“You want purple?” I lift an eyebrow.
“I want violet,” he repeats. “It’s light purple. I thought about getting it the color of your hair, but the other is a little more symbolic.”
“You literally turned into a romantic overnight.”
He laughs and leans over to kiss my temple. “Or you just bring it out in me.”
I rifle through my ink colors and come out with six different shades of purple, and he chooses one that is, indeed, violet.
And my heart might be beating just a little faster as I lean over him and get to work.
“What are you doing today?” I ask, trying to distract him.
“I’m going with you,” he replies. He doesn’t even flinch when I start to etch the ink into his skin.
I’ve had big, badass mencryin my chair when their hands and fingers were being done.
“You are?” I smile up at him and he nods. “I’m spending most of the day at King of Spades.”
“I know. Rome and I are going to show you guys how to throw knives.”
“Ooh, that sounds fun. Never know when I might be at a dinner and have to take a guy out with a steak knife.”
Mateo chuckles and drags his free hand down my cheek. “You never know.”
When I’m finished with the ink, I clean it up and then lean back.
“There you go.”
He picks his hand up and examines it, and the proudest freaking smile spreads over his face.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what I want. A ring can get caught on things, and I don’t want to take it off. This is the way to go.”
“I can fill in the rest of the hand sometime,” I tell him, examining his arm. His tats end at his wrist. “If you wanted.”
“You can ink me up anywhere you want, whenever you want, baby.”
“When did you start getting tattoos?”
“Shit, I must have been around sixteen.” He lifts his sleeve and shows me the angel wings on his upper biceps. “That was the first one. For my mom.”
I nod and let my eyes drift down the rest of the arm. There’s dice, playing cards, the king of each suit, flowers, a knife. Make that two knives.
There are also flames. Some blazing and others small.
“Someday, I want a tour,” I tell him quietly as I push back to sanitize and put everything away. It doesn’t take long, and when I’m finished, Mateo pulls me back into his lap, captures my chin in his hand, and kisses me thoroughly.
“Thanks for the ink,” he says softly.
“Thanks for the ring.”
His lips tip up on one side. “It was a fair trade.”
Thirty-Six
MATEO
“We look ridiculous,” Violet mutters to me as we walk through Carson’s resort.
