Inked Armour

33 TENLEY

Hayden looked up from his station when I entered the shop. “Give me a few. Nate and I are almost done.”

“As in done done?” I leaned over the counter where Lisa was, dropped my purse on the floor, and gave her a one-armed hug.

“You need to check it out,” Lisa said. “Cassie’s going to freak when she sees it.”

As I went to take a peek, Nate put up a hand to stop me, and Hayden batted it down. “I’m shading in her face, you stupid fuck—don’t move.”

“You’re not even working on this arm.”

“Doesn’t matter. You move one appendage, the rest of your upper body shifts.” Hayden’s eyes stayed on the design but he pointed right at me. “You. Stay where you are until I’m finished.”

I took a step back. “Sorry, cupcake.”

The tattoo machine lifted from Nate’s arm as Hayden raised his head to glare at me.

Chris, who had been working on a client of his own, stopped what he was doing. “Did I hear that right? Did Tee just call you ‘cupcake’?”

Lisa stifled a laugh. I went behind the counter and used her as a barricade.

“I thought we agreed you’d keep that to yourself,” Hayden said.

“It was a slip.” Sort of.

“You’d better watch it. No one’s going to be around later to save your ass.” He went back to tattooing Nate’s arm.

“Promises, promises.”

I could see him smiling even though his head was down. His hair had grown out some since the trial ended. It was almost in his face again, as it had been when I’d first met him. I liked it a little longer, so he hadn’t gotten it cut.

He took his time with the last few lines of ink. After he put the machine down, he spent longer than necessary checking it over. “All right. You’re good. I’ll want to have a look at it in a week or two in case it needs a touch-up, but we’re done for now.” Hayden’s satisfaction was evident.

Nate pushed up out of the chair. He was wearing a thin wife-beater; his button-down shirt and tie hung neatly on a hook by Hayden’s station. The first thing I noticed—but tried not to—was the outline of a steel ring at his left pec.

“Is that—”

“A nipple ring?” Lisa finished. “I did that for Cassie’s birthday a few years back.”

“Those two are kinda freaky, aren’t they?”

“You don’t know the half of it.” Her grin said it all.

I held up a hand to stop her. I had no desire to hypothesize about any other metal Nate might have. “And I’m good with that.”

Nate and Hayden had gone to the three-way mirror to check out the finished ink.

“When’s your next session?” Lisa pulled at the neck of my offthe-shoulder shirt, peeking down my back at the mostly finished design.

“I have no idea.”

I’d been in Hayden’s chair four times in the past eight weeks; two more sessions and I’d be done. He was taking his sweet time with the shading because it needed to be perfect, and he still didn’t want to work on me for longer than two hours.

I had a feeling he was prolonging it intentionally. It was the place Hayden felt most comfortable sharing what happened during his appointments with Beatrice, so I wasn’t in a rush to lose the time with him. With only two sessions left, I worried how we would achieve the same connection elsewhere.

Lisa clicked the mouse and pulled up Hayden’s schedule. “How’s next Friday night work for you? He’s got two hours blocked off at the end for no reason I can see.”

“That’ll be two weeks since the last session, which is perfect. He has no reason to say no.” Although he was pretty damn good at coming up with one if he wanted to.

Lisa slotted me in.

“All right, girls. Hayden gives the okay to look,” Nate called out.

He angled his arm to give us an unobstructed view of the art. The likeness to Cassie was remarkable. The pin-up version of her was both demure and sexy.

“It’s gorgeous. Cassie’s going to love it,” Lisa said.

Nate smirked. “I’m banking on that. It’s been a pain in the ass keeping it bandaged so she can’t see it. I woke up twice last week to her sneaking a look in the middle of the night.”

“What a shocker,” Hayden said drily. “Let’s cover that up. No friction for at least a few days, Nate. I don’t want to have a two-hour touch-up session.”

“I’ll tell Cassie to be gentle.”

“Dude, really? Don’t you have a censor?”

“Have you taken Tenley back to see the house yet, or are you just partial to the garage?” Nate needled him.

Hayden turned around, ready to fire off another dig. The color of my face was likely the reason he didn’t.

Nate dropped back into the chair. “By the way, if you were thinking to take Tenley there to see it, tonight or tomorrow would probably be good.”

Hayden raised a brow but didn’t look at Nate. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Nate nodded, watching Hayden smooth the cellophane over the tattoo and secure it with medical tape.

Obviously something was going on, but whatever it was, neither of them seemed inclined to talk about it while Lisa and I were hovering over them. I was glad Hayden and Nate had grown closer over the past months, but I didn’t like not being in the loop.

“So,” Nate said as he pushed his arm carefully through his sleeve, “when is Jamie starting your pin-up?”

“Uh . . . I, uh—we haven’t talked about it—” Hayden stammered.

Lisa coughed to cover an expletive.

“Pin-up?” I asked.

“Oh, shit,” Nate said quietly.

“Would someone care to share?” I crossed my arms over my chest and waited.

Lisa was the one who answered. “Hayden’s been toying with the idea of getting another tattoo for a while. He has a design in mind, but he and Jamie are still working on placement, so nothing’s come of it yet.”

“Why haven’t I seen it?” I asked.

This was the second time I felt that I was missing something since I’d come into the shop. Even Lisa knew about the prospective tattoo.

Hayden rocked back on his heels. “I wanted it to be perfect before I showed it to you.”

“Is it perfect now?”

“Not quite, but I have a copy in my filing cabinet at home. You can have a look later.”

“Sure.” I backed off, aware there was more to this with the way Lisa was twirling the end of her hair and Nate was overly interested in his tie.

Nate tried to pay Hayden, but he refused to take the money. It was after nine by the time Hayden finished cleaning up his station. His first client the next day required one of the private rooms, so he took me with him to set up. I sat down in the tattoo chair and played with the recline lever while Hayden gathered ink and the various implements required for the session.

“So, I was thinking.” He dropped down on the stool beside me. “Maybe you want to go look at the house tonight?”

“So I can see the inside this time?” Cassie hadn’t stopped with the little barbs about that.

“That’s what I had planned.”

“I’d like that.”

“Though if you want to spend a little extra time in the garage, I wouldn’t be opposed.” He rubbed at his bottom lip, trying to hide his smile.

“Of course you wouldn’t.” I grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him closer, and nipped at his lip. “I know you’re keeping something from me.”

He swung one leg over and straddled the chair, facing me. “You are far too clever for your own good. Haven’t you ever heard of a surprise?”

“I don’t like that everyone is in on it but me. I’m supposed to be your person.”

“You are my person.”

He sat down on my thighs, bracing his weight on the backrest. His head dipped down, his teeth skimmed my collarbone. I felt his erection against my stomach. I couldn’t do anything but squirm since he was sitting on my legs.

“Have you ever fucked in here?” I used the profanity on purpose. I’d discovered it turned Hayden on because I used it so rarely.

“No.” He shifted, nudging my legs apart with his knee.

“No?” Every time I was in his chair, I wanted to take off all my clothes and get him inside me.

He shook his head while he settled between my thighs.

“Would you fuck me here?”

He stopped with the kissing and lifted his head to look me straight in the eye. “I don’t fuck you, Tenley. I have sex with you. Sometimes I even make love to you, but we don’t fuck.”

I stared at him in open disbelief. That was completely untrue. On many occasions sheer need had superseded either of our attempts for sweet and gentle. And that didn’t bother me in the slightest.

I was about to call him out on it, but pointing out that he could love me and fuck me at the same time wouldn’t help my current plan. I was horny. He’d been so tired the last couple of nights, he’d passed out on the couch as soon as he got home from work. And my courses and my thesis were demanding a lot of my attention. We hadn’t had sex in days.

“Fine. Will you have sex with me here?”

“Right now?” his voice cracked.

“We could lock the door.”

“No.” His grip on the backrest tightened. “Not with Chris and Jamie and Lisa in the next room.”

“If we were all alone, would you then?” I ran my hands down his back and slid them under the waist of his jeans. He was commando.

His forehead dropped against my shoulder. “Fuck, Tenley. Why are you pulling this shit now?” His voice was muffled by my hair.

“Because you’re awake and coherent and not at risk of falling asleep on me. It’s been days. I miss you.”

He lifted his head and frowned. “How long?”

“Too long,” I said, working to control my frustration. My nails dug into his ass and his muscles flexed under my fingers. I missed more than just the sex, though. I missed the feel of his body, the way he enveloped me, consumed me. I missed the connection we shared when he was inside me, both physically and emotionally. I craved it. Needed it.

I could see him backtracking through time in his head, trying to remember the last time we had sex. His expression changed from doubtful to penitent. “Let me show you the house first; then I’ll make up for neglecting you.”

With a wicked grin, he unhooked my legs from his waist and pushed out of the chair. Holding out a hand, he helped me up and pulled me close. “Just so you know, I’ve wanted to do you in that chair ever since I put the cupcake on you. So be prepared for me to follow through on that as soon as I have the chance.”

When we arrived at the house, several sets of tire tracks were in the snow on the driveway. “It looks like someone’s been here recently,” I observed.

“We decided to start renovations early.”

He hit a button on the windshield visor and the garage door trundled open. Hayden parked inside and we got out of the car.

“It’s warm in here,” I said.

“The floors are heated. I didn’t know that last time.”

He flashed a sheepish grin and crossed over to a set of stairs leading to a door. He grabbed my hand and led me into the house, flicking on lights as we walked down a short, recently painted hall. More lights came on when we reached another doorway. This one opened into an expanse of open space.

I surveyed the state-of-the-art kitchen. “I thought you said this place needed to be renovated.”

“It did.”

“How much work did it need?” I kicked off my shoes so I wouldn’t scuff the hardwood.

“Enough.”

I glanced at him. He was chewing on his lip, even though the viper bites were gone. He only did that when he was anxious or interested in sex.

“Come on”—he pulled me forward—“there’s more to see.”

I bit my tongue against the other questions I wanted to ask; such as, why was this the first I’d heard about the “early start” to the project? The main floor was open concept with nine-foot ceilings, painted in neutral tones. A formal dining space was carved out beyond the kitchen, with an ornate chandelier. The living room was massive, with clean lines and pale walls. It reminded me of Hayden’s condo, except three times the size, with architectural embellishments.

When we finished the tour of the main floor, Hayden took me upstairs. There were four bedrooms. He saved the master for last: vaulted ceilings, huge floor-to-ceiling windows, and even a reading nook.

“This is incredible.” I walked around the perimeter. Like every other room, the walls were neutral. These were a soft, pale gray.

“When did you start all this?”

“Mid-January.”

I spun around. “You’ve been keeping this from me for two months?”

“Nate suggested we get started on the interior, so all that would be left in the spring was landscaping and exterior painting. I needed a distraction from the trial. And I wanted to surprise you.”

“Why?”

“I funded all of the renovations. I want to buy Nate out.”

“I thought you were going to flip it.”

He was so nervous; his eyes kept darting away. “That was the original plan.”

“Why did the plan change?”

“You don’t like the house?” He looked almost hurt. I was getting more confused by the minute.

“Of course I like it. It’s beautiful. I just don’t understand when you changed your mind, and why I’m only hearing about it now.”

He looked up at the beautiful ceiling medallion. “I like the layout of the house, and this room. It’s a lot of space for one person, though.” He pushed away from the door and took a couple of steps toward me. “It’s a little closer to Northwestern, too.”

My heart did a little leap. “That’s true.”

“The house should be ready within the next few weeks.” He tucked my hair behind my ear. “It might not feel like too much space if there were two people living here. And TK, of course.”

“Are you asking me to move in with you?” I was almost positive I had to be misunderstanding him.

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Is it too soon to be asking?”

“I don’t know if I can be as tidy as you.”

He smiled. “I wouldn’t expect you to be.”

“I’d try, though,” I said, unable to contain my excitement.

“This house is huge. You can have a room where you leave shit lying all over the place, if you want.” He hooked a finger in my belt loop and pulled me closer.

“Don’t promise something like that if you can’t follow through,” I teased.

“You can keep the door closed. I’ll never see it.”

“That might work.” I laughed and looked around the bedroom, imagining it as ours. The magnitude of what he’d done started to sink in. All the late nights and the passing out on the couch had been because of this. He’d been doing this for us.

His arm wound around my waist. “So you’ll move in here with me?”

“I pretty much live with you already.”

“But you still have the apartment.”

“I haven’t slept there in months.” I rose up on my toes to kiss him. “I’ll give Cassie my notice tomorrow.”