I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. I’d made up my mind and waiting a week would only give me the time I needed to chicken out. Not about the tattoo, but about the rest. In this moment, I was bold, but would it last? Would I be able to come back and tell him I wanted him for more than just a tattoo? “He’s pretty busy, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s great, actually. He’s very hands on even if he’s the owner.”
Hands on. Good. I wanted him to be very hands on.
“He could let the other artists do his work for him, but he enjoys what he does. ‘Enjoy’ is even an understatement.”
Becca couldn’t help but smile at that. Can the guy get any more attractive? His looks were more than enough, and now, his passion for what he does? Damn, was all I could think.
If I couldn’t have Jake in bed, then I could still get a tattoo.
“Who’s free to tattoo me tonight? I don’t think I want to wait,” I said, smiling sheepishly.
I felt the back of my neck burn, and when I turned around, Jake was looking right at me. I sucked in a harsh breath at his steel gaze. He started walking towards me.
3
Jake
Becca was here. Not in a prim sundress, but a pair of denim shorts that barely covered her ass and a silky baby blue tank top. Holy shit.
“Bob!” Anna shouted out from behind the reception desk. “Come over here! Someone wants some ink!”
Fuck. My eyes moved from Becca to Bob a few times before they settled on the six-footer walking over to Anna and Becca a little too eagerly. He said a few words to Anna before he turned to the familiar brunette. Her wavy hair was brushed to her left shoulder; her cute, pointy chin added just the right amount of sexiness to her innocent brown eyes. I didn’t miss the way Bob’s eyes moved to glance at her tits for a second. He could probably feel the hole I was burning in his skull since he tipped his head up and his eyes landed on mine.
Fuck off. My gaze said enough. That silenced him, and he began scratching the back of his head as I walked over to them.
“Fancy seeing you here,” I said with just a ghost of a smirk tainting my lips. Fuck, I could just waste my whole day staring at her. She wasn’t beautiful in the usual sense, but fuck, my dick liked her just fine. And every caveman instinct that lay dormant roared to life. I didn’t even want Bob looking at her, let alone marking her skin with ink. “Sure you’re in the right place, princess?”
“Shut up, boss,” Anna was quick to say. “She wants a tattoo by you specifically, but you’re fully booked this whole week.”
I saw her flush, glance away, but after a moment, she lifted her chin and met my gaze.
“You told me to stop by,” Becca quickly put in, and my smirk instantly widened. Never thought she’d be the kind to stand up for herself.
She dressed and acted…well, fuck, she definitely fit the helpless persona to a tee, and she looked exactly that yesterday. When I saw her on the side of the road in her pearls and pink dress and trying her goddamn best to change her tire, my decision had been a no-brainer. She was a pretty girl who’d needed help.
Then I discovered that the she I’d helped was none other than Becca Madison. I hadn’t seen her in years and in that time, she’d changed. A whole hell of a lot. She wasn’t a little girl anymore. She had legs as long as sin and curves in all the right places.
I wanted her to be the helpless one, to seek me out when she had a problem. Yeah, I was full of shit because it was just random luck that I’d come upon her the day before. But I didn’t want anyone helping her. I wanted her to turn to me, to need me. Only me.
But she was a fucking princess. Her damn car cost more than a hundred G’s. I’d owned and driven luxury vehicles when I lived with my parents and they’d been supporting me, and I had to admit I kind of missed that need for speed. My pickup truck was practical, but I wasn’t going to be breaking any fucking land-speed records anytime soon with it.
That wasn’t worth the price tag that came with it. And I wasn’t talking about money. It was being under my father’s thumb. I’d walked away and I wasn’t going back. Not even for a killer car.
I shook my head to cut my train of thought. How the hell was I thinking about a car when I had a beautiful woman standing in front of me? Everyone was staring at me expectantly and I felt like an idiot. This girl got my mind wandering.
Then I focused in on what Anna had said. Becca came in to get a tattoo. I felt my heart skip a beat. I was the one she wanted touching her skin, marking her. But I didn’t want to dirty her. My hands were calloused from all the hard labor I enjoyed doing, be it working on my car, exercising in my home gym a floor above the studio, and tattooing. I felt like the moment I touched her that her innocence and sweetness would instantly vanish.