Love in the Light (Hearts in Darkness, #2)(24)

“Yeah, but that’s not the same as smoking hot.” He arched a brow, and damn if his playfully smug, expectant expression wasn’t hot as hell with his brow piercing and the widow’s peak of his dark hair.

She picked up her fork. “Okay, then how about this? You are so freaking gorgeous and so smoking hot that you make my heart race and my mouth water and my panties melt. Every time I see you. How’s that for a compliment?”

Caden’s smile was slow coming but so damn sexy. “I like tattoo night.”

She laughed and shook her head. “So do I.”





CHAPTER NINE



Heroic Ink was located on the edge of Old Town Alexandria, the oldest part of the town that had started as a port back in colonial times. Located on a quaint street full of boutiques and restaurants, the tattoo studio had a well-known reputation for its expertise in military tattoos of all kinds, which explained all the military memorabilia and photographs of service men and woman tacked in a giant collage to the front of the registration desk.

When they walked in the front door, the blue-haired woman at the desk recognized Caden right away. “Well, hey you,” she said. “It’s been way too long.”

“I know, I know,” Caden said, his hand at the small of Makenna’s back. “Rachel, this is Makenna James. She’s here for Heath.”

“Hi Makenna,” Rachel said, holding out a heavily tattooed hand. “So nice to meet you.”

Makenna smiled and shook Rachel’s hand. The woman was stunning and so cool. With short two-toned blue hair, a nose piercing, and ink everywhere, you could look at her for an hour and not take everything in. And she had such an inviting smile. “Hi Rachel. I’m excited to be here.”

“This is your first one?” she asked, placing a form on a clipboard in front of her.

“Yes.” She grinned at Caden, who was totally watching her as she took everything in.

“Well, let’s get this party started,” Rachel said.

Before long, Makenna was seated backward on a chair, her hair twisted up in a knot on the top of her head, and Heath was applying the stencil to the center of her upper back, just below her neck.

Heath was kind of the quiet type, which probably explained why he and Caden got along. But he could also be funny and wickedly sarcastic, and he was cute besides. He had short brown hair and a full beard and moustache, and lots of ink peaked out beneath his band T-shirt and holey jeans.

Heath handed her a mirror. “Want to check out the placement?”

Makenna walked to the full-length mirror near her chair and looked over her shoulder. Butterflies raced through her belly. The design was beautiful and she loved it, but a part of her couldn’t believe she was having this done. She never would’ve been brave enough to do this without Caden.

She didn’t mind when he walked up to look, because Heath was leaving her little surprise off until he was almost ready to do it.

“What do you think?” she asked Caden as she studied the design in the mirror. Beneath the tree, the roots were made up of the initials M, E, P, I, M, C—for the six members of the James family, including her mother, Erin. “I think it looks perfect.”

“So do I,” he said, his gaze fixed on her skin. “You ready?”

“So ready,” she said.

The kiss he gave her was deep and wet. He whispered in her ear, “I’m already getting turned on thinking about you getting inked.”

Well now she was turned on. “Appetizers after, remember?”

He nodded, his crooked smile bringing one of his dimples out to play.

Heath gave her a few instructions and then his tattoo machine came to life on a low buzz. “Let me know if you need a break. This one’s going to take a little while, so it’s completely fine.” From the corner of her eye, she caught him dipping the tip into a little cup of black ink, and then leaned in, his gloved hand falling on her back.

Makenna bit her lip at the first contact of the needles. It kinda hurt, like something almost sharp scratching you, but it was tolerable. “Not too bad,” she said to Caden, who was sitting in a chair right in front of her.

“There will be more sensitive places, but nothing you can’t handle,” he said, his dark eyes full of a sexy look that was part pride, part satisfaction, and part lust. Appetizers were going to be good.

“How you doing, Makenna?” Heath asked.

“Good,” she said, staring at Caden. “No problem.”

“So Caden said you two met in an elevator,” Heath said, amusement plain in his voice.

“We really did. We were trapped in it for over four hours,” Makenna said, smiling. It was a little weird to talk to someone she couldn’t look at, but she couldn’t move while he was working. “In my office building. I rode it just today.”

“That’s quite a way to meet someone,” Heath said with a chuckle. “How come nothing like that ever happens to me?”

“Maybe you don’t ride enough elevators,” Makenna said.

The tattoo machine pulled away from her skin. Heath laughed. “I guess I don’t,” he finally said, leaning back in.

The needles hit a sensitive spot along her spine that had Makenna grimacing. Originally, she’d been thinking of putting the piece on her shoulder, but when she’d decided on the bigger size, she thought it would look better in the center. Heath had warned her that the central placement meant inking over bone, which could hurt more, and it sure did.