Evie was more steadfast than Antonio gave her credit for. Amongst all the artists, he’d assumed she was the most pliant. Kimi was outspoken and brash, Theo was kind but confrontational, Red was too goofy to be any degree of serious, and Frank….

To be honest, most of the time Antonio forgot Frank was there. The man defaulted to silence and Antonio wasn’t sure if he ever spoke.

Evie, even tempered but quirky and spunky enough to be interesting, was the sure bet to be Bloom Tattoo’s representative. No one else could compare. And it wasn’t simply because Antonio was attracted to her—her physical beauty bore no weight on her professional prowess. The decision was easy because Evie was the full package. Perhaps she wasn’t as technically sound as Kimi, or as intimidating as Theo, but in each area vital for a head artist to fill, she flourished.

But Evie wouldn’t see reason.

As Antonio watched her flee from the shop and disappear into the Vegas streets, he wondered if he wasn’t in over his head. He assumed Evie would jump at the opportunity to be head artist, and instead she’d run. There was something else going on that he wasn’t aware of.

Evie was hiding something.

With any luck, Antonio could wear her down. She would do a fine job as head artist if only she would take the position. He needed to convince her that it was in her best interest to take the job.

The shop was empty. Antonio had done the float and locked up the deposit. All that was left to do was head out.

He followed in Evie’s footsteps and made his way to his car. He wasn’t sure how he was going to do it, but Antonio knew that he had to convince her that she was worthy of the position. Bloom Tattoo needed her if it was going to flourish, and Antonio wasn’t about to have a failed shop on his hands. He respected himself far too much to fail.

One way or another, Evie would come around. He’d make sure of it.

* * *

“Nope.” Evie looked over her shoulder, lips a thin line. Her gray eyes bore through him. “I told you last night, Antonio. I’m not doing it.”

Antonio caught her between clients. Evie was wiping down her station and disposing of her sharps. One of the piercers was covering for him at the front while he made another attempt to sway her. “I didn’t even ask you anything.”

“I know, but I can see it in your eyes,” she said. “The owner doesn’t just sweep into your tattoo bay to watch you clean up. He comes to ask something of you, and I know what you’ve got in mind. I’m not changing my mind now, tomorrow, or any time in the future. No is no, and it will be forever.”

“Why not?” Antonio asked. Irritation prickled down his neck and raised the fine hairs there. He respected her choice, but he did not like to be told no. Not when it came to business. “Tell me why.”

“Mm, well, the first big thing that jumps out at me is that I’m not interested in it.” She made a sour face. “It really doesn’t need to go any further than that.”

“Humor me,” Antonio invited, crossing his arms over his chest. “Give me some actual reasons. No one turns down something this big without an underlying cause.”

Evie rolled her eyes. She sank back on her stool, snapping off each of her gloves. “Okay. Here’s another reason. I’m lazy.”

“Lazy doesn’t keep a schedule like yours.”

“I only graduated high school.”

“Education doesn’t matter half as much as experience.”

“I would rather pull my teeth out than talk to anyone on the phone.”

“But you’re determined enough to overcome any difficulties in the name of your job,” Antonio said. “I saw you salvage a tattoo the other day after your machine broke mid-session. The work you did was incredible. After something like that? Talking on the phone should be nothing.”

“Except it is.” Evie shook her head. “I don’t want to lead. I don’t want to be the person everyone turns to. I don’t want to talk to reps, or plan events, or do any of that other shit. Ask Theo. I promise, he’s the man you’re looking for. Plus, he’s a better artist than I am.”

“I disagree.”

“Whatever.” Evie shrugged. “You could disagree with all of it and it wouldn’t change anything. You can’t force me to work a job I don’t want to work. I’m going to keep showing up and tattooing just like I have been, and that’s that. Sorry for letting you down, but that’s how it is.”

She was being pushy and flaunting her flaws because she knew he couldn’t fire her. Antonio studied her, trying to get deeper into her head but all he could see was a stubborn wall of resistance. There had to be an underlying issue that he didn’t know about.

Instead of pressing her to prove herself, he changed his tactic. He couldn’t force Evie to do anything, but he could still figure out what she was hiding. More importantly, there was a chance he’d be able to fix her confidence issue and get her into the role she was destined for.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Evie blinked rapidly, as though she was clearing away tears from her eyes. She fixed her gaze on Antonio, lips loose and expression uncertain. “What?

“If you want to talk, I want to listen,” Antonio said. He meant it. If any of his staff were struggling, he wanted to offer support. Most owners couldn’t care less about what their staff did, but Antonio was invested in not only his business, but the people who allowed it to run.

“That’s nice and all,” Evie said uncertainly, “but I’m really not interested, okay? You can keep trying all you want, but the artist you’re looking for? It’s Theo. I’m not going to take something that so rightfully belongs to him. You’re a newcomer here. You don’t understand about the shop dynamic yet. You haven’t lived it long enough.”

Antonio didn’t think that was true, but he didn’t argue, either. He toyed with his cuff link, thinking it through. There had to be a way to get Evie to realize her worth.

“If you say so,” he said with little intonation in his voice.

Evie narrowed her eyes and looked him over suspiciously. “What, that’s it?”

“What?” Antonio resisted a smirk. “You want me to keep fighting? I thought you wanted me to back off.”

The look on her face was priceless. Divided and uncertain, she squirmed and then shook her head. “Yeah, I do. So thanks for getting out of the bay so I can keep cleaning. My next client is going to be here in like fifteen minutes, and I need to be ready.”

“Suit—” Before Antonio could finish speaking, another voice cut through the shop, booming.

“This is not the shit we agreed upon!”

Evie’s shoulders stiffened. She turned to the door to her tattoo bay, looking toward the noise. Antonio kept his gaze momentarily on her, searching for clues. She knew the shop better than he did, and he wanted to know if interruptions like that were normal.

By her startled expression and increased tension, he guessed they weren’t.

“You okayed the outline,” Theo’s voice boomed back. “The location, too. We did exactly what was discussed, even though I told you it would look better with my suggested alterations.”

“No, you fuckwad,” the man shouted. A client. Antonio bit down on his jaw and turned to face the noise as well. He decided to let Theo play it out to see if he was as much head artist material as Evie claimed. “That is not what I agreed to! Do you have cotton in your damn ears?”

“No, but you’ve obviously got blinders over your eyes. You saw the outline I put on you. You looked at it in the mirror and told me it looked great. How am I suddenly at fault when you’ve gone and changed your mind like that?”

“Shit,” Evie whispered under her breath. She walked forward carefully, parting the curtains to look out of her room and across to Theo’s. The curtains there were still drawn.

The music played over the speakers, but all other noise in the shop had ceased. Everyone was frozen, listening to what was going on. Even the buzz of tattoo machines from other tattoo bays had stopped.

Antonio winced realizing that there were other clients being tattooed who were hearing the fight. A tarnished image so soon into a shop’s opening was a bad sign. If people thought the place was trouble, not even its connection with Thorn Tattoo would save it.

“This is total bullshit,” the client roared. “Absolute fucking bullshit. If you’re not going to respect me, then I’m done here. So done.”

“So what?” Theo challenged. Antonio heard the malice in his voice. “You’re going to walk out of here? Is that it? You’re not even going to give me a chance to sit you down and talk you through this, find a solution?”

“A solution to this flaming dumpster of a tattoo?” the man bellowed. “You’re out of your goddamn mind. This whole place is beyond salvation. What the fuck kind of establishment lets a man like you work on the public?”

Evie clutched the door frame. She looked small and timid, standing there in her over-sized tunic and tight pair of jean shorts. Her long, silken legs crossed at the ankle. Even at her most tense, she was delicate and adorable. Antonio noticed, and even though his attention was stolen by the fight, he wasn’t half as concerned about it as he was with watching her.

At this point, nothing could be done to salvage the appointment. Antonio recognized the emotion in Theo’s tone, and he knew that even if he stepped in, Theo was still going to go off. Growing up with Giovanni had taught Antonio everything he needed to know about explosive personalities.

The only thing he could do was wait for it to blow over, then swoop in with damage control in the aftermath.

“Get the fuck out of my room,” Theo snarled. “You think you can come in here disrespecting me like that on my own turf?”

“You think you can disrespect me like that on my own body?” the man shot back. Antonio watched from a short distance as the curtains parted and a burly man emerged. The line art on his arm was half done. The work was solid, from what Antonio could see. If the tattoo was on the man’s arm, there was no excuse why he couldn’t have brought up his concerns before so much ink had been put into his skin.

Antonio knew that sometimes it really was the client’s fault. In this case, he figured Theo was on the ball. Still, his behavior was troubling. No matter how Evie protested, the man wasn’t someone who should ever be head artist. The switch in his behavior from sweet and docile to frothing at the mouth with anger was too intense and sudden. Antonio needed someone the other artists would feel safe approaching no matter what, even when times were rough or they’d made a big mistake.

Theo wasn’t the kind of guy who could handle pressure like that reliably.

“I’m out of here,” the man seethed. “If you think I’m paying for this piece of shit, you’re mistaken.”

“Get. Out.” Theo’s fists were clenched. He followed the man out through the curtains, eyes narrowed slits of hatred. He truly was terrifying when angry. The man he’d been tattooing was big, but it looked like Theo would be able to crush him with one hand tied behind his back.

“I hope you get fucking fired,” the man said in parting. He stormed across the shop and made his way to the door. The piercer filling in for Antonio wisely let him go without issue.

As soon as the shop door slammed shut, Kimi laughed from inside her tattoo bay. “Oh my god, what an asshole.”

It was exactly what was needed to dispel the tension. Tattoo machines started buzzing again. Conversation resumed. The awkward silence that had once been was gone.

Theo slipped back inside his bay and pulled the curtain closed.

All that was left was Evie. She stood in the doorway as though frozen, looking across where Theo had stood. Antonio saw the scenario replaying through her mind, the troubled way she held her lips indicative of her reasoning. She knew that Theo wasn’t a good fit after what she’d just seen. With any luck, she was starting to come around to the idea that maybe Antonio was right.

A blowup wasn’t what Bloom Tattoo needed, but it might have been what Evie needed most of all.

At last, she shook her head and stepped away from the doorway and pulled her curtain closed. “No one should have to walk out of here with a half-finished tattoo, not when they’re not coming back to have it worked on. I don’t agree with what just happened at all.”

“Really?” Antonio arched a brow. “I’ve got a partially finished back piece. Is it really such a crime in your eyes?”

Evie’s gaze narrowed. “You do not.”

“I’ll show you,” Antonio challenged. “It’s been years. I kept meaning to go back to have it completed, but never found the time. The artist has since moved, so I’m pretty sure it’s always going to stay incomplete.”

Evie made a face. “That’s terrible.”

“It is what it is.” Antonio shrugged. “You know, if it’s such a big issue for you, you could finish it.”

Evie glared at him like he’d just bested her at wrestling and was keeping her pinned against her will. Antonio knew that he was pushing her limits, waiting to see what lengths she would go to for the sake of the shop and the people in it, but he couldn’t help himself. Evie was excellent head artist material. It was in her genes. If she could turn down doing the tattoo, he’d know that he was mistaken, but he already knew there was no way she’d do that.

“Let me see it,” she said gruffly.

Antonio almost smiled.

Evie was the right choice. His reasoning was seldom wrong.

Maybe it wouldn’t be that day, but one day soon, he’d convince her that she belonged as Bloom Tattoo’s head artist. He’d already planned for a long period of transition, after all.