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Alexis
She could feel his eyes on her, piercing. Penetrating. No, she reminded herself, it wasn’t her, it was her work. That’s what he was looking at. Either way, it still made her feel like he was waiting for her to fail.
Kane’s tattoo shop, Ink, Inc. was the most well-known tattoo shop in Colorado, and he worked hard to keep it that way. Which was why she was pretty sure he was just looking for a reason to fire her. After all, she was the first female artist he’d hired. Which meant—what? He didn’t think women could hack it?
Alexis gritted her teeth as she shaded the corner of the rose. It was a simple tattoo, but evidently the man was one of Kane’s best clients, so she had to be perfect.
And she was. Every line, color, saturation—everything. It was perfect. Alexis might be a girl, but she was just as talented as the rest of the men who worked here.
She’d prove it every single day if she had to, until they treated her like one of their own. No, until Kane treated her like that. Like she belonged.
Alexis leaned back, examined her work, and grinned. “All done.”
Her client peered down at his forearm. Narrowed his eyes.
Kane walked over as well to examine the piece, and her stomach clenched. Both of them exchanged a look she couldn’t decipher, and then finally her client stood and held his hand out.
“Good work. Best arm piece yet.”
Her stomach unclenched and her shoulders drooped with relief. Hell. If that wasn’t a good endorsement, then what was?
She looked at Kane, ready for the praise she deserved, but he only nodded once and then walked with the client to the front of the shop.
Alexis mumbled a few curse words under her breath before she turned to clean up her station. One of the other artists, Levi, came over and sat in her chair.
“Good work,” he said, reclining with his hands behind his head.
“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
He squinted his eyes at her. “Huh?”
“Saying I did a good job. That wasn’t hard. So why can’t Kane, Mighty King of Ink—and women, apparently—say so?”
Levi chuckled. “King of Ink and Women. Nice. He’s got one of those women waiting for him at the front right now.”
“I know.” Alexis peered out to the lobby and grimaced. “She’s got more tattoos than me.”
And she was pretty hot. Like all the others. Kane had a woman out there pretty much every day. They’d come in and watch him work or wait in the lobby, and then ride off with him on his bike every night after work.
“Everyone has more tattoos than you,” Levi said.
She hit him on the head with a roll of paper towels. “I’m trying to tell a story here, not see how many tattoos I can get for the sake of it.”
Besides, three right now was plenty. She put a lot of thought into her ink and she wasn’t about to get one for no reason.
“That was praise, by the way.” Levi stood. “Kane not firing you after you worked on his best client—and then nodding at you. That was his form of praise. You’re in.”
“What?”
Levi grinned. “You’re officially off Kane probation. If his best client approves, then Kane approves. Which means you didn’t get your sorry ass fired, and he’ll probably lay up on the watchdog bit. Don’t worry. He did it to all of us, too.” He nudged her with his arm. “You’re just better to look at.”
She laughed. “Thanks.”
“So it’s beer, nachos, and darts tonight. Any of which you can substitute for something else. Everything but the location. We always go to Don’s.”
“Don’s?”
Levi nodded. “To celebrate. You’re one of us now, so we celebrate.”
Warmth filled her insides. One of them. She liked the sound of it. She just wished Kane was the one to say it. Wished for once he’d say something else to her besides what she was doing wrong. And maybe…maybe part of her wished he would look at her like he looked at those women in the lobby.
Fuck. Alexis finished cleaning up her station. No. She didn’t need Kane’s eyes anywhere near her. Or the rest of his body for that matter. He was too hot for his own good and he knew it. Hence the entourage of women wherever he went.
Worse than that, he seemed just as irritated by her as she was by him. They could be professional, they could work together, but that was it.
And she figured if she needed the praise, she could get it from Levi or any one of the other guys. They seemed perfectly happy giving her pointers and expressing what a great artist she was. Especially Levi.
Too bad she wasn’t interested.
Alexis did a once-over of her station—she knew she’d hear it from Kane if it wasn’t spotless and prepped for the next client or the next day. Then she congratulated herself and decided Levi was right. They needed to celebrate.