“Very well thought out. Nice job,” I teased.
“Thank you,” she said before she plopped into one of the chairs in the waiting area. “I’ll wait out here for Rory to be done. In case you guys want to go somewhere or something.”
I cocked my head to the side. “Subtle.”
She picked up one of the beat-up tattoo magazines on the coffee table and shrugged without looking up.
“He won’t be long. I could take you to see my station. In case you had any ideas for that one tattoo you mentioned.” He lifted a shoulder, a devious smile playing on his lips.
“I thought you said you were picky,” Marley noted behind me.
“I am,” I answered honestly. I didn’t know what I wanted, but I had dreams of where.
“Come with me,” he rasped and led me by the hand into the back.
“I don’t think I ever asked you how you started working here. Mechanic and tattoo artist aren’t exactly related professions.”
Anthony’s station was a small cubicle area with a table, inks, and covered needles.
“Drawing was always second nature to me, and Rory always promised me if he opened his own shop, I could work for him. I had to take a few health seminars and apprentice for a year, but I learned pretty quickly. He’s still small and can’t give me many hours, but somewhere else I could probably turn this into full time if I wanted to.”
“Why don’t you? You’re an amazing artist, you could own a shop yourself.” My eyes flicked to the table then quickly averted, the fantasy I confessed to Anthony all too real as we occupied the tiny space.
“I like fixing things, too. Rebuilding engines and bikes are my sick idea of fun. That’s why I love Falco’s so much, I can design as I build. Now,” he whispered, pulling me toward him and backing me toward the table, “tell me, would you want it here?” He ran a finger right below the waistband of my jeans and traced a line to the bottom of the zipper. “Or here,” he rasped, dragging the same wicked finger to the inside of my upper thigh. “Tell me where I can mark you as mine.”
I coughed out a nervous laugh, my racing heart and damp panties not leaving me many brain cells to be able to speak.
“I guess you’re used to girls taking their clothes off back here, right?”
His brow furrowed as he reared back. “In a professional way, I guess. Is this about the customer who left when you came in?”
I turned my head away, ashamed I brought it up and embarrassed I was jealous in the first place.
“Look at me,” he crooned, cupping my chin. “You are the only one I see. Always. Got it?” The corners of his mouth twitched. “You’rehotwhen you’re jealous.”
“I’m not jealous,” I denied, my eyes fluttering as his fingers tangled into my hair. “I just…didn’t think of you touching other women’s boobs for a living until now. It’s easier to think of you touching engines instead.”
I dropped my head into my hands and let it fall against Anthony’s shaking chest.
“I adore you, Falco,” he whispered and kissed the top of my head. “More than you could ever possibly know.”
He didn’t need to mark me. I was already his.
I only wished he felt more like mine.
17
Anthony
“What time is she getting here?”My cousin Mari asked, bouncing as she set my aunt’s table.
“She had to help her mother at her restaurant last minute today, but she just texted me that she’s on her way over.” I grabbed the plates from her hands. “You are going to calm down a little, right?”
“No way! You’ve never brought a girl home! She has to be something special. Ian and Jasmine are so mad they had to work today, but I promised them pictures. The hospital tried to put me on call tonight, but no way was I missing this.”
“Sheisspecial. And you aren’t taking pictures.”
While bringing Victoria to meet my aunt and cousinwasa big deal, Mari glossed over the fact that I was in jail from the age of eighteen to twenty and didn’t have a chance to like a girl enough to want her to meet my family until now.
