Chapter 19
TANIA
Brian is acting very strange tonight. Mr. Grumpy Grizzly Bear keeps looking at me and smiling like he has some secret and it’s driving me nuts.
His cousin just left for the evening after seeing a few clients, so it’s him and me working back here.
He’s been working on a huge back tattoo for most of the evening, and I try to focus on the simple butterfly I’m tattooing on the woman in my chair.
She’s getting it on her hip, and that can be an especially painful area with the bone and a whole lot of nerve endings.
So I’m concentrating on being as gentle as I can and making sure my lines are perfect.
I hear Molly greeting someone, and Brian casts another glance at me, this time with a smile bigger than I’ve ever seen on him.
I’m just finishing a little shading in the wings and try not to think much of what that smile means as I clean and bandage the woman’s fresh ink.
I’ll ask him once my attention isn’t focused on my client.
When I bring her out front to get her checked out and give her the care instructions, my heart almost stops.
There’s Carlo, smiling hugely at me and holding a bouquet of pink and white hibiscus flowers and roses.
Goddamn it, he and Brian were in cahoots.
Now all of the smiles make sense. Molly checks out my client and gives her the care instructions, shooing me away to go over to Carlo with her own knowing smile.
He winks as he hands me the bouquet, leaning in to kiss my forehead. I shake my head in disbelief at him, huffing out a laugh. I’m smiling like an idiot when I lock eyes with him.
“You sat there all through the surprise date day you planned and dinner keeping this surprise from me? Impressive. I would have folded so fast.” His grin goes almost wicked.
“Sweetheart, I’ve had this planned since you told me you’d be willing to tattoo me soon.
I talked to Brian about it and he loved the idea of having me come in and you working on me for experience.
” I look back with a playful glare at Brian, who just came in from the back, presumably to take a breather and give his client one too.
He shrugs like it’s no big deal that he and my boyfriend planned this.
“What? You need people to work on and he’s willing. Seems ideal to me,” he rumbles with a twinkle in his eye. Molly has stars in her eyes herself as she ambles over to stand with Brian. These two are like the most lovable and meddling aunt and uncle. She swats Brian affectionately on the arm.
“You’re such a romantic softie underneath that gruff exterior, my love,” she coos to him, giving him a squeeze. Every part of his face not covered by his bushy beard goes adorably crimson.
“What can I say, I’m happy for them,” he mumbles, all self conscious.
Molly kisses his cheek and goes back to the desk while he returns to the back to keep working on his client with a final wink at us.
Carlo seems deeply amused by the whole exchange, his shoulders shaking with restrained laughter when I look up at him.
“You really want me to tattoo you?” I ask quietly.
“I’d love for you to,” he replies, his gaze going a little heated, like the thought of me tattooing him does him in.
“What if I mess it up and it looks ridiculous with all of your other gorgeous ones?”
“You won’t mess it up. It’s an easy flower that you could probably do in your sleep.” My breath hitches, because I think I know where this is going.
“What flower?” He leans in and brushes the shell of my ear with his lips before answering in a whisper.
“A hibiscus of course,” he breathes as he smiles against my ear. I had a feeling that would be his answer, but my eyes still widen as my body heats all over.
“You want to add my favorite flower to your sleeve?”
“I do,” he says firmly. I have the immediate vision of him saying that in another setting entirely, looking scrumptious in a tux, and what the hell is going on with me?
I’ve never really thought of myself as the marrying kind, because I’m too broken, so why is the thought of him saying “I do” like that making me have a visceral reaction?
We’re nowhere near ready for that discussion yet, it’s way too soon.
I shake my head a little, both to get the vision out of my head for now and at his tattoo choice.
“You want me to tattoo my favorite flower onto your sleeve dedicated to the women in your life?” I repeat incredulously. “After being together for such a short time? I’m not sure that’s a great idea.” His fingers come under my chin to keep my eyes on him.
“Listen to me. No matter what happens romantically, you’re incredibly important to me.
I want that reminder of how you’ve become such a huge part of my life.
No initial in the middle, that can get added later if you want.
You absolutely don’t have to do it if it’s too much too soon, but I’m completely solid in this decision.
” His face is so open and sincere, and it makes me melt.
The lizard part of my brain starts to warm to the idea.
It loves the thought of him having a permanent reminder of me inked onto his skin, because I know I never want to forget him, no matter what happens.
I relish the fact that he essentially wants me to claim him.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, just tattoo him, honey.
You’re both obviously gaga for each other,” Molly says from her desk in her willowy rasp.
Shit, I completely forgot she was there.
My cheeks heat knowing that she heard all of that, but I keep my eyes on Carlo.
Carlo has a bemused expression now as if to say, “she’s right, we are gaga for each other. ” I sigh playfully.
“Okay. If worse comes to worst, you can always get it removed.”
“That isn’t happening,” he growls, bringing me in for a quick kiss. I giggle against his lips before I pull away.
“Sit tight for a minute then, ok? I need to put these flowers in water and clean my station after my last client.” Giving his arm a squeeze, I head into the back to sterilize everything and wipe everything down to get ready for him.
I find a plastic storage bin that can work as a temporary vase and get the bouquet into it with water.
Then I sit with Carlo in the waiting area to get all of the particulars about what he wants.
He shows me exactly where on the sleeve he wants it added.
It’s right below and to the right of the flower he has for Anita, in the middle of his bicep.
I mock up a drawing of a hibiscus to get his approval on the look and size before I print it out for the transfer.
Nerves and excitement are vibrating through me as I bring him back to my chair, his hand interlaced with mine as he takes a seat.
His eyes are a brand on me, searing with their heat before I reluctantly pull away to wash my hands, shave and clean the area, transfer the drawing onto it, and put on my gloves.
Then I take a deep breath, and we’re ready to start.
When I turn the machine on, I let the humming noise focus me as I start on the outline.
We’re both quiet while I work. I’m all too aware of the warmth of Carlo’s skin, even through my gloves.
I can smell his spiced body wash with my face so close to his arm.
His breathing is even, and he has not flinched at all as the tattoo takes shape under my hand.
Risking a glance up at him while I quickly wipe his arm, I see his eyes already on me with the biggest and proudest smile on his face.
I give him a wink that makes his gaze heat, and I feel that heat like a caress over my entire body.
It takes all of my concentration to finish the outline after that, but I manage.
Brian is still finishing up the back tattoo, but I can tell he’s keeping an eye on me and double checking that I’m ok with this.
I clean up the last of the excess ink and drops of blood from the outline and inspect my work.
It’s a really freaking pretty hibiscus, and it fits in well with the collection of other flowers.
It’s not quite the same aesthetic, but it harmonizes with the rest of them, like a new picture getting woven into an older tapestry.
It’s a fitting parallel for how Carlo has brought me into the fold of his family and finding that I harmonize well with them, even though I’ve been raised so differently.
I smile to myself, at the thought of the girls night his sisters and Lyra invited me to, at the piece of me now tattooed on Carlo’s arm, and at how my life has gone lately.
“What’s got you smiling like that, sweetheart?” Carlo’s amused voice breaks through my reverie, almost making me jolt since he’s been so quiet for about half an hour.
“I finished the outline, what do you think?” I ask him as I turn off the machine so I can switch inks. He sits up a little straighter to get a good look at his arm, and his smile could light up a city. My heart leaps in return.
“It’s absolutely perfect,” he says in a low, reverent voice.
“I still have to fill in and shade a little, but it’s almost done,” I tell him.
He bends down to quickly kiss my shoulder through my shirt.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Brian’s client get up, and hear Brian giving him instructions in his low rumble.
He tells him to go up front to start checking out before coming over to me, peering at my work.
“Looks really good, kid,” he says, and the approval warms me right through.
“Thanks. You all done for the night?”
“Yeah, you finish up, I’m going to do some admin work with Molly up front. We’ll all leave together when you’re done.”
“Sounds good,” I tell him with a smile. He thumps my shoulder and heads up front, leaving me alone with Carlo.