They’re stunning, although everything Hayden creates is beautiful in my eyes, even if it’s dark. These designs are anything but. A watercolor heart frames a pair of mismatched skates—one hockey skate and one figure skate tied together, the laces creating a second heart inside the first.

“Yeah. It went well.” He taps the desk.

“That sounds like it comes with a but.” I look up to see a little smirk curling the right corner of his mouth.

“She’s really excited about the art, which is great—like, she would’ve gotten it today if she could’ve decided on a design.”

“That’s fantastic. So what’s the problem?”

“Location.” He drops down in his chair and wheels around the desk so he’s beside me.

“You mean deciding whether she’s wants it to be visible or not?”

“Yeah. Kinda. At first she mentioned inner thigh, and then I started explaining the logistics of that, so…”

I suddenly understand exactly what he’s getting at. “Let me guess, Randy wasn’t all that excited about you having your head between her thighs for a couple of hours.”

Hayden shifts, grabs me by the hips, and pulls me between his legs. “You should’ve seen the look on his face when he realized what I was getting at. It was fucking priceless.”

“Well, can you blame him? A sex god like you with your hands all over his girl?”

Hayden snorts. “I’m hardly a sex god, and those two seem pretty into each other.”

“You’re my sex god, and yeah, they’re like a fuck-bomb ready to explode.”

“I’m looking forward to being your fuck-bomb when we get home.” Hayden slides his hands up the outside of my thighs until his fingers reach the waistband of my leggings. He slips his thumbs under and pulls it down far enough that I question whether he actually intends to make it home.

Hayden sweeps his fingers over the cupcake tattoo on the crest of my pelvis and follows with a soft brush of his lips. It was the first tattoo he ever put on me, a cover-up for a poorly done one I’d gotten as a teenager.

“Do you have any idea how much it pissed me off that someone inked you before me?”

I push his hair away from his eyes. “You were very clear about your feelings on that.”

“I don’t think I tried very hard to contain those.” He’s not even the least bit remorseful.

I laugh. “This is Lily’s first tattoo, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It’s cool to watch someone get excited like that, you know? I have a feeling it won’t be her last, either.”

I remember when Hayden put the cupcake on me. Beyond the intimacy, it was a huge rush. I’d never really counted the heart tattoo, so the cupcake felt more like a first. “I think you should design another tattoo for me.”

“Do you now?”

“Mmm-hmm. It’s been a while since I’ve been in your chair. I miss that feeling.”

“You tell me what you want, and I’ll draw it.” Hayden’s arms come around me and he looks up, his smile holding the same excitement as mine.

“I have some doodles at home.”

Hayden stands. “Well, we should go there so I can check them. Then we can get you naked and decide where we want to put it.”

“Best idea ever.”

Chapter 11

Paint by Number

LILY

“This is so pretty. Isn’t this pretty?” Sunny says for the fifth time on the ride home.

“It really is,” Miller nods his agreement again.

“Can I have a look?” Lance asks when we’re stopped at a red light.

I pass the photocopied sheet to the front for him to see.

He doesn’t look at it long before he passes it back. “Nice.”

I stare at it for a little while longer, still unsure which one I like the best. I wish Randy would state an opinion to help.

“So, the black skate is Balls here?” Lance thumbs over at Randy, who’s sitting in the front seat beside him since he’s not allowed to sit beside me. Again. It’s smart. He’s liable to get handsy, even if he says he won’t.

“Uh-huh.”

“Remember when that chick tattooed your name on her boob? Oh! Or the one who got your face, but it looked more like Jesus? Or that guy in that biker show?” Lance asks.

“Uh, yeah, that’s not really a great comparison to Lily’s tattoo.” Randy shifts around uncomfortably.

“Right. Yeah.” Lance must realize his mistake, because he doesn’t say anything else.

He drops Sunny and Miller off first, because they live the closest, and then he drops Randy and me at our place.

As we get out, he checks his phone, rolls his eyes, and tosses it on the passenger seat beside him.

Randy eyes the device and then Lance. “You wanna come in and hang out for a bit?”

“Nah. I got some stuff to take care of this afternoon.”

“We’ll be around, if you change your mind,” I say.

“Thanks.” He smiles, but he looks sad as he waves and pulls away from the curb.

I slip an arm around Randy’s waist. “I wish I had a friend to set him up with.”

“That’s a nice gesture, but probably not the best idea.”

“Why not? Everyone deserves someone.”

“Yeah, he’s not really a one-someone kinda guy.”

“He still seems pretty hung up on Tash for a guy who’s not a one-someone kinda guy?” She was their old trainer.

“That situation was messy. It still is.” Randy laces his fingers through mine.

“Our relationship was kind of messy when we first started hooking up.”

We began as a casual fling, but clearly it didn’t stay that way since I live with him now.

Randy regards me thoughtfully; then an evil grin spreads across his face. “You mean messy as in messing up the sheets? Or maybe you mean all the beard conditioning I had to do every time we hooked up?”

My mouth drops open, and I try to yank my hand away, intent on tweaking his nipple, but he’s wise, and a lot stronger than I am, so it doesn’t work. He laughs and half-drags me up the front steps.

“You know I’m just playing, right?” He pulls me to him. I give him my cheek, so he kisses his way up my neck. “Well, not about the beard-conditioning part.”