That only happened once. Some receptionist getting creative with his free time.
Walking into the tattoo shop was like entering a completely different world. It had that smell and that sound, like a dentist’s office. It was no less horrifying. The walls were pretty, with framed art of all kinds, a mask here and there. T-shirts with the shop logo hung off a rack in the corner. The furniture was nice, or it had been at one time. Victorian looking couches or maybe they were French Provincial. He was shit with furniture names.
There was a large reception desk at the front and a series of red doors off to the side. They were all currently closed except the one furthest away. Noises drifted out from behind those closed doors. Buzzing. Laughter. The smooth sound of voices that were too low to have the words actually be deciphered.
Rhett froze when his eyes drifted to the counter. Or rather, when a loud crunch tore his gaze away from the shop’s deco and landed it firmly on Bella.
She was behind the counter, dressed all in black. A black tunic type thing that outlined those damn perky breasts, her narrow waist, and an ass that he knew was perfectly round. Black leggings and black boots with little metal studs. Her hair was curled and cascaded down her shoulders in rich black waves. Her makeup was far darker than what she’d had on for the wedding. Her eyes were lined and shadowed, and she’d opted for black lipstick to tie it all together.
In short, she was absolutely perfect.
Her jaw worked as she chewed on the piece of celery she’d just bitten off. Rhett had to look twice because he was pretty sure she’d just dipped it into a jar of peanut butter. Sticky brown goo still clung to the end. Yup. Definitely peanut butter. His eyes tracked to the jar and he shuddered.
“Don’t knock it until you try it. Isn’t that what they say?” Bella’s lips curled into a smile, but it faded almost as soon as it started. “What are you doing here?” she asked in a much lower voice, almost a hiss.
“Uh- I saw- I’ve been following the social media pages and there was an opening today. With- uh- Rick. At one.”
“Right.” Bella rolled her eyes. “He had a cancellation. We posted it last night. I see maybe we should have given less notice.”
“No. I really am here for it.” Rhett stepped forward cautiously. “Uh- or is that not allowed?”
Bella set down her half-eaten celery stick. She glared at him, one dark brow arched like he might try something sketchy at any given minute. “I don’t know. I guess that depends on what kind of design you want.”
“He drew a panther. The post said he wanted to do that piece. I’m good with that.”
Those gorgeous dark eyes widened just a little, betraying her surprise. She swallowed hard. “Last time I checked, there are some really good artists in the Phoenix area. You didn’t need to come all the way to Detroit.”
“I- I wanted to.”
“I bet you did.” Bella glanced down at some papers she started gathering off the top of the reception desk. She reached for a clipboard, tucked them in neatly and snagged a pen. She slid everything over the top lip of the desk, making sure it scraped loudly. “Some people find tattoos to be very therapeutic. Especially after something- traumatic.”
“If you mean your sister never contacting me once after we were supposed to get married and going on our honeymoon with her lover and not me, then yes…”
“Like I said. Traumatic.” Bella snapped her gum and blew a large pink bubble.
“How the hell-” Rhett glanced at the celery. “Were you eating that with gum in your mouth?”
Bella grinned and snapped her gum again. “Magic.” She winked at him like they’d never met before. Or no, more like they were old friends. What the actual hell is going on right now? “If I was you, I’d check off the box where it says prone to fainting. You know- especially when you first catch sight of the needles.”
“Needles?”
“You don’t have any tattoos. Some people find it a little- intimidating, to say the least.” She not so subtly pushed the clipboard closer. “You’ll be fine though, I’m sure. You wouldn’t have come all this way if you didn’t really want to get tattooed.”
“Uh- yeah. I- I’ve been meaning to try it for a long time.” I also have the bluest balls that I’ve ever had in my life. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. I want to ask you out again and by out, I mean take things back to your place or a hotel and make you come again, at least six more times. And this time, I’m not going to let you run off to the bathroom to hide. “Uh…” Rhett cleared his throat. He gave his head a shake because he definitely did not need thoughts like that tossing around. “I’ll just fill this out then.”