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He gently pulled his fingers from her body, and while she watched, he put them in his mouth and sucked them clean. “Thank you, Kate.”
Repeating her name was a way for him to make sure she knew he was in the moment and only thinking of her—that she was special to him. He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips, then flashed to his shop.
It wasn’t quite like the way she had flashed out of his shower naked, but it was giving her exactly what she asked for. Isaac just hoped it wouldn’t take Kate long to realize there was so much more he could give her.
* * *
After Isaac’s last client of the day left, he flipped the lock on Ink Magic’s front door. Turning around, Isaac noticed the calendar on the wall and smiled at the date—November fifteenth.
Exactly one year ago to the day he had agreed to stay in Blue Mountain, Colorado.
Instead of moving to the back of his shop, he stopped and took it all in—everything he had accomplished in the last year. The reception desk to his right was just below chest height. Underneath a sheet of glass, the surface of the desk was painted in bright colors with one of his designs. The sitting area on his left held a couple of comfy couches, a coffee table, and side tables. Many of his drawings were framed and hung on the wall along with pictures his clients had sent him.
Ahead of him, the space was wide open. Four stations for tattoo artists were all set up but remained empty. The same as they had been for the entire year since Isaac had opened the shop.
When Jack had called him just over a year ago and invited him for a visit, Isaac hadn’t imagined moving to Blue Mountain, Colorado. Salem, Oregon had been his home. But the only thing that had been keeping him there were memories and grief. Even his mom had moved to a new city.
Listening to Meredith, Jack’s girlfriend, now wife, while he gave her a memorial tattoo, and hearing her passion as she’d talked about the plans she had for her family’s three buildings had sparked something within Isaac. Many factors influenced his decision to make Blue Mountain his home. Learning what Meredith had accomplished and still had planned had made Isaac want to be a part of that. He began to feel a bit like family when Isaac met her cousins and everyone she and Jack had pulled into their circle. But the deciding factor was likely a certain auburn-haired beauty with a chip on her shoulder.
Isaac walked up to the first empty tattoo station and waved his hand toward it, letting his magic flow out. He cleaned the area and left it sparkling before doing the same to the other three stations.
No matter how long he’d been a tattoo artist, looking at a group of tattoo stations always reminded him of his dad. He could picture his dad leaning over a large, bearded man, while he tattooed his back. Isaac had sat on a stool just off to the side of his dad’s shoulder, riveted to the tattoo machine’s every movement. At fifteen, Isaac had already known that tattooing was his calling. He hadn’t even thought about pursuing anything else.
Remembering his dad also made Isaac think of Austin. He had followed Isaac around like a little puppy, wanting to do everything his older brother did. Even with the five-year age gap, Isaac loved having his brother around. Although Isaac’s friends thought they were too cool to have a younger sibling tag along, Isaac didn’t. He always had time and patience for Austin. It didn’t matter how many questions he asked or what he wanted, Isaac always gave in. Even the one time he shouldn’t have.
Pushing the thought aside, he headed to the back of the shop and made quick work of cleaning up from his client. The booking had been last minute. When a friend from back home had called to see if Isaac could fit him if he flashed to Blue Mountain, Isaac had said yes, knowing that Kate would have an excuse not to see him.
Earlier in the day, Isaac had hoped he could convince Kate to spend the evening with him. But after their little sexual challenge in her shop that afternoon, he knew she wouldn’t see him. But he would bet she was thinking of him. That was good enough for now.
Over the last year, he’d learned when and how much to push Kate, and this was one of those times he needed to step back. At least for a while.
Isaac finished cleaning up and walked over to his desk, pulling out his stool. He picked up his coffee mug and peered inside, wondering if he needed to clean it. “It’ll do,” he mumbled to himself and conjured some coffee. Black and strong, the way he liked it, before taking a sip.
An update. Jack’s message came into his mind as clear as if he had telecommunicated from only a few feet away. Isaac waited for the next part of the message. It had recently become routine for Jack to communicate with the council members and others associated with the Williams family, like Isaac, this way. Ever since Maverick had consumed evil magic and had begun attacking magics, both physically and through their minds, Jack wanted to make sure their group was kept up-to-date on current events. He would reach out to get everyone’s attention and then wait a minute or two before passing on the message.
Most magics could only use telepathy over short distances, and even then, if they wanted to say more than a few words or a single sentence they would need to stop and reestablish the connection. Not Jack. It was both handy and annoying that the man could interrupt at any given moment.
Isaac took another sip of his coffee and flicked at his tablet, waking it up, while he waited for Jack. The image on the screen was a dragon he’d drawn for his friend a short while ago. He flicked past it to the next sketch, one that was only partially complete. The image had come to Isaac in a dream a few nights before.
As soon as he’d woken up, he’d known the image, like a vivid, breathing entity in his mind, could only be for Kate. One day, he’d have the pleasure of tattooing it on her. Only the when and the why were still a mystery. Most images that came to him in dreams were for tattoos—some magic, most not.
He hoped that this image was for something benign, like a birthday gift, but he got the feeling it wasn’t. There wasn’t anything specific that told him that, just a hunch that came from years of experience.
He set his coffee cup down and picked up his stylus, just as another message from Jack entered his mind.
From now on, if you come into contact with Maverick or his minions, do not fight. I repeat. Do. Not. Fight. Flash to the fourth-floor boardroom above the bakery. Meredith and I will be alerted to your presence and will come to assist. Acknowledge.
Isaac sent his acknowledgment, and a small smile played at the corner of his lips. He wondered how Kate took the message. Although Jack sent it to all of them, what happened to Kate this afternoon may have prompted the new strategy. Isaac was sure he’d hear Kate’s opinion about it soon enough. If she was talking to him, that was.
After their little tryst that afternoon, he was sure Kate would withdraw from him for a while. It wasn’t what he wanted, but it would give him time to finish the design. But he would work on it now while the image was so clear in his mind. Only not in his empty shop because even though his apartment would be just as empty, it was more comfortable.
He tucked the stylus into his tablet and sent out his magic to turn off the lights. Due to all the attacks on magics lately, he added a small protection spell to the front and back doors and flashed to his apartment.
Isaac kicked off his shoes at the entrance and walked through the open-concept design to the living room. He laid his tablet on the coffee table before flopping down on the couch.
He let his head fall back on the cushions and felt the tension from working hunched over, leave his shoulders. The couch was one of his favorite things in the apartment. Maybe only second to the large glass shower stall. He contemplated getting up and having a shower but didn’t feel like moving yet. Thinking about the shower now had him thinking about Kate again.
Isaac had been with Kate for almost the entire time he’d been in Blue Mountain but had only been in her house twice. Both times because he had stopped by unannounced.
