“Pretty sweet digs you got here.” Luciano tucked his hands into his pockets and looked around. Antonio watched as he remarked on the color of the walls, the placement of the art, and the setup at the front desk. Bloom Tattoo looked nothing like Thorn Tattoo; it was a little cleaner and less edgy. “Still, not digging the name. Could you have come up with anything fruitier? Sounds like a spa or something. Bloom.”

“I’m trying to appeal to another demographic,” Antonio replied. He didn’t need to justify his choice, but he felt Luciano should know. “You know as well as I do that the demographic is changing. The same people we used to see in the shop when Father was alive aren’t the only people looking to get tattooed now. The young and the vanilla are looking for outlets for rebellion and creativity, too. I’m hoping a softer name will cater to their interests.”

“Ah. I see. So this shop’s going to be selling a lot of infinity signs exploding into bits, and dandelion seeds in the wind changing into… birds. Why is it always birds?”

“You already do enough of them at Thorn,” Antonio shrugged. “I thought when the prices went up and the artists started to get booked months in advance that would change. I guess not.”

“People really are that unoriginal,” Luciano said with certainty. “I couldn’t even count how many anchors I’ve tattooed over the years. The worst is when they say something stupid like, ‘I refuse to sink.’ I can’t get over how dumb those ones are. An anchor’s only purpose is to sink. If you wanted something that floats, get a buoy or something. Guess those aren’t as pretty to look at, though.”

Antonio snorted. “It’s good to see you again, you know. I’m glad you didn’t head back on the road.”

“I’m glad, too.” Luciano shot him a warm smile. “It’s good to have some place to call home after all those years spent traveling. Melanie’s been really great about the whole thing. I definitely couldn’t have done it without her.”

“How’s she doing, by the way?” Antonio asked. “Still sick all the time?”

“Nah.” Luciano shook his head. “Her sister told her to eat ginger to help with the nausea and damn if it didn’t work. We get the little crystallized pieces and they’re pretty much just like candy. Whenever she’s feeling sick, she takes a few of them and in about fifteen minutes she’s feeling right as rain. The doctor said her nausea should probably stop after the first trimester, but it’s not a sure thing. I can’t imagine if she went the full nine months just sick as a dog.”

It was a strange feeling to know that his younger brothers were settling down. Giovanni and Riley were married. Luciano and Melanie were going to have their first child in close to six months’ time. The DeRose family was growing, and yet Antonio stayed the same.

He stole a glance in the direction of Evie’s tattoo bay.

Sometimes, when he thought about it for too long, he realized how lonely he really was. But dating someone from work? It may have worked for Giovanni and Luciano, but Antonio didn’t want to mix business with pleasure.

No matter how tempting that pleasure was.

“Anyway, thanks for asking. You should come over for dinner sometime. She’s always bugging me about getting you and Gio and Riley together for dinner or something. I think she’s just eager to have a family that’s not living off the land, you know?”

“Not really.” Antonio held back a grin.

They moved through the lobby stopping to look at the jewelry in the case, and Antonio knew he was comparing it against what he knew from Thorn Tattoo.

“Pretty solid inventory,” Luciano remarked. “How much of it you got sterilized and ready to go in the back?”

“Pretty sure it’s two of each.” Antonio hoped that the piercers had been keeping the stores replenished and putting in orders as needed. The shop was still new, but they’d been getting a fair amount of foot traffic and piercing sales were going well. “Until I have some sales data, I won’t know what I need to keep more of, or how much more I’ll need to keep. Two seems like a good number.”

“Can’t argue there.” Luciano looked up from the display cases to the drawing framed and hanging from the wall above. It was one of Antonio’s earlier pieces. “You going to eventually have the artists redo the wall and hang up their own artwork?”

“That’s the plan. We’re still trying to iron out all the kinks. The old management was… lacking.”

Luciano furrowed his brow. “Well, I guess a place like this goes under for a reason. You didn’t change much of the infrastructure, right?”

“No. I had it repainted overnight, and I have plans to potentially take over the shops on either side if this place works out half as well as I’d like, but for now, no major renovations. I want to keep it open.”

“Can’t blame you there.” Luciano headed slowly toward the tattoo bays at the back. “So tell me about the artists who work here. Any chance you’re going to have me come over when things are settled? I need to know how many birds I should draw as practice.”

“Very funny.” Antonio rolled his eyes. “There’s five.”

“Who’s head artist?”

“Well…” Antonio shook his head. “We don’t have one yet. I’ve got my eye on someone, but it’s a harder job convincing her that she’s a good fit than I’d care to admit.”

Luciano squinted, inspecting each of the curtained doors as though he might be able to tell which one of them housed the culprit. “Working as head artist in a sister shop to Thorn Tattoo is a pretty sweet deal. If I wasn’t already Thorn’s golden boy, I would jump at the chance.”

“I guess the opportunity doesn’t appeal to everyone.”

Antonio still couldn’t understand it. Evie had success handed to her, yet she was content to sit back and let someone else steal it away from her. It didn’t make sense to Antonio.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t earned it.

“Lemme meet her,” Luciano said.

“Evie Stuart. She worked at the old shop, Ricochet, for the last three years. Before that, she bounced around every couple of years to locations around the west coast. She spent a lot of time in California.”

“Introduce me,” Luciano said. “I’ll see if she’s worth her salt, or if you should refocus your attention to bringing on someone else.”

Antonio wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but he had no reason to keep Luciano from meeting Evie. For some reason, trouble wriggled in his stomach at the thought, a strange sense of possession and protectiveness that he wasn’t used to. What would he do if Luciano thought Evie wasn’t worth it? Antonio knew she was. She was worth so much more than what she believed she was capable of.

He realized, halfway to her tattoo bay, that he’d never thought the same about anyone outside the DeRose family before.

Antonio stopped in front of the curtain. “Evie, I’m here with my brother, Luciano,” he called in. “Are you busy?”

“Nope,” Evie chirped back. The sound of wheels on the floor followed her statement, and she pulled back the curtain, still seated on her stool. “I’ve got a half hour break between clients. I was just updating my portfolio and looking to see which pieces should be added to the website, since you’ve been telling all of us it’s so important to do.”

It was important. Antonio wanted all of his artists to keep a representation of their body of work that was current and striking, and the best way to showcase it was on their website. And besides, the sooner they updated their portfolios, the sooner he could discuss getting their best pieces up on the wall in place of his own.

“Hey.” Luciano held out his hand, and Evie rose to shake it. She was wearing her usual over-sized tunic with her tight shorts, legs on display. Antonio’s gaze dipped downward, and Evie rolled her eyes. “You’re Luciano DeRose, right? The famous tattoo artist?”

“That’d be me.” Luciano nodded.

“Well, can you tell your pervy brother to stop ogling me? I’m pretty sure he thinks it’s subtle, but it’s totally not.”

Luciano grinned. All Antonio could do was shake his head.

“My pervy brother’s been chronically single since he was twenty-one,” Luciano said, waggling an eyebrow. “I was pretty sure he’d decided to bat for the other team for a while, so it’s good to see that he’s taking interest in a woman.”

Evie giggled. Antonio’s eyes widened, and he pushed at Luciano’s arm. “What the hell?”

“Hey, it’s true. I thought it for a while. You completely abandoned dating altogether. I was sure something was going on.”

“I was busy setting up a business,” Antonio said flatly.

Luciano waved a hand. “You weren’t always that busy. Don’t lie.”

Antonio covered his face with his hand. He shook his head. “I’m not gay, Luciano.”

“Obviously,” Evie joked. “You’ve been ogling me since the second you stepped into Bloom Tattoo for the first time.”

Both of them were impossible. Luciano laughed, and he high-fived Evie. “You’re pretty alright. Now let me see what you got.”

“Oh?” Evie wheeled back. “I’ll show you. C’mere. It’s a little messy right now, but you’ll get a pretty good feel for what I do, I think.”

Antonio watched Luciano cross the room and stand by Evie’s desk. Her artwork was scattered across it, a portfolio opened with more artwork placed haphazardly inside.

“Hey, Antonio,” one of the piercers called from the front. “Something’s up with the POS. Can you come take a look?”

Antonio tore his gaze from his brother and Evie, looked over his shoulder at the piercer and nodded. “I’ll be right there.”

“Cool. Thanks.”

“You good on your own, Luciano?” he asked.

“Yup.” Luciano grinned at him, gestured at Evie with his chin, and nodded knowingly. Antonio tried not to read too much into that gesture. He wasn’t interested in pursuing Evie. She was a beautiful woman, and a talented artist, but he couldn’t allow himself to see her as anything more. This was business.

“I’ll be right back.” Antonio exited the room, closing the curtain behind him.

He was glad for the escape. It’d give him some time to get his head back on straight.

Evie was beautiful, but there was no chance something between them could work out. None at all.

And it hurt Antonio more than he cared to admit.