Smiling in the mirror, she carefully finished applying her lipstick, thinking about the person who had inspired this new habit.It was eight o’clock, punching-out time at José’s.
Just getting ready to go to Drea’s for dinner.You?
Don’t mention dinner!STARVING!Still at the studio.
Ouch.Sucks.Be there long?
Hours yet.Wish you were back on my bed!
Wow.It would be a lie to say she hadn’t thought exactly the same thing… perhaps without the machine-powered needles ripping up her back.
Is that the only place?she typed, holding her breath as she hit send.
Did you just flirt with me?
Maybe.Obviously doing it wrong if you need to ask.It’s been a while.
Like it, Harp!We’ll be sexting before you know it.Have fun baby.
Will think of you when I am eating.
Cruel woman!
With a laugh, Harper dropped her phone into her purse.Trent worked so hard.He was practically always at the studio.He hadn’t asked her out on another date yet, but maybe it was her turn to do something nice for him.
When she opened the door to Second Circle fifteen minutes later, Harper was hit by a wall of sound that nearly knocked her off her feet.What was it with boys and their metal played at aSpinal Tapeleven?
The studio was a zoo.People waiting to get tattoos, people in the process of getting tattoos, people with people who were getting tattoos.People in various states of undress occupied every corner of the store.
Looking down at her frayed, white, skinny jeans and pale yellow T-shirt, she felt like a soccer mom who had just wandered into a frat party.Maybe, once more of the tattoo was completed, it would be time for a shopping trip.
Cujo saw her first and gave her a smile, tilting his head in the direction of the window before returning to the sleeve he was working on.
As always, Trent had his baseball cap on backward.He was taping a dressing around the upper thigh of a woman who looked old enough to be her mother.
Taking a deep breath, she walked over to his station.“Couldn’t have you dying of starvation.”
He started to smile before he looked up.A dimple formed on the side of his cheek as he pressed the rest of the tape down on his client’s thigh.
Spinning on his stool, he turned to look at her, taking his hat off and smoothing his hair back before putting it back on.He looked at the bag in her hand, his grin widening.
“Go on back to my office.I’ll be there in a second.”
Harper used the time it took Trent to finish up with his client to pull the panini and salad out of the bag.She was fighting with the plastic bag containing the cutlery when he walked into the office.
“You,” he smiled, punctuating the statement with a kiss on her cheek, “are a godsend.”He took a gargantuan bite out of the panini.
“Who’d finish up my tattoo if you died of hunger?”
“Mercenary,” he mumbled with his mouth full.
When she was done opening all of the packages, including the pastries that made his mouth water at the sight of them, she let him grab her arm and pull her down next to him.
“This place has been crazy all day, so I’ve got like five minutes max before I need to get back out there.Seriously, it was really great of you to do this.”
By the size of the bites he was taking, he was only going to need three.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I played it safe.”
