Walking out to the lobby, I look down the list of appointments and get the number that I’m searching for, before calling it and leaving a message for the client.

“Ace, if my client comes in, tell her I made a mistake and I need to reschedule. Don’t send her back to my room, alright?”

Ace nods. “Sure, man. I’ll be out here for the next fifteen minutes or so. I got your back.”

When I reenter my room, Tripp is lying shirtless with only her bra and shorts on. Is this woman trying to kill me? First she wants me to mark her sweet body and now she’s laying there shirtless, waiting on me.

She is by far the sexiest, most tempting thing to ever be in that tattoo chair.

“I heard you tell Ace about your rescheduled appointment.” She sits up, breathing heavily. “We don’t have to do this today.”

Walking over to her, I press my hand on her shoulder and gently lay her back down. I try my hardest not to stare too hard at her breasts, but her body is too beautiful not to look at.

“I always make time for you over anyone else. It’s always been that way and it’s not changing anytime soon.”

A sweet smile crosses her face as she takes a deep breath and exhales. “You’re too good to me, Alex. I promise you that.” I can hear the nervousness in her voice, but her face is doing pretty good at hiding it. I give her credit, but like I said, she can’t fool me.

“So I can give you anything that I want,” I ask while getting prepared. “Are you sure about that? I’ll give you a few seconds to rethink that decision,” I say with a hint of a smile.

“I’m not changing my mind, Alex. I’ve seen everything that you have drawn and I would be happy with any of it.”

She hasn’t seen all of it. There was a picture that my mom used to paint for me as a kid. I was obsessed with it, so she used to paint it on all of my letters. It’s simple, but so was she. My mother was the sweetest woman I knew, and when she got sick she would write both Memphis and I a letter every month until the day the cancer took her from us. Memphis finally got all of his letters a few months ago, when I felt he was ready for them. I didn’t want to throw them at him fresh out of prison and overwhelm him. His had a special painting too.

“You want it right here?” I run a finger over the side of her ribcage, causing her to close her eyes and moan.

“No,” she breathes. Grabbing my hand, she brings it under her right breast. “Right here.”

Yup . . . she’s definitely trying to kill me.

Taking a seat in my chair, I pull it up until I’m right where I need to be. I get ready to reach for the bottom of her bra to lift it a little, but she sits up and unclasps her bra, catching it before it exposes her breasts.

“Would it be easier without this?” She watches me, waiting for an answer. “You’ve already seen my breasts, so this will be no different. I want it as easy for you as possible.” She lets out a small laugh. “Especially since I’m kind of barging in here.”

Reaching for her bra strap, I slowly pull it down and away from her right breast. My dick instantly gets hard as my eyes set on her hard nipple. This is going to be the hardest tattoo I’ve ever had to do.

“Yeah,” I say with a crack of my neck, working hard to cover my want to sink back between her sweet thighs. “This gives me more room to work with. Get comfortable, Firecracker. You’re trusting me so . . .”

I flash my dimples at her when she smiles up at me and relaxes in her seat, then I slip on my gloves and prepare the gun and ink.

While holding my breath, I cup her breast in my hand and lift it enough to get right underneath where I place the first star. I’m trying my best to concentrate, but I can see her watching my face as I work, and it makes me extremely horny. She’s studying me, concentrating on her, and it makes me want to focus on pleasing her body and making her mine . . . again.

I do my best to focus on the trail of stars, making it harder when I notice her eyes lower down to my hard dick. She doesn’t know that I’m watching her, but for the spot that I’m doing, I can afford to pull my eyes away for a few seconds.

From the corner of my eye I notice her legs tremble as she tries to keep them closed. “Alex . . .”

“Yeah,” I breathe. “What’s up, babe?”

“Does this have any kind of an effect on you right now?” She sits up as I pull the gun away from her flesh. “Every time I feel your hand slightly squeeze my breast to move it I get a throbbing sensation between my legs, and then I start thinking about last night. Is it only me? I don’t know . . . I’m stupid.” She quickly reaches for her shirt and holds it up to cover her breasts as my eyes search hers.

“You don’t think I want to fuck you . . . that I haven’t thought about setting this tattoo gun down, locking the door, and stripping you the rest of the way out of those little shorts?” I tug on my hair in frustration. “Dammit, Tripp. I want to do things to your body right now and leave my mark on you so badly that I can’t even fucking think straight. I want to bury myself deep between those thighs and ruin you for any other man.”

Fuck . . . I wasn’t expecting all that shit to come out of my mouth. This is bad. So fucking bad.

“I’ve been thinking about being inside you since you left my room last night, Tripp. I’m trying my best to keep it together for both of our sakes. Trust me on that.”

“Alex . . .” Tripp scrambles to her feet, breathing heavily, almost falling into the chair. “Maybe we should continue this tattoo a different day.” She swallows hard and tries her hardest to keep her eyes away from the crotch of my jeans. “Maybe we both just need a few days to cool down. Last night is too fresh for both of us.”

“Come here, babe.” She walks over to me without hesitation and I instantly pull her into my arms and press my lips against the top of her head. “We can finish the rest next week.” I pull away and look down at her. “I never want to make you feel uncomfortable. I’m not going anywhere. The tattoo can wait.”

All I managed to get done so far was four stars. Even left alone, it doesn’t look out of place and unfinished. She’s right. Last night is too fresh in both of our minds and this tattoo might just push us both enough to forget everything we can lose.

“Thanks,” she says sweetly. “You’re too good, Alex. You don’t see it most of the time, but you’re going to make some lucky girl happy one day.”