Page 16 of Spring Break Fling

“You’re doing great,” he said, his thumb brushing lightly over my skin.

“That’s easy for you to say,” I muttered. “You’re not the one getting stabbed.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No.”

He chuckled. “You’re tougher than you think.”

“Don’t let him distract you, Hannah!” Tara called. “He’s probably trying to get you to agree to a second date.”

“Second date?” Nikko said, glancing up with a smirk. “I didn’t realize last night counted as the first.”

I groaned, covering my face with my free hand. “Kill me now.”

“No can do,” Nikko said, his tone teasing. “I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

Despite the embarrassment, I found myself relaxing under his touch. The pain was manageable, and the way his fingers moved over my arm sent little sparks of heat through me.

“Almost done,” he said after a while, leaning back to inspect his work. “Want to take a look?”

“No,” I said. “I’ll panic and make you stop.”

“You didn’t want a tattoo?” he asked.

“No. I mean, yes, for legal purposes, I signed the form. I agreed to do it, but I’m not really a tattoo person.”

“It starts with the first one,” he said. “And then you can’t stop.”

“Is that what happened with you?”

He nodded. “I became addicted.”

The hum of the machines all around me was oddly relaxing.

Tara was sitting in a chair getting hers done. She looked over at me and waggled her eyebrows. I rolled my eyes. The last thing I wanted to do was distract the guy with a needle in my arm.

6

NIKKO

Itried to focus on the tattoo, but Hannah’s presence was distracting as hell. I was glad I had gloves on. I wasn’t sure I would be able to concentrate at all if there was skin-to-skin contact. Memories of last night were playing in my mind like a highlight reel. The way she’d responded to my touch, the sounds she made… it was almost enough to make a man lose his focus.

“All done,” I said finally, carefully wiping away the excess ink. I leaned back to admire my work—a simple but elegant compass design, with a small rose tucked into the curve.

Mostly.

“Can I see?”

“Nope. Not yet. It’s not going to look like much to you. Give it a day or two and let the redness fade. You’re pale. It’s going to be hard to see the design with your skin redder than the ink.”

She frowned. “If I can’t see it, how were you able to see enough to put it on my skin?”

I grabbed the supplies to cover the tattoo. “Because I’m a professional. This is what I do.”

“I swear if you put a penis or something weird on my arm, I’m going to get my friend over there to sue you.”

I laughed. “Why would I do that?”