“I don’t know. I guess I just assumed.”
“I don’t have a girlfriend. No special woman is going to come in here and be a problem. That I can promise you.”
“Just lots of women who want you to mark their skin.” Her shirt had ridden up, and he traced the curve of a stem with the tip of his finger.
“Just like I marked your skin, Trixie.” He heard her gasp, and he looked up to see her biting her lip. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. You know. It’s been one of those days.” She rubbed at her temples.
“You getting a migraine?”
“Nah, I’ll be fine,” she said.
“Are you happy?”
“Of course I’m happy. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I guess I didn’t expect you to be so happy going from the corporate world to just an everyday tattoo parlor.”
She smiled, and his cock hardened. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. You’re far more than just a tattoo parlor.”
He didn’t get a chance to ask what she meant as their door opened, and a gaggle of giggling girls wandered inside.
****
Trixie finished dealing with the books, putting everything away as the girls left. One of the girls was crying, and another laughing. Something told her their friendship was going to be put to the test. She watched as Ace flipped the open sign to closed.
“You’ve had enough for tonight?” she asked.
“I’ve had enough of them to last a lifetime. I just did that girl a damn shark tattoo because she lost a damn bet.”
“Were they old enough?”
“I made sure of that before I even let her in my chair. Asshole kids.”
She laughed. “We were that once.”
“No, I was an asshole kid. You were always well behaved, and just knew what you wanted to be and do.”
The smile on her lips fell. His words had cut her to the core even though they weren’t meant to. She had been the bore. The one that did as she was told. God, thinking about her past it made her cringe at how much she’d become like a damn robot.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, moving toward her.
“Nothing.” She tucked some hair behind her ear. “I’m going to get ready to head out. I’ll see you tomorrow.” When she made to leave, Ace grabbed her arm, stopping her from going.
“Tell me what’s wrong?”
“There’s nothing wrong, Ace. I just want to get home. It has been a long day, and I’d really like to get some sleep.”
He didn’t release her. “You can’t lie to me, Trixie. Something is going on, and I’m not going to let you go so you might as well tell me.”
“It’s nothing, okay? Just stupid.”
“You were fine until I said what you were like when we were kids. Is that it? You didn’t like me back then?” he asked.
“No, of course not. I liked you back then.”
“Then what is the problem?”
“It’s me! Don’t you see that? All of my life I bounced from one parent’s ideals to another. I had to be a good kid. Check, I did that. I was a really good kid that took out the trash. I had to get the best grades. Check, I did that, too. The college education, the job, and the husband. Everything that was signed up for me I went for, and it only took me one minute staring at my reflection in a damn bridal boutique to have that epiphany.”
“What epiphany?” he asked.
She licked her lips. “I was on my break, and I had to fit into my busy schedule a fitting. I didn’t pick the dress. The woman had to go and do something, and I stared at my reflection. For the first time in a long time, I stared, and I realized I didn’t want to get married. I didn’t even like the man they had picked out for me. He was so boring on every single level that every time I was in his company, I wanted to be elsewhere. It’s like I’d been sleeping my entire life, and woke up realizing I did nothing.”
“That was the day you came here,” he said.
“Yes. When I did something I always wanted to do, and I wasn’t afraid of what someone else would think of me. I was just me.” She licked her lips. Ace hadn’t let her go, and he was too close. “There have been a lot of things I wished I could have done growing up. Gone to a party, made out, got felt up. Instead I was inside and studying.”
“You want something radical?” he asked.
Before she could do or say anything, his lips crashed down on hers. He trapped her between his hard body and the counter. One of his hands sank into her hair, holding her tight as the other touched her hip. His body flush against hers, she felt the hard ridge of his cock next to her stomach.