Priceless Ink: A Small Town Romance

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  So many sensations rushed through me, feelings that I never knew existed. And the longer I stared at him, the more overwhelmed I felt. My eyes slid closed and I just felt, but then his lips brushed against my ear and he whispered, “Open your eyes. I want to see you.”

  I wanted to tell him that I couldn’t, that if I opened my eyes and looked at him, he would see everything I felt. It terrified me that I was feeling so much for a man that I just met, that I thought I hated. But there was this other side to him, this gentle and caring side that made me see who I could be if I just walked away from my old life. But I had no idea if he even wanted me for that long. What if this was just fun to him?

  “Sofia,” he pleaded, and I opened my eyes. He smiled and leaned down to kiss me, and all my concerns vanished because I had him now.

  I slid my hands over his back, feeling every muscle flex as he moved inside me. His thrusts became jerky and then he was burying his face in my neck and he stilled inside. He was panting hard against me, and I found myself squeezing him to me, like he would get up and leave me if I didn’t hold on. I never wanted to let him go.

  Joe

  Normally, I would pass out after fucking someone so hard, but I couldn’t shut my mind off. Sofia fell asleep soon after I came inside her. I had her wrapped in my arms and I was running my hand up and down her body, memorizing the feel of her skin. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was falling hard for her. I barely knew her. It was crazy, but in this short time, I had cracked through that hard shell she kept around herself and saw the woman underneath.

  Where I once saw a spoiled brat, I now saw a woman so lost that she didn’t know her own mind. But I also saw the hunger, the desire to be something other than what she was. She hadn’t once in the last two days made a comment about my apartment or her lack of nice clothing. She was finally relaxing and just going with the flow.

  I just didn’t know how long this would all last. How long would it be before she decided that slumming it with me wasn’t enough? When would she realize that her life with me wouldn’t be anything like what she had before? Or was she just having fun? I didn’t want to believe that. When I was making love to her, there was an undeniable connection between us. It wasn’t just sex, and I think we both knew that.

  I trailed my hand down her arm and up her chest, cupping her breast in my hand. Her body reacted to me even in her sleep. She was just so fucking gorgeous. But as I explored her body, I came to see that she was way too thin, probably because it was expected of her. I could feel her ribs right under the skin and her collarbone stuck out just a little too much. It made me angry that someone could make her feel like she had to be a certain weight to be beautiful or worthy. I wanted to go strangle her father and slap some sense into her mother. What kind of asshole parents treated their daughter like this?

  The front door opened and I pulled the covers over Sofia, then slipped out of bed and pulled on some sweats. I knew Andrew saw Sofia in my bed, but he didn’t say anything as I shut the door behind me.

  “You’re getting in awfully late,” I said, moving toward the fridge. I wasn’t hungry, I just wanted something to do. I already knew what was coming.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked, getting right to the point.

  “What are you talking about?” I still didn’t turn and face him.

  “You know what I’m talking about. You sleeping with a woman you just met.”

  “I always sleep with women I’ve just met.”

  “Yeah, but none of them are her. Don’t tell me you’re really this naive. You know she’s not sticking around.”

  I swallowed hard and spun around to face him. “You don’t know that.”

  He huffed out a laugh and shook his head at me. “You can’t be this stupid. She’s gonna get sick of this life.”

  “And what’s so wrong with my life?”

  “Nothing, and you and I both know that. But she comes from money. She’s used to having everything handed to her. It’s only a matter of time before she decides she wants things you can’t give her.”

  I dropped my eyes to the ground. I was terrified she was going to do just that, but at the same time, I had to hope for the best. I couldn’t just go into this thinking the worst. “She’s different with me. It’s not like when she first came here.”

  “Oh, you mean when she came here a few days ago? She’s not going to change. She’s going to expect you to work your ass off to give her what she wants, and when she realizes you can’t give her that, she’s gonna go running back to mommy and daddy.”

  “Fuck you,” I said angrily. “You don’t know her.”

  “Neither do you. You think because you’re fucking her that things will change?”

  “What the hell is your problem? Do you just not want to see me happy? Is that what this is about?”

  He scoffed at me. “This has everything to do with making sure you’re happy. If Sofia was just some random chick, I would support you fully, but she’s not just some chick, and you know that. You’re going down a dangerous road with her.” I shook my head, not wanting to hear it. “Are you even using a condom when you fuck her?”

  I flinched at his accusation, because I hadn’t been protecting her. It hadn’t even crossed my mind. I wanted her, all of her, and I hadn’t thought about anything else. I had no idea if she was on birth control or not.

  “Great. So, if you get her pregnant, what are you going to do? Raise a kid in this shitty place? I’m sure she’ll love that, and that’s if she keeps the kid at all. Or maybe she’ll decide to keep the kid and leave you out of it. Did you ever think about that?”

  “She would never do that to me.”

  “How the hell do you know? She’ll do what’s best for her, and I can guarantee that mommy and daddy are gonna take one look at you and decide the best place for you is out of her life. And she’ll go along with it because in the end, money is all that will ever matter to a girl like that.”

  I lost it and punched him across the jaw. Tackling him to the ground, I slammed my fist into his face again and then hauled him up by the shirt collar. “Don’t you ever fucking talk about her like that again. What I do with her is my business. Am I making myself clear?”

  His eyes narrowed, but he nodded. “Crystal.”

  I shoved off him and got to my feet. I ran a shaky hand through my hair and grabbed my keys, heading for the door. I couldn’t be around him right now, but I also couldn’t go back in the bedroom with Sofia. Despite my feelings for her, Andrew rattled me with his very stark observations.

  I went down to my shop and started going through paperwork. I had to clear my head and stop thinking about all the possibilities of what could happen. Sofia may not be a sure thing, but my business was and I needed to make sure that I stayed on top of things.

  * * *

  A knock on my office door had me looking up from the mountain of paperwork I was trying to get through. Sofia was standing in my doorway wearing a simple tank top and shorts. And when I looked down at her feet, I almost started laughing. She was wearing flip flops.

  “What? Is something wrong?” she asked nervously.

  I shook my head and motioned for her to come closer. “Nope. You look cute in flip flops.”

  She walked over and I pulled her into my lap, giving her a soft kiss.

  “I never thought I would wear flip flops.”

  “And now?”

  She shrugged. “It’s kind of nice. It’s definitely better than wearing heels every day.”

  I wanted to know how she liked the clothes. I knew they were just used clothes from the thrift store, but I was curious how comfortable she was in them. Like that would give me some insight into how she felt about all this.

  “How long have you been down here?”

  I shrugged. “A few hours. I wasn’t expecting you to be up so soon.”

  “I woke up to a cold bed.” She said it playfully, but I could see the insecurity in her eyes.

  “I ju
st needed to get some work done. I’m sorry you had to wake up alone.”

  “Is everything okay?” she asked after a moment. “I just…I heard you and Andrew yelling at each other.”

  “It was nothing. Just brotherly banter.” I hoped she hadn’t heard anything Andrew said.

  “It didn’t sound like it.”

  “It’s all good. I promise.” She smiled at me and I could tell she didn’t know what to do now. “So, I have a proposition for you.”

  She licked her lips nervously, but put a smile on her face. “Really. And what would that involve?”

  “How would you like to help me out around here?”

  She threw her head back and laughed. “I don’t know anything about tattoos.”

  “No, I mean with the reception area.”

  “What about the girl you had working?”

  I grinned at her and tossed a little wink her way. “She’s never been very reliable. So, if you’re thinking about sticking around…”

  I was hoping she would take the hint and tell me what she was thinking, and she didn’t disappoint.

  “Do you want me to stick around?”

  “Yeah, I want you to stick around,” I told her honestly. “Look, I don’t want to play games with you or try and guess what you’re thinking. I know we got off to a rocky start, but I like you, and I don’t want you to leave.”

  She bit her lip, but she didn’t say anything. So, I resorted to my mocking ways, because I didn’t know where to go from here.

  “And this is the part where you say, ‘Oh, Joe. I would love to stay with you. I love your cock so much. I don’t think I could ever leave you.’”

  She smacked me lightly on the chest and laughed. “Shut up.”

  “Did you just tell me to shut up?” Her face dropped for a second, like she had done something wrong. “I’m teasing,” I reassured her.

  “Well, in that case…”

  She took a deep breath as she picked at my shirt. I was terrified. I was sweating my ass off, wondering about whether or not she would choose me. It was ridiculous. I shouldn’t even be considering her staying. I was being stupid.

  “You know I’m a giant pain in the ass. And I don’t really know anything about living on my own.”

  “You’d be living with me.”

  “What I mean is…I don’t know how to take care of myself, and I don’t want to be this huge burden to you. I don’t want you regretting being with me.”

  “And I don’t want you regretting staying with me when you could have everything in the world.”

  Her eyes searched mine, and I knew she was just as terrified as I was. “What if I don’t want everything? What if I just want something simple?”

  “I can give you simple. I may not have a lot, but I can give you everything that’s important in life.”

  She nodded with a slight smile. “I’m beginning to see that.”

  She leaned forward and kissed me. I was still terrified. Hell, I had known her less than a week and we were talking about things I had never considered discussing with a woman. But I knew I wanted it all. I just had to have the courage to go for it.

  Sofia

  It had been a week of pure bliss. I spent every day in bed with Joe until he had to get ready for work. Of course, he was the owner, so he had to be there earlier than me. While he was gone, I borrowed his laptop and searched how to clean, but there was so much information that I felt lost. The sad part was when I had to go to the bookstore and get Household Hints For Dummies. I hated asking Joe for the money, but I hated even more having him see the book I had gotten. Yes, this should be simple to any normal person, but for someone like me, I had no clue where to start.

  The first day, I just read the book. It was fascinating in that I never knew there was so much to learn about cleaning. You would think it was pretty straight-forward, but there were all these different cleaning supplies that you could use, and for so many different things. And then I had to ask Joe where he kept all his cleaning supplies. There weren’t many, so that was another thing I had to go shopping for. And when I came home with practically every cleaning supply under the sun, Joe just smiled at me and gave me a kiss. He really didn’t care.

  I had also noticed that Andrew was absent a lot during the week. I wasn’t sure if that was his routine or if he was avoiding the apartment because I was there, but I would find out tonight. We were going over to his brother’s house, and I was a nervous wreck that they would all hate me. But I wanted things to work with Joe, and he really loved his family. Maybe this would be a good thing for me, to see how family was together.

  “So, are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asked, squeezing my hand as we made our way out to his bike.

  “It’s a family dinner,” I smiled at Joe. “It should be fun.”

  “Yeah.” He scratched the back of his neck and grimaced. “My family can be…a little overwhelming. There’s a lot of us.”

  “Are they all going to be there?”

  “Not all of them. Derek lives in Pennsylvania.”

  “Wait, I’m getting confused. You have too many brothers. Who’s who again?”

  He took a helmet and set it on my head and started explaining. “You met Eric. He’s the oldest.”

  “How much older is he than you?”

  “Nine years older. And then Derek-“

  “The one in Pennsylvania?”

  He nodded. “He’s seven years older than me.”

  “Wait, what do these two do?”

  “Eric owns a construction company and Anna works for him.”

  “And Anna is Robert’s wife.”

  “He wishes,” he grinned. “It’s a sore subject right now.”

  I nodded, making a mental note. “So, don’t bring it up.”

  “And Derek works at a security company. He used to be in the military and now he’s in protection services.”

  “Wow,” I huffed out a laugh. “Not intimidating at all.”

  He grinned and continued. “After Derek is Will. He’s with Charlie, who is a woman,” he stressed, “ and she has a kid, but I don’t think he’ll be there tonight.”

  “Okay.” I took a deep breath, trying to catalogue all this.

  “And then Robert, he’s a lawyer. Josh is next and he was missing for seven years. He and his fiancé, Carly, have a little girl, Alessa, and he owns the auto shop. And then Andrew. He’s two years older than me, and a hacker.”

  I frowned and counted in my head. “That means there’s less than two years between all of you.”

  He grinned. “I told you my parents were horny people. So, do you feel better now?”

  I put on my best smile and lied my butt off. “Definitely.”

  We headed out toward the country and I grinned, thinking about how happy I was out here. It was so different from the city. There were no fancy parties to go to, I didn’t have to have my hair done wherever I went, and I wasn’t expected to have perfect manners. It was such a big difference, but even though I loved it all, it was still hard to just forget about all that had been ingrained in me and just be one of them.

  When we stopped in front of his brother’s house and I pulled off my helmet, I couldn’t help but try to fix my hair. But when I caught Joe watching me questioningly, I dropped my hands and decided that I would just go with it. He walked right in, not even bothering to knock. Eric was there with Kat and then I saw Carly walk out of the other room with a little girl on her hip. It was hard to wrap my head around Carly having a little girl.

  “Look, Alessa, it’s the princess from Chicago,” Carly said, grinning at me the whole time. I knew she was just messing with me, but part of me really wanted to slap her. I was still bruised from our scuffle.

  “Now, now, Carly. Can we keep things civil tonight? No bloodshed,” Joe said, pointing his finger at her.

  “Don’t be so salty,” she shot back.

  I looked at Joe in confusion. “Salty?”

  “She’s teasing me.”


  Carly stuck her tongue out at Joe as she walked past us. Then a guy walked in and gave Joe a chin lift. There was some weird guy speak that I really didn’t understand and the longer I stood there, I realized there was really no point in trying to understand.

  Their easy banter was so relaxing that I almost felt like I belonged, but years of being told how to behave in social settings had me stiffening beside Joe. I felt like I needed some guidance here. I didn’t know what was expected of me. When I attended parties at home, I always knew what to do, where to stand, how to respond. Here, I was lost. As I stood in the presence of Joe’s family, I felt awkward, as if they all were waiting for me to screw up. That was my whole life, one long list of failures in my parents’ eyes.

  As if Joe could feel the tension in me, he took my hand and pulled me in closer.

  “Josh, this is Sofia.”

  Joe smiled down at me like he was proud to have me by his side. That was something I wasn’t used to. Graham never looked at me the way Joe was and he never wrapped his arm around me. And my father certainly never looked at me with pride. The only thing my father ever looked at me with was calculation, how could he use me to the best of his advantage.

  “Relax,” he whispered in my ear. “Nobody expects anything from you. We’re just here to hang out.”

  It was like Joe always knew how I was feeling and knew how to ease those fears and anxieties. I took a deep breath and tried to let all those worries go.

  “So, you’re sticking around?” Josh asked.

  I gave a tentative smile, trying to pretend like I belonged here. “Well, that’s the plan. As long as Joe doesn’t get tired of me trying to figure out how to clean his apartment.”

  “As long as you don’t try and kill me with Pine Sol again.”

  I flushed bright red as I grinned at him. “You know I don’t have experience cleaning.”