Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Strange how it could be the one good part of me, and it still made me wholly corrupt.
Trent hesitated before he pushed, “Shit’s dangerous, man.”
“You wouldn’t expect us to do anything else, would you?”
Once we knew? Once we got started? There was no going back.
A sigh pilfered out of him. “Guess I can’t, but you have to know you have more important things to worry about.”
My chest clutched. There was no question what he was referring to.
I warred, pausing the pass, before I leaned back in and started sweeping the needle over his skin again.
“You know I’m careful, brother,” I muttered under my breath.
He started to respond, except we both stilled when the security system dinged when the front door opened.
It was late, but it wasn’t like it was rare for one of my brothers to come sauntering in at this hour.
I leaned back in my stool so I could see out through the opening of my station to the front door of the lobby.
Only it wasn’t one of my crew.
It was a woman.
A woman I’d peg to be in her mid-twenties, nervous as all hell as she glanced around and fiddled with her fingers, clearly feeling ill-at-ease and out of place.
Pin-straight chestnut hair cut in a long bob and parted in the middle. She had this heart-shaped face that made her look so fuckin’ innocent I felt guilty just looking at her.
She was tall and all goddamn leg, wearing a pair of white shorts and a white jean jacket with a red tank underneath, white tennis shoes on her feet.
She kept gnawing at a plump, cherry-kissed bottom lip that even in the distance I was sure was ripe for sucking. A bolt of lust hit me from out of nowhere, my dick kicking at the tantalizing sight.
Fuck me, she was delicious.
A lost little lamb who’d stumbled into a demon’s den.
The last thing she needed was to be hanging around here, so I didn’t take the time to stand when I called, “We’re closed.”
I started to turn back to the task at hand when a sultry, breathy voice hit the air, and in my periphery, I caught her lifting her phone and waving it in front of her. “It says you’re open until ten. And the door was unlocked.”
She said it timidly and with full of question, but with a fierceness that lingered underneath.
Trent angled his head toward the lobby like he didn’t mind the interruption.
“What?” I mumbled at him.
His eyes widened in emphasis. “Why always such a dick?” He muttered it low enough that there was no chance she could hear. “Wouldn’t hurt you to see what she wants, yeah?”
I knew Trent wasn’t going to let it go, so I blew out a sigh, mouthing, fine, as I stood, and I took two steps to stand in the opening of my station.
Unfortunately for me, it only brought her into better view.
Eyes the color of melted caramel and dappled with cinnamon widened when she got a good look at me, and I could feel a fragment of fear roll through her system, anxiety radiating from her and riding on the air that had grown heavy.
She looked behind her at the door like she was contemplating walking right back out of it.
Yeah, she probably should run.
I hitched my shoulder on the jamb. “You want to schedule an appointment with one of my artists?”
She kept chewing on that damned lip, though she subtly lifted her chin. “I was hoping to get a tattoo tonight.”
There was nothing I could do to keep my attention from roaming over her tight little body, searching every inch of exposed flesh, and my mouth was suddenly salivating because even though I couldn’t see much, I was getting the hunch that this girl had virgin skin.
Not a trace of ink.
I was the twisted fuck whose fingers itched at the idea of marking her for the first time.
I needed to get her the hell out of there. Put fucking five miles between us and do it fast. Knew better than to even consider letting myself get near a girl like that.
A girl who oozed vulnerability.
A sweetness that I could scent and wanted to eat up like it was mine to take.
But there I was, opening my mouth and issuing an invitation I knew better than to speak. “I’m with a client right now. You’ll have to come back tomorrow.”
Nah. I didn’t mention that I had a two-year waitlist.
Disappointment flashed across her face. A face that was too fucking soft, delicate to the extreme, though there was something harrowed that underscored her features and left me antsy. Maybe that was what had me anxious to look closer. What made me want to concede and tell her I’d do any-fucking-thing she needed.
But I didn’t fucking do close, and I goddamned needed to remember that.