“Now, now. I’m here for some ink, not any funny business.”
“I didn’t mean it quite like that. Good to know how you feel about it, though.”
Shaking his head, he rests it on his forearms and gets comfortable.
“You look just a little too relaxed about this for my liking.”
“I trust you.”
His admission hits me like a truck. My breath catches and emotion immediately burns the back of my throat.
I try to cover how his words affect me, but I think he sees it nonetheless. Thankfully he doesn’t ask. I’m not sure I want the look I know he’ll give me if I were to admit that I don’t think anyone has ever said that to me before.
“Okay so where do I start?” I ask, changing the subject before he decides he wants to start digging.
He talks me through the first steps, and before long I have the first part of the design traced onto his skin.
“You keep moving,” I complain as I work on one of the snake’s tails that wraps around one of the many skulls in my design.
“Yeah, that kinda comes with the territory of working on people. You’ll get used to it.”
I put it off as long as I can, but eventually he realises what I’m doing because he turns to look at me.
“You ready?”
“No.”
“Come on, I know you can do it. Remember everything I said yesterday. It’s just a pen, and I’m just paper.”
“Okay,” I whisper, picking up his machine and holding it like he showed me yesterday. I might have some very limited experience with an old machine over the years when people realised that I could draw, but they were nothing like this.
The moment I turn it on, I feel the vibrations right down to my toes.
My hand trembles as I lower it to his skin, but the moment I make my first mark, I relax—which is crazy, but he’s right. It’s just a pen, and he’s just the paper.
“Just focus on the outline. You’re more than capable of doing that. We can work on filling in and shading later.”
I nod despite the fact he can’t see me. I’m too focused to reply.
I have no idea how much time passes, but the muscles in my shoulders and neck ache from the unusual angle I’m sitting at.
I turn the machine off and place it on Spike’s table before standing and stretching out my back.
“You done?” he asks, watching me with heat in his eyes.
“For now. It hurts.”
“You’ll soon get used to it. How’s it look?”
“Umm…” I look at his arse, focusing more on the roundness of it than my sketch.
“I guess I’ll look myself then.” He pushes from the bed and walks over to the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. “Kas,” he says, looking over his shoulder.
“You hate it?” I ask, hating the vulnerability in my tone.
“Not at all. It’s incredible.”
“Really? You’re not just saying that to make me feel better.”
Leaving his arse exposed, he turns his stare on me. I close the distance between us, the pull I feel toward him too much to deny.
His hands cup my face and he drops down so his nose is almost touching mine.
“I’ll never lie to you, Tiny.”
I smile, the satisfaction that he really does think I did okay washing through me.
“You’re sure, though? It’s okay?”
“It’s more than okay. Over the next few weeks you can draw the rest and then start practicing on me. I’ll be your canvas.”
“Don’t people usually start on grapefruits or some shit?”
He laughs. “Back in the day, yeah. I’m sure we could pick you a couple up if you’d prefer to work on one of those.”
“Never.”
“Awesome. Wrap me up, then it’s time to swap.”
“Swap?”
“Yep. You didn’t think I was the only one leaving here today with some new ink, did you?”
26
Spike
She looks at me as if I’ve just spoken to her in a different language.
“Okay, well… unless you don’t want—”
“I do, I do. I just wasn’t expecting it. What were you thinking?”
“I borrowed another one,” I admit, reaching back into my jeans that are currently in a pile on the floor and pulling out the second drawing. “I assume it’s the one.”
I unfold it and show her. She nods, confirming that I’m right. I knew it was the design she’d mentioned to cover the inevitable scar on her hip the moment I saw it.
“We can start on your thigh, and we’ll work our way up and then do the final bit once you’re healed.”
“Sounds perfect. I don’t want to look at that for any longer than I have to.”
Stepping up to her, I twist my fingers with hers and pull her flush against my body.
“All that’s over, Kas. This right here is a new start.”
She swallows nervously before nodding. “For both of us?” I know what she’s asking. She’s telling me that it’s time to let go of the past, of my heartbreak, and take another chance.
She makes it feel so easy, sound so tempting, that without much thought, I think I could dive in headfirst with her. The realisation has my heart racing and my head beginning to spin.
Of all the women, why her? Why the one I shouldn’t be anywhere near? But others haven’t made me feel the way she does. I realise that could be because I never gave any of them the chance, but I know it’s not that. I knew Kas was different the moment my eyes landed on her all those weeks ago at Zach’s birthday. I just didn’t realise quite how much until I dragged her from that stage and forced her into my life.
I nod. “For both of us.” She smiles up at me and I swear my entire world shifts on its axis. “Ready for your new ink?”
“I can’t wait.”
Before I have a chance to think, her jeans are on the floor with mine and she’s climbing onto my chair.
“How do you want me?”
‘Naked with your legs open’ is on the
