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“We are.” Aslan shook it. “You’re Tate Rolland?”
“I am indeed.”
“I sent the image ahead,” Aslan said.
“Yep. Got it. I’ve printed it off in different sizes. We can have a play around on placement and go from there.” Stepping back, he grinned at me then glanced back at Aslan. “So...who’s getting inked?”
“She is—”
“We both are,” I said at the same time as Aslan.
His eyes whipped to me. “What?”
I grinned and smoothed down my dress. “Every reason you want to mark me, Aslan, is the very reason I want to mark you.”
“But...” His forehead scrunched. “What would you want on me?”
“I’m thinking whatever you’re putting on me will do.”
Tate chuckled. “She’s got you there, mate. Can’t expect her to wear something for the rest of her life and not share the same commitment.” Grinning, he said to me, “I’ll show you what he has planned for you and then you can decide. Wait...” His nose wrinkled as if jerking on memories that wouldn’t quite come. “Aslan...isn’t that the name of the lion in those children’s books?”
“The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, yes.” I smiled. “It’s Turkish for lion.”
“Well, shit, that makes a lot more sense. It also makes the image super cool. I thought it was wicked before, but now I get it.” He nodded at Aslan. “Respect, man. I get what you’re doing and it’s fucking awesome.”
“Hang on. What is he doing?” I planted my hands on my hips. “Show me.”
Aslan shot me a look. I couldn’t tell if it was pride or fear.
“You know this will look awesome on you too, mate,” Tate said, reaching for a folder and pulling out a tracing-paper thin stencil. “If you’re the lion, then she’s the—”
“Siren,” Aslan muttered, stepping closer to Tate to peer at the paper in his hands. He studied it critically as if assessing with new eyes now he knew it was going on him as well as me.
“Unfortunately, I won’t have time to ink it on both of you tonight.” Tate winced. “You only made a booking for two hours, but you can come back next week and—”
“We both have to be done tonight.” I drifted closer, needing to see what Aslan had picked. A little nudge inside me chose that moment to pinch rather insistently. If we were doing this, we were both doing it. Right now. Together. I didn’t know why, but it was important.
“Ah, shit. Um...” Tate passed the folder and stencil to Aslan as he glanced toward reception. “Give me a sec. I think Josephine is due back from her break. I’ll check if she has space and see if she could do one of you while I do the other. That work?”
“As long as her fine lines are as good as yours, then that’s alright.” Aslan nodded. “I like your work on Instagram. I’d appreciate the same quality for both of us. But I’d still like you to do Neri, if that’s okay.”
“No problem.” Tate flashed me a smile. “I’ll be right back.”
Jogging up the rows of workstations, he left me and Aslan alone. Stepping to his side, I finally looked at the design.
My knees almost buckled me to the floor.
“Oh my God...” My hand shook as I reached out and traced the most stunning, most perfect, most poignant tattoo Aslan could have ever chosen. “W-Where did you find that?”
He sucked in a breath, still a little wary of my reaction. “I found it online, but I amended it to fit us. I’ve been teaching myself how to use that drawing app on the tablet. I wanted it to be perfect so...I’ve been tweaking it for a while.”
“You made this for me?” Tears pricked my eyes.
“Well, I can’t take all the credit. I merely made it personal for us,” he murmured, passing over the stencil so I could study it.
My heart pounded with every emotion. My skin prickled with how close he stood to me. My blood hummed with the everlasting connection between us.
The image consisted of a fully grown, thickly-maned male lion lying down with his tail wrapped around a girl kneeling and pressed into his side. The look on the lion’s face as the girl burrowed into his mane was achingly tender and utterly besotted. The girl had her eyes closed as if there was nowhere else she would rather be than right there, in his protection, surrounded by his crown of fur. His mane was full of flowers and feathers, swirls and stars, while the girl’s skin was etched with crashing waves and crescent moons. The detail was exquisite. The story between the girl and her lion blisteringly beautiful.
