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I put a new pair of gloves on and reassembled my machine along with a new needle, and then waited as Al sauntered back inside and jumped up onto the table. I didn’t need to look up to know Lotus had come in with him. The atmosphere changed, the temperature in the room soaring, and yet, goose bumps prickled my skin as she asked me, “Is it okay if I watch you tattoo him?”
I swallowed and tensed my entire body so I didn’t turn to look at her. I didn’t want to think about her makeup-free face and the little button nose covered in a fluttering of freckles. I didn’t want to think about the glasses on her face that made her look like a hot fuckin’ secretary.
“Yeah,” I gritted out, trying to lower my tone.
“Thanks,” she whispered, and a second later, chair legs scraped against the floor as she dragged a chair over. But it wasn’t until a shadow cast over half of Al’s back I realized she sat opposite me, mere inches away—within touching distance.
My gaze flicked up and met hers, and she lifted one-half of her lips into a small smile. There was a softness to it, an innocence that didn’t match why she was here and the job she did. And I knew, at that moment, she wasn’t like the other strippers who worked here. She was drawing me in, and I was hopeless to the effect her eyes had on me. Why was she making me feel like I’d known her my entire life, and yet we’d barely talked?
Swallowing, I finally managed to look away, dipped my needle in ink, and carried on finishing Al’s back piece. The task would keep my mind off the woman sitting across from me—at least, I hoped it would. No one talked as I shaded the areas in, and the longer Lotus sat opposite, the more relaxed I became. I wasn’t usually a grunting guy, but she’d brought out a side of me I hadn’t even realized was there.
“You.” The word came out croaky, so I cleared my throat and tried again. “You worked here long?” I asked, not looking at Lotus, but she’d know I was talking to her and not Al because somewhere along the last thirty minutes, he’d started snoring. And now I’d decided to make small talk. Great.
“About seven months now,” Lotus said, her soft voice floating over the sound of the tattoo machine. I glanced at her as she shuffled in her seat, her gaze focused on her lap. “It’s just to make ends meet, you know?” Her stare connected with mine, and it felt like I’d been sucker-punched right in my gut. I’d heard people use the excuse of something they weren’t proud of being temporary so often, and yet, when she said it with that soulful look in her eyes, I believed her.
I nodded as if I understood, but the reality was I didn’t. I’d never had to fight my way out of a bad place, not really. I’d been a Marine, but I’d made the decision to be that. I was always so conscious of the life my parents led before I was born, and the stories they told me were ones I’d never had to experience but could still sense the pain behind.
“You like it?” I asked, trying to keep my emotions in check.
“Dancing? Yeah.” She paused. “It’s the taking-my-clothes-off part I’m not too keen on.” She chuckled, and I swore I swayed closer to her. “Though sometimes I keep my thong on, so there’s that.”
My hand halted at her words, and although I’d known she’d taken her clothes off last week, I’d turned away. Part of me wished I hadn’t, but the other part of me was glad I did. She was a mystery to me, and I kept telling myself that was why I found her so alluring. Fuck, if my sister could hear my thoughts right now, she’d rip me for weeks.
The conversation lulled as I finished up the last bit of shading inside one of the skulls, and once I was happy with the finished product, I turned my machine off and placed it down next to me. “Can you pass me that?” I asked Lotus, pointing to the spray bottle next to her.
She picked it up and stood, causing my pulse to quicken. I wasn’t sure why she didn’t just hand it to me, but as she took the steps around Al and toward me, I found myself entranced with the way she moved. She wasn’t dancing, and yet she’d captured my attention as if she was. She held the spray bottle out to me, her small hand gripping it, and I reached out to take it from her.
“Thanks,” I whispered, having no idea why I was afraid to talk at a normal level. My hand wrapped around the bottle, and my fingers grazed over hers. It was the second time I’d touched her in an hour, only this time, I drifted closer to her. I had no idea what the fuck it was about this woman, but I couldn’t stop myself from moving toward her.
“You’re beautiful,” I let slip, and I didn’t regret saying the words because they were the truth. I’d never shied away from telling a woman how I felt, but it always felt forced and—
“I erm…” Her cheeks reddened, but she didn’t move her gorgeous navy-blue-eyed gaze off me.
It was on the tip of my tongue to apologize to her for making her feel awkward, but I refused to go back on my words. She was beautiful, in that raw kind of way. She wasn’t covered in makeup, and her hair was sticking up in a few different directions, but it was the way she carried herself that drew me in. Her eyes spoke of pain she was determined not to share, and it made me want to know all the more.
“Anyone ever told you that, Lotus?”
She shook her head, her chest heaving on a breath. “No. Never.” She stepped forward, not letting go of the bottle, and was nearly in the space between my legs. She was getting closer, and I wasn’t sure whether I’d pull her to me or wait for her to close the distance. My heart raced, and I felt her breath flowing over my skin. All it would take was one movement, and I could have her against me—
“You finished?” a deep voice asked, and at the sound, Lotus let go of the bottle and backed away.
“I better go get ready for tonight,” she rushed out, grabbing her bag and practically running away from us as Al lifted his head. I couldn’t help the way my lips lifted at watching her stumble into a chair and laugh at herself, and as soon as she took one final look at me, I winked, promising her what just happened wasn’t over. I felt it, and I damn well knew she did too.
“Great, now you’re flirting with the staff.”
“Fuck you,” I told Al, laughing and finally spraying the alcohol mixture over his back.
“Fuck! You could have warned me it was cold.”
I paused. “It’s cold.” I sprayed again and grinned, already thinking of the next time I could come here on the premise of something else when what I really wanted was to see Lotus again.
Chapter Five
ELODIE
“I don’t know what you want from me!” Mom screamed, and normally I would have wrapped a pillow over my head
to drown out the shrill sound of her voice and pretend I was somewhere else. But it was impossible to do it now because her words were shouted at me this time. I was half-surprised she even had the energy to stand, let alone get her voice so loud.
