Rowdy (Marked Men #5)(40)
“Did it make you feel like you should have known better all along?”
“It made me feel like I should have paid closer attention to the signs that were already there.”
This was an odd conversation to be having with a stranger on the corner of a busy intersection.
“Maybe that’s what I should’ve done.”
I smiled at her, after all she was good-looking, and a few weeks ago I probably would have asked her out even though she was miles out of my league and not even slightly my type.
“If it was a guy that pulled one over on you, don’t sweat it. You’re a pretty girl and we’re generally not worth it.”
She shifted a little and gave me that smile laced with soul-deep sadness again. “Oh, he definitely isn’t worth it.”
My phone beeped in my pocket and I pulled it out to see a text from Salem saying my first appointment was waiting on me. I swore under my breath a little and gave the blonde one last grin.
“I always say things happen for a reason. If he fooled you for a while there was a reason behind it. You weren’t meant to know the truth until it was the right time. I gotta run, but take care, okay?”
She looked like she wanted to say something else and I could have sworn she was going to reach out and grab my arm but I didn’t have time to chitchat with her anymore. When the light changed I bolted across the street and hustled to the shop.
It took Poppy telling me no to get me to the point where I could leave. It took what I had always thought was a shattered heart to make me finally admit that what I wanted for myself was something different from the path I had been on all along. I needed Poppy to get me to Phil and I needed Phil to get me to Denver and the family I had always wanted but had never had. All the bad things had led to all the great things including the raven-haired goddess that was glaring at me with baleful eyes as I scooted into work almost fifteen minutes late. If she had never left there was a good chance I never would have latched on to her sister in the first place. All of it was a chain reaction getting me to the here and now and to the fact that all that first love I was so convinced was everything was really turning out to be nothing.
“Don’t look at me like that. I got waylaid by a pretty lawyer on the corner. I would’ve been on time if she hadn’t stopped to talk to me.”
Salem’s eyebrows shot up and her bloodred lips quirked up at the edges. “The same one that came in here? Sayer? She’s the one I spilled coffee on the other day. She’s very nice.”
I nodded and leaned on the counter, way more interested in talking about us than the lawyer. “Wanna hang out tonight?” I wiggled my eyebrows at her, which made her laugh.
“Sure. I have something I want to show you anyway. I can come over to your place later.”
My mind immediately detoured into the gutter while I thought of all the dirtiest, sexiest things she could possibly have to show me.
“Cool.” I rapped my knuckles on the counter and told her suggestively, “Bring the puppy. I don’t think I’ll be sending you back to your own place.”
She rolled her dark eyes and flipped her long hair over her shoulder. “Pretty sure of yourself, Rowdy.”
My client was watching me from my station, and I had kept the poor girl waiting long enough. I pushed off the counter and didn’t bother to answer Salem. She knew as well as I did that the two of us alone in a private place was going to end up in nakedness and sexiness, so there was no use in trying to deny it.
My client wanted a massive Claddagh heart and entwined hands on her back with a bunch of intricate roses all along the bottom. It was a huge piece that was going to take multiple sessions. It was a neat design that I was pretty proud of. I just hoped the girl was tough enough to sit through the entire outline, which was bound to take at least four hours.
Since the design covered most of her back, she had to get topless. A situation that could be awkward and a little weird if the client was an exhibitionist or angling for more than just ink from an artist. Luckily this girl was a pro and put her hoodie on backward and settled into the chair like a champ. I told her I appreciated her attitude and the fact she wasn’t trying to flash me.
The girl laughed and told me if she was going to be flashing anyone in the hopes of getting a number, it would be Salem, which had me laughing so hard I had to take a second to collect myself before putting any ink to her waiting skin. Salem turned around from the desk to give us a questioning look, which had me rolling all over again. I winked at her and she scowled at me before she turned back to the client she was talking appointments and designs with.
“She’s really something.” The girl sounded wistful and it made me smile.
“She is.”
“I liked the other one, too. The mouthy blonde, but the new girl seems a little easier to handle.”
I grunted and held my breath as I traced a particularly long line along her ribs. I knew it had to hurt but the girl didn’t even flinch.
“Easier is relative. I think they were kind of hatched from the same egg.”
“She doesn’t happen to like girls, does she?”
God, I hoped not. “Not that I’m aware of.”
The girl hissed out a sharp sound as I put the ink on her spine right at the base of her neck.
“That’s a bummer. She probably likes you. Am I right?”
I paused in what I was doing for a second and looked up to see that Salem was watching me. I grinned at her and saw a hot red flush rush into her cheeks. Busted. At least I wasn’t the only one daydreaming about what it was like when we got na**d and tangled up together.