She kept gnawing over the idea of where. There were so many different areas on her body where she could put the tattoo, but she couldn’t make a decision. Stone had told her away from bone, where she had a little more padding, would be the best place. She considered her lower abdomen and then decided she wouldn’t be comfortable with his hands on her there…yet. She was keyed up enough without adding another layer of nerves. Her ass and thighs were off limits for the same reason, so that left her arms—upper or lower. She couldn’t decide and thought she might discuss it more with Stone when she got there, but at least she had narrowed it down to a particular area.
Kory felt her nerves relax just a little as she walked closer to the downtown area. The exercise alone did that for her and partly took her mind off it. Only partly, though, because even when she wasn’t thinking about the tattoo, she was thinking about Stone, and she couldn’t forget the mind-blowing kiss he’d given her the other night. Amazing. Out of this world.
If she were easily rattled, she knew she would have had a hard time looking him in the eye the next time she saw him…but Kory was not that kind of girl. Still…that kiss he’d laid on her? That had to be the most amazing thing she’d ever felt. Sure, she’d had sex and a few make out sessions in the past, but she didn’t think she’d ever felt like that before, not the way Stone had made her feel…and that feeling is what would have made her blush like a berry if she’d had it in her.
She got to the shop about ten minutes before seven, and this time she didn’t even check in with pimply Richie. Nope. She had an appointment with the guy with the gun, and maybe it was standard protocol to check in with the guy at the front, but she’d grown tired of Richie’s judging eyes long ago.
That didn’t stop him from saying something, though. “Hey, Kory.” When she turned around, he said, “I hope you don’t mind me calling you Kory.”
“That’s my name.”
He had a knowing smile on his face. “Stone never takes a seven o’clock on Friday night. He must like you.”
Well, if that didn’t put more pressure on her frazzled nerves, nothing would. She decided Richie might provide a welcome distraction while she waited, though, so she walked over to the counter instead of sitting on the brown couch like she’d planned on doing. “So…how many tattoos do you have, Richie?”
He shrugged. “Three.” Kory nodded. “Stone did the last one, and I’m going to have him give me a sleeve sometime. He’s been working on the design. The problem is there are more and more things I think of that I want to incorporate.” He considered Kory as she paused in front of the counter. “What did you decide on?”
“I don’t know.” She saw no reason not to be honest. “This is my first one and you’d think I’d know exactly what I want, but I really have no idea.”
“Stone’s good. You’ll be happy with his work.”
Kory heard the door to the back swing open and Stone walked to the counter with a big beefy guy that Kory knew she’d seen around town once or twice. “Call when you’re ready for the other one.”
“Will do, man. Thanks.” The guy stuck out his hand and pumped Stone’s arm twice and then started talking with Richie.
Stone smiled at Kory and said, “You ready?”
She let out a breath. “Not really.”
He put an arm around her shoulders and started leading her to the back. “Well, you have some decisions to make. I found some tiny flash tattoos that you might like.” When they got to the door, he pulled it open and waited for her to walk through. “I considered doing something freehand, but I don’t want to do something stupid and fuck up your skin. Anyway, do you know where you want it?”
“I don’t know. I thought about my upper arm.”
“Yeah. That’d be good.” They got to the area of the room where she’d seen him working dozens of times before and he waved a hand toward the chair. She took a deep breath and sat down. Then he walked to the counter and sat on a rolling stool. He rolled up next to her and she noticed a bunch of items on a silver tray, almost like at the dentist’s office. But she looked at Stone, who held what appeared to be a couple of sheets of paper. “Okay, so here we go. Look through them. There’s a heart, a girlie shoe.” Yeah, she was not the girl to put a high-heeled shoe on her skin. But her eyes were scanning the paper and she saw exactly what she wanted.
“What about the musical note?”
He pointed to the black eighth note. “That?”