29. Harrison
TWENTY-NINE
Harrison
“I’m hitting the road, boss.” Shane drummed his hands on my chair. “Wanna grab a drink or anything?”
“Nah, not this time. I’m staying late tonight. I have a special client.”
Since getting back from Greece three weeks ago, I had started to make more of an effort with Shane. We’d been working side by side for years, and he’d invited me to hang out on a number of occasions. I used to turn him down with ease every time. Now, I’d realized that I hadn’t really been ‘keeping a tight inner circle’ like I’d told myself all this time. Instead, I had been pushing anyone and everyone away. It wasn’t healthy. Besides, I liked Shane.
“Look at us, two fully booked Saturdays in a row. Must be the new website.” He winked at me.
“Must be,” I said.
The old, clunky site had finally had its much-needed facelift, thanks to Lila. I had tried to tell her that I’d figure it out myself, that I didn’t want her putting too much on her plate again, but she wouldn’t hear of it. Almost as soon as we got back, she’d insisted I bring my laptop to her house so she could overhaul the site. She’d said that even back before the trip, when she was still pissed at me, the website had been keeping her up at night.
The bell above the door chimed and I couldn’t keep the grin off my face watching Lila walk into my shop. She had on jeans and a cream sweater with multi color threads woven through it that made it look like a Funfetti cake. It was hard to imagine there had ever been a time where her brightly colored clothes irritated me. Now I found them endearing as hell.
“Hey,” she said, tugging at her sleeves and looking absolutely fucking adorable.
“Hey.” I got up and walked over in a few strides to scoop her into my arms.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t our savior.” Shane smiled at her as he shouldered on his coat.
“Please,” she said, blushing. “Your work is what brings people in. I just made it easier to access.”
I squeezed her shoulders. “Don’t be modest.”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay fine. I saved you.”
My grin widened as I dipped down to plant a kiss on her lips. Damn, it felt good to do that. Despite both of our busy schedules, Lila and I had managed to spend nearly every free minute together the past few weeks. Much to Oliver’s dismay. He had even tried—successfully—to crash our dates on several occasions. But even though it ate into his time with either of us, no one was more thrilled we were together than he was.
“Getting a tattoo today?” Shane asked.
“My first.” She shot me a nervous smile, and my chest puffed out with pride that she trusted me enough to ask me to do this.
“It’s gonna look great.” Shane walked toward the door, smacking my shoulder on his way out. “Your boyfriend is the best in the business.”
“Oh, we’re not—I mean he’s not—I mean...” Lila’s cheeks grew even redder as she stumbled over her words.
My eyebrows drew together. “We’re not what?”
“I mean, we just haven’t talked about it.” She twisted a piece of her hair in her hands.
Shane chuckled and threw me a wave goodbye. “I think that’s my cue to leave.”
The door shut behind him, allowing me to focus all of my attention on the woman in front of me, the one with whom I was completely enamored in every way.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring that up in front of him.” She groaned and held her forehead.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
I froze, watching her gather herself. It was moments like these where I wished I was better at all this. For my sake, sure, but mostly for hers. I hated the thought that I confused her in any way. Especially when to me, my feelings for her couldn’t be clearer.
She sighed. “I don’t want you to feel any pressure. Labels are pointless. I’m so happy with how things are going.”
I paused, not fully understanding what she meant. “Labels are pointless,” I repeated. Did she not think of me as her boyfriend? Because I had referred to her as my girlfriend numerous times, to my parents and to my coworkers. Was that not right? I had just assumed...
“Right. I’m just happy with you. With us.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “We can worry about all the other stuff later.”
“Shit. This is embarrassing.” I blew out a breath and scratched the back of my head. “I definitely thought you were my girlfriend.”
Her eyes widened. “You did?”
“Yep.” I watched her carefully, but it only took a second for a smile to creep across her lips.
She tossed her head back and laughed. “Why didn’t you say anything? I’ve been wondering when you were going to ask me for, like, two weeks.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked, appalled that I had been so dense. I hadn’t even realized these sorts of things required a conversation.
She laughed harder. “I didn’t want to scare you off. I knew we were exclusive. That was enough for me.”
“Look at me,” I said sternly, tipping her chin up to meet my gaze. “Nothing you could do would scare me off, alright?”
She nodded, and I dipped my head down to steal a quick kiss.
“If forcibly sharing a room together in a foreign country and getting dragged to every touristy destination known to man didn’t scare me off, nothing will.”
She smirked and shook her head. “You loved it.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Now, Lila. I know I’m already the worst boyfriend in the world, but I’m hoping you’ll be able to look past this oversight.”
She bit her lip and waited for me to continue.
“Will you be my girlfriend?”
“Yes.” She tightened her hold around me. “And, FYI, you are far from the worst boyfriend in the world.”
My heart genuinely felt like it might explode from happiness.
An hour later, Lila sat in my chair, her forearm laid out on the armrest, palm facing up toward the ceiling. With one hand, I gently pulled her skin taut, with the other I carefully used my tattoo gun to trace over the simple black design I’d drawn for her.
Tattooing had never felt intimate like this before. I guess nothing I had done before had felt intimate, not like it did with Lila. I couldn’t believe that for all these years, I had no idea what I was missing.
When I was finished, I wiped off the excess ink and had her stand so she could look at it in the mirror. Her smile widened as she took it in from every angle.
“It’s perfect,” she said, looking up at me like I’d hung the stars. I could be with her forever and still never feel worthy of that look.
I admired the new piece, a simple black line drawing of a chrysanthemum. It was my new favorite piece, given the arm that it was attached to. When I’d asked Lila why she wanted that flower, she’d said it was her mother’s favorite. Growing up, she’d always told Lila they were the best because not only were they beautiful, but they lasted longer than most other flowers after they’d been cut. It was something that had always stuck with her, and now chrysanthemums were her favorite too. She liked their resiliency.
It fit her perfectly.
Part of me wondered if she’d be upset if I got the same tattoo, somewhere small on my own arm.
For her.