“How about this?” Nicco offered, knowing he won. “You pick where to place it, and I’ll design it myself.”
Sighing, I gave in to his demands. “You promise not to do something offensive?”
“Come on, Beautiful. You wound me with your doubt!” He faked getting hit in the heart, covering his chest. “I would never want to put anything that’s not as beautiful as you on your body.”
Chuckling, I agreed. “I guess I do trust you in that sense. Okay.”
“Yes!” He fist-pumped, grinning wide. “Perfect. I already know exactly what I’m designing. When are you available?”
“Oh, wow, okay,” I gathered myself, thinking through my schedule. “How about Friday?”
“It’s a date. Can you make it here around 2 pm?”
“Yeah, that’s doable.”
“I’ll have Cassandra add you to the schedule then.” He grinned wider, and we picked up the rest of the trash as we talked about his classes and what it had been like living cooped up with Atticus, Sax, and Immy for two months. Nicco kept teasing me about the tattoo placement, and I realized I had a decision to make.
When I left there and headed back to the office, I registered that I did feel better. And I was glad I’d taken the chance to spend time with him. I was beginning to learn that the rewards were better than the potential risks each time I took a chance. So I would just need to keep reminding myself that sometimes, it was more dangerous to stay in your comfort zone than to step outside of it. Each of these men showed me that while they weren’t perfect, they would at least own up to their mistakes, which meant everything to me.