Totally absurd, but also a totally fun distraction.
“It’s a funny story,” Stone says, “but I have a favor you might be able to help me with.”
CHAPTERFOUR
STONE
I slideMatty a beer across the wooden table and take my seat at the booth. Under the dim lights at a dive bar down the street, I have time to give him a proper look.
He’s short, with a compact body, pale skin, and a distractingly mischievous smile. His ears stick out just a little, and his nose is round and small, like a button. He’s combed back his bright blue hair, which draws out the light of his eyes, pulling their color from slate closer to sky.
He’s cute. It doesn’t explain why I’m lying about him being my boyfriend, but it’s true.
I wonder what kind of face he makes when he comes.
As soon as the question hits my brain, I take a deep gulp from my beer, drowning the strange thought. Sure, I love to make my partners come. It turns me on like nothing else, but why the hell would I think that about him?
“What’s this favor about?” Matty asks, beer foam on his upper lip. “If you need a human pincushion to practice on, I’m sorry, but I’m almost certainly not available.”
“Almost certainly?” I chuckle.
He tosses his hand at the wrist. “I don’t know the going rate for human pincushions these days. I’m not going to say no without the details.”
“Right.” A smile settles on my face, his energy just sassy enough to tickle me. “Luckily, I’ve already done all the practicing I need on my own leg.”
“Really?” His eyes pop wider as he glances down.
“Back when I was starting out.” I pull my boot to the booth, then roll up my jeans as high as I can before they get too tight. “I figured it was better to screw up on myself than on other people.”
Matty whistles, studying the crowded clutter that fills my leg, tattoos in different styles, colors, and techniques that makes a chaotic mess. “Love that Laputa Robot,” he says brightly, pointing at one of my earliest works, a character fromCastle in the Sky.
“Oh, yeah, I loved that movie in high school,” I say as I roll my pant leg back down.
He nods quickly, obviously pleased by this information. “If you don’t want to draw anime figures on my leg, what’s up?”
“I wonder if maybe I could hire you to come to this tattoo convention in a few weeks?”
“Hire me? Like to help out or something?”
“Kind of. You’d just have to show up and hang out. Be a warm body, basically.”
He leans forward slightly. “A warm body?”
I take a drink from my beer. Was that suggestive when I said it or just when he said it?
Because I’m thinking about his warm body now, whether I want to or not.
And my own body is starting to warm, especially between my legs.
It’s that smile, I decide. There’s something about his pink lips and the light in his eyes that’s throwing me off, making me think things I wouldn’t normally think.
I shake my head and decide to level with him. “The thing is, I told the other guys at the tattoo shop that I have a boyfriend, and now I’m stuck in this spot where I’m supposed to bring that boyfriend with me to the tattoo convention.”
Matty scrunches his face up. “But you don’t have a boyfriend?” he asks.
“I’m not gay,” I say, the words rushing out quicker than I intended. “I don’t have a problem with gay people or anything, but…” I trail off, not sure how to explain this.
“But you don’t have a boyfriend.”
