I’d washed off the damned stuff for days.
Eli snickered, still refusing to admit hewas wrong. “The pictures were fabulous. We still get people writing in aboutthat shoot.”
“They’ve obviously never tried that crapbefore, or are writing in to ask how to get that shit off.” Before I couldcontinue my rant, because it was just one of those things I could go on forhours about, we were standing outside the tattoo parlor.
My nerves must have been showing on my facebecause Eli released my arm and gave me a quick hug. “It’s going to be fine.You worry too much.”
He was right. I knew that, but it stilldidn’t help. Maybe if it hadn’t taken so long for me to visit the place, itwouldn’t have been such a big deal. But after seeing how well Wilder got alongwith everyone at Leashes and Lace and how much they loved his tattoos and hisartistic side, I didn’t want to be the one to crash and burn.
Wilder had made it clear that Stan was justhis boss and not someone he considered family, so it wasn’t like I was meetinghis mother or something, but still…Stan was a significant person in his lifeeven if he was just a coworker.
As the days had gone by, it had gottenbigger in my head, so the reasonable part of my brain knew I was too worried,but I couldn’t help it. After the photo shoot, Wilder had every intention ofbringing me to work. But Stan had come down with some alien-type flu that hadhim out for over a week. By the time he’d gotten back to functional, they wereso far behind with their customers, Wilder’s schedule had been packed.
I probably could’ve put it off longer, butEli hadn’t been willing to wait. Once I’d given in about the BDSM photo shoot,he’d taken it as a sign that everything else I was dragging my feet on, as heput it, needed to be addressed.
He was like one of those little yappy dogsthat always got their way because they were crazy and a little bit scarylooking.
Eli started pushing the door open. “Comeon. We’re going to be late if you keep dawdling.”
I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t the one takingforever to leave the house.”
Eli grinned. “I had to make sure you lookedjust right.”
Before I could respond, we were through thedoor and Wilder was smiling at me from across the room. “Perfect, right ontime.”
I gave Eli a snarky look. “See.”
Turning back to Wilder, I tried to lookrelaxed and happy to see him. Because I was. I also just had a small, butpowerful, tornado in my stomach. “Someone tried to make me late, but I wrangledhim over here.”
Eli huffed and Wilder chuckled as hestarted across the room. He’d been patient while I worked out my feelings onthe photo shoot, but he’d never hidden the fact that he liked the idea. Iappreciated that he hadn’t downplayed his desires just because I was nervous.
He was understanding and hadn’t pushed, andhad even kept Eli from going overboard, but I knew I wouldn’t have to worryabout Wilder giving in on something just because of my feelings. I liked thathe was strong and knew what he wanted.
Now that it was time for the shoot, I wasnervous for a whole new set of reasons. It was going to be sexy and erotic. Andprobably a little bit exhibitionistic. Eli had never had a problem bouncingaround half naked with a hard-on. But I wasn’t that type of person.
Once I’d gotten used to seeing everybodylike that at work, it hadn’t been difficult for me. But I just wasn’t sure howit was going to feel in a photo shoot where the purpose was to show myreactions, not just the clothes. Well, my reactions to Wilder.
As long as I thought about it that way, itwas easier.
I loved the way Wilder made me feel, and Iloved the idea of showing him off. He was artistic, beautiful, and covered inamazing tattoos. Letting people see how I felt about him wouldn’t be hard. Ijust needed to remember that.
And I needed to remember how much I wantedpictures.
The way his face would go soft and his eyeswould go distant as he thought about the sketches he would do from them had myanticipation growing. I’d started to realize that he only got that expressionwhen the project would turn out to be amazing.
Like my picture.
Wilder smiled and put one arm around mebefore leaning down to kiss my cheek. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Do you wantto look around before we go?”
His car was in the shop, so we’d decidedthat I would pick him up from work. But I knew that if I told him I wasn’tready to see anything yet, he’d be fine with that. He’d made it clear that Icould take my time, and I didn’t have to feel guilty about it. He’d also madeit clear, though, how much he loved me and how proud he was to have me by hisside.
Nodding, I tried to make my smile biggerand hoped it didn’t look forced. “Of course.”
Eli just started bouncing around excitedly.“Yes, he is.”
Wilder didn’t question it, he just snorted.“Then come on back.”
Moving deeper into the room, I forcedmyself to look around. The walls were covered in sketches and pictures oftattoos on people. Where tattooing businesses on television were sometimesshown to be seedy, dark places, this was open and clean and had a very modern,artistic feel to it.
