Surrender of a Tattooist: Obsessive Dark Romance Alpha Bad Boy (Tattooist Series Book 2) (9 page)

Pixie sent her application in online, and after a few days gave up any hope of them being interested. It had been a long-shot, something she shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up for. She didn’t have the experience, and she’d graduated a few years ago. There were fresh graduates with hunger and determination, or teachers with more job experience than her. She forced herself to let it go, and buried her disappointed deep within her. Thankfully, she was too busy working and seeing Cliff to dwell on it, so she uncrossed her fingers and let it go.

Three weeks later there was a message on her machine that the college wanted to interview her. It was last-minute and they apologized, but somehow her online application had been filed under a different job. They hoped she could come in that afternoon. She’d just been out running. Now she was scared witless as well as ecstatic, and at a total loss as to what to wear. Luckily Joy was home and dug around in her closet and found a blouse she’d worn as a teen that fit well enough when Pixie put it below a blazer.

Pixie found a pair of slacks in her own closet that were not ratty or drooping, and she set out to go to her interview with a light heart, texting Cliff right before she went that she was on her way and would let him know what happened.

He texted back:
You got this
.

It made her smile and gave her a fresh boost of confidence. She was smiling as she walked into the building where her interview was to be held. 

*  *

At the shop, Cliff wasn’t smiling. The receptionist had called in sick, throwing the morning into a slight confusion that Cliff and Hawk had just finished straightening out. Cliff had just worked on two walk-in clients and Hawk was still in his room doing a large back piece. So Cliff stood at the counter, waiting for the door to open again. The past couple of weeks had been nonstop. Hawk had done an interview with R&S magazine and the place had flooded with new clients.

He turned to check if there were water bottles in the fridge behind the counter. The bell chimed as the door opened. Cliff turned to see who was coming in next. His jaw dropped as
she
came walking through it, her black leather bag dangling from one slender hand.

Cara Van Tear
.

The country’s hottest female tattoo artist. Her reputation as an artist was only outmatched by her reputation as a wild-child.

She raced cars, drank men under the table, and had left a trail of broken hearts all across the country.

She was carrying a case, a case that could only mean one thing.

She was coming in to work.

His first instinct was to tell her there weren’t any open rooms or chairs for her, but he knew if Hawk got wind of the fact that she had shown up wanting to work, and that he had bounced her before he got a chance to talk to her, there would be hell to pay. He might even lose his job.

Getting her into Flying High Tattoos would be a real coup, and Cliff knew it. Business wasn’t down, but having her would bring in more people, including the rock and movie stars eager to stand in line to be the next victim of this particular femme fatale.

He knew Cara was in high demand, and that Hawk would probably be delighted to add her to his roster, but Cliff was far from delighted. The minute she stepped through the door he knew he was in trouble. She paused, her hand resting on the door, her slim figure clad in her signature look of skin-tight corset and black leather leggings with thigh-high boots.

Her body was slim, tattooed beautifully, rounded at the hip and full at the breast. Her lips were painted her usual scarlet and her eyes were rimmed in kohl, making the bright green orbs look even larger.

Her face didn’t register an ounce of surprise as she saw him. “Cliff, how’ve you been?”

“Great.” He kept the word terse and he didn’t ask how she’d been. His chest tightened. Once upon a time he had thought her the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and she
was
beautiful, but she had also broken his heart. He examined her face. They’d been young then, both of them just starting out, and she had been exactly the woman he’d thought he wanted.

Only, she had broken it off without a single explanation and hauled ass to Manhattan, and once she got there she cut all the ties that he had left to her. She changed her phone number, her email, and everything else.

He’d been left confused and hurt, and worst of all, he had been utterly devastated. The week before she left they had started talking about marriage and having a life together. The abrupt shift and race to get away from him had not only broken his heart, but had caused him to put a huge wall around it that still had more than a few bricks in it.

Leave it to Cara to come wandering back into his life just when he was moving forward.

Uncomfortable and unaccountably angered by the sight of her, he said, “You here to try to get a spot?”

She smiled. Her square white teeth showed behind the red. Her slender shoulder lifted and dropped in a casual but potent gesture. “I already have one. Hawk hired me. We’ve been in talks for a week or so. I wanted to come back to L.A. and he wanted me to work here, so it all worked out.”

She advanced and he stood his ground, his eyes narrowing. “Hawk told you I was here.”

“Yes,” her eyes stayed on his. Her tongue came out and swiped at her bottom lip, a gesture that would have been unconsciously sexy if he hadn’t known exactly how often she practiced it to get it just right, to make sure only a slight flash of pink tongue moved smoothly across the high-shine scarlet gloss on her thin lips.

“He sure as hell didn’t tell me about you.” Bitterness ate into him. Why hadn’t Hawk told him?

Hawk knew about him and Cara, of course. Everyone did. It was a tattoo artist scandal and there had been rumors for years about what had happened. A lot of people assumed it was his fault, and some assumed that he had hurt her badly too.

He had never tried to correct any of that. He didn’t care to, to be honest. He’d figured it was better to have people think he was the asshole than the scorned, as far as he had been concerned. He’d had plenty of time since then to regret that stupid act of male pride gone haywire, and he did regret it, along with a whole host of other things that he’d done with Cara.

Like fall in love. Dare to dream about a future.

Cara said, “Look, I don’t want a problem between us, Cliff…”

“Why would there be a problem? You’re here to work. So am I.”

Hawk came out of the office, and crossed his arms over his chest as he stared back and forth at the two of them. “Exactly, and I don’t want any shit.”

Cliff faced Hawk. A muscle jumped in his cheek. “You should have told me.”

Hawk nodded. “You’re right. I should have. I’m sorry about that. I thought it was a non-issue, as whatever was between the two of you was ancient history.”

It
was
ancient history; he was right about that. Cliff shrugged. “I don’t have any problem with her working here.”

Cara raised an eyebrow as she watched Cliff. “I don’t have a problem working with you either.”

There was a trace of wistfulness in her voice. He stared at her. They’d changed, of course. Five years put a lot of distance between who they’d once been and who they were now, but he would have much preferred that that distance stayed physical and not just due to time and changes.

Cara walked past him, close enough that he could smell the spicy perfume she wore, the same perfume that used to drive him crazy, that he used to smell on the pillows and sheets even after she bolted out of his life.

Frustrated and angry, he went to the room he used to work and closed the door. His hands balled up and he closed his eyes, nearly overwhelmed by the sudden emotions seeing her had brought up.

He didn’t love her anymore, not at all, but that rage that her abrupt departure had left behind was still alive and well, and all the questions gone unanswered for so long were too.

And with those questions came the self-doubt and the shattered self-esteem. What had he done to her that had been so wrong that she had felt she had no choice but to run away?

And dead on the heels of that question came the one that really cut him to the core.

Would whatever it was that was so wrong with him cause him to lose Pixie too?

“Hey.”

He turned to see Hawk standing in the doorway.

Cliff scowled. “You could knock, you know.”

“I want to talk to you.”

Cliff ran his hands through his hair. “Shoot.”

Hawk sighed, “I would’ve told you, but I need her here. Ricky’s leaving, as you know, and I need an artist who can keep business up and keep their chair busy without me having to fill it for them. She’s great, and you know it. She’s also a huge draw, which you know too.” He stared at Cliff. “But if it gets sticky I’ll have her on the bricks before she can blink. I owe you my higher loyalty because you’ve been here for a while. But know I won’t take sides if the two of you decide to wage war. In case you’re wondering, I told her all that before I agreed to have her come on.”

Cara and he were history, old news. “That’s fair.” He couldn’t argue with Hawk.

Hawk nodded and said, “We just had five dudes walk in. Get your shit together, please.” He grinned. “Get out there and sell some chair time. Please.”

Cliff nodded and Hawk left. Cliff took a long breath and pulled himself together. He could do this. It had been years, after all, and no matter why she had left, the fact remained that she had. They were over and had been for years, and he felt nothing at all for her.

Nothing but anger and dislike.

That bothered him.

He’d always been told that love and hatred were two sides of the same coin and that if a person could feel either one of those for someone, they weren’t over them yet.

Pixie
.

He had Pixie. How had he forgotten that for a moment?

He was with her, and he cared for her like crazy. He was pretty sure he was falling in love with her. Now Cara was here, stirring up the whole pot of stuff she’d left him to deal with. That didn’t bode well for him and Pixie, and he had to let that anger go if he was going to be able to handle it all. He pushed the Cara issues aside. They were history. Old news. He just needed to keep telling himself that again and again.

He walked out into the shop. Naturally the guys were clustered around Cara like a group of stars around a larger constellation. One of them saw him and another saw Hawk, and they came toward them.

Cliff managed to smother his seesawing emotions and focus on work.

Pixie came out of the interview with a smile still on her face. Things were likely, that was the best way she could think to describe how she felt. Her getting that job was likely. She got into her car and sat down, her hand going to her phone. First she stomped her feet, shook her head, and screamed with excitement.

She hit the screen and called Cliff, but he didn’t answer. He was probably working then. Disappointment, small but real, filled her. She was eager to tell him that she had been asked to come back for a second interview, something she knew was important.

She was doing it.

She was adulting.

A grin lit her face again. If anyone had said that to her a few weeks before, she would have cursed them out and told them she’d been an adult for years… but she hadn’t been, and she knew it.

Cliff made her want things she had never considered before. Things she would have said were the things that didn’t interest her at all. She wanted him to see her as more than flighty Pixie. She wanted him to see her as a grown woman, an independent one—independent not just in spirit either, but financially too. She wanted him to see her as a woman he would be proud to have in his life, one who would bring her own to the table instead of just eating from his.

The shop might be busy, but if she popped in for just a moment, just long enough to peek in and give him a thumbs-up, he wouldn’t mind. She turned her car toward the congested highway, her smile getting bigger as she imagined his face lighting up with pride. Maybe he’d give her one of those slow winks that heated her blood and sent her mind racing toward deliciously dirty little scenarios.

The 405 was packed and she got stuck in traffic for nearly an hour, something she always hated. The congestion was so thick that she could only creep through the traffic mere inches at a time. Her impatience grew with every single second. Her fingers tapped the wheel, and she swiped a hand through her hair then groaned as a man in a glossy and extremely expensive sports car cut her off.

She finally burst out of the bottleneck, but irritation had replaced her former happiness. She tried to set it aside but the heat and the long trek had her out of sorts and her ire got a little higher when she tried to park and couldn’t find a single open space.

She parked several blocks over and headed for the shop. Maybe Cliff was done doing whatever he had been doing and he could hang out with her for a minute while she told him the good news.

Pixie entered the shop just as Cara walked out of the room she’d been working in, ushering a freshly- tattooed man ahead of her.

Pixie stared. She knew Cara by reputation, of course. She stood by the desk, waiting until the guy went to the benches. She approached slowly and asked, “Is Cliff busy?”

Cara flashed a big smile. “Yes, he had a small tat and a larger one. Hawk’s busy too, but I’m open.”

Pixie blinked. “You’re working here? Of course you are; you just did a tat. I’m Pixie.”

“Oh, Cliff’s girlfriend.”

Cara’s words startled her slightly. “Yes.”

“I wanted to let you know there’s no…I mean Cliff and I ended a long time ago. It was my fault, totally my fault…”

Pixie gawked at Cara. Her mind tried to sort through the words that Cara had just said. Cara and Cliff? They’d been together? She frowned, “I’m sorry?”

“I mean I’m not going to go after him or anything.” Cara shook her head. “I just want you to know that. Hawk told me you guys were dating. Said it was all real sweet.” She smiled, but it looked pasted on to Pixie.

Bitch, please. The only time a woman tells another woman she doesn’t want her man is when she wants her man.
The thought ricocheted around her brain. Jealousy was not new to Pixie and neither was insecurity. She knew it for what it was when it surfaced, but she couldn’t tamp it down.

His ex was working there and he hadn’t even bothered to tell her?

Just then Cliff came out of the room with his customers. He saw Pixie and smiled, but she saw past his smile. She saw the way his eyes darted to Cara and the concern written large on his face.

The sonofabitch!

She didn’t trust herself to speak so she kept her lips buttoned together tightly.

Cliff muttered, Excuse me,” to Cara, rang up his customers and ran their cards then said, “Hey, Pix, why don’t you come in?”

Like she was a customer! The irritation that had overcome her in the traffic swelled, mingling with the jealousy and the old wounds of insecurity and heartache. She just nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Cliff took her hand as she passed the counter. Pixie could feel Cara’s eyes on them and she wanted to turn around and scratch the damn woman’s eyes right out of her skull.  Maybe rip that blond hair of hers out by its dark roots while she was at it.

Cliff closed the door and spoke immediately, “Hawk didn’t tell me he was hiring her. It was a shock to me too.” His voice was pitched low so it wouldn’t carry.

She opened her mouth, considered her words carefully, and then spoke in an equally low tone. “You didn’t tell me you dated her. She did, right before she hastened to assure me she doesn’t want you.”

Cliff looked decidedly nervous. “Why do I get the feeling that I just stepped into something smelly?”

“Because…” Pixie wrung her hands and then snarled, “Women only say that so you don’t think they want your guy. Then they go after him.”

He stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders. “I don’t know about that, but I do know I don’t want her. I have the woman I want. Hawk said if she starts anything, she’s out. You know he cares about you, and so do I. If this hurts you, if she hurts you, she’s gone.”

She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that he really wanted her and not the stunning and successful woman out there. The one he had history with. “What happened between the two of you?”

Cliff heaved a sigh. “Fuck if I know. She just bailed. No explanations, not even a note. I won’t lie and say it didn’t hurt, but that was five years ago and I’m way over it, and her.”

“Are you sure?” Her body collided with his. She could feel the steady beat of his heart against her chest and she gripped his shoulders. “Cliff, I won’t go through a hellish breakup just because someone wants to lie to me.”

He pushed her away gently, and looked right into her eyes. “Listen to me; I’m not your ex. I can’t even believe you haven’t figured that out yet. I’m not out to hurt you or harm you. I’m falling crazy in love with you and I’m not about to screw that up for an old flame.”

Her heart slammed into her chest, beating too rapidly. Had he just said he was falling in love with her? He had! Her throat went dry and her eyes blinked as she tried to think of a single thing to say to that.

Cliff stared at her. “Okay…um…did I just screw it all up?’

“No!” She swallowed hard. “I mean, I just didn’t…oh!” She tossed herself back at him and hugged him hard. Their bodies met again and his chest flattened her breasts in a way that made heat flush along her lower limbs.

His hands ran along her back. The blazer fell to the floor. His mouth found her nipples through the soft fabric of the blouse and teased them into high points. His hands found the button and zipper on her slacks and released them. Her legs kicked as she struggled to get them down. They wound up against the wall. His strong hands lifted her and she lifted her hips so he could undo the buttons on his jeans.

He entered her hard and fast, his cock throbbing as it met her wet flesh. Pixie closed her eyes as pleasure coursed through her. Her fingers grabbed at his shoulders, her nails digging into the material and scratching the skin below. He gasped and withdrew, his hands planted firmly below her ass cheeks as he lifted her higher and then helped her to lower her willing body onto his thick staff.

It was fast and fierce. They both came, both of them gasping and panting as the end came far too quickly. Cliff gently lowered her to the floor.

Pixie grabbed her pants and put them on as a new thought seared her brain.
What if…what if he was so turned on not by her, but by Cara? What if he had wanted Cara and not her, and in his mind he was making love to his ex?
The thought was so painful she could barely stand it. It burned along her tender and raw emotions and left her shaken, confused, and wounded.

She finished dressing just as Hawk knocked on the door then opened it. He stuck his head in and said, “Hey, I need you to look at this guy’s ink. He put firming cream on it.”

Cliff, blinking, managed to ask, “Did you say firming cream?”

Hawk nodded. “Yes, and I have to get to a business meeting so I can’t handle it. He said you did the work so you might have to break some bad news to the guy too.” He closed the door.

Pixie swallowed hard. She wanted to laugh. Firming cream? Really?

But beyond that was the larger question.

Had Cliff just made love to her because his body had been ready and willing due to his close proximity to his ex?

The ex who had caused the pain that she had seen so often on his face.

Confused, and filled with a grief she couldn’t even manage to handle, she muttered, “I have to go.” She reached for the door and turned around. “Will I see you later?”

“Yes.” He brushed a kiss across her lips but that kiss, so light and gentle, felt brief and distant. “I need to get out there. I’ll walk you out.”

She let him. The man who was waiting for him was young and obviously worried. His arm was wrinkled and inflamed, and Cliff let loose with a string of expletives as he looked down at it. “Dude, firming cream? What the hell?”

Pixie ignored the banter and Cara’s laughter. She walked out of the shop and stood out on the sidewalk, blinking and dazed against the bright sun. The sex had been good but somehow empty, not like the sex they usually had.

And they had forgotten to use a condom!

Terror welled up.

Pixie didn’t want children.

She was too young, and she was too afraid she would screw the poor kid up. She let out a dismayed squeak then quickly ran for her car. There was a clinic nearby and she could get a morning-after pill there if she hurried. The soaked stickiness on her panties was bothersome, and so were the thoughts swirling around her mind. She knew the chances of getting pregnant were slim. She was on birth control, but couldn’t remember the last time she’d taken it.

Stupid Cara.

Pixie had known that Cliff had been hurt. She had had no idea that he’d dated Cara Van Tear, the femme fatale of the tattoo world.

Cara was known for breaking hearts, and being aloof and a little cruel. Many of the people she tattooed said she was technically perfect but as cold as ice, and that while her work was far better than most they would prefer someone else to tat them up simply because of her lack of warmth.

How had that cold and beautiful woman ever lived with Cliff, who was as warm and as genuine a human as you could get?

She got in her car. Tears spilled down her cheeks. All of a sudden she didn’t want the pill. She wanted to let things happen however they would. She wanted to let things be and be what they would be.

If what they had just done resulted in a baby, so be it…

No. No. She had just started on what might be her newest path. She had no idea if Cliff had been turned away from her by Cara, and if he had been, a child would not fix them, and it would be wrong to try to do that. Wrong for everyone.

She drove to the clinic and got out, her legs shaking. She took her purse and headed inside, her whole body shaking. The pill would not help her if she waited, and since her birth control pills had run out just the day before it was likely, highly likely, that she was not going to get pregnant anyway, but the pill would make sure.

Anger surged through her. There she was, trying to count how many hours it had been since she had taken her last birth control pill and hoping not to get pregnant, while wondering what a child she and Cliff had together would be like. And what was he doing?

Probably not thinking about her at all.