Keeping You (23 page)

The image touched things inside of Melody that she had never imagined a tattoo could. It was a beautiful work of art, and suddenly she wondered why she’d always thought tattoos were tacky. Nick’s work certainly wasn’t.

“
Melody?”

Nick’s voice pierced Melody’s thoughts, making her aware that the buzzing of the tattoo gun had stopped. She glanced up, meeting his bright green eyes, and doing her best not to shiver as a current of electricity leapt between them.

He wasn’t looking at her like a baby sister tonight. He looked startled, but clearly interested, and Melody was suddenly very glad that she had decided to wear a scandalous dress.

“
Nick, is this your place?” Melody asked, feigning surprise to see him.

“
Yeah. Mine, and a buddy of mine. We just opened up last week,” Nick said, lifting a hand to the man in the Harley shirt as he left. “See you next week, Frank. We’ll get the color finished up in one or two more sessions.”

“
Catch you then,” Frank said.

The door tinkled as the man stepped out onto the sidewalk and Nick turned back to Melody, leaning over the counter, close enough that she caught a whiff of his signature smell, that campfire and sage with a faint overtone of motor oil scent that always clung to him, hinting at manly activities of various sorts. The one that made her want to strip off his shirt, press her nose to his bare skin and breath deep.

“
Congratulations,” Melody said, heart beating faster as she prayed her thoughts weren’t showing on her face. “That’s great that you’ve opened your own business.”

“
Thanks. We’ll see if we can stay open long enough to get into the black.” Nick smiled a shy smile she’d never seen before, a smile that made Melody’s heart do a swan dive into her stomach and her fingertips ache to touch the dimples popping on his cheeks.

“
So what’s up?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in Melody’s direction. “You’re not thinking about getting a tattoo, are you?”

“
I am, actually,” Kitty interrupted. “I’m Kitty.” She held out her hand.

“
Sorry, I should have introduced you,” Melody said, blushing with embarrassment as she turned to do the introductions. “Nick, this is Kitty, my best friend since third grade. Kitty, Nick, a friend of mine from work.”

Nick took Kitty’s hand and shook it, his grin morphing into its usual wicked twist of his lips. “Nice to meet you, Kitty,” he said. “For a second there I thought I was going to have to call Melody’s big sister.”

“
Why’s that?” Kitty asked, smiling up at Nick with a look of obvious appreciation, a look Melody wasn’t so sure she enjoyed seeing on her best friend’s face.

“
She’s Melody.” Nick shrugged, as if that said it all.

Melody felt her blood begin to heat in a way that had nothing to do with attraction.

“
If she’d come in here looking for a tattoo,” Nick continued, “I would have assumed she was either drunk or experiencing some kind of psychotic break.”

He laughed and Kitty, the traitor, had the nerve to join in.  

“
Either way, I’d have to call Lark,” Nick said. “John and I are barely breaking even with the shop. I’m going to need my catering job for a while, and Lark would fire me in a hot second if I inked her baby sister.”

“
Lark would not fire you for giving me a tattoo,” Melody protested.

“
You don’t think?” Nick asked in a patronizing tone.

“
No, I don’t think,” Melody repeated, though she actually wasn’t sure what her big sister would do if Melody came home with a tattoo.

Lark would be surprised, that’s for sure. Aria, the eldest March sister, had always been the wild child of the family, and even she was tattoo-free. Melody was the sweet, positive, peacemaker of the family.  The girl most likely to wear pink chiffon and kitten heels, not red retro pin-up dresses and five inch stilettos like the heavily tattooed girl in the poster tacked onto the wall next to Nick’s tattoo station.

A tattoo would be a significant departure from the norm for Melody, a bold step in a different direction. The thought made her nerve-endings sizzle.

A second later, her decision was made.

“
Lark isn’t my mother,” she said, lifting her nose into the air. “Even if she were, I’m twenty-two, and old enough to make my own decisions, and I’ve decided I want to get my first tattoo. Tonight.”

Nick’s eyebrows shot up and Kitty made a surprised noise, but Melody didn’t turn to look at her friend, worried she might lose her courage if she met the eyes of someone who had known her her entire, wholesome, straight-laced life.

“
You do?” Nick asked, disbelief thick in his tone.

“
Yes, I do.” Melody smiled and pointed to the phoenix. “I’d like to get a smaller version of this.”

Nick glanced down at the phoenix and his eyes widened. “Even a small version of that is going to be huge. There’s no way you’d be able to hide it.”

“
Why would I want to hide it? Aren’t you going to do a good job?” Melody asked, ignoring the hesitation prickling the back of her neck.

The phoenix was beautiful, but had she really thought this through? She had never even considered getting a tattoo before tonight. No matter how exciting the idea was, maybe she should take a few days to think it over, to plot the best place to put the bird and debate whether a pretty tattoo was worth causing both of her parents to flip their conservative lids. There was at least a tiny chance Lark and Aria might be cool about something like this, but Mom and Dad were firmly anti-tattoo. Mom hadn’t even let Melody get her ears pierced until she was fifteen.

“
I’d do an excellent job,” Nick said after a moment. “If I thought this was something you really wanted.”

“
Who are you to tell me what I want?” Melody asked, arching one brow.

Awareness leapt between them again and Melody watched with satisfaction as Nick’s gaze darkened with something that looked a whole lot like desire. In that second, Melody was positive he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Heck, if Kitty weren’t standing right next to them, Melody could almost imagine Nick leaping over the counter, taking her in his arms, and kissing her senseless right there in the front of the shop.

Instead, he said. “I’m not trying to tell you what you want. I just know this isn’t like you.”

“
It really isn’t, Melody,” Kitty said in a gentle voice. “Why don’t we go have some donuts and think about this for a while? We have been drinking, so maybe—”

“
Then I can’t work on either of you tonight,” Nick said, his relief obvious in the way his muscled shoulders relaxed away from his neck. “It’s against state law to work on people under the influence. Even if it weren’t, John and I don’t work on people who’ve been drinking. It makes you bleed more and can force the pigment out of the skin before it sets. Bad for your tattoo, bad for our reputation.”

Melody nodded, surprised by how disappointed she felt. “All right,” she said, forcing a smile. “Guess we’ll have to come back some other time, then.”

“
Or don’t,” Nick said, banishing the smile from Melody’s face. His voice was kind enough, but the words still cut. “I really don’t want to work on you, Melody. I’m sorry, but it just wouldn’t feel right.”

“
Well…thanks for letting me know.” Melody stood up straighter, refusing to show how much his words hurt. “I wouldn’t want you to do anything that didn’t feel right.”

Without another word, she grabbed Kitty by the arm and headed for the door as fast as her aching feet would carry her. She didn’t look back to see if Nick was watching, or deliver any parting shots, but inside her a storm was brewing.

She was going to show Nick she wasn’t a child, or some fluffy blond bunny that needed to be handled with care, or someone generally too boring and traditional to be worthy of his interest. She was going to show him that there were parts of her he hadn’t taken the time to see, new, adventurous, unexpected parts that would make Nick as wild for her as she was for him.

He had to feel the same pull she felt—the kiss they’d shared had been hot enough to set fire to a glass of sweet tea.

Melody had never felt like that before. Nick had awoken a new curiosity inside her, and she would be darned if she’d give up before she found out if her and Nick’s second kiss would be as hot as their first.

“
I’m sorry,” Kitty whispered as they moved down the sidewalk, away from the shop. “I’m all about going a little wild, I just didn’t want you to do something you might really regret after the tequila wore off. A hangover you can sleep off, a tattoo…not so much.”

Melody smiled. “No worries. But you know, I don’t think I’m in the mood for the tequila to wear off. Why don’t we go check out
The Horse and Rider
, have a beer or two, and call a cab when we’re done?”

Kitty’s eyes widened, but her lips stretched into a delighted grin. “I don’t have to work tomorrow. Let’s do it, wild woman.”

Melody and Kitty giggled as they dashed across the street.

At least someone was enjoying Melody’s wild side. With a little luck it wouldn’t be long before Nick came around to Kitty’s way of thinking.

***

Did you enjoy the first chapter of
Wild for You
by Jessie Evans?

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