“Lucia? You ready?”
That voice. Sensations race across my skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake.
Spinning around, I lock eyes with my pale silver-blue-eyed kidnapper hero who detonated my world with a single kiss. My breath catches at the sight of him. A dark gray shirt forms against his muscular chest, the sleeves gripping his biceps tightly. Well-worn, dark-washed jeans with small rips along the thighs hang from his hips and cover most of his brown boots.
The edges of his lips—the very ones I still feel when I think about the kiss—tic. A mixture of disbelief and elation rests in his gaze but doesn’t show on his stoic handsome face. If I’m affecting him like he is me, he hides it well.
Without a word, he tips his chin for us to follow. I’m drowning in nerves. I want to leave, but curiosity fueled by desire has me falling in step behind Lucia. The black and white checkered floor lines the entire room, which is divided into sections, squared off by four-foot-tall corrugated metal walls like a tattoo cubicle world.
My heart hammers behind my rib cage, our gazes connecting as he pushes a rolling chair in my direction and tells Lucia to hop onto the black leather chair that looks like it could be from a dentist. The air is thick as he puts on a pair of black gloves, grabs the drawing, and begins to discuss it with Lucia. He doesn’t acknowledge me when he transfers it onto her arm or as he gets everything ready and starts.
In contrast to Lucia, who has a smile playing on her lips as she watches him work, the buzz sends my anxiety rupturing out of my pores. I’m hot with sweat beginning to build on my skin. This isn’t therapeutic. This is my personal hell.
Ash. My kidnapper hero finally has a name, and truth be told, it’s just as unique and sexy as he is. It fits him.
He’s concentrating, deeply focused as he works on Lucia’s arm. The muscles in his jaw occasionally flex and his tongue peeks out and swipes across his bottom lip. He warms my body as I remember the way he kissed me with passion and fervor, his tongue demanding mine.
I close my eyes, inhaling a deep breath to force those thoughts out of my mind. It’s bad enough it plays on repeat every night, but right now, I don’t need to think like that about a man who kisses strangers. Who the hell knows what else he’s done. I bet he’s a heartbreaker, promising and fulfilling different women different days of the week.
Twenty minutes in, he breaks the silence. “Did you leave him?” He doesn’t even look up.
My heart slaps my chest.
Lucia’s brows raise. “Do what?”
Shit.
Ash lifts his head, wiping her arm. “Talking about her.” His gaze lands on me. “Did you leave the cheating boyfriend?” He drops his head as he asks.
Lucia looks back and forth.
“I did,” I say.
“Over dinner?”
“The phone when I got back to the office.”
I see the moment Lucia pieces it together. Her eyes snap wide, her mouth drops with a smile. “The gorgeous stranger hero who kissed you?”
Oh my god. Mortification fires across my expression and I bug my eyes at her silently asking what the fuck?
Ash, on the other hand, doesn’t even look up as a smile creeps across his lips. “Gorgeous, huh?”
The heat of a thousand suns runs rampant through me. “She’s putting words into my mouth,” I lie with the silent promise of killing Lucia the moment we leave here.
An older man covered in tattoos saves me, interrupting the path of the destructive flames. “You want lunch?” An unlit cigarette bounces on his lips.
“Nah. I’m good. After this, I’ve got a stretch before the next appointment. I’ll grab something then.” Ash’s concentration never wavers from Lucia’s arm.
The man smiles at Lucia and me before pushing off the railing and disappearing toward the front.
Moments later, “I’m taking Del. We’ll be back soon,” he shouts across the shop.
“Yep,” Ash grunts and falls back into silence allowing the buzz to batter my nerves. “You never gave me your name.”
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, so I saw no point.”
Lucia studies me before she opens her mouth. “You got her into some hot water. The asshole had the nerve to show up at our place the next day and accuse her of cheating added with some flavorful name-calling.”
“Yeah?” It warrants a quick glance to me as he wipes the area. “You tell him to fuck off?”
Lucia’s laugh saturates the little area. “Kenlyn would never say something like that. The girl doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.”
See? I’m not the only one who knows this.
“Just because I’m not mean doesn’t mean I can’t fend for myself.”
Truth is, hostility scares me. Physical fights are petrifying. I absolutely hate how discomforting a confrontation makes me feel, but if it’s called for, I face it head on. Normally politely.
“I told you he would accuse me of cheating,” I add.
“With substandard men,” Lucia tacks on with an eye roll and a titter. “It’s his go-to. Blames everyone else in order to take the heat off him. Like the time you found those texts. You shouldn’t have looked at his phone when it went off. Unbelievable.”
“Regardless, I’m not a cheater and hate being labeled as one.”
Ash’s gaze meets mine. “He say who the chick was?”
“A client.”
He blows a chuckle, shaking his head as he goes back to tattooing. Thankfully, the topic is dropped and I’m out of the hot seat of shame, allowing me to keep my wounded pride tucked away and sparing my self-esteem. I may not have loved Jason, but I did care for him although it wasn’t good enough for him to try and be faithful. I knew it was only a matter of time before he’d leave. They always do.
Ash finishes the tattoo and goes over the after-care instructions as he bandages it up. My legs itch to run the hell out of here, far away from the man I can’t shake from my memory and shouldn’t want. He’d use me and leave my heart out to dry. It’s all in the vibe he gives off and I want nothing to do with that, no matter what my body says.
As Lucia pays, I put as much distance between him and me and scan over the awful doodle tats again.
“Let me take you to lunch.” My heart sinks when I hear him ask Lucia. He’s definitely more her type, and even though I wouldn’t take him up on a date, knowing he kissed me but didn’t ask me? It’s just another laceration to my self-esteem.
“Kenlyn.” Lucia gets my attention and I spin around to two sets of eyes.
Ash looks to me expectantly.
Oh…
“Oh. Um. We… We already have plans.” I scramble.
Either Lucia doesn’t take the hint or she’s blatantly ignoring the hell out of it. “You can join us if you’d like.”
Remind me to tell her she’s become a horribly shitty best friend.
Ash stares at me. A sexy smirk plays on his too perfect lips. It makes me want to do stupid things like agree to a lunch date. He’s hot—like make a smart girl promptly stupid hot—and it shoots off red flares into a star-filled night sky. With looks and confidence like that, he’s probably got a line of women throwing themselves at his feet begging to suck him off and he knows it.