Page 5 of Adoring Ink

“Maya’s husbands could probably take me, honestly,” Brody joked. Maya had married not one, but two big, bearded men, and Brody figured it took both of them to handle her. Not that she needed handling since she was a strong, confident woman and all that. Great. Now he sounded like a sexist prick when he hadn’t meant to. Albeit in his own head.

Hell, his mind kept going down weird paths. Maybe he’d had too much coffee.

Or maybe he was a little rattled from meeting the sweet blonde next door not once, but twice that day.

“They could,” Maya said cheerily. “But then again, so could I. Anyway, Alex sent over some of the photos he took of you and your ink at the gym. I figured we could go through them and see what else we need before we make it a book. Alex would be here, but he and Tabby had a weekend getaway planned.”

Alex was Maya and Austin’s younger brother and a photographer. He was also Brody’s friend and workout partner at their gym. Since there were eight Montgomerys locally, and about a thousand others around the state, he figured it wasn’t all that uncommon to become friends with one of them.

“Sounds good to me.” He followed Maya to the front of the shop waiting area after she’d picked up her laptop.

“I thought we’d sit here rather than in the small office. I have a slight break between clients, and these leather couches are comfy.”

He smiled and took a seat next to her. “Want me to load them up?”

She glared but handed over her laptop. “This is in no way an admission to any failure on my part when it comes to computers.”

“Sure, honey, whatever you say,” Derek crooned. Apparently, the other man wasn’t going to pretend Maya was a bear in the wild, after all.

Maya flipped the other man off without looking at him and glared at Brody. “Have anything to say?”

“Not a word.” He quickly booted up the computer, and thankfully, she’d left the window open so he didn’t have to search her email or anything.

The two of them went over the photos together, and he couldn’t help but admire Alex’s work. Yeah, it was weird as hell to look at photos of his own body over and over again, but the work that had been put into his ink, as well as the photos themselves, were flat out amazing.

“You guys are good,” he murmured.

“The best.”

Not shy, that Maya. And he wouldn’t know what to do with her if she were.

Though there was a shy woman he wanted to know more. And since, apparently, Holly knew the Montgomery crew, he might as well ask about her. “So, what do you know about Holly?”

Maya froze. “Holly? My friend, and Jake’s ex?”

Well, shit. That’s how he knew the name. Jake had once dated Holly before he’d fallen in love with Border and Maya. This could get tricky.

“Never mind,” he said quickly, but Maya glared.

“Brody.”

“It’s nothing, Maya.” And it would be nothing because a guy didn’t fuck with exes. Ever.

“She’s single,” Maya put in. “And sweet. And caring. And Jake doesn’t hold a torch for her if that’s what you’re worried about.”

He was the one to glare now. “It’s fine, Maya.”

“Sure,” she agreed. “And that’s why Holly is walking this way right now.”

His eyes widened, and he turned quickly in his chair, none of his usual smoothness in evidence. “Hey,” he croaked and stood up so he was facing her.

Holly smiled at him and gave Maya a small wave. “Is the bike thing still on the table?”

Surprised and knowing the entire room was watching him, he nodded slowly. “Yeah. If you want.”

She rolled her shoulders, looking like she was preparing herself. Hell, he liked her spine that was for sure. “Well, I’d like to. You know. Ride your bike. If you still want to.”

He grinned then, aware Maya was right behind him, probably staring daggers…or smiling like a cat with a canary. He honestly wasn’t sure which.