Antonio was angry. Most of the time, he kept his emotions hidden behind a cool façade. Evie had seen that mask fall by the wayside while they were out of the shop, or when Antonio was with his brothers, but it was very rare that it fell out of place while he was working.

That she could see his temper flaring behind his stony-faced appearance meant that she was in deep shit, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

She’d tried her best to do what she thought would make Antonio proud, but so far, she’d fumbled the entire way. From the body painting shoot with Graham to the botched logo, Evie felt at wits’ end. Part of her wondered if she would care this much if they didn’t have a growing personal relationship. Would she really be trying this hard if they hadn’t slept together?

While he wasn’t overly affectionate with her in the shop, they did kiss. Twice. Okay, she’d been the instigator, but he certainly held up his end. So much so, if Kimi hadn’t interrupted them both times, chances were they’d have done much more than kiss.

Evie didn’t suppress the grin at how quickly Antonio had shifted from her boss to her lover. At least that one time. Or how much she couldn’t wait to do it again and again. But he was always so busy and she worried that deep down, despite how she felt, that maybe he didn’t feel the same.

If Giovanni and Luciano could find love in the work place, could she and Antonio? But he was always so business-minded; something she definitely wasn’t. Creativity was more her thing. Maybe that was why she found herself trying so hard to prove herself professionally.

She needed to show Antonio that she could be both creative and professional, and she thought she knew how to do it.

All of the artists had finished assembling their portfolios at long last and some of the better ones were already showcased on the shop website, but Evie hoped to do one better. She asked each of the artists to choose one or two photos of their best work and took them to a printer to blow up the digitized images on glossy stock. She didn’t have the money to have them professionally framed, so she hired someone to come in while Antonio was out for the afternoon, to use the frames that were already holding his work.

Except, she neglected to tell the framer not to damage the artwork that was originally in the frames. Because that should have been obvious, right?

“Are you kidding me?” she all but shrieked as the guy shrugged his shoulders.

“What? Those prints were old and worn around the edges.”

“They weren’t prints! Dammit, you had a simple job to do. I told you to leave them flat not roll them up and put a…rubber band around them! Oh my god.”

Evie rubbed her face in irritation as she carefully unrolled them but the damage was done.

“If he really cared about them, maybe he should have taken better care of them to begin with,” the guy offered.

“Just. Get. Out.”

When Antonio returned that evening to find his prints out of the frames and sitting on the table, he fingered them lightly, instantly finding the cracks in the ink.

“Evie!” he exploded.

She was standing a few feet away, arms crossed, hugging herself tightly as she watched Antonio’s face contort with rage. “Um, yeah?”

“Did you do this?” Antonio gestured at the prints.

“I can explain… I figured that since we’re on our way to getting some renovations done, breathing some new life into the place would be a good idea. Just a little change to tide us over until we get everything we want.”

“Are you serious?”

Evie had never heard Antonio use that tone of voice before. She dropped her hands wiping them against her jean shorts before hugging herself again and biting down on her bottom lip. Ever since they’d spent the night together at the casino, things had been going wrong… and all she wanted was for him to notice how much she’d been trying. “Well, I didn’t want to take chances on anything happening to them and I didn’t have money for new frames, so I hired someone from the frame shop to come swap out your work for the prints I had made up.”

“These are originals.” Antonio’s voice was like steel. He gingerly lifted the top sheet before dropping it back down in frustration when he saw the damage.

“I swear I didn’t go out of my way to ruin them.”

Antonio had nothing to say to her. Picking up his artwork, he carefully slid them under one of the couches in the waiting area, fuming. Evie felt the anger rolling off him in waves. She shook her head and scurried back to her room, knowing she had a client waiting.

There was still a chance she could turn it around. If she proved to Antonio she was serious about Bloom Tattoo, she could make him forget all of her mistakes without making any new ones.

It would need to be something big and something bold. Something that proved she wasn’t afraid to take on a leadership position and be in command. She needed to prove that she was not only worthy of being head artist but also his girlfriend.

All she needed to do was figure out what it might be.

* * *

It had been a month since the photo shoot and surprisingly, it came out pretty good. As a result, there was more business coming in to Bloom Tattoo; although there were just as many guys coming in to gawk at Evie, which seemed to infuriate Antonio more.

It was Saturday and they’d closed up shop early so the artists would have time to clear out their rooms in anticipation of the weekend’s renovations. The construction crew was coming in overnight to knock down a couple walls to get rid of the unused workroom and expand the tattoo bays. The initial plans to expand the lobby area were put on hold while Antonio was negotiating to take over the shop next door once their contract was up. Evie had really wanted to create a large gallery wall, but Antonio had nixed it for this reno claiming it was too expensive and would take too much time.

“Do I throw out all my partially used inks, or do I try to transport them?” Kimi asked loudly so that the rest of them could hear. “Like, how much of my things do I need to keep? I know all my wall decorations and stuff have to go, but the rest?”

“If it’s gently used, keep it. If you’re right at the end, toss it,” Evie said. “Use your discretion.”

“My discretion is just to throw everything in a box and call it a day, but that’s not exactly hygienic,” Kimi shot back. “I mean, I’m glad we’re getting this done so quickly, but at the same time, I’m bummed we have to bother moving this stuff at all, especially since we’re only going to be carting it back Tuesday morning when we open again.”

“You’ve been packing for a few days now,” Evie said. Most of the furniture had already been cleared from her room. Moving the bulky stuff out and loading it onto the truck Antonio had rented to haul it to storage was the first step. Getting rid of their personal belongings came next. There really wasn’t much more to do. “It’ll be fine.”

“You won’t be saying that when we’ve got to haul back in all the chairs, and the desks, and the tables, and the couches….”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Theo called out. “You girls don’t need to lift a finger if you don’t want to. Antonio and I have it all under control.”

“If you say so,” Kimi said flippantly. “I just don’t do too well with change.”

“Which is why you’ve had dreads for like, six years,” Red teased.

Kimi didn’t bite back.

The atmosphere at the shop was off.

After nearly losing their jobs when Ricochet went under, being taken in by Bloom Tattoo, then facing a cosmetic change to the storeroom and artist areas, the staff had been under a lot of transition in a short amount of time. Since they’d first met at Ricochet, the artists had become sort of a family, albeit a dysfunctional one, and since Antonio took over, they weren’t their normal selves. Evie suspected it was partly to do with the outstanding employee contracts that Antonio had yet to sign even though he’d promised not to reduce their hours so long as they continued to produce the quality work they had been.

For Evie, all she wanted was to make Antonio happy and prove she was worth his time, but she kept screwing it up professionally, making any chance at a personal relationship impossible.

Their relationship should have been better since they spent the night together, not worse. Antonio deserved better.

As she piled her things by the door, she found the old vision board for shop renovations she’d made a while back. It listed all the crazy ideas she’d had for the shop, including the show box she’d been so excited about.

Evie took a second to look it over, considering all the options listed. Antonio had wanted to extend the size of the lobby and include a gallery, as well as designate a place for the piercers so that they didn’t clog up the artists’ space. Evie considered the floorspace available, then looked the vision board over again.

If a surprise was what she needed, there was no better place to start. Evie grinned and made haste to pack away the rest of her things.

She had a contractor she needed to call and have a discussion with, and she needed to do it before it was too late in the day.

It was going to be a busy weekend, and she’d need to be there for all of it.