CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Fallon
“YOU PAINTED THE CEILING,” I SAID, STARING UP AT THE MURAL I knew Kye had drawn.
He’d clicked up the heat as he sketched out my tattoo, and as self-conscious as I could sometimes be, I felt none of that now as I lay on the bed in his office.
Because it was Kye. There was no need to cover myself or hide a damn thing from him.
Kye’s mouth curved—the uneven smile I loved. “Figured if people would be staring up at that ceiling for hours, I might as well make it beautiful.”
“It’s more than beautiful,” I whispered as he put the finishing touches on his station and donned some black gloves. “It’s enchanting.”
It looked like a haunting maze of flowers and vines, with different items peeking through. You could stare at it for days and probably still discover new things.
Kye held up a stencil. “Last chance for changes or to bail.”
I shook my head. “I’m ready.”
“All right. Need you standing.”
I swung myself up to standing, the bed hitting the backs of my thighs as I waited.
Kye set the paper on his rolling tray, folded a piece of paper towel, and wet it with something from a spray bottle. “First, just a little alcohol. It’ll be cold.”
I nodded, and he swiped it down my sternum and over the sides of my breasts. My nipples instantly pebbled.
“Hope this is proof of how much I love you that I’m willing to tattoo you with a hard-on.”
A laugh bubbled out of me as he tossed the paper towel. “Sorry?”
He bent over and kissed me quickly. “You should be.”
Kye lifted a disposable razor—the kind that came in jumbo packs. “I’ll shave the area just to get any fine hairs that could get in the way of the process. That okay?”
My breaths came just a little quicker. “Sure.”
Kye met my eyes. “You’re in control. You want me to stop at any time, just say the word. There’s no rush. We don’t have to get this done all in one sitting.”
I exhaled, trying to let go of my nerves. I knew he was right, but I wanted his mark on my skin, the tattoo that had taken root in my mind. Something that was Kye and me. “I’m ready.”
The razor danced across my skin in featherlight strokes that felt like the kiss of fingertips. “One more alcohol application,” Kye said roughly. “Then some numbing gel that will also help the stencil take.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off Kye as he worked. Everything about him was hypnotizing—his care and his skill, not to mention how intently he focused on each step. He gently laid the stencil between my breasts and then pressed it down along my sternum.
My mouth went dry as he smoothed the paper with a crooked finger to make sure the stencil took to my skin properly.
Each little flick of his fingers had that invisible cord inside me spinning tighter, but I didn’t take my eyes off Kyler, taking in the bend of his jaw as he focused, the flicker in his cheek, the way the amber tones in his irises shifted and changed.
He gently pulled back the stencil and backed up a bit to take it in. Tossing it into the trash, he reached for my hips, guiding me over two steps so I could take in our reflection in the full-length mirror he had propped against the wall. My breath caught.
There was something about this, me bare from the waist up, Kye looking at me, pure reverence in his gaze. I wanted to memorize everything about it. Burn it into my brain forever.
“Make sure you like the placement,” Kye rasped.
He’d taken my body and turned it into art.
The word haven was done in a decorative script that felt like a mix of the two of us—bold in some places, delicate in others.
The dogwood flowers looked just like the ones he had inked on his own chest, but I knew mine would have pops of pale pink.
And the sparrows dancing around the blooms would match the one Kye had inked behind his ear, but in colors that were my favorites, as well.
“I …” The right words weren’t coming. “I feel beautiful.”
“Sparrow,” Kye whispered.
My gaze shot to his. “I love it. Love you.”
“More than words.”
“I’m ready,” I said softly.
Kye nodded, his hands going to my hips again, but this time, he lifted me as though I weighed nothing and laid me on the bed. He hovered over me, his lips ghosting over mine as he pulled off his gloves. “A goddamned gift.”
My mouth curved as he straightened, tossing the used gloves and putting on fresh ones. Then he reached for his tattoo machine. “I’m starting with a fine tip to complete the outline. We don’t want the stencil to disappear before I can get those inked. But just keep checking in with me, okay?”
I swallowed hard and gripped the edge of the bed.
Something about needles had always freaked me out.
I knew it was more than the needles themselves, though.
It was the fact that I’d woken up in the hospital at ten years old with all sorts of them poking into me and a concussion, only to find out that my brother and dad were dead.
And Cope was badly injured. A deer in the road had changed everything for our family.
Kye curved his pinky around mine. “I’m right here.”
“Tell me what it feels like.”
“Like a deep cat scratch. It’ll be the most painful when I’m going over a spot again and again. But after a while, a sort of haze will set in. Some people even think it feels good.”
I squeezed his pinky. “Make me art, Kyler.”
“My goddamned pleasure, Sparrow.”
The first prick of the needle detonated a battle inside me. It took everything for me not to jump. But Kye was right there, talking me through each step.
“You’re doing great. How does it feel on the pain scale? Zero to ten.”
“Four, maybe. It’s not bad,” I admitted.
My heart was slowing, dipping back into its normal rhythms.
“We’re almost done with the outline. It looks stunning. Your skin is the best canvas I’ve ever worked on. You take ink like a dream.”
My mouth curved at that. “I think you’re biased about my skin.”
Kye pulled the tattoo machine away and bent to kiss the side of my breast opposite where he was tattooing. “Damn straight.”
I laughed as he switched out the tip and poured new ink. There were more colors now. Because Kye was setting me aflame.
I lost myself in the feel of it all, the worst of the pain fading. I was starting to feel the hum Kye had talked about. The endorphin rush and high. It felt heady, the buzz of the machine, the prick of the needle. But more so the feeling of Kyler’s hands dancing over me, using me as his canvas.
I slipped into a haze where space and time didn’t exist; there was only us. And before long. Kye was pulling back. He set down his tattoo machine and slid closer to me. “Best work I’ve ever done.”
He gently slathered some ointment over the fresh ink before snapping off his gloves and holding up a handheld mirror. “My Sparrow in all her colors.”
My breath caught as I took in the image. If I thought I’d felt beautiful before, it had nothing on this. The way the ink curved around my breasts and became a part of me. “I’ve never loved something more.”
His smile turned gentle as he wrapped my tattoo in clear plastic. “There’s nothing like seeing my ink on you. My mark. Etched into your skin for all eternity.”
My thighs pressed together in search of relief from the pressure that had been building the past several hours.
“Sparrow …” Kye warned. “You keep pressing those pretty little thighs together, we’re gonna have problems.”
My eyes flared, and I could feel them sparking with heat. “Maybe I want us to have problems.”
Answering heat flashed in Kye’s eyes, making them dance with gold flecks. “You sure about that? Because I want to taste what having my hands and needles on you has done.”
“Please,” I breathed, my chest rising and falling.
Kye stood, walking to the end of the tattoo bed and bringing his stool with him, but his gaze never left me. “You’re going to have to be good. Lie perfectly still as I eat you. Because you can’t mess up my perfect canvas.”
My breaths came quicker now, not from panic like earlier but pure need.
That amber gaze never strayed as Kye pulled off one boot and then the other. Removed one sock at a time. They all hit the floor, the boots’ thump echoing in the room above the strains of classic rock.
He slid his hands up my legs, eyes still locked on my face. And then he cupped me through my jeans. His eyes closed as he breathed deeply. “Sparrow, you’re burning up. Could scar a man. But I’ll wear those brands with pride.”
I soaked in the feel of his palm and rocked my hips, searching for more. Sparks danced through me at the friction, and I knew I could come from this alone. My body felt like someone had been laying tripwires beneath my skin all day. One spark, and I would detonate.
Kye opened his eyes, and they were pure gold now. Pure need. “Tell me I can taste you.”
My breath hitched, but there was only one word I could give him. “Yes.”
His hand left the apex of my thighs, and deft fingers unfastened the button of my jeans.
My mouth went dry as Kye pulled the zipper down.
I swore I could hear every tine unfasten, even above the guitar riffs and lyrical refrains of the music in the shop.
And I felt them, too—tiny vibrations echoing through me.
“On three, I want you to lift those hips, Sparrow. Careful not to move that beautiful chest too much.”
“Okay,” I said on an exhale.
Kye’s fingers hooked in the band of my jeans and lacy underwear that matched my bra. “One …” I braced. “Two …” My muscles tensed. “Three.”
I lifted my hips, and Kye pulled my jeans down my legs in one swift motion, taking my underwear with them.
As he tossed them to the floor, he stared down at me, gaze flicking over every inch of my body as if he were painting it in his mind.
“Could watch you forever. Never gonna get tired of memorizing every dip and curve. The way the lines blend and flare. Most beautiful work of art on this Earth and beyond.”
“Kyler,” I whispered.
He kicked the stool forward and sat, then lowered it and himself. My thighs pressed together on instinct.
“Don’t,” he growled, his fingers looping around my calves.
“Don’t hide from me. My favorite gift is you showing me everything.
Your fire and your fear. Your tender heart and your fierce protective streak.
Your body and your soul. And if you think I don’t want to memorize that pretty pussy in every incarnation, you’re dead wrong. ”
My breaths tripped over each other, trying to escape my lungs.
“Tell me I can see you, Sparrow. Every inch. I’m not above begging.”
Slowly, I unclenched my thighs.
Kye sucked in air. “Fucking beautiful. You aching?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
“Gonna help you through that.” With one swift tug, Kye pulled me down the bed. He slung my legs over his shoulders so he was at eye level with the most vulnerable part of me. “Fucking perfect. Already weeping. My girl loves her ink.”
I let out a soft laugh. “Feel like I might get addicted. Especially if it ends this way.”
“I think that could be arranged.” Kye ran his nose along my inner thigh, making me shiver in the best way. His fingers slid through my folds, teasing and toying, making every part of me stand at attention.
Kye’s tongue flicked out, circling my clit, and then let loose a soft groan. “Tastes like freedom.” Another lash of his tongue against that bundle of nerves. “Like breathing easy.” His tongue swirled this time. “Like everything I’ve ever wanted.”
My hands gripped the sides of the bed as Kye slid two fingers inside me. He glided them in and out, then circled in the way I’d guided his hand our first night together. The man didn’t miss a trick.
But then he added a new move. As he circled, he curled those fingers inside me, dragging them down my walls. My mouth fell open, and I let out a sound somewhere between a mewl and a moan.
Kye hummed against my clit, sending a whole different wave of sensations through me. Then he circled his tongue, quicker moves that had my walls fluttering.
“Kyler.”
He groaned against that bundle of nerves and then sucked deep, his tongue both teasing and demanding. Kye added a third finger, making my back bow.
“Still,” he ordered. “Let me take care of you.”
I bit the inside of my cheek but nodded. His fingers started up again. Pumping in and out, swirling and dragging. The movements were completely unpredictable, and they set me aflame.
I held on to the bed with everything I had as Kye’s lips closed around my clit. As his tongue pressed down, I couldn’t hold back anymore.
I broke. Fire and ice flooded me. Everything in me seized, contracting almost painfully before exploding out as if all I was fractured and then rearranged into something I’d never been before.
Kye rode every wave and shudder with me, dragging them out and making them last longer than I thought possible. Until I had nothing left to give.
My chest heaved as I opened my eyes. And all I saw was Kye’s creation on the ceiling. He was everywhere. All around me, inside me, part of me.
He slowly pulled his fingers from me and licked them clean. “Goddamn, I could get used to this, Sparrow.”
I grinned down at him. “I think I just became an ink addict.”