“Emphasis on subtle, Lake,” Avery says. “Not his face on your chest like a giant beacon.”
“Can you do glow-in-the-dark tattoos?” I ask with a snicker.
“Yes, using luminous ink. However, it’s not quite so simple as turning off the light. It needs a particular kind of light to do its work. It’s an option if you wanted to look at it.”
“Maybe?” It sounds cool.
“Might help to figure out what you want first,” Avery says. He rests his elbow on the front counter and raises an eyebrow at me likewell, c’mon. As if it’s that easy to just think of something. I’dalreadythought of something. Having to come up with a second idea feels like a test I didn’t study for. Went into my science exam, only to find out it was actually math.
Something personal. Something us. Meaningful. A particular date.
Oh.
Oh.
I smile widely. “I know exactly what I want to do.”
Even Avery gives me the nod of approval when I explain. It’sperfect, of course he likes the idea of it. Subtle enough for him and still everything to me.
“Where are we putting it?” Loren asks as he leads me behind a curtain to a tattoo station that smells like antiseptic and possibilities.
This part I already know, at least. And the change of art won’t affect that. “My hip.”
“It’s a very sensitive area,” Loren says delicately. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
Avery winces. “I’m gonna get broken fingers, aren’t I?”
“I promise not to break your fingers, only bruise them a little.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “That’s not as comforting as you think.”
“It’s more of a compromise,” I say with a shrug before flopping down on the hydraulic tattoo chair. “How much of my clothing do you need me to take off?”
Britt closes the curtain behind us, her footsteps receding.
“She didn’t want to see me naked?”
“I believe the only person she likes to see naked is her wife,” Loren says with a shake of his head. “Though last week, she did do a dick tattoo, so who knows?”
Now it’s my turn to wince. “That sounds… painful.” Understatement.
“It’s definitely not for everyone.”
It’s definitely not for me. The only person touching my dick is Grady. And me. And only to do nice things to it, not putting a needle near it. The only form of torture I like is when Grady doesn’t let me come until I beg for it.
“Shirt off and just undo your pants and pull them down—” He makes a level with his hand on my hip. “Down to here? I shouldn’t need more than that, but if we need to make adjustments, we can.”
He messes with stuff on his table while I get comfortable. I have no idea what he’s doing, but it looks complicated. “Have you done this before?” I joke.
Loren shoots me a smile over his shoulder. “I believe the term they’d use for you is ‘guinea pig.’”
“Be gentle.”
Avery drags a chair over beside me and sits down, lifting a knee and resting a foot on the edge of the seat. “How long is this gonna take?”
It ends up taking almost five hours to complete, so it’s damn good thing that I chose our suit fitting day to get it done. Grady is busy, he knows I’m with Avery, so being away for hours doesn’t look suspicious at all. Fortuitous timing!
