Chapter One
Maxwell bent over the arm of a client, twisting and leaning to get to a difficult area of shoulder. The bell over the front door tinkled, drawing his eyes up for one brief glance. He saw the back of someone in a hooded rain jacket as they turned to close the door. A cool mist blew in as the sound of the pouring rain traveled through the shop.
His eyes flicked to the clock; it was lunchtime, and they’d called their order in to Thai Garden two blocks away. He hoped this was the delivery boy with their food.
His eyes again darted to the entrance and did a double take as the hood of the raincoat was pushed back.
Holy hotness.
She was a petite, Asian beauty with long silky hair and big dark eyes—not too much eye makeup, just thick dark lashes and a bit of liner. Her skin was flawless. She stepped toward the far wall; her eyes up on the framed art, and her body came into view from around the reception counter. The rain slicker hung open in front revealing a slender, boyish frame. Low-slung jeans hugged her hips and exposed a teasing inch of skin between them and her tight top. Nice rack.
Clicking off his machine, his eyes returned to the client in his chair. “Give me just a minute, Ryan.”
“Sure, no problem. I could use a break anyway.”
Max smiled and got up to greet their new customer. He moved to the lobby and around the front of the reception counter, leaning an elbow on it. His eyes swept over the young woman, again falling to that gap between her jeans and top. Her belly was flat and toned, and her skin looked like silk. He hoped she wanted some ink. He’d love to work on her.
His gaze followed hers as she leaned closer, examining the art and photographs of tattoos the shop had done, her eyes moving all over the colors on the wall.
“See anything you like?” he asked. When she didn’t respond, he spoke a little louder. “Miss, anything I can help you with?”
Then his eyes dropped to the bag that hung by her side, and the aroma of the best Thai food in town found him. His eyes moved back up to her face. She wasn’t the skinny Asian kid who usually delivered their food. Kiet was his name; they knew him well, as they ordered so often. But in all that time, this girl had never delivered their food.
“How much do we owe you?” he asked. She still didn’t answer, so he stepped closer and repeated it a little louder. “Miss, how much for the food?”
Just then she turned, bumping right into his muscled chest. Her eyes got big as she stared up at him, taking a step back, obviously startled by his proximity. He reached a hand out to steady her, but she flinched back as if she were afraid of him. He was a big man with muscled arms covered in tribal ink, and he knew that could be intimidating, especially to a petite girl like her.
He smiled, hoping to put her at ease and put his hands up. “Sorry. I’m Max. You’re not the usual kid who delivers our food. Kiet. Do you know him?”
She stared at him, but didn’t answer, and Max wondered if she didn’t speak English. She held out the food and pointed to the receipt stapled to the bag. He took it, hoping his smile would reassure her. His eyes moved over her face. Her beauty took his breath away. How had a girl this beautiful been reduced to running food deliveries?
He twisted to set the bag on the counter, checking the receipt for the amount, and then he dug his wallet out. As he thumbed through for the money, he called over his shoulder, “Liam, you got a ten? I’m short.”
When he turned back, he noticed the girl’s attention had returned to the art on the walls.
“Do you like our art?” he asked.
Liam walked over, handing him a ten, and they both studied the woman as she stared at the wall.
“Maybe she doesn’t speak English,” Liam murmured.
“Damn, right about now, I wish I spoke Thai,” Max whispered back and Liam grinned at him. Max reached for the bag, and his elbow knocked a glass candy bowl to the floor. It shattered with a loud crash.
“Shit,” Max jumped back. As he looked down at the broken glass, he felt an elbow in his ribs and glanced up to find Liam nodding toward the girl. Max’s eyes swung to her and noticed she hadn’t even flinched.
“I think she can’t hear, bro,” Liam whispered.
Max took the ten from Liam, added it to his own, and tapped the girl on the shoulder.
She whirled, startled.
He held the bills out to her, nodding toward them.
Just then, Liam made some gestures with his hands. Max frowned, watching him. “When the hell did you learn sign language?”
“A kid in my high school class was deaf. A lot of us picked it up over the four years.”
The girl looked relieved and gestured back, a big smile breaking across her face. They continued signing back and forth.
“What is she saying?” Max asked.
“Says her name is Malee. Kiet is her brother. He’s sick and couldn’t make the delivery, so her father sent her.”
Liam signed some more, gesturing to the wall. She signed back, a shy smile on her face. “She likes the colors.”
He signed some more. She signed back.
“She likes to draw. The art fascinates her.”
Max watched her closely.
“Can you read lips?” Liam asked her, and she waggled her hand before signing. “Says she tries, but she still has trouble with it.”
Max gestured up to the art on the wall and spoke clearly to her so she could read his lips. “You want a tattoo?”
Her eyes got big, and she pointed to herself.
He nodded.
Max ignored the broken glass, too consumed with speaking to this beautiful girl. “Ask her if I make her nervous?”
Liam signed to her, laughing and making symbols that had Max thinking his brother was calling him a big gorilla. The girl giggled and blushed, and then she shrugged and held up two fingers about an inch apart.
He smiled, understanding that sign, and asked, “Why?”
She made a motion with her hands, like she was trying to wrap them around a large bowl, and then pointed to his bicep. “Big,” she tried to say the word that seemed foreign to her mouth.
He took her hand gently in his and brought it to his muscle revealed by his short-sleeved shirt. He smiled at her as her eyes got huge as she touched his skin, and suddenly she pulled back, embarrassed, and he was left wondering if she hadn’t touched a man before.
Then suddenly, she backed up a step. She dipped her head down, her eyes looking up from under her brow. Then she turned and dashed out of the shop.
Max followed to the window, watching her hurry down the street. “She was beautiful, wasn’t she?”
Rory walked up, taking in the glass on the floor and Max staring out the window, then turned to Liam. “What’s he looking at?”
Liam grinned huge. “Big brother is in love.”
“Say what?”
“I just saw it happen, right before my eyes. He fell hard.”
Max swiveled his head back. “She’s pretty is all I said. Don’t make a thing out of it.”
“Yeah, right. Why do I suddenly feel like there’s a lot of Thai food in our future?”
Max shoved his shoulder as he walked past him toward the back. “Speaking of… Clean up the glass and maybe I’ll let you have some of it.”
“Me? I didn’t break the damn bowl, you did!”
Max laughed and kept walking.
***
Malee turned and glanced back at the tattoo shop, studying the name. Brothers Ink. She’d never been there before. She’d lied to the man when she’d said her brother was sick, and her father had sent her. Her father rarely let her out of the restaurant, preferring to keep her back in the kitchen, like her deafness somehow made her flawed and she should be hidden away. Her mother said he was just being protective of her, but sometimes she wondered if he wasn’t ashamed of her disability. She wasn’t perfect like her brother, who could do no wrong in their father’s eyes.
She glanced back at the shop. She wasn’t supposed to make that lunch delivery. She’d grabbed it and ran out the door while her brother was busy, glad to escape the confines of the restaurant, even if it was only for a few minutes. Her father may beat her for her disobedience when she returned, but it had been worth it. She’d never seen art like that before. All the colors and designs had taken her breath away. She’d been fascinated. Tonight, in her room, she’d pull out her hidden sketchpad and colored pencils and try to duplicate the beautiful designs.
Her mind turned from the art she’d seen in the shop to the big man who’d spoken to her. Max, he’d said his name was. Tonight, when she was alone in her room, in addition to her drawing, she’d also practice saying his name out loud until she got it just right, so if she ever got the chance to run into him again, she could say hello to him, and he wouldn’t think she sounded funny.
She knew her lack of hearing distorted her voice and didn’t sound exactly like other people. But it was hard to form the words correctly, when you couldn’t hear how they came out.
Her mother wanted her to get an implant that the doctor said would help her to hear, but her father forbid it, saying it was too risky and too expensive.
Her eyes again strayed back to the tattoo shop as she stood on the corner in the rain, waiting for the light to change. She’d seen that man before—Max. She’d seen him in the gym on Fourth Street where her brother took martial arts classes. MMA, they called it; Mixed Martial Arts. She’d seen Max in there working out on the bag. He had powerful arms, and she’d been mesmerized watching him. She wasn’t supposed to go there either, but sometimes she’d sneak down there when her brother went and watch through the big storefront windows. No one ever noticed her. She made sure to stand off to the side, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
And now she knew where the big man with the powerful arms worked. Brothers Ink. She smiled a secret smile as she jogged back toward her parents’ restaurant, happy for the first time in a long time.