Eyebrow arched, he gave her a skeptical look. “There has to be something.”
Makenna thought about it for a long moment, then took a few seconds to breathe through another sensitive patch of skin. “Um, then, I would’ve wanted my mother to have lived longer so I could’ve known her. But then, honestly, if she had lived I wonder if my relationship with my father would’ve been as close. I would hate to lose that. Do I get to ask that one back?” She didn’t want to put him on the spot in front of Heath, but he’d asked the question and had to know she’d want to ask it of him, too. That was how they’d played this game in the elevator that night, the game that had helped bring them so close together.
He gave a tight nod and waved a hand at himself. “I’d get rid of the anxiety and the claustrophobia and all that bullshit.”
“I get that,” she said, hating that he wanted to change anything about himself when she loved him so much just as he was. She didn’t want perfect, she just wanted him. In all his gorgeous, funny, considerate, and sometimes angsty glory. “But you do realize, if you hadn’t been claustrophobic the day we met, you might not have asked me to talk to you in that elevator. You might not have needed my help, and then we might not have gotten to know each other.”
He tilted his head, his eyes narrowing in a way that brought out the harshness in that utterly masculine face. Finally, he gave her another nod. “Fair enough. Your turn.”
Wanting to lighten the mood, she thought of something funny to ask. “What’s your favorite line from The Princess Bride?” She was already smiling as some of her favorites came to mind. Funny movies of all kinds was their thing.
Caden grinned. “When Vizzini says, ‘Inconceivable!’ And Montoya says, ‘You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.’ Oh, or maybe when Vizzini says, ‘Stop rhyming and I mean it,’ and Fezzik replies—”
“Anybody want a peanut?” all three of them said in unison. The needle pulled away from her skin and they all laughed.
“There are too many good ones in that movie,” Heath said.
“It’s true,” Makenna said, her cheeks hurting from smiling. “I like the priest who pronounces ‘marriage’ as ‘mawage,’ and of course the classic, ‘My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father—”
“Prepare to die,” they all said again to more laughter.
The questions went on for a long while. They talked about silly stuff like favorite ice cream flavor, what they’d eat for their last meal, and what other countries they’d want to visit, since neither of them had ever been outside the States. They asked about more serious stuff like what job they’d want if they couldn’t do their current one and what the top items on their bucket lists were. As always, the conversation was fun and engaging, animated and moving. They’d always given great talk.
“I’m about two-thirds done,” Heath said. “Let’s take a little break.”
“Okay,” Makenna said, standing up to stretch. She was tempted to look in the mirror, but she really wanted to wait to see the finished tattoo.
Caden stepped to her side as if to look.
She whirled away. “You get to see when I get to see—when it’s done,” she said, not knowing if Heath had added the part Caden didn’t know about.
“So it’s like that, is it?” he asked with a smirk.
“It’s exactly like that.” She gave him some smirk right back.
“You’re doing great, you know,” he said. “It’s a big tattoo for your first time.”
She checked to make sure Heath wasn’t right behind her, and then said. “I like it big. You should know this.”
The smile he gave her said he wanted to devour her. “Is it time for appetizers yet?”
“Ready to wrap this up?” Heath said, sitting down on his rolling stool again.
“Definitely,” Makenna said, taking her seat. “And for the record, Caden, it’s almost time.”
*
Caden had really enjoyed sharing this experience with Makenna, and he was still kinda blown away by the fact that she wanted to do it in the first place. He knew that she really liked his tattoos, but she’d told him that she’d always been afraid they would hurt. And here she’d barely reacted the whole time.
He wasn’t surprised, though. Makenna was soft and sweet, but she could also be tough when she needed to be—like when she was calling him on his bullshit, or like how she was so well adjusted about the death of her mother.
“There,” Heath said after a while. “All done.”
The smile Makenna wore absolutely owned Caden. It really did.
“Can I see it now?” she asked. Heath handed her the mirror, and she walked kinda backward toward the full-length. “I get to see it first,” she said, grinning at him and sticking out her tongue. For a long moment, she studied herself, moving the hand-held mirror this way and that, and then her eyes went glassy. “I really love it,” she said. “Heath, you are so talented. It’s amazing.” Her joy was palpable, and it lit Caden up inside.