As everyone settled back into their conversations, I leaned against Nick and stared into his sexy eyes. “Thank you,” I said, my lips brushing his. “Oh, and I really want you inside me.”
Kissing me gently, Nick smiled as if I was already under him, begging for more.
Chapter Twenty Six - Nick
Kentucky Tattoos was where I came to make Dragon come alive. Aaron created magic and I considered him a friend. Like most of my friends, I didn’t actually hang out with him. Maybe I would now that I had Bailey.
“Glad you called,” Aaron said from behind the counter. “Been slow this week. With parents’ weekend coming up, everyone is faking like they’re saints.”
“Well, I don’t have that to worry about.”
“What are you looking to do?” Aaron asked as we walked into his workroom.
“Nothing too complicated,” I said, displaying my wrist. “I want Bailey’s name on my wrist.”
Aaron exhaled slowly. “Are you sure? The Johanssons don’t play when it comes having their women’s names on their wrists. It’s forever shit for them. That’s how I knew Cooper wasn’t fucking around with Farah.”
“Bailey’s mine, but I can’t find a way to make her truly believe. When I try, it feels like just words. I know her name on my wrist is a word too, but maybe it’s one that she’ll know means forever.”
“Fair enough. Just know once the Johansson boys see her name on your wrist, it’s like you’ve gotten on one knee and proposed. Trust me that Bailey and Jodi will be talking wedding dates behind your back. If you lose interest or cheat or break it off, it’s not going down softly. The shit will hit the fan.”
“The only way Bailey gets rid of me is to put me in the ground.”
Aaron grinned. “Hell, if everyone ain’t falling hard in Ellsberg these days.”
I sat in the chair while he prepared his tools. “How is Lark?”
Aaron smiled, but his eyes lost a little of their joy. “The happy version is she’s loving being pregnant. Bed rest is fun because she has people serving her. Everything is peachy.”
“And the real answer.”
“She just turned twenty and is carrying twins. We’ve been married less than a year and Lark can’t do anything more strenuous than move from the bed to the couch and back. Our idea of a fun evening is me bringing home barbecue for dinner. It’s the only time she gets to pig out now that she needs to eat healthy crap to keep her blood pressure down.”
“Would you do something different?”
Aaron sighed. “No, but it can feel like too much too soon. I worried until one day while I was golfing with my parents.”
“Golfing?” I asked, giving him a look.
“I golf. Sue me.”
When I just grinned, Aaron continued, “My mom said going through all these trials in the beginning of the marriage was best. Then we’d always look back at this time and know we’d make it. Besides, the babies will be born by the end of the year and we’ll be faced with a whole new ball of crazy.”
“No regrets though?”
“If I’d change one thing, I couldn’t know what I might lose in the process, you know? Life doesn’t always give us more than one shot at happiness.”
“I wasn’t really ready for Bailey,” I blurted out. “Maybe I never would have been ready. I keep feeling like I need more time to change for her.”
“Waiting isn’t always the way, Nick. I had a cousin. Smart chick with her life planned out. When she was twenty five, the guy she was dating proposed. She loved him and they were happy, but she turned him down. They’d been together since college and she wanted to make sure she wasn’t settling. I saw her a few years ago and she was with a guy and thinking about marriage. After a few drinks, she admitted how the first guy was the one, but she lost track of him over the years and didn’t know if he found anyone else. A part of her wanted to wait to see if fate would bring them together again. Another part said to settle with this new guy, but she would always know he was her second choice.”
Aaron took my wrist and ran his fingers over the pulse. “I didn’t have any advice for her, of course. I was a sixteen year old guy who didn’t know shit. Still, I remembered what she said when I watched her walk down the aisle. I keep it in mind whenever I think about how fast everything happened with Lark. Like slower sounds better. Fun dating for a while then a few years married without kids. All that stuff sounds easy, but life doesn’t work that way. You get a shot at happiness and you need to grab it. Forget about schedules and being scared. Some people get lucky and life gives them plenty of chances, but most people are one and done. Screw up your one shot and you’ll regret it forever.”
“It’s why I’m getting this tattoo. If Bailey and I don’t work out, I’ll still want her name on my wrist,” I said then exhaled hard. “I have a ton of marks on my body. Reminders of fucked up times. Even the dragon comes from something ugly in my life. Bailey though is a beautiful part and I never want to forget.”