Ashton could tell the vampire was messing with him. If she didn’t smell so damn good and look so completely fuckable, he wouldn’t care. He saw women’s bodies all the time, and it never affected him like this. He had his pick of the hottest girls in town and out of town. Heck, a new batch of tourists came through on the regular, and those girls where available to him too. Tall ones, short ones, curvy ones, skinny ones, old ones, young ones, shifters, humans, witches, Ashton had had them all. And they all wanted him.

This curvy little halfling vampire though, she was something else. His human instinct told him to stay the hell away. A vampire was a hundred times more dangerous than a witch, and those women could mess your shit up big time. But a vampire. She could drain the life out of you in two minutes flat and walk away like it was no big deal. Too bad his inner lion had other ideas.

The sight of her curvy round butt had him hard as a steel rod. His lion paced around inside and showed him visions of gripping the vampires hips and thrusting between the soft pillows of her ass. Grr… He fixed his tattoo gun and began the outline of her gruesome tattoo.

Her taste in tattoos alone should be a warning signal to stay the heck away. This woman was nuts. She probably kept men prisoner in her dungeon basement like some kind of crazed serial killer. He’d heard stories of vampires growing up. He wouldn’t be surprised if she did have prisoners in one of those vampire mansions up the coast. No. He would not be surprised at all.

He pushed the needle into her skin, and she gave made a little moan like it excited her. Not only is she gruesome, she gets off on pain. He wiped away the excess ink and blood as he drew the outline, trying to keep from looking at her big round ass. It was practically pointing in his face.

He gritted his teeth and continued to work. This would take a long time, and he had to get himself under control if he expected to finish it today. Usually, he’d book a few sessions to do a tat this big and complex, but the woman insisted on completing it in one sitting. He’d need a break, that was for sure, even if she didn’t need one.

After working for almost two hours on the intricate outline, Ashton put down his gun and snapped off his rubber gloves.

“I need a break. You probably could use one too,” he said, running his hand through his blond mane.

“Nope. I’m good,” she said, looking over her shoulder. She kicked her leg up, her black leather, high-heeled boot rising over that ass of hers.

“Suit yourself,” he grumbled and went to his mini fridge for a bottle of water. “Thirsty?” he asked her.

“Sure,” she said, sitting up. She held her bra over her breasts, barely covering her nipples. Ashton’s eyes swept over the swell of her large, round titties. His hands flexed and clenched as he involuntarily imagined squeezing them.

He grabbed two bottles from the fridge and handed one to her. Isabella held her bra with one hand and twisted the bottle cap off with her teeth. She spit the cap across the room and it fell into a trashcan. Ashton looked at her with amazement that he tried to hide. Everything she did just made him want her more.

Her lips circled the water bottle, and she took a long drag. He watched her neck as water ran down her throat. Damn. This woman was sexy. He hastily pulled the cap off his water and chugged down the entire thing before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Thirsty. Why am I so thirsty?

“All right. I’m ready. How about you?” he asked, his voice hard.

“I’m always ready,” she cooed, setting her bottle down on a counter and slowly reclining onto the tattoo chair. Her breasts pressed against the faux leather. He could see them bulging out on the sides as her bra fell forward.

“Good,” he said, straddling his stool and pulling a clean pair of rubber gloves down over his hands. This vampire chick was driving him crazy. The sooner he got her tattoo done and got her out of his shop, the better.

His inner lion roared continuously to mate her, but that dude always wanted tail. Vampires were out. Period. Ashton clicked on his gun, and it purred to life. He pressed the needle to her skin, and she let out another alluring moan that made him instantly hard. Holy fuck, this woman.

He worked all afternoon and into the evening on her morbid back tattoo. She didn’t protest at the pain even once; in fact the crazy halfling seemed to like it. When he finally wiped the last of the ink from her puffy skin, the sun was setting outside. He could see pink and yellow hues dancing over the green forest across the highway.

“You’re set,” he said, rubbing salve on her skin. He put a clear plastic cover over it and taped it up as he advised her on aftercare.

“I don’t get infections,” she reminded him. “Being half immortal has its advantages,” she said, rising languidly from where she’d been lying all day. She hopped off the chair and landed gracefully on her high-heeled boots. “I can’t wear this bra over it though. It might hurt,” she said in an obvious lie, pouting. She dropped the bra on the chair, completely exposing her beautiful breasts.

Ashton grunted. He couldn’t tear his eyes away. They were so perfect, so suckable. His sharp teeth descended inside his mouth, and the lion threatened to take over.

She laughed and pulled her tank top down over her chest, hiding her treasures. Ashton frowned at himself and at the fact that she’d hidden her tits from his hungry cat. She pursed her red lips at him and smirked.

He growled. “We’re all done here,” he said, moving to the cash register.

“How much do I owe you?” she said in a sultry voice.

“As we agreed, two thousand.”

She held out a gold card between two long white fingers with nails painted the color of blood. “It’s on Daddy,” she said. “He’s going to love the new body art.”

“Really?” Ashton asked, skeptical. She sounded like a human trust fund brat. How he loved spoiled human trust fund brats.

“Oh yes, Don Santiago Cortez Amador, High Lord of the Cascade coven, loves body art. Loves it.” She smiled broadly, showing her pearly white teeth.

Spoiled trust fund brat. To. A. T. That type loved to upset Daddy. Ashton looked her up and down. Oh how he’d like to oblige. Too bad trust fund girl was a vampire. As fun as the spoiled rich girl might be, vampires were not on his to do list. Nope. Not even sexy little vixen Isabella.

He slid her card through the reader, and it was instantly approved. “Pleasure doing business with you, Isabella,” he said, handing her the receipt to sign. She signed it with a flourish and looked him deep in the eye as she handed it back.

“I’m quite interested in the business of pleasure, kitty cat,” she said before turning to go.