Chapter 38 - Very Attractive #3
"You're enjoying this now."
"A little."
Asshole.
So yes, I kept asking.
Adrian kept saying no.
By the time Friday ended, I'd made absolutely no progress.
The weekend came.
And I got my tattoo.
The vampire wings Adrian had chosen now sat high across my upper back, just below the base of my neck.
Two dark wings spreading toward my shoulder blades.
Exactly where I'd wanted them.
Exactly the design he'd picked.
Monday morning, I went to work.
Adrian called me into his office.
He was sitting behind his desk, working on his computer when I walked in.
"You needed me?"
He nodded toward the other table by the window.
"Check those samples."
I walked over.
Several material samples were spread across the table.
I picked up the first one and started comparing it against the specifications beside it.
For a few minutes, neither of us spoke.
Then-
"Did you get it?"
I looked over my shoulder.
"What?"
"The tattoo."
Oh.
"Yes."
Adrian stopped typing.
Then he stood.
I turned back toward the samples.
I heard him come around the desk.
His footsteps stopped behind me.
Close.
Closer than necessary.
I waited.
He didn't say anything.
Then I felt his fingers touch my hair.
My breath caught.
Adrian gathered it slowly from the back of my neck.
Not all at once.
His fingers slipped beneath the strands, brushing lightly against my skin as he drew my hair to one side.
The touch was barely there.
Somehow that made it worse.
His fingertips traced accidentally-or maybe not-across the base of my neck before he settled my hair over my shoulder.
I went completely still.
Adrian didn't step away.
I could feel him behind me.
Close enough that suddenly I was very aware of the part of my back I'd chosen to tattoo.
And the fact that I'd chosen a place I couldn't show him without exposing it.
Except I hadn't shown him.
He had.
My hair was resting over one shoulder now.
His hand was gone.
But the warmth of his fingers wasn't.
Neither of us spoke.
I didn't turn around.
I wasn't entirely sure I should.
Then his fingers touched my hair again.
Just once.
He moved one loose strand that had fallen back across the edge of the wing.
His knuckles brushed the side of my neck.
Slowly.
Carefully.
And this time there was absolutely no reason for my heart to react the way it did.
But it did.
Adrian went quiet behind me.
Looking at the tattoo he'd chosen.
On me.
"How is it?" I asked.
My voice came out quieter than I'd intended.
He didn't answer immediately.
I could feel his eyes on my back.
Then-
"Very attractive."
Oh.
I turned my head slightly.
That was not the answer I'd expected.
Nice.
Maybe It looks good.
Possibly even I like it.
Those were Adrian answers.
Very attractive was-
Something else.
"Really?"
"Yes."
His voice was calm.
Mine was considerably less reliable.
"Thanks."
Adrian's eyes stayed on the tattoo another moment.
Then-
"Why vampire wings?"
I smiled.
"Because I'm obsessed with vampires."
"I didn't know that."
"You don't know everything about me."
"I know."
"What?"
"I know everything about you."
I looked at him.
"You know nothing, Jon Snow."
Adrian didn't even hesitate.
"I know everything, Ygritte."
I stared at him.
Then I smiled.
"Okay. That was good."
His mouth twitched.
I looked at him for another second.
Actually-
I narrowed my eyes.
Adrian noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"What?"
"I've just realized something."
His expression became suspicious.
"What?"
"You'd make an excellent vampire."
"No."
"Yes."
"I wouldn't."
"You absolutely would."
"Based on what?"
I started counting.
"Dark clothes. Brooding. Terrible personality."
"My personality has nothing to do with vampires."
"Emotionally unavailable."
"Angelica."
"Intimidates everyone around him."
"Stop."
"Lives in an absurdly expensive home."
"A penthouse isn't a castle."
"Same energy."
"It isn't."
"Deep blue eyes."
"What does that have to do with vampires?"
"Nothing. They're just annoyingly pretty."
Silence.
Oh.
That had escaped.
Adrian looked at me.
I looked at him.
Well.
Too late now.
I cleared my throat.
"Anyway."
His mouth moved.
Just slightly.
"You forgot immortal," he said.
"Unfortunately, I have no evidence of that yet."
"Give it time."
I laughed.
Then Adrian looked behind me again.
At the wings.
"You've wanted this for a while?"
"The tattoo?"
"Yes."
"Yeah."
"And you chose the placement."
"Yes."
"But I chose the design."
I looked at him.
There was something almost smug in his face.
"Oh, don't get proud of yourself."
"I didn't say anything."
"You're thinking it."
"You can't know what I'm thinking."
"I absolutely can."
"No, you can't."
"You're thinking, Angelica Stone permanently tattooed something I chose onto her body."
Adrian went quiet.
Oh.
When phrased like that-
That sounded considerably more intimate than I'd intended.
I stared at him.
He stared at me.
Then his eyes moved briefly toward the tattoo again.
"Well," he said.
Oh, no.
"Don't."
"I did choose it."
"Adrian."
"Permanently."
"I swear to God."
His mouth finally curved.
I grabbed the nearest material sample and held it toward him.
"Do you want me to check these or not?"
"Yes."
"Then go away."
"This is my office."
"Then go over there."
He actually listened.
Adrian went back toward his desk.
I turned toward the samples again.
My hair was still over one shoulder.
I reached up to move it back.
Then stopped.
For absolutely no sensible reason-
I left it where Adrian had put it.