Chapter Two
Hazel
“What is he doing here?” I hissed, but my attention was quickly averted to watching the way the muscles rippled beneath the short sleeves of Reid’s shirt in a way that should not have had me salivating and wanting to take a picture so I could sketch it later.
I never expected to be the kind of girl who got off from observing some arm porn. But I realized how wrong I was as I watched, hypnotized, as the tendons in his forearms flexed and shifted. Reid was currently across the room holding up one end of the divider screen, so Hudson could attach the support feet, his back flexing while he tried to hold it steady.
“He’s helping with set up. Hudson asked him to come get everything ready for tonight. Then I think they’re going to drink beer with the cooks and guard the doors.”
“Reid’s not doing the event, is he?” I asked, shifting uncomfortably as my hands began to sweat. There was no way I could go through with this if she asked him too.
“I hope not,” Charley joked, her expression sobering when she realized I wasn’t. “No. He’s not. I mean, I asked him, but Hudson vetoed it. He’s not sure Reid would take it seriously.”
“Because if he’s doing it, I’m out. There’s no way I can do it if I’m worried every guy I’m talking to is him.” And because I’d recognize his voice and then over-analyze every word that came out of my mouth, which would make me too flustered to talk to anyone else.
Which was another reason I had to go through with the plan. I needed to stop crushing on Reid and find someone who could help with my problem. I was tired of scratching my own itches. I wanted a big, hard, thick…
“Calm down. You’re going to do fine. Just be your charming self and you won’t have any issues.”
“Why do people always say that? I’m not charming, Char. I’m not you. You give off sex vibes with your witty banter and I just give off desperate feral cat lady vibes.”
“You’re allergic to cats, Haz.”
“Great, just add sneezing to my lack of vibe and none of these guys are going to be interested.”
“Did you take your meds today? You’re a little extra right now.”
“Yes,” I hissed, wanting her to keep her voice down. No one was here yet, but I didn’t need her broadcasting it. “I even made sure my alarm was set, so I took it on time.”
“Then you’ll be fine. Just relax. I have a good feeling about this. The whole anonymity element will help you stay calm, and you’ll be texting your little heart out for the next two weeks before you meet your Prince Charming.”
“I’d just be happy if he’s not a frog.”
“I think you’re mixing your fairy tales, but no frogs in the bunch, I swear.”
I wasn’t so sure I believed her. There was always a catch. And if someone could embarrass themselves during a blind date, I could. Even through a barrier.
“Just go change into something that makes you feel sexy and confident. Then come back down and wait in Hudson’s office. Once the other women start to show up, I’ll come get you.”
Nodding, I took a deep breath and escaped into the kitchen. If I was going to survive tonight, I needed some emotional support potatoes.
Tater tots made everything better.
“You in here hiding?”
I visibly startled at the unexpected voice coming through the open door, instinctively flipping my sketch pad over so he couldn’t see what I’d been drawing. At least I’d thought ahead and left my penis study sketchbook upstairs. Not that I knew what his penis looked like up close…even if I desperately wanted to.
“No,” I replied, busying myself by lining Hudson’s pens up by color on his desk. Maybe if I avoided looking at him, I could keep my blush at bay. “Just doing some line work while I’m waiting for Charley to come get me.”
He sat down in the chair across from the desk, extending one long arm in my direction with his palm up. “Lemme see.”
“Absolutely not,” I stuttered, grabbing the pad, and holding it to my chest.
“Oh, come on, Haz. It can’t be that bad. I want to see what you’ve been working on. It seems like you’re permanently attached to your iPad when you’re not working the pass.”
“I was just practicing some shading.” On the forearms I drew as soon as I sat down in this chair. Forearms I was trying not to stare at in person, although it wasn’t working as my eyes zeroed in on the way Reid’s currently flexed.
“Then let me see.”
“It’s not as good as what you do, but I’ve been taking some workshops on creating depth with shading. I still feel like I have a long way to go as far as skill level—and it’s hard to get the right brush set calibrated with my stylus—but my sketches haven’t looked as flat lately. It’s really helped with my rendering.”
“I’ve had a bit more practice than you,” he laughed, leaning forward so he could snag the edge of my notebook with his fingers. They brushed the bare skin of my collarbone, and I shuddered, my traitorous cheeks beginning to heat at his accidental touch.
He pulled the notebook into his lap, his eyes scanning the page. Without looking up, he extended a hand toward me. “Pencil.”
“What? No. You’re just going to show off and make me feel inferior.”
“Haz, all I’m going to do is show you how to vary the crosshatch and how hard you press with the pencil to create a more realistic shade along the edge. Drawing skin is hard, but you’ve done a great job so far.”
My blush deepened at his praise, and I reluctantly handed over my pencil. He studied the barrel, the teeth marks in the middle drawing his attention. His eyes flashed to mine with a knowing look, and I glanced away.
“Don’t judge me. Sometimes I need something in my mouth. The wood… The pencil wood . I put it in my mouth, so I don’t lose it. Every time I set one down, it suddenly disappears.”
Or I don’t remember where I put it down and spend more time trying to find it than I should, and then I get distracted and forget what I was looking for in the first place.
Reid’s lips quirked at the side in amusement, and I opened my mouth to clarify, but he nodded, interrupting me. “I do the same thing sometimes. All my pen caps have marks in the middle from my teeth.”
I’d like to have marks on my middle from your teeth.
But what I really said was, “Nice to know it’s a common trait in artists to identify as a beaver.”
He cracked up laughing and my eyes widened as I realized what I said.
“Love beavers, but I identify more with the wood they gnaw on.”
“Sounds painful,” I giggled. Again, I pushed down the impulse to think about Reid’s wood. It was hard. Cue random giggles that had him smiling in a way that made my stomach twist and my wayward vagin…
Nevermind .
I stopped the thoughts of Reid and being hard in the same context from taking over.
“You gonna share what’s making you giggle with the class?” he asked, turning his attention to my sketchbook. His nimble fingers cradled my pencil as it danced across the page. “Why are you drawing arms, anyway? Is this for one of your figure drawing commissions?”
“No…not exactly.” There was no way in hell I was telling him that the arm he had been refining was his own. “Just a self-development exercise. Never hurts to practice drawing something that catches your attention.”
“And forearms catch your attention?” he asked before the tip of his tongue traced along his top lip.
“Sometimes.” I glanced toward the door, hoping Charley would show up and rescue me from this conversation.
“Any reason?”
The words escaped my mouth before I could let my faulty brain to mouth filter take a crack at them. “Because they’re sexy.”
“I can think of sexier things,” he murmured, his gaze briefly flitting to mine before it returned to the paper.
“Like what?” I’d always wondered what someone like Reid found sexy.
“Eyelashes. The way they flutter when a woman is aroused. How they make their eyes look when they glance up at me through them.”
“Mm hmm,” I hummed, swallowing hard; my gaze suddenly focused on my hands. I felt his eyes on me, but I couldn’t look at him. One flutter of my eyelashes and he’d know I was aroused around him.
“That little dip above a woman’s collarbone, and the way she squirms when I ghost my lips across it.”
My mouth went dry, all the moisture pooling in other places as he cleared his throat. I looked up, noticing the way he shifted in the chair, widening his legs .
“The curve of a woman’s hip. It’s one of my favorite places to ink. So feminine and soft, but also strong.”
Goosebumps prickled my skin as his sensuous voice dropped, and I drew in a shaky breath as his gaze lifted to meet mine.
“Have you ever wanted any ink, Haz?”
Clearing my throat, I decided to tease him, or I would have confessed all the places I wanted his big hands to trace my skin. The places I wanted him to mark me. “What makes you think I don’t have any?”
“You better be fucking joking, Haz. If you’ve let someone else touch that pristine skin, I’m going to…”
“Going to what, Reid?” Charley asked, leaning against the doorframe. My cheeks flamed as I looked toward my best friend, her eyes flitting between the man who sat on the other side of the desk and me.
“Tell them to back the fuck off,” he growled, and my eyes widened, my nipples a lost cause against the material attempting to conceal them. “If anyone is touching Hazel’s skin with a needle, it’s me.”
“What if Hazel wants someone else to touch her?” Leave it to Charley to draw even more attention to the fact I was thirsty for my brother’s best friend. So…damn…thirsty…
“Then they’re going to have to go through me first. There’s no way in fucking hell I’m letting someone else be her first.”
My face was fully red, and my breaths came in shallow pants as I tried not to melt into a puddle and slide right off Hudson’s desk chair and onto the floor. I knew he was talking about tattooing me, but I would have literally given my right tit to have Reid be my first.
“Hmm,” Charley hummed, trying not to laugh as she glanced over at my reddened cheeks. That bitch knew exactly what she was doing. “Then let’s hope none of the bachelors tonight know their way around marking up virginal skin.”
I was going to fucking kill her. She was dead .
“Hazel’s a smart girl,” he murmured, turning toward me with a smile. “She knows who to come to when she’s ready for her first.”
Fuck me .
“Alright, fuck boy, get out of here. Hudson is waiting for you in the breakroom. Just try not to clear him out this time…and no more poker with real money. I’m tired of listening to him whine after you guys convince him to go all in and he loses it.”
“Not my fault your boy is quick on the trigger,” Reid laughed as he stood from the chair and tucked my pencil above his ear.
“You going to give it to me, Reid?” I asked, reaching for my sketchbook. Charley’s snicker from the door confirmed she’d taken that innocent comment somewhere dirty, and I tried to tamp down the urge to blush again as Reid turned to face me.
“I’ll give you whatever you want, Haz,” he responded, his voice low and his gaze lingering on the low neckline of my dress. I reached for the pad again and fought off a shiver when my fingers grazed his. My eyes followed his hand as it fell to his side, his thumb hooking into his pocket. The pocket right next to his…
“You can keep the penis,” I whispered, my eyes widening when I realized what I’d said to him. “THE PENCIL! Keep the pencil. Okay, bye.”
Charley laughed hysterically as I sprinted toward the door, passing her and yanking open the door to the ladies’ bathroom. I needed to just drown myself in a shallow bar bathroom sink before I said anything else embarrassing.
It was going to be a long night.