“This is just for me.”
God, this girl. The more I learn about her, the more I like her.
Stevie moves to start walking again, but I place my hand on her lower arm to stop her. Delicious tremors dance across my skin from where we’re touching and it’s like I’ve been tasered.
No one haseveraffected me like this.
“I need to show you something.” I whip off my shirt and point at the tattoo over my left pec. Her eyes are out on stalks as she checks out my bare chest. I run, work out at the campus gym, and I’m an outdoors person, hiking and biking when I get the time. I know I’m in good shape, and I like that she seems to approve.
Her hand hovers over my chest, and her eyes lift to mine. “Can I touch it?”
“Of course.” My lips tip upward. “I probably should’ve asked before I touched yours.”
“It’s fine,” she says, and I try not to flinch as her soft fingertips coast over my tattoo. Warmth seeps underneath my skin at her touch, and I try to think of gross things when I feel my dick twitching in my pants. I’m only wearing light running shorts, and they do nothing to disguise a boner.
“This is Celtic too,” she surmises, inspecting the design up close. Her face is right by my chest, and heat rolls off her body, washing over me in heady waves.
My dick stirs, and panic sets in. I need to keep things friendly between us. Sporting a semi from the slightest touch is not cool, and I silently plead with my body to get with the program. Thankfully, Stevie is too engrossed in my ink to notice how badly I’m struggling to maintain control.
“What does it mean?” Tilting her chin up, she stares at me with her gorgeous, big emerald-colored eyes, and I could easily drown in the way she’s looking at me.
Fuck. I really have it bad.
“It’s a Trinity knot,” I explain, my voice gruffer than usual. “It’s one of the earliest symbols of Christianity. Not that I’m religious. I chose it because it symbolizes father and son.”
Her eyes attentively hold mine, and it’s hard to breathe, but at least it’s distracting the snake in my pants.
“Technically, it symbolizes Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost,” I continue. “I’m close to my dad, and I wanted to get something that represented him and our relationship. There’s Irish ancestry in my family on my dad’s side.” Something else we have in common. “So, this seemed appropriate, and it called out to me. If I’m going to permanently mark my skin, I want it to mean something, and I need to be comfortable looking at it for the rest of my life.”
“I totally get it. It was the same for me though I have to look in the mirror to see mine.”
Does it make me a pussy that I feel like crying when she removes her hand and takes a step back?
“I constantly find myself touching it,” she admits. “At times when I need comfort, or often, I’ll just absently touch it. It gives me a sense of…”
“Inner peace.”
She bobs her head. “Yeah. That’s it.”
Silently, I pull my top back on, and we set off walking at a more leisurely pace.
“The Trinity knot is in the Book of Kells in Dublin. Someday, I want to go to Ireland and visit it.”
Her eyes spark to life and she’s almost giddy as she looks up at me. “Oh my god, yes! Me too. The Triskelion is found at the entrance to Newgrange, which is this ancient stone passage tomb, in Ireland. It’s on my mug list to go there.”
My lips twitch. “Mug list?”
She giggles. “It’s my version of a bucket list.”
“I like it,” I say as we round the next corner, and her apartment building materializes in the near distance. “And you know what this means?” I let a wide grin loose on my face.
She groans, thumping me in the arm. “Do not say fate or kismet or anything else cheesy, or I’m liable to thump you somewhere a lot less pleasant.”
ChapterTen
Stevie
“Idon’t know how I let you talk me into this,” I shout in Ellen’s ear as she bounces around on her stool at our table close to the stage. A large speaker is right in front of us. Add that to the noise of an enthusiastic crowd, and it’s almost impossible to speak. At least without shouting directly in someone’s ear.
