Her throat tightened, and she found herself nodding before she really let his statement sink in. “I’d like that.” Maybe I like it too much. She grabbed her bag from the floor and reached for the handle.
She felt her feelings for him suffocate her, and when he flashed her a straight, white toothed smile, she felt her sex clench in demand, in need.
What was it about this bad boy that had her belly tightening and her heart racing?
She didn’t know, but she wanted to explore it and see how far it went.
12
Reese’s heart hammered behind his ribs, and all he could think about, all he could hear in his mind, smell filling the interior of the truck… was Keira.
He waited until she was safely inside before he pulled out, not having a destination in mind, because he sure as fuck didn’t want to go home. He took a sharp left and headed a mile to the edge of the city limits. Five minutes later and he was pulling into the parking lot of the tattoo parlor. The small building was on the rougher side, with fading white paint and in need of a new roof, but anyone who wanted quality ink came to Max’s. A neon sign on the front window flashed OPEN in bright blue letters.
He climbed out of the truck and pushed the front door open. Max was working on a client and didn’t bother glancing up as he hollered out a hello and that he’d be right with him. Reese took a seat behind the front desk and waited.
A second later, the sound of the tattoo gun stopped, the pleased murmur of voices came through, and then Max was stepping around the front desk.
“Shouldn’t you be in school?” Max asked as he checked the client out.
Reese waited to start the conversation until they were alone.
“I skipped.”
Max looked at him with hooded deep-brown eyes. “Can you skip at that rich fucking school? Aren’t there laws against that shit at that fucking place?”
Reese snorted. “Maybe. Probably. But I had a good reason to.”
Max was silent for a second before prompting, “A good reason, as in the female kind?”
Reese shrugged but couldn’t keep his smile in check.
Max cocked a bushy white eyebrow at him, sat down, and leaned thick, heavily tattooed forearms on the counter. “So now you’re ditching class for some pussy on the side?”
Even though Max never minced his words and always called it like he saw it, Reese couldn’t help but get pissed at Keira being referred to as something like that. Max must have seen the emotion flicker across his face, because he made a deep noise in the back of his throat and watched Reese intently.
“Okay, so not pussy on the side. More than that.”
Fuck. He breathed out and ran a hand over the back of his head. “Man, I feel like she’s a hell of a lot more than that… than anything I’ve ever wanted.”
After a moment, Max muttered, “Huh.”
“What?”
Max shrugged. “Nothin’. You know her long?”
He shook his head. “Not personally. Today was actually the first time we hung out, but I’ve seen her at school for a while. There’s just… something about her. I don’t know what it is, man.”
“She’s somethin’ special.”
The way Max said that just seemed right, like those three words summed up exactly why he was drawn to Keira Sheppard so much.
“You want to talk about it, kid? You want to get all deep and shit over it?”
Did he? A part of him said yes, while another part wanted to keep her and how he felt for Keira all to himself. This was Max though, the man who had found him wandering along the road when he was twelve, hungry, cold, and dirty. Max had taken him to his home, and his wife, Karen, had fixed him up, fed him, and gave him their guest bed to sleep in for the night. Reese’s parents hadn’t even given a shit about where he’d been. They’d been too drunk to even know he wasn’t home.
At the thought of Karen, who had passed away five years back, the hard, finite reality of life settled in.
“She’s too good for me. I have nothing to offer her, not when she’s got money and surrounded by people of status.”
“What in the fuck are you talkin’ about, Reese?” Max slapped his palm right over his heart and stared at him in the eyes. “You feel your heart beating? You feel the strong, heavy pumping within your chest?”
Reese nodded.
“I’ve told you this a million times, but I’m gonna tell you again.” He leaned forward an inch. “You don’t let anything nasty that has happened in your past affect your future. You’re strong, smart, and damn good-lookin’.” Max chucked him on the chin before standing. When Reese didn’t say anything, Max looked at him again. “You understand me, right?”
Reese’s throat tightened, but he nodded. Max may be gruff and be hard-talking, but he never once let Reese down.
“Good. Now keep me company while I tattoo my next appointment’s ass.”
Reese lifted a brow, and Max chuckled. Leave it to Max to help settle the conversation so it wasn’t so heavy.
“He’s getting his ex-wife’s name printed right on his left cheek.” He slapped his ass to emphasize his point. “Told me she would always be kissing his ass.”
Reese couldn’t help but start laughing.
“I don’t get it.” Max shrugged as he started setting things up. “I mean, you want your ex-old lady’s name on you for life, regardless if it’s a slap in her face? Hey, what the hell ever.” He murmured the last part.
Max turned and leveled a serious expression at Reese. “But no more skipping class, you hear, not even spending time with your girl. You do well and graduate so you can go to a good college and get out of this toxic fucking town.”
Reese smiled, because hearing Max
