“Oh…yeah. Here.”
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that I was distracting her. She handed over one of the coffees to Piper, and I walked over to the little half-wall that separated us.
“Thanks for the advice. But it’s not necessary. I have a type. Barbie isn’t it.”
“Really? And why would I care?” she challenged, but I could see the spark of interest in her eyes.
“Just making friendly conversation,” I said. I could tell that Piper was listening, so I didn’t say any of the filthy things that were running through my mind as I peeked down the front of her top. “Personally, I like a woman with a wild side.”
“You think you can handle that?”
I wasn’t too sure anymore as I looked into her blue eyes. It looked like I might have met my match. But I was determined to find out, one way or the other.
Seven
Kat
Jealousy was an unfamiliar and ugly emotion. I wanted nothing to do with it.
But when I walked into the shop this morning and saw Blade with a topless Ashlynn, I had felt it. I knew it was crazy since we’d just met, but all I could figure was that I wanted to sleep with him. It made sense. He was my type. Confident. Sexy. Biker. Tattooed.
He checked all the boxes, and he seemed interested in me, too.
I was sure it was going to happen sooner or later. Why not? We’d have a few rounds between the sheets, and I’d get him out of my system.
I thought about it all morning. Then, a man came in just after my lunch break, interested in a full sleeve. He wanted me to design one that would look like he had a robot arm under his flesh. We spent the better part of an hour just working on the design. I drew it out on a sketchpad that I kept on hand for just this kind of thing. Once he was happy with it, I drew the outline on his skin, until he had pen marks from shoulder to wrist.
For an intricate piece like this, I didn’t want any distractions, so I selected my punk rock playlist on my iPhone and plugged in my earbuds. One song after another played as I went over the marks I’d made with the tattoo gun, working steadily. The client was my favorite kind to have in my chair, just content to relax and let me work without chattering or needing a lot of breaks. When he took his shirt off, I spotted several other tattoos on his body, so I figured this was just another, bigger one for him.
Time flew as I worked, and by the time I finished the outline, it was closing time. I scheduled him to come back tomorrow to finish the piece, rubbing my stiff hand from holding the tattoo gun for so long. It looked great, and I was excited to complete it with shading tomorrow.
“Wow. You were in the zone today,” Blade said as we did our end of the day clean-up. It was the first time he spoke without coming across as cocky or teasing.
I smiled. “I love working on a nice piece like that.”
“You mean the guy?” he asked. The teasing tone was back in his voice, but I could see something darker flash in his eyes.
“I mean the tattoo, doofus.”
“Ouch.” He placed a hand on his chest and pouted.
“Are you ever serious?”
“I try to keep things light,” he shrugged.
I was finished with my clean-up, so I grabbed my purse out of the cabinet and walked over to the divider separating our sections.
“You know,” I leaned forward on my elbows as he finished his own cleaning, “I have a feeling that you’ve got an edgier side, just beneath the surface.”
Blade closed the distance between us and used the tip of his finger to tilt my chin up until I was looking into his eyes.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he asked.
I felt a shiver run down my spine. Yes, I wanted to know what made him tick, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. That wouldn’t be nearly as fun.
So, I straightened and took a step back. “Good night, Blade.”
I winked at him before turning and walking over to Piper, who was waiting for me by the curtain with an amused expression on her face. She waited until we were outside to call me out on it.
