Stella smiled and glanced down at her feet. “Well, he can be pretty bad-ass without saying much.” She looked up at him again. “But if I’m going to get my very first tattoo, I’d like you to be the one to give it to me. I trust you.” Her pulse was pounding so hard and fast that she could hear it in her ears. But Cadeon was like stone in front of her and didn’t move or respond, which had the effect of making her feel like a fool. “I mean, if you want to be my first.”
Oh God. Just shoot me now.
He grinned this time, flashing his straight white teeth and making all of her erogenous zones jump up and down in feminine excitement. “You know what design you want?”
She nodded, but before she could tell him, he was speaking again.
“How about you come by the shop tomorrow evening? My last client is at six, so any time after that.”
“Okay, thanks.” Her voice was barely a whisper, but he smiled even wider, turned, and headed toward his Harley. Yeah, the man could wear a pair of jeans like no one’s business.
Stella stayed right where she was and watched as he put his bag into one of the saddlebags on the side of his bike, straddled the Harley, and put his skullcap on. When he started the engine, she swore she could feel the vibrations from where she stood, and they traveled right through her body. He looked her way, or maybe it was just wishful thinking on her part, because honestly, she couldn’t quite tell because of his sunglasses.
She didn’t know how long she stood there even after he rode off, but she knew that come tomorrow, she was going to have one hell of a time keeping her hormones in check. With Cadeon so close to her, him touching her in an intimate way, and even though it might not be that way for him… yeah, she was wet right now just from the thought.
Stella was in for one hell of a tattoo session if she couldn’t get herself under control.
2
Cadeon was having a really fucking hard time getting his dick to go down, and since he was on his Harley, that was one uncomfortable fucking ride. He had been thinking about Stella all damn day, going over the things he felt for her, and that said things were not good at all.
What he wanted to do to her since the moment he saw her three years before were filthy, hardcore, and would get his ass kicked ten times over by each and every one of the Vicious Bastards. It was just a tattoo, after all, but then again, it wasn’t.
He would be up close and personal with Stella, and that was dangerous, seeing as he wanted her like he had never wanted another woman before.
He had done a good job of keeping his dick in his pants where Stella was concerned, pretty much keeping his distance. It was better that way, and safer too. The last thing he wanted to do was piss off the president of the Vicious Bastards by fucking his little girl. That right there was grounds for him to go missing… like the six-feet-under kind of missing.
Cadeon pulled his bike into the parking lot of Ipseity and cut the engine. He climbed off, grabbed the bag of sandwiches he picked up at Stocker’s Deli down the street, and headed inside. As soon as he entered his tattoo parlor, the sound of heavy metal music and the buzzing of tattoo guns running along flesh blasted all around him. But if there was fierce and angry music playing overhead, it meant Naggie was either in a foul mood or working on some badass piece.
“Yo, boss,” Ziggy said as he leaned on the counter. His mohawk today was neon-green, and the plugs in both his earlobes matched his hair.
“Sandwiches will be in the back when you guys are ready for them.” Cadeon lifted the brown bag and tipped his chin toward the back room. “Naggie in a pissed off mood or working on something?”
Ziggy pushed off the counter and grinned. “I think a bit of both.”
Cadeon walked the few feet it took to get into the main part of the parlor where all the ink was done. Naggie was seated in front of a big, burly fucker, and even though she was working on his back, Cadeon could see the massive amount of chest hair the guy had as it sprouted out the sides of the table. As if Naggie knew he had been asking what the deal with the music was, she lifted her head and glared over at him.
Yeah, she was in a bitchy mood all right. He held up the bag and pointed to the back room. She nodded, her bleached-blonde pixie-cut hair slicked back and didn’t even move from the motion. Cadeon wasn’t about to talk to her about what the problem was, because when he had been stupid enough to do that before, all it ended up doing was pissing Naggie off more. If she wanted to vent, she knew where he was.
The people who worked in his shop weren’t just his employees; they were like his family too. Reckless may have only been his home for the last three years, but this was the first place since he had been on his own where he felt comfortable.
He turned and walked into the back room, if it could really be called that. The main part of the shop where all the work was done was spacious, but the back room where he kept supplies and where his office was didn’t have much more room than a walk-in closet. He had hours before Stella was to arrive, and
