Carrying the two bottles of water back to my studio, I ignore Tess’s hiss of “Ask her out!” as I pass by.
I go back into the room to find Holly half propped up on the bed. She smiles at me as I walk in, and I feel myself falling into those big blue eyes. Dammit.
“Everything okay?” I ask, trying to hide my feelings. I crack open the lid of the bottle of water and hand it to her.
“Of course.” She takes a sip.
“Ready for round two? This is the easy part.”
She smiles, and the room lights up around her. “Absolutely.”
To my relief, the awkwardness from earlier has dissipated. I set about mixing up the ink colour palate, while she takes little sips from her bottle of water. When I’m ready, she lies back down on her side, and I get to work, filling in the colour and bringing the tattoo to life.
5
HOLLY
“There,” Kane announces, giving my brand-new tattoo a final wipe and sitting back from the bed I’ve been lying on for the past couple of hours. “What do you think?”
I sit up and glance down at my now decorated hip. I gasp, my mouth dropping open. The finished artwork is beautiful.
“Oh, my God. I love it. It’s even more beautiful than I imagined.”
He gestures to the full-length mirror. “Go and take a look.”
I hop off the bed and walk over to the mirror, holding my top up, my jeans still part rolled down to expose the hip. I no longer feel self-conscious—after all, this man has been poring over my skin for the whole afternoon, and it isn’t as though I’m exposing any part of myself he hasn’t already seen. I twist in different angles to get a view of the tattoo from every direction.
I lock eyes with Kane in the mirror—God, that green gaze, flecked with those iridescent sparks of gold—and something in my chest stutters. He has such intensity about him, as though he’s constantly trying to work me out. It’s been a long time since a man has looked at me like that, but I tell myself it’s only because he now sees me as a piece of his artwork. Maybeit means something more to him than me just being a client. He’s imprinted a little bit of his soul onto my skin, binding us together in a strange way.
Kane catches me looking, focusing on him rather than the koi fish on my hip, and a smile quirks one side of his lips.
“So you’re happy with it?” he asks.
He blows a strand of blond hair out of his face. He still wears the gloves he had on for hygiene while he’d been tattooing me, so he isn’t able to tug his hand through his hair like he’d done before.
I nod, a smile stretching my face. I’ve be carrying that smile around with me all day, and the thought only makes me smile harder.
“Yeah, I love it. Thank you.”
“Great. Hop back up here, and I’ll put the dressing on it, and then you’re free to go.”
My stomach sinks in disappointment. Yeah, I’m free to go. I’ll just walk out of this tattoo studio, and, unless I book in for more ink, this will be the end of my time with Kane.
That’s exactly how it should be,I scold myself in a voice that sounds very similar to my sister’s. Inappropriate young tattoo artists are not the sort of men a respectable woman in her thirties should be lusting after. And yet, I can’t help myself. Something about this guy draws me to him, and I know I’ll feel disappointed when I walk out of the door. I chide myself. I bet every woman who walks through his door feels exactly the same way. No wonder the tattoo studio is so popular and gets so many great reviews. No, that’s unfair. He’s an excellent artist, too. Him being hot, sweet, and a little goofy with it, is just a bonus.
He finishes covering the new tattoo. “You might want to leave the jeans undone for a moment,” he says, assessing my waistline. “You don’t want it to rub.”
“Oh, right. Sure.” As he pointed out, I have enough hip to keep the jeans up without doing up the button. My top pulled down will cover the fact while I catch the Tube home again.
I grab my bag, and Kane sees me out to the reception to pay. The petite brunette is still sitting at the desk, and a look passes between the American and Kane. Realisation sinks in. Of course, the two of them must be dating. Why wouldn’t they be? Kane’s hot, and she’s gorgeous, and they’re together all the time while they’re working. It only makes sense that they’re dating. Is that what the strange moment had been about when he’d first walked out of his room? Had he felt awkward tattooing me while his girlfriend had been watching?
Yeah, that must be it. And to think I kidded myself into believing we might have had a bit of a moment. What an idiot I am.
He hands me a leaflet from the other side of the reception desk. “Here’s instructions on how to look after the tattoo. If you’ve got any questions, or anything is worrying you, just pick up the phone or come back in. Okay?”
I make a smile stretch my cheeks, but inside I’m no longer feeling it. “Great, thanks,” I take the offered leaflet. “I will do.”
I pay for the tattoo, wondering if I’m supposed to leave a tip, but then feeling awkward if it isn’t the done thing and I make myself look stupid. Damn. It’s one of the things I should have asked on the forum beforehand.
