a doctor about a health problem. Her unusual-colored eyes widened and she gave me a huge grin.

“That’s superhot.”

I shrugged and continued to twirl my hair. “I like the way it looks and like you said, I’m familiar with your work so I know it can be awesome. I just don’t know that I’m ready for something so extreme.”

“They take a bit to heal but when they do it’s amazing. If you decide to go through with it let me know and I’ll do it for you for free, I’ll just charge you for the jewelry.”

“Well, Rule’s birthday is next month so if I do it, it’ll be before then.”

She clapped her hands together and giggled like a little girl. She was kind of crazy but I think I liked her. I had always had such a hard time making friends and just being at ease around new people, so it was a testament to all the positive ways Rule was influencing me that I could talk with this wacky girl with no reservations or inhibitions.

“Oh, a sexy surprise, I just love that idea. Like I said, just let me know and we can work something out. I like seeing my boys happy and doing right by a good girl.”

“Thanks, I think.”

We chatted easily for another hour because whatever Rule was working on was taking longer than he thought. I watched her process out the clients who were finished getting their designs done and watched her help a few people come in who had questions and were interested in setting up consultations. She chased off another girl who came in looking for Rowdy, and by the time Rule walked up to the counter with his freshly bandaged canvas, I felt like I had made a new friend. She was sarcastic and witty as hell but her insights into the way my guy’s head worked were clear and coming from a different perspective than I had ever heard before.

Rule’s client looked like he was barely old enough to drive but he was sporting some major artwork and had his entire upper arm wrapped up and shiny with ink and salve. I didn’t miss the appreciative look he gave me as he was walking out and apparently neither did Rule. He flicked the kid in the back of the head and told him that if he wanted his sleeve finished he better keep his eyes to himself. He told me to give him just ten more minutes so he could clean up his station and then we could go. I watched him walk away and noticed that the female client Nash was working on and the young girl that the artist they called Mase was working on both did the same thing. Cora was right, it was just some kind of magnetic pull he had over the opposite sex, and as long as I was with him I was just going to have to learn to deal with it.

He moved quickly and came back to collect me in no time at all. He handed Cora a bank bag and hollered out good-bye to no one in particular and pulled me out with him into the now frigid evening air. I shivered involuntarily and huddled into his side while he adjusted the hood of his sweatshirt over his still mostly naked head and shoved his arms through the sleeves of a black mechanic-style work coat that had the tattoo shop’s logo and name embroidered in a bright design on the back.

“Do you want to order something for delivery or go somewhere?” He rubbed his hands together roughly and then pushed them under the fall of my hair to clasp the back of my neck. They felt like blocks of ice so I shivered even harder until he pulled me to his chest and tucked my head under his chin.

“Delivery so I don’t have to move my car.”

“Cool, what are you in the mood for? I’ll call on the way home.”

“Anything, really. I’m just hungry.”

“Pizza?”

“Sure, but no green peppers or mushrooms on my half.”

I hooked an arm through his and tried to keep up with his long strides as we made our way to the Victorian. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I frowned as I saw it was once again my father. I was sure whatever story my mother had spun about my last visit had him all riled up, but I just didn’t have the patience to get a lecture on morality and suitable romantic partners from a guy whose new wife was only a few years older than me. I sent the call to voice mail and let go of Rule to sidestep a particularly dangerous and icy patch on the sidewalk.

He scowled at me and snatched my hand back up. He tugged me around so that I was pressed up against his front while he walked forward and guided me backward. “I wouldn’t let you fall.”

I reached up to put my hands on his shoulders and gazed up into his eyes, which were just as frosty as the snow coating the ground all around us. “No?”

“No. You don’t trust me?”

“Most of the time I do.”

“Why not all the time?” We stopped in front of the Victorian and I moved my hands from his shoulders to the back of his neck, which made his hood fall off.

“Because I’ve never trusted anyone all the time. It’s the people I care about the most who always seem to do the most damage.”

“I’m not going to be one of those people, Shaw.” If only he knew how bad it had hurt my heart each time I had to see him with one of his conquests he wouldn’t be saying that. I forced a small smile and brushed my fingers over the soft black hair starting to grow on his head.

“I hope not.”

He just shook his head and hauled me into the apartment because it was way too cold to keep messing around outside. He shrugged out of his coat and hoodie while motioning for me to hand my stuff over. “Nash has a date tonight so he won’t be home until later, if at all.” He disappeared down the hall to drop the armful in his room and came back talking on the phone with the pizza place. I took down a couple plates and handed him a beer while looking in a futile attempt to see if the boys had anything in the fridge to make a salad with. I needed to get some normal food in this place if I was going to keep spending time here or I was going to end up the size of a baby hippo.

“I think he’s probably done with having me around in the man-zone. I know Ayden mentioned that she almost got an eyeful while you were over this morning. They’re undoubtedly sick of us.”

He laughed and took a chug out of the beer bottle. “I didn’t mean to surprise Ayden this morning. I thought she was gone. I didn’t know she just went running.”

“Yeah, she goes every morning and it’s not like she was complaining; in fact she complimented the view.”

He snorted. “Nash doesn’t mind having you here. He likes that you actually cook and that we don’t have to get delivery or bring stuff home every single night. Plus, you smell good and always pick up the random stuff we leave lying around. If having you here got on his nerves he would say something to me and more than likely to you as well. He has no problem letting Rome know when he has overstayed his welcome.”

I leaned back against the counter and twisted the cap off a bottle of water. “So, Cora was telling me all about your ink bunnies, or tattoo tramps, as she calls them. I had no idea just how far your appeal reached. Girls get work that they aren’t going to love in ten years just to spend time with you. That’s pretty crazy.”

“Cora has a big mouth and exaggerates, but getting tattooed is pretty intimate no matter who the client is. When they leave they’re leaving with something you put on their skin forever. They trust you to capture their vision and execute it perfectly, so sometimes that means you have to invest in them as a person to some degree. Some girls, especially younger ones, get really wrapped up in the process and turn it into more than it is. I have my fair share of clients who have little crushes on me and come back for work. Not because I’m awesome but because they want to spend time in the setting, but it’s my job so I keep it professional. I’m not going to lie, I’ve hooked up with a client or two, but never after work or never while I was in the process of doing a piece. Sex and work don’t belong in the same place.”

I sucked back some of the water and mulled that over for a minute. “Does it bother you that I don’t look like the typical girls you find attractive?”

“What in the hell are you talking about?”

I hopped up on the counter and let my legs dangle. I tapped the tips of my nails on the tiled surface and cocked my head to the side while I studied him closely. “I don’t have tattoos or piercings. I don’t have sex hair or wear clothes that are impossible to breathe in. I’m just, you know, a normal girl. I’ve seen enough, been around enough of your morning-afters to know that I’m not what you typically gravitate toward. When you look at me, do you wonder if you would like it better if I looked more like you and your crew?”

He put the beer down on the dining room table and locked his eyes on mine while he stalked toward me. Before, that would have made me nervous and panicky but now it made me all warm and breathless. He didn’t stop until he was pressed right up against me, between my legs with our hips aligned in a perfect position to make me forget my own name.

“When I look at you I don’t see anything but you, and Shaw, you are perfect. I don’t care what color your hair is, if you’re pale or tan, if you have makeup on or just woke up—all I care about is that when I look at you, you always look back and see me. You’re beautiful inside and out and if you wanted to tattoo all that pretty white skin from head to toe, I would be honored to put it there for you, but if not, I’ll take you all smooth and milky white any chance I get.”

It was heart-wrenchingly romantic. It was the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever said to me, and I was about to go all weepy female on him and blubber about how wonderful everything he said was and how much he meant to me. Either that or I was going to yank off his clothes and have at him right there in the kitchen. I was waffling between the two reactions when the doorbell rang and shattered the mood. He pushed away from me and went to collect dinner, and I took a minute to get my composure back. The boy was potent, all right, and I planned to enjoy every single minute that it was directed at me.