Page 116 of Midnight Ink

Julian has been incredible too. He’s so damn smart and handles the financial side so much better than I could. We’ve hired new artists, and we have a new look and a new name.

It’s all thanks to him.

“Ready?”

Julian takes a deep breath. “Yeah.”

“If you need to stop, just let me know, okay.” Throat tattoos suck. I remember when Maddox did mine, and yeah, it’s not fun at all. This should be quick, though.

“Why did you ask me about that day?”

I turn on the machine. “Don’t talk, okay. Just listen.”

I begin the outline and feel his palm lie on my knee with a soft squeeze. “Not so bad, huh?” I whisper, knowing he won’t answer me. “Squeeze hard if you need to me stop.”

I begin the outline of my lips. I want it to be hyperrealistic, but that will depend on how well he sits right now.

“The day we met I was drawing that lion you have on your ribs.” I focus on the fine lines, making sure they’re perfect before I begin shading. “I’d drawn that lion almost every single day since Maddox died. It was the tattoo he was going to have me do when we opened the shop. His first tattoo in the shop he worked his ass off to get.”

“When you came in, I was the worst I think I’d been. Worse than the day I found out he passed. I felt helpless and tired and I just wanted it all to end. Then you came in and it was like seeing the sun for the first time in months.” His thumb brushes across my thigh. “Are you okay?”

His thumb taps me twice. I start to shade the lips. The deep crimson red pops beautifully. I focus on packing in color, smiling to myself. It’s looking great. He’s doing so well for me, like I knew he would.

“You’re amazing, babe.”

He smiles slightly and I continue.

“When you came into the shop it was like I took my first real breath of air in months. I didn’t know you yet, but I knew I wanted to get to know you. You kept coming back. More lessons, more tattoos.” That makes him smile gently. “You’ve just wowed me every single day since you came into my life.”

I swallow, getting more ink.

“I haven’t been easy to deal with and I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry it took me this long to realize just how much you mean to me. What this actually meant.” I’m nearly done, and he squeezes my knee a couple of times, but more as a reassurance. “You’re the most loving, funny, smart, and fucking beautiful man. I’m so grateful that you didn’t give up on me, even when I wanted to give up on myself. I love you so much. It’s crazy how much. I feel like I may explode with it. Every time I see you now I can’t believe I never saw it before. That there was ever a time you could walk past me and I didn’t want to throw my arms around you. Or kiss you. Or hold you. You didn’t give up on me and I’ll repay that back tenfold for the rest of our lives. You are special to me in every single way.”

I stop the machine and look at the lips. I carefully clean the tattoo and smile wide. Damn. His head lolls toward me, soft brown eyes filled with so much love. I slide onto his lap and watch him gather himself. He sighs then smiles. “I love you. So much.” He kisses me hard, and I want to stay here in his lap but I have a tattoo to wrap. “Let me see.”

“Did it hurt?”

“No, it felt amazing,” he deadpans.

“Yeah, right, next up you’re going to get your entire throat tattooed. Don’t have much space left anywhere else.” My brows rise with my thought. “I could tattoo your ass?”

“No fucking thank you.”

“What? There’s a lot of thick, gorgeous, delicious space I could use.” I grab his ass. He swats my hand then goes over to the mirror.

“Beautiful. Just beautiful.”

My arms snake around his waist and I kiss his shoulder. “Just saying. I can tattoo ‘Ian’s late-night snack’ right along the curve of your cheek.” He laughs harder. I nip his shoulder. His hand rests on top of mine.

The bell above the door rings and I almost pull back, but it’s Anna. “Ugh, gross. Can’t you two fornicate upstairs?”

“Fornicate?”

Jules slips out of my arms. “Ian’s trying to give me an ass tattoo.”

“I hate that I caused this.” Anna sets her bag down just as the phone rings. It rings again and again. Ignoring the call, she looks through her black studded purse.

“Anna!”