“You don’t say?” I teased.
“I’ve also got this rule about smartasses.” He shot me a cocky grin. “Figured you deserved a warning.”
“A warning? So, does that mean there’s a punishment if I violate it?”
“Violate it.” A cocky grin, loaded with innuendo, lifted his lips. “Let’s not get into a discussion about violating things, doll face.”
“Doll face, huh?” I smirked. “Can that be my official shop name?”
“You are a live wire, aren’t you, Sienna?” His eyes returned to my pink flesh, bruised from his needle, and here I was, itching for more.
“Ready to see the damage?” He cleaned up his work with a damp cloth, his fingers slipping under the hem of my bra to tuck up my shirt. Butterflies rioted in my ribcage, a new wave of arousal flooding my pussy and making a moan nearly escape my lips. I felt naked under his gaze, vulnerable and laid bare. His hand clasped with mine, twining our fingers and making my tongue feel like a foreign object lodged in my throat.
“Looks fucking beautiful,” he muttered, eyes holding mine.
I clamped down on my bottom lip, heart rattling my chest as I sucked in a deep breath while he lifted me up.
The way his breath skittered across my neck sent something spiraling out of control in my belly. If he thought anything on me looked fantastic, I was happy. I’d never felt beautiful to anyone, always the plain-Jane tomboy in Chuck Taylors and cutoffs.
I shook the thoughts from my head and smiled when he spun me, angling me toward the mirror to catch a reflection of his art on my body.
I sucked in a sharp breath of air when my eyes landed on the tattoo. Dark droplets of burgundy hung from the heart, and the deep slash through the center covered by three well-placed stitches was perfection. And then the skull. He had done my imagination justice. The faint outline of the skull was like a mirage in the background of the heart, something so soft and almost ethereal. The overwhelming urge to hug him took over me.
“Thank you,” I whispered, leaping into his arms. His hands cupped at my backside instantly, and my arms wrapped around his waist as I clung to him. It’d been so long since I’d clung to anyone, and maybe the adrenaline or the dopamine released by the pain from the needle had flooded my system, but it felt good to be embraced.
“Told you it was goddamn beautiful,” he hissed at my neck, words like a snake trailing through my veins and slithering between my thighs.
“Thank you so much for hiring me. I can’t tell you how much I…” I paused, my hand pushing into the soft hair at the back of his neck. “Needed this.”
I sat back in his arms, suddenly conscious of the fact that I was wrapped around my new boss’s waist.
“Welcome, doll face.”
My cheeks burned brighter with his words. His eyes slid down my face to land on my lips.
I sucked in a soft breath, conscious of his stare all the way to my toes.
This man was fucking gorgeous, and his rough, tattooed hands were holding me firmly against his huge, rock-hard cock.
“I—” I swallowed, stumbling for words. “I’m sorry. It’s just been so long since anyone was really kind to me.”
“Kind to you? Why the fuck would anyone be unkind to you? Does your dad know?”
“My dad’s part of the problem,” I grumbled, sliding out of his arms. I moved to step away, but I was surprised when he pulled me right back against him.
“Did your dad hurt you?” His hand tightened on my arm, jaw clenching as his eyes darkened.
“No. Well, not in that sense.” I pulled out of his arms, turning to admire my tattoo again in the mirror.
“It’s so intricate, the shading around the scar, it just disappears. Like it was always meant to be there.”
“Don’t change the subject. What’s the problem with your dad? If you need a place to stay, I’ve got an extra room—”
“Wait, do you go around offering a bed to sleep in for all your new hires?”
“What?” His face darkened. “’Course not—”
“Never offered me a place to stay.” A woman in the tiniest tube top I’d ever seen slapped River on the shoulder. A huge tattoo of a dreamcatcher stretched across the planes of her abdomen, a piece it looked like she kept adding to with time. She was beautiful, gorgeously tall, and seemed to have a very intimate relationship with River.
“This is Dev. All bark, no bite.” River gestured behind him. “Dev, meet the new manager, Sienna.”
“Hey, Sienna,” she called before she sat down at her sketch table.
“Hey,” I returned, before glancing back to River. “Manager? I’m not qualified to be a manager. I have, like, three business classes from the community college under my belt.”