Four hours of lying in a tattoo chair in Gunner’s GetInked2 tattoo shop and my back was killing me. Every buzz of the sharp needle pressed into my skin and vibrated down my spine. It stung like a bitch.
The doorbell above his front door chimed, but I barely heard it over the needle and the sudden laughter that entered the waiting area. From the mirror next to me, I saw Faith, Jules, and Olivia walking in, but all I cared about was Faith.
Her black hair whipped around her face as she threw her head back and laughed at whatever Jules said. Her hands were bogged down with large paper bags, which showed me their shopping trip had been successful.
A sharp sensation stung my chest as I watched her, my eyes couldn’t have moved if I’d tried. Faith was gorgeous. She was beautiful. More distant than when were younger, but more vulnerable at the same time. I didn’t blame her.
But watching her walk into Gunner’s tattoo shop, a smile on her face with armfuls of shopping bags of things she’d bought for our home… my chest swelled with an indescribable feeling of pride.
Or love.
I laughed to myself.
Who the hell was I kidding? It was definitely love.
“You need to take a break?” Gunner asked, pulling the needle away from my shoulder. I wouldn’t be able to sleep on my back for a week after this, which was fine because I had plans to spend a lot of time with Faith under me.
“How much more do you have to do?” At the sound of my voice, Faith stopped talking to Jules and her eyes met mine through the reflection in the mirror. They crinkled and she lifted one hand in a wave hello.
“Another hour. The outline’s done, but we still need to do more shading. I can finish the rest later.” He wiped away the stain of the ink and the blood from my shoulder blade.
“Finish what you can today.” I turned my head so I could greet Faith. “Get over here and hold my hand.”
Olivia laughed in the entryway. “I can do it for you, Ryker. I think I owe you the favor.”
No shit she did. My fingers stung at the thought of how tightly Liv had gripped my fingers weeks ago when she got her own tattoo.
“I barely survived the last time you held my hand, but thanks.”
She threw her head back and laughed. Faith smiled and pulled up a stool next to me. “You okay?”
“I’m good.”
Gunner laughed as he turned the ink gun back on. “Pussy’s had to take a break every twenty minutes.”
Asshole. I took one break. “I had to piss.”
“That’s what they all say,” he muttered, but I was already ignoring the man in favor of the beauty sitting in front of me.
She reached out and brushed a piece of my hair off my forehead before her eyes fell to my back. Gunner had outlined the entire Vikings skull and helmet all over my back. Across my shoulder blades in a Gothic script, he was writing Nordic Lords in all capitalized letters. It would take more than one, maybe more than two sessions, to complete the entire tattoo. I didn’t care how long it took.
Patching into the club, inking their name across my body, was only one of the ways I planned to let Faith know I wasn’t going anywhere.
She was stuck with me.
She chewed on her bottom lip, her nose crinkled as she watched Gunner run the gun slowly across my back. “You okay?”
“I’m good, babe,” I told her and squeezed her hand. Gunner hit the edge of bone on my shoulder blade and I hissed in a breath. “Except for when he hits bone.”
“Toughen up,” he muttered.
Faith’s quiet laugh at our banter took away any pain the tattoo gun could have caused.
“What’d you get at the store?” An hour after we got to Gunner’s, I had sent her away with Jules and Olivia so she didn’t have to sit and watch me get inked for half the day. Fuck if I knew it would take as long as it did.
But I was anxious… she had bought stuff for our house. Our home. Finally, it felt like shit was going right for us. It had certainly been fucked up for far too long. I figured we’d earned it.
Faith glanced around at the piles of bags in the entryway. Jules and Liv were sitting on a leather couch, kicked back and smiling like they had nothing else planned for the day.
“A blender, plates, more glasses… wine… beer…” She shrugged. “I don’t know. All sorts of things.”
My grin grew with every word she spoke. Her knee bounced quickly as she spoke and she played with a strand of her hair.
“Why are you nervous?”
She pulled her light blue eyes to me. “Liv wants to have a party tonight.”
“And?”
She shrugged, uncertain. “I think it’s weird… after last night and today. I don’t know.”
I squeezed her hand and nodded my head so she had to lean close.
“Keep still,” Gunner scolded.
“Bite me.” When Faith was close enough, I whispered, “Stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. We’re good. Life is good. Take a damn day and enjoy it, won’t you?”
Hesitantly, she nodded and then pressed her lips against mine. “I love you.”
“You too,” I answered seriously. My eyes glued to hers so she would absolutely have no fucking doubt how I felt about her. I knew she still questioned it, questioned everything that had happened, but someday she’d wake up and know I wasn’t screwing around on her. And I’d stick around until that happened—and every day after.
“All right, then. I should probably get going. I have a party to plan.”
I shook my head. “Stay with me. Let the girls do it.”
She looked back at Jules and Liv and then to me. I shook my head again. I watched her war with indecision but answered it for her.
“Hey, Liv,” I shouted over the music, the needle, and the incessant girl chatter. “Faith’s staying with me ‘til we’re done here. Can you and Jules take care of everything for the party?”
Liv grinned. Jules stood up and clapped her hands together. “You bet!” they said in unison. They gathered up the bags and took off, mischievous giggles filtering through the air, as they hauled ass out of the tattoo shop with barely a wave and shout good-bye.
Faith sank back into the stool next to me. “Well, I guess that answers that.”
“Does it hurt?” Faith asked me. I had grimaced and groaned my way through sliding my T-shirt and leather vest back on after Gunner covered the tattoo with Vaseline and bandages.
“Like a thousand bee stings.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door.
“Yikes.” She made a face. One of sympathy, but it was over exaggerated and I couldn’t help but laugh at her. I couldn’t help but want to pull her to me and ravage her in the middle of the damn street because she was so damn beautiful and cute. Innocent and not at the same time. Light on her feet with a heavy burden on her shoulders. Such a beautiful contradiction, but it was all perfectly Faith.
I wanted it all. I yanked her to me, wrapping a hand around her waist when she stumbled into me. My other hand slide to the back of her neck.
“Kiss me.”
She didn’t hesitate. Our lips met and I instantly groaned as I tasted her bubble gum mixed with the sweetness that was simply Faith. My tongue licked her bottom lip before I entered her mouth. A growl of pleasure escaped the back of my throat as I swallowed her whimpers of pleasure. My dick instantly hardened. I rolled my hips and pulled her closer to me, letting her feel what she did to me.
“Jesus,” I said, pulling back and looking down at her. “I want you. All the fucking time, I want you.” My thumb brushed the pink tint to her cheeks. “How is that possible?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not going to argue with you.” Between her breathy voice that was soft and sexy as hell, and the wicked glint in her eyes, my dick hardened.”
I stepped back toward my truck, our bodies still connected as I nuzzled and tickled her neck with my chin. Her laughter vibrated against my chest.
“I think you should take me home and do whatever you want to me.”
Fuck, yes. That’s what I wanted to hear. I nipped at her neck before I pressed my lips against hers again. “Did you forget Jules and Liv are there decorating?”
“I can be quiet.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “For what I have planned for you, there’s no fucking way you’ll be able to be quiet.”
I had no clue what happened to my nervous and hesitant girl, but in an instant, she looked like sex on a stick and confident as hell. The weight pressing down on her shoulders seemed to have disappeared.
“Cocky?” she asked, arching a brow as her hands flipped to her hips.
I leaned in and ran my tongue along her jaw. “Confident.”
She shook her head and took a step away, waggling her finger at me. “None of that.”
“We can wait ‘til we get home, then.”
She nodded once, her eyes blinked. “Home.”
It whispered across her lips as if she was finally just realizing the truth. What I had given her and what I would always want to give her.
I opened my mouth to repeat the word, right as a masculine and dipshit sounding voice interrupted me.
“Faith Winston?”