“So tonight’s the night?” Chris asked.
It hadn’t taken long for him to get over things. I’d used a case of his favorite beer to apologize for challenging him to a throw down. It had helped smooth things over.
“Huh?” I looked up. He and Jamie were both watching me.
“You’re starting Tenley’s tattoo.” Jamie answered for him.
“That’s the plan.”
“Do you know the story behind the design?” Chris asked, crossing the room to look at the updated version.
Tenley hadn’t said anything about it since our conversation last Wednesday, and I hadn’t pressed for information. In truth, I didn’t want to hear something that might make me want to renege. I had no intention of disappointing her.
“You know how it is. Once they’re in the chair, they usually open up. I’m sure Tenley will be no different,” I said, assuming indifference. She had promised to tell me more about her scars. Maybe she would offer insight during the session.
“You’ve been with her every night for the past week,” Jamie pointed out. “You’d think she would have said something by now.”
“What?” Chris wore one of those brain-melting expressions. He looked from Jamie to me. “What’s Jamie talking about? You’ve been with Tenley every night? As in with her, with her? Like breaking the rule with her?”
“We’ve been hanging out. It wasn’t like I kept it a secret.” I shot Jamie a look. I hadn’t sought to publicize the information because I could have predicted Chris’s reaction.
“But, but . . .” Chris stammered.
“Lisa said she was in some kind of accident.” Jamie deflected away from the finer details of hanging out. Not that I would share them with Chris. I didn’t need him imagining Tenley naked. Just thinking about it inspired unreasonable violence.
“What kind of accident?” Chris asked.
“She has some scars.” This topic wasn’t any better than the previous one.
“Scars? Where?” Chris kept injecting himself back into the conversation.
“What are you, a fucking parrot?”
He didn’t have an opportunity to devise a clever comeback because two girls walked in.
“Asshole.” He jumped out of his chair to greet them.
Tenley showed up a few minutes later. I steered her directly to the private room so we could avoid Chris’s curious glances.
“Hi,” I said, shoving my hands in my pockets because I didn’t know what else to do with them.
“Hi.” She took a step toward me, then stopped, like she didn’t know what to do, either. We were quite the pair.
“How are you feeling?”
“Okay. Good. Excited. Nervous.” She wrung her hands.
I closed the distance and pulled her into a hug. Her arms came around my back, her cheek pressed against my chest. I rested my chin on top of her head. We could have stood there like that for hours and I wouldn’t have minded in the least.
“Right after this I’ll start acting professional,” I said.
“Because you were so professional the last time you had me in your chair.”
“I wasn’t at all, was I?”
“No.” She frowned. “I hope you’re not like that with all your clients.”
“Definitely not.” I leaned down to kiss her.
She resisted at first, like she had honest concerns it was a possibility.
“Look at me,” I said softly. When she did, I could see her fear. That was why it was a bad idea to get involved with a client; it made her more vulnerable. “I promise you’re the only one.”
When I kissed her, all the tension melted away. I only stopped because Lisa rapped on the door with her emergency knock.
I dropped one last chaste kiss on Tenley’s lips. “Yeah?” I called over my shoulder.
Lisa poked her head in. “I’m getting coffees, either of you want one?”
So much for an emergency.
“I’m okay,” Tenley replied.
“You sure? I’m getting one.” I pulled out my wallet and passed Lisa a twenty. “Tenley likes those caramel latte things.”
“I don’t need the caffeine.”
“Make it a decaf,” I said to Lisa, “and I want the usual.”
“Sure. Nice lip gloss, by the way. The sparkles really accent the viper bites.” She winked at Tenley and pulled the door closed behind her.
I rubbed at my mouth with the back of my hand. It came away glittering. “Fuck.”
“Not anytime soon,” Tenley mumbled.
“It’s only a week, but we can postpone the tattoo if that’s a problem for you.” I almost hoped she took me up on the offer.
“I’ll survive.”
I rubbed the rest of the lip gloss off on my shirt and flipped open her folder. “So I tweaked the design a little more.”