Razed (Barnes Brothers #2)(12)
Keelie’s mismatched eyes glinted with amusement. “A day off. He takes two days off a week now. He made Abby start doing the same thing.”
“I didn’t think Zach knew what a day off was.”
“He didn’t.” Javi smirked, folding his arms over his chest. “He used to have a day off scheduled but ninety percent of the time? He ended up here anyway. Not now. He’s like some old married dude. That ball and chain wants some of his time.”
Keelie jabbed a finger in Javi’s gut as she walked by. “I don’t know who you should be more worried about—Zach, if he hears you calling Abby a ball and chain, or Abby.”
Javi puffed out his chest. “Ain’t like I’m worried.”
“Uh-huh. And when was the last time you called Aida a ball and chain?” She slid her eyes back over to Zane. Her eyes drove him crazy—they always had, but it was worse now, because he knew how they looked when they were fogged with heat. One brown eye, the color of dark chocolate, the other a pale, icy blue. Those eyes gleamed with humor, and there was an echo of a smile on her face as she looked back at Zane. “Did Zach know you were coming by?”
From the span of a few heartbeats, his mind went blank.
Then he kick-started himself back into gear and shrugged. “I told him I’d be in sometime this week or next. He had a project he wanted me to help with.”
Keelie’s head tilted, her eyes narrowing. “Oh. Yeah. You’re helping jazz up the website, do a better portfolio.” Then she wrinkled her nose. “Of course, a fifth grader with a camera and Flickr could build a better portfolio than we have now.”
“Be nice, Keelie.” Javi sighed.
“I am being nice. Otherwise I would talk about how Zach was a freaking moron to actually pay for that hack job.” She shrugged, her gaze skittering back to Zane before bouncing away.
“You’re nicer than I am. I told him he was a f*cking idiot.” Zane tapped the folder he held against his leg. “He was supposed to get some information together for me. Mind if I check his office? I had an estimate, some screenshots that I printed out of what we can do in the timeframe he had in mind.”
“If he’s pushing too fast, ignore him. I’ll handle it. But yeah, go on in.” Keelie nodded toward his office. “I’m leaving, but Javi will be around until closing time. If you want to poke around in Zach’s office and see if you can find whatever, go ahead. You might be better off just calling him and asking him where it is. When it comes to that sort of thing, he rarely thinks to tell me shit. If you let me know ahead of time when you need something, I’ll make sure to have it ready.”
But then I can’t surprise you when I come in, he thought. Instead of saying that, he just nodded.
“Okay. I’m heading out in a minute.” She turned around and headed down the hall.
He made a valiant effort not to eye her ass, but damn. The skin-skimming jeans she had on made it hard. Instead of the sleeveless shirts or fishnet tops paired with tanks that she normally wore, she had on a lightweight red sweater, and her skin, soft and pale, glowed against it. He’d caught another glimpse of the elegant tattoos along her collarbone and he wanted, so very badly, to peel that soft red sweater away and press his mouth to each one. To learn those slight curves and go to his knees—
“You going to go see if you can find whatever?”
“Yeah.” He glanced at Javi. The man had a faint smile on his face.
Zane felt a dull red flush creeping up his cheeks and he headed down the hall before Javi could say anything. The last thing he needed was for Javi to run his mouth to Zach.
Zane was still trying to get things moving with Keelie. He didn’t need his brother getting in the way.
*
It wasn’t hard to find what he needed. Zach had been a disorganized mess growing up, but running his own business had forced him to learn some manner of order. Zane found the list of clients and the pictures he’d hoped to use in a file marked Z, along with roughed out notes of what they’d talked about for the online portfolio Zach wanted.
He took the file and left the disk in its place along with a sticky note.
Here are a few ideas for you and Keelie to go over. Filled it in with pics of you or Javi, since that’s all I had to work with, but you’ll get the idea. If both of you like it, we can build from here.
Some of Zach’s tattoos had been done before he opened Steel Ink, but the designs were his own. He’d been drawing for as long as either of them could remember and he’d come up with the designs that had later been inked onto his flesh. But quite a few of the tattoos on Zach had been done by Javi or one of the artists here. If Zach could find a way to tattoo himself, he’d probably do it.
Zane folded the list of names and tucked it into his pocket, hitting the main area of the tattoo parlor about the same time as Keelie. Trying not to look at her, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent Zach a text. Took the file. In town a few days—maybe we can grab lunch tomorrow and go over some of the ideas I have in mind. Later. He sent it and kept his focus on the door ahead, painfully aware of Keelie, that pretty red sweater, the scent of her flooding his head.
“You in town long?” she asked.
He jerked a shoulder. “A couple of days.”
He lingered. Because he’d lied. He hadn’t come to Tucson just to see Zach. He could have handled most of this online, set up the new site, emailed the templates, gone over things with Zach and Keelie in a conference call.