Page 91 of The Rules of Dating

“I haven’t spoken to her about what the attorneys said today yet. But since the moment Maya knocked on my door, Billie’s priority seems to have been looking out for Saylor. Though I’m not sure she could handle things if I wind up marrying this psycho. I’m hoping to talk to her after Saylor goes to sleep tonight.”

Mom and I were both quiet for a moment before she squeezed my hand. “It sounds like this Billie has her priorities right. Why don’t you let Saylor stay over here tonight? We love having her, and I think you could use some time.”

I nodded. “That would be great, Mom. I’ll ask her when she and Dad get back, but I’m sure she’d love to spend the night.”

An hour later, I headed home without my daughter. Saylor had jumped up and down with excitement when I’d mentioned sleeping at my parents’. It was probably for the best, seeing as my little girl was already an expert at reading her old man. Since I had the entire evening to myself, I decided to walk the mile and a half home to my apartment. It was a nice night, and I hoped the fresh air would help clear my head. On my way, I stopped at a florist and picked up a bouquet of wildflowers for Billie, then took a leap of faith and picked up some fresh ravioli and bread, thinking maybe I could make her dinner and get her to spend the night. By the time I arrived at Billie’s Ink, I hadn’t worked out any of my problems, but I did figure out what I needed for the next twelve hours—a quiet night at home with my girl.

Justine greeted me as I walked into the shop. She took one look at the big bouquet in my hands and smiled. “She’s with a client. But any man who comes in looking like you do right now gets a free pass to the back.” She tilted her head toward the door. “Go make my boss’s day, cutie pie.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Justine.”

But my smile wilted damn fast when I got one look at what Billie was doing—tattooing some dude’s ass. Though her face lit up when she saw me standing there.

“Hey, you.” She took her foot from the pedal and lifted the needle from the guy’s skin. “I didn’t know you were stopping by.”

Deek winked at me. “You didn’t have to bring me flowers, big boy. I’m easy. Wine and lube is more my brand of romance.”

I chuckled and lifted my chin. “What’s up, Deek?”

The guy lying on his belly across Billie’s hydraulic chair looked up at her. “Can we take a piss break?”

“Yeah, sure. Just give me a second to cover your cheek with some plastic so the area stays sterile.”

When she was done, she told the guy not to pull up his underwear in the back. So I watched some man’s hairy ass walk to the bathroom with three quarters of a rose tattooed on it. Well, the left cheek was hairy, anyway. The right had been shaved.

Billie snapped off her gloves and sauntered over. “Are those for me?”

I leaned down and brushed my lips with hers. “There’re only two women in my life, and the other one prefers I bring unicorn-shaped bath bombs that shit glitter when they get wet.”

Billie grinned. “Shit glitter? I didn’t know that was a choice. I think you might be returning these beautiful flowers.”

I wrapped one arm around her back and pulled her close. “Will you have dinner with me?”

“That depends. What are you feeding me?”

“That’s a very loaded question...” I smiled and lifted the bag in my other hand. “But I’ll be good. How does fresh ravioli and semolina bread sound?”

“Mmmm…that sounds yummy.”

I brushed a lock of hair from her face. “My parents are keeping Saylor for the night. I was hoping maybe you could stay over.”

“I think that could be arranged...” Her client walked back from the bathroom, so she lowered her voice. “You want to step outside for a minute to talk about how things went at the lawyer’s office?”

I shook my head. “Let’s put off talking about that until morning. Maybe we spend the night pretending it never happened since it’s so rare that I get a whole night alone. I don’t want to waste a minute of it doing anything but focusing on you.”

Billie smiled. “That sounds amazing.”

“Great. What time are you done here?”

“Tex is my last customer. I should be done in about forty-five minutes.”

I looked over her shoulder. Tex was positioning himself ass up on her chair once again. “By the way, why does he get a rose tattooed on his ass, yet you wouldn’t put one on my chest when I asked you?”

“Because I don’t have to look at his ass all the time.”

“I asked you to ink a rose on me the first time we met. You didn’t know you were going to be looking at my bare chest all the time back then, either.”

Billie tilted her head with a devilish grin. “Are you sure about that?”