I didn’t normally run on this side of town. The beach was nearby and it was quite pretty to see the outline of it as I passed by, but I usually just stuck to the streets beside my apartment so I could quickly shower up and get back to work when I was done.
That wasn’t the case today, though. Today, as my legs burned and my lungs screamed and I pushed myself through the torture of more and more miles, I found myself in a familiar place.
The tattoo shop.
I felt my pace slow even before I came up on the large window of the brick building. It looked dark in there, but I wasn’t surprised they weren’t open. It was early. I was surprised however by the obvious sense of disappointment I felt at not being able to see the familiar faces through the window. One familiar face in particular.
I tried to push myself to run past it, telling myself that I only came this way for a change of scenery, nothing else. But my legs decided to get slower the closer I got to the building, slowing down to a walk as I came directly in front of the shop.
My steps stuttered as my eyes fell upon a form I hadn’t seen on my first glance. Now it was all my eyes could eat up as my feet finally wobbled to a stop.
Harper was standing there, leaning against the shop with his foot propped against the brick. He was watching me. I could tell by the little smirk on his face. He’d probably been watching me for a while now judging by the water bottle he had tucked under an arm.
When our eyes connected, he inclined his head in greeting. Likea moth to a flame, my feet decided to move again. Jogging me straight over to him as he pushed off the wall to meet me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Last time I checked, I worked here?” He cocked his head, his gaze traveling over my body, taking in my attire. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, um, running,” I said. Gesturing to myself as my chest moved up and down between long pulls of breath.
He nodded. “Run around here often?”
I kicked at the ground with my toe. “Um, here and there.”
“That’s funny. I’ve never seen you before today,” he said.
“Maybe you just didn’t recognize me.”
“Oh, I always recognize you, Boss.” His eyes ran gently along my face as he added, “Hard not to.”
I bit my lip, a mix of embarrassment and butterflies sending me into a tailspin. “Well, I’m usually up pretty early, so maybe…”
I stopped. No, his smilemademe stop. It was knowing, like he’d caught something in his trap, and when our eyes connected he just leaned in and whispered, “Me too.”
I had every intention of running off. Mostly in complete embarrassment of being so transparent and so ridiculous, but also because I felt something brewing inside me. Something that I was quite sure I wasn’t going to be able to ignore for much longer. A want.
I wasn’t a particularly selfish person. I shared things just fine, and I didn’t usually need credit even when I deserved it. But there was one toxic trait that I’d never been able to kick. When I wanted something, I had to have it. And stubborn as I was sweet, I usually couldn’t stop until I did.
Too bad for me, or for both of us, Gus stopped me before I could step away, catching my hand and spinning me back to face him gently. “Come inside, Alta. I brought you some water.”
I didn’t fight him as he pulled me into the tattoo shop, locking the door behind us as he did. Inside, he brought us around the frontdesk and handed me the water bottle. It was cold in contrast to my overly warm everything else.
I watched him closely as I took slow sips trying to gauge what on earth he could be thinking behind those eyes. He watched me just as closely, but instead of the uncertainty and caution that I felt, he seemed to have an air of surety to him that I didn’t possess but wanted.
Finally, with a sigh Gus leaned back against the desk. “I assume you’re here for a reason.”
Gulping down one last sip, I closed the water bottle and set it down in the chair beside me. Then I proceeded to wring my fingers in front of myself.
“Um…” I said nervously. I glanced around myself, remembering it was just the two of us here. “About what you said the other day. All that stuff about, um, using you. Do you have proof?”
A dark eyebrow raised along his face. “Proof?”
“Yeah,” I said. “You know, like proof of concept. Proof that… this will do what you say it’s going to do.”
“Are you kidding?” he asked.
“No.”
