Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Ryan, not taking the hint, lumbers up beside me. “She’s a virgin?” he asks, with a definite flirty undertone. Gabriella smiles, but I see the wariness cloud her eyes. She doesn’t like him making sex jokes.
“It’s her first tattoo.” I try to keep my tone patient, but Gab’s mouth twitches at the corner at my obvious annoyance.
I don’t want to have an argument with Ryan today, but I will if he carries on being an idiot. “This place is cool,” she says, focusing on the huge graffiti mural of brightly colored tattoo imagery, the hot pink sofa, and distressed industrial wood floors. The franchise owner, Carl, has an eye for design that he carries through all Ink Factor tattoo shops. He takes a special interest in our shop because it’s the nearest to the original.
“So, are you ready to work with me on the design?”
“I want what you described,” she says, softly blushing at the memory.
“The sleeping angel?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” I hold my hand out to guide her in the direction of my section. “This way.”
As she walks in front of me, I hear Ryan whistle again and it takes all my strength not to deck him for even thinking about it. I watch Gabriella’s hips sway before catching up so I can show her where to go. She takes a seat on the chair and I grab the materials I need to start the drawing. I have the tattoo clearly in my mind, so I don’t look for inspiration.
“First, you need to sign the consent form. Then I’ll need to take measurements for where it’s going to go,” I say. “Do you want it in the place we discussed?”
“Yes,” she says.
Our eyes meet and the connection between us is a white-hot pulse of energy I feel in my dick. “You’ll need to take off your shorts and lie back.”
Gabriella doesn’t read the form, trusting that it’s okay for her to sign it. Then she begins to unbutton her shorts. It’s odd how weirdly intimate this feels when I’ve seen this girl naked multiple times, but watching her wriggle out of the snug denim is such a turn on I can hardly breathe. She slides off her sandals too and when she lies back on the reclined chair, I inhale a deep breath and hold it, trying to calm the pulse of arousal that builds with every beat of my heart.
Her panties are sweet white cotton with a little pink bow in the middle, something so innocent looking that it feels obscene.
“Can you pull this side up a little?” I ask, and she gradually eases the fabric higher so that her hip is exposed. Her hip and the seam between her gorgeous thigh and other places I can’t stop thinking about.
Shit. This is so damned unprofessional.
I take my paper and lay it over her warm skin, drawing a light ring around the area I have to work with. I try to concentrate on the mechanics of my profession, but it’s so hard when her sweet perfume lingers in the air around us, and I’m so close to places I really want to taste.
I whip the paper away as soon as I’m done, and turn my back, taking a seat on my rolling stool. All my focus goes into trying to create the most beautiful angel I’ve ever drawn. I channel how I feel about Gabriella into the soft downiness of the folded wings that form a blanket around the dainty-framed celestial being. Her nose is just like Gabriella’s, and her lips too. Her hair frames her face the same way Gabriella’s does when she lies next to me in bed. Her hands tuck under her chin in a way that seems almost childlike, and the gauzy cloth of her dress wraps around her slender legs like ribbons.
It’s so pretty. My heart swells with pride. Gabriella remains silent the whole way through, and I feel her eyes resting on my back, waiting.
“What do you think?” I ask, holding it out to her, silently praying she’s going to love it.
She gasps softly, her hand flying to cover her sweet lips. “It’s beautiful, Blake. So beautiful.” She glances up, then down again, biting on her lip. “You’ve made it look a little like me.”
I nod, holding her gaze with an intensity that shifts something inside me. Can she feel how I feel? Does she know how much I want her? I curse the way my mind keeps dragging me to places there is no point in visiting. “Does it?”
She smiles like she believes I’m pretending not to be aware. “Yes, Blake. It does.”
“Well, you are an angel, Gab,” I say. “Are you ready for me to transfer this to your skin?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she says.
She lays back, pulling her panties back again, but that’s not going to work. “Gab, I think you’ll need to take those off.”