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Laying his machine on the bed, Isaac pulled out of his crouched position on the floor and sat next to her as he pulled off his gloves. Kate had worried about the gloves being more waste in the room since Isaac would need many pairs. But, in the end, safety won out, and they chalked up gloves as being a necessary evil, like condoms.
As soon as he cupped her neck, she closed her eyes. “Do you feel it?” she whispered.
“My magic? Yes. I think it’s one of the reasons I love putting my hand on your neck; I can feel your life’s essence.”
“Not just that,” she said quietly, not wanting to intrude too harshly onto the moment. “Can you feel my love reaching back to you?”
“I can.” His thumb rubbed her cheek, and then she felt his lips softly touching hers and she opened her eyes.
“I hadn’t connected the dots until just now. I love you, Isaac.”
“And I love you, Turquoise.”
She laughed at the name. “Turquoise? You usually call me beautiful or baby. Are you adding to your collection?”
“No, I’m replacing the rest. They’re all too generic.” He stood and stretched out his back.
“Are you okay?” Since they didn’t want to conjure a stool or a tattoo chair, they were making do with the bed and Isaac sitting on it or kneeling on the floor. It wasn’t easy on his body, and she worried about him.
She smiled as she remembered how she’d helped him limber up the night before, and she would gladly help him again tonight.
It was day six in the room and the second day of working on her tattoo. Determined to only work on a portion of the design each day, Isaac was taking his time, and monitoring her reactions. He was, after all, embedding his magic into Kate’s skin. She liked the thought of that.
When he was kneeling on the floor once more, she got back into her reclined position. The design consisted of swirls and paisleys that started on the top of her foot and wound up her calf, stopping at the back of her knee. He had considered going up to her hip, like he’d originally envisioned, but because the tattoo had a magical purpose, the addition of the piece on her arm and shoulder would work better.
Isaac had explained how the design had come to him in a dream and what it meant. After he finished on her left leg, he would put the same design on her right upper arm and shoulder, drifting it up onto the back of her neck. The completed design would protect her entire body.
After Isaac settled back into working, she picked up their previous conversation. “Explain the turquoise thing to me.”
He chuckled and glanced at her briefly. “When I knew your design would be shades of black and gray with only one color woven throughout, I had to choose a color. No… that’s not really true. I didn’t have to choose because I knew immediately that it would be turquoise. The turquoise stone is rare and valuable.” He looked up at her again and winked. “Like you.”
“Ahhh, you sweet talker, you,” she teased, but she was melting inside. Now that she wasn’t constantly trying to keep him away, she was getting to see his romantic side. Something she didn’t even know she would really like because of all those pesky relationship feelings she had tried to ignore for so long. Turns out she was beginning to crave them.
“The turquoise color signifies wisdom, tranquility, protection, good fortune, and loyalty. Add beautiful to that list, inside and out, and it represents you perfectly.”
“I love it.”
When Isaac decided it was time to stop for the day, Kate didn’t protest. Her calf was almost finished, and while she couldn’t wait to see him add the turquoise, Isaac’s peace of mind was more important than her seeing a finished tattoo in the next couple of hours.
By the time Isaac had cleaned up, healed her skin, and they had eaten dinner, Kate felt like she’d been through the wringer. She enjoyed her time with Isaac, but she kept waiting for one of two things: someone to come and rescue them or for the other shoe to drop. As much as she was trying to stay positive, she worried that Maverick had something more in store for them. With so much time to think in a day and so much that was unknown, it was difficult never to think about the worst that could happen. She had decided that she would acknowledge the thought and then shove it aside as best she could.
Curling up with Isaac and talking about random things was the highlight of her day. Sometimes they talked about their childhoods or their favorite this or that. Kate could only hope they’d be rescued soon, and when they were, that she wouldn’t lose this with Isaac.
“Will you tell me what happened to Austin?” she asked quietly, as they lay skin to skin, her fingers trailing over the tattoo on Isaac’s chest.
“I told you he was five years younger than me and sixteen when our dad died, right?”
She nodded against his shoulder.
“After Dad died, Austin came to me asking me to give him a memorial tattoo for our dad. He wanted a large lion and a cub. I drew up the design first, without even checking him with my magic to see if it would work on him.”
Isaac chuckled, but it sounded more sad than happy. “After he saw the design, he was even more excited than he’d been before, and that was saying something. Austin was quite the artist, but he didn’t have the same magical ability as me and our dad… Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if Austin even had a magic specialty. It doesn’t matter.”
Isaac’s voice trailed off again, and Kate continued to run her fingers over his chest, waiting for him to continue.
“When I finally checked Austin’s compatibility for a memorial tattoo and my magic rejected the idea, Austin was devastated. He accused me of lying, saying I just didn’t want to give him the tattoo. I told him that wasn’t true and that I’d love to do it. I wouldn’t change the design at all, I just wouldn’t imbue it with magical properties. And because of that, he could have it anywhere he wanted. He’d always talked about having a big tattoo on his back, but memorial tattoos are usually on the front of the body so the person can place their hand on them. Austin said it wasn’t the same and stormed out of the shop.”
Isaac picked up her hand from his chest and kissed the back of it before linking their fingers together. “I knew Austin wasn’t going to let it drop. He was a tenacious little bugger, and he was going to hound me. I just hadn’t realized how much. After six months, he had laid on the guilt so thick that I was swimming in it. I finally broke down and gave him the tattoo. And when I did, Austin asked me to choose the memory to embed in the design. It was easy for me to pick one because I have so many great memories of our dad and I chose one of the many of him laughing.
