An uncontrollable smile bloomed over her face, and Charlotte buried down into the crook of her elbow.
“Don’t do that. I like seeing you smile. Especially knowing I did it.” Gliding his fingers through her hair, he gripped the strands slightly and tugged.
An unfamiliar heat and urgency beat through her as he pulled on her hair. Something she had never considered would be sexy. But she wanted to ask him to do it harder. To pull her head up and hold her in place while he discovered her mouth.
Giving in to his need to see her face. Charlotte looked up once again, propping her chin on her arm. “No one has ever called me beautiful before. Or least, no one that wasn’t a girlfriend. I don’t know how to react.”
“Just smile and take it.” Trey arched one thick black eyebrow in a suggestive smirk and Charlotte burst out laughing.
“Okay, you two, no more of that. I can’t have you guys shaking the table as I’m permanently altering Char’s body.”
Charlotte had been so focused on Trey that she’d almost forgotten where they were, and that there was another person in the room.
“No more laughing, got it.” Trey saluted Kym, and turned immediately turned back to Charlotte. “Can I hold your hand while she works on you? You can squeeze whenever it hurts too much.”
“I’ve sat through roughly twenty hours of this stuff without holding anyone’s hand, and had no problem. But I suppose, if it makes you feel better.” Something had gotten into Charlotte tonight. She almost felt like she was growing hutzpah or something.
Trey smiled again, and Charlotte’s attention pulled to the deep dimples framing his mouth. “You have dimples.”
“Indeed. My Mom likes to say these dimples are like a homing beacon for trouble.” Slipping his hand under her closest arm, Trey drew Charlotte’s hand into his own, kissing her palm, then cradling their joined hands under his chin.
“Okay, here we go. The last session of your back piece. I feel like we should have gotten a cake or something.” Loud buzzing filled the room as Kym bent over Charlotte’s body and pressed the tattoo gun to her skin.
Trey kept Charlotte’s hand under his chin as he shifted his gaze to where Kym worked. He flinched slightly, Charlotte assumed at the sight of the blood or the needles dragging across her skin. The burn of the artwork being etched into her skin lulled Charlotte into her Zen state, but she fought to stay present. She wanted to hear Trey talk more. His voice did things to her that she’d never experienced before and didn’t fully understand.
“So, you and your dimples are trouble?” Charlotte rarely talked while getting tattooed, and realized she sounded different. Calmer. Maybe even a little sexy.
Trey smirked, that playful eyebrow of his arching up again. “I didn’t say that. I said my Mom said they were beacons for trouble. Me and my dimples are totally innocent.”
“Why don’t I believe that?”
“Because you’re a smart woman.” Trey chuckled a little, but stopped when Kym cleared her throat pointedly. Looking a little sheepish at his slip, Trey turned back to Charlotte. “I might have been a bit of a handful as a teenager. Thought I was a whole lot cooler than I actually was. Acted like it too. Thankfully, when I was seventeen, I got my ass kicked by a guy whose girlfriend I had unleashed the power of the dimples on. Taught me an important lesson about only using the power of cheek craters for good.”
Charlotte’s stomach churned. She figured Trey would be more experienced than her. The only people her age that weren’t were bound for a convent or monastery. But hearing evidence of it straight from his mouth stung. She couldn’t let on that it bothered her though. Normal dating twenty-somethings didn’t care about having a past. They were used to it. “Ahhh, reserved the power of the dimples for only single girls after that, did you?”
“Not even much of that. These puppies have been on lock down for a good long time.” Trey glanced down her back as Kym wiped away some of the excess ink and blood before bending over to add more lines. “After high school, I got my bachelor’s degree in fire science and administration and worked full-time as a dispatcher. I didn’t really have time to mess with the ladies. Since then, I’ve been totally focused on my career. Getting my masters. Didn’t date more than a handful of times in the last ten years or so.”
Relieved to know he hadn’t been running around dating everyone with boobs, Charlotte smiled and shifted her head to rest her ear against her bicep. “I didn’t know you could study fire science.”
“Oh yeah. Most guys don’t, but I always knew this is what I wanted to do. Since I was a kid, I always said I wanted to be a fireman. That’s what I dressed as for every single Halloween that I had a say in the matter. Most guys don't bother to get a four-year degree, but I wanted to run my own station someday, maybe even become fire marshal, investigate arsons. A degree gives me a leg up with that.”
The confidence in his voice as he spoke of his calling pulled at something deep in Charlotte’s belly. Maybe her own career hadn’t been a lifelong endeavor, but now that she had her dream job within her grasp, she was hesitating. Doubting herself. Trey would never do that, and she found herself strangely jealous.
As Kym steadily worked at shading in the remainder of the piece, Trey took his self assigned duty of distracting Charlotte to heart. He held her hand, filling her in on his life as if they sat in a cafe, not a tattoo studio after hours.
The revelations came fast as he told her about his parents, a minister father and stay at home mother. How they were always struggling a little, just keeping their heads above water. How they decided to become foster parents after one of Trey’s friends started staying with them in his teens. At times, their house held as many as six kids, all in a four-bedroom house.
“That had to have been hard for you, always having kids come in and out.” Trey tended to think about his answers before responding, and also truly listening as Charlotte spoke. Most people tried to think of what their response would be before ever hearing a full question. But Trey gave Charlotte every bit of his attention when she spoke. She’d never felt so heard in her entire life.
“Yes and no. I was old enough to understand these kids we took in needed us. Needed a safe place.” Trey brought her hand up to his mouth, brushing his thick lips against her knuckles. “The loss of privacy sucked. But the hardest part was having to watch kids go back to family situations you knew weren’t going to turn out well.” Sadness swirled in his eyes, and Charlotte had the feeling he might be thinking of someone in particular with the comment.
“Are they still foster parents?”
Trey shook his head, a frown now marring his normally gentle and open face. “No, it got to be a little too much for them. Social services kept sending them the really rough cases because they were known for being patient and kind. But it burnt them out fast.”
“That’s a shame.”
“It is what it is.” Reaching up, Trey swipes a strand of her hair back behind her ear. The move so intimate, it sent Charlotte’s heart reeling in a pace she’d never known before. Not panic. Not embarrassment. Just need for more of his touches. “What about you? What are your parents like?”
