Priceless Ink: A Small Town Romance

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  “Uh…Joe?”

  “I didn’t do that,” he laughed. “I swear. I had help packing the basket.”

  “So, one of the girls did this?” I laughed.

  He sat up and dug around in the basket, pulling out a note. “Enjoy your picnic with the ants. Andrew.” He huffed out a laugh. “Of course.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Andrew thinks that he always knows when to supply lingerie to people.”

  “And he thought a picnic was the place to put on this thing?”

  “Andrew has a weird sense of humor.”

  “I’m surprised he even put it in there. He doesn’t exactly like me.”

  Joe sat up and slid his hand through my hair to the back of my head. “Hey, it doesn’t matter what Andrew thinks. We know how we feel about each other, and that’s all that matters.”

  I was suddenly feeling very hot, but in a good way. I swallowed hard and whispered, “We do?”

  His eyes flicked back and forth between mine and he nodded. “I do. I love you. I’m not falling in love with you or unsure. I know that I love you. I know that it’ll kill me if you decide to walk away. I know that my life is better now than it ever has been. And I also know that I don’t ever want anyone else. You’re it for me. Maybe it’ll take my family longer to see what I see, but that’s just because they don’t know you. But it doesn’t matter to me. I feel like I’ve always seen you, right from the beginning. That’s why I didn’t drive you home that day. I could have dropped you off, but I knew I wouldn’t forget you. So, I lied to you about my bike so I could keep you. I just had to know if…”

  “If what?” I asked quietly.

  “If I could convince you to stay.”

  “You never have to convince me.” I leaned forward and slammed my lips against his. His thumb brushed against my cheek as he kissed me, sliding his tongue against mine and possessing me with everything he had. He was mine, and I wouldn’t ever let him doubt that again. “I almost called my father that first day after the bakery. I wanted to go home and not be so tired. I wasn’t used to working. But then I realized that for the first time in my life, I was doing something all on my own. I was finally free, and it was because of you. You didn’t have to help me, especially after I was so horrible to you, but you did. You’re the first person in my life that’s ever tried to help me in any way, and not because you needed something from me, but because you really wanted to. This life you’ve given me is better than anything I could ever ask for. And I love you too, more than I ever imagined I could love someone.”

  This big, bad biker sat in front of me, his eyes filled with love for me. He wasn’t the tattooed neanderthal I originally took him for. He was a softy that only wanted to make me happy.

  His slips quirked up in a half smile and he leaned in, brushing his lips lightly against mine. “So, you’re staying then?”

  “Always.”

  * * *

  I pushed the shopping cart through the grocery store with a huge grin on my face. I wasn’t really paying attention to anything. All I could think about was Joe, his dreamy eyes, and the way he kissed me on our picnic. Not to mention the few steamier moments when he wrapped the blanket around us and made love to me in the summer breeze. He gave me a moment I would never forget. In this crazy new world I was living in, he was the one grounding me and holding me steady.

  “Oh, God,” Carly sighed beside me. “You’re in love.”

  “What?” I asked, snapping out of my love haze.

  “You have that look on your face. That really dreamy, I’m in love face.”

  I grinned and bit my lip. “Joe told me he loved me.”

  She didn’t smile like I had hoped, but then again, this was Carly we were talking about. She didn’t exactly smile at anything. “And what did you say?”

  “What do you think? I’m smiling, aren’t I?”

  “And where did this happen?”

  “He took me on a picnic two days ago.”

  She groaned, shaking her head. “Seriously? A picnic? How cliché.”

  “It was romantic.”

  She sighed. “Well, I guess I thought it was romantic when Josh took a bullet for me.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “It is romantic. I would find it romantic also if Joe took a bullet for me, but I doubt our lives will ever be that dramatic.”

  “Let’s hope not. You know, I’m actually getting used to living this more settled life. I just wish I could find someone to help with Alessa.”

  “I could help.”

  She stopped and turned to me, eyeing me warily. Then she shook her head. “No, despite your extraordinary stiletto skills, you couldn’t hurt a fly.”

  “Hey,” I said indignantly, stomping after her. “I’ll have you know that Joe taught me how to punch.”

  “Yeah? Well, I’d have to see that before I would let you near my daughter.”

  She started to turn and I swung back, throwing a punch just like Joe taught me. She saw it out of the corner of her eye, and moved just as my fist connected with her eye, just glancing off her face. She grabbed my arm and shoved me forward, twisting my arm up behind my back as she shoved my face into the tomatoes.

  “Ow!” I screeched, my arm aching behind my back.

  “Come on. Break out of it.”

  I couldn’t. All I could think about was the pain. My hands grasped for anything, but all I came up with was another tomato. I swung my foot backward to distract her, and as she shifted, I slammed the tomato back against her head with my free arm. She just laughed at me, obviously not impressed with my new found skills.

  “Is that all you’ve got?”

  “Fine,” I gritted out. “You win.”

  She laughed and stepped back, releasing me because she thought I wasn’t a threat. But as she was laughing, I picked up a watermelon and threw it as hard as I could at her. She saw it too late and only had time to throw her arms up. While she ducked for cover, I ran at her, screaming as I tackled her into the blueberry stand. It collapsed under our weight and we fell to the floor. I picked up blueberries and shoved them into her face.

  “Who’s laughing now, huh?”

  She slammed her fist into my wrist and I slipped, falling to the ground. Then she was on top of me and smothering my face in the blueberries. This had definitely not been part of my plan. I was busy trying to find out how to get out from under her when I heard a throat clear. I looked up to see Corduroy standing above us, his arms crossed over his chest as he grinned.

  “Well, it’s not Jello, but it works.”

  Joe

  Josh and I walked into the sheriff’s department at the same time and looked at our ladies sitting on the bench of the jail cell. I expected Sofia to be hysterical, but instead, she was brushing Carly’s hair as they chatted. It was so strange.

  Corduroy walked up to us with a grin. “Yeah, I kind of expected this of Carly, but not Sofia. Who knew she would be the handful of the group?”

  “What exactly happened?” I asked, still confused on the details.

  “Well, from what I understand, Sofia offered to help Carly out with watching Alessa and then Carly tested out her strength.”

  “Her what?” Josh asked.

  “Yeah, it was like she challenged her to prove that she could protect your kid.”

  “Oh crap,” I muttered. “How bad did it get?”

  “Well, Sofia clocked Carly in the eye and then Carly smashed her face in the tomatoes as she yanked her arm up behind her.” I winced. “And then Sofia tricked her into thinking she was giving up, and then tackled her into the blueberries.”

  “So, that’s what’s all over them,” Josh muttered.

  “What do we owe for their destruction?” I didn’t really want to know. I was afraid it was more than I could afford at the moment, but as I watched Sofia so calmly brushing Carly’s hair, I couldn’t be upset about the whole thing.

  “The price of the produce. Everything else was fine.”
<
br />   “Well, I suppose it could have been worse.”

  “Yeah, it could have happened at the thrift store,” Corduroy said. “Then you wouldn’t be able to shop there anymore.” He walked toward the cell and slid the key. “Ladies, your men are here to save you.”

  Carly stood and crossed her arms over her chest. “Nobody saves me.”

  Josh grinned beside me and I shook my head. They had a very twisted relationship in my opinion. Sofia walked out calmly with a smile on her face. She walked right up to me and wrapped her arms around me, kissing me hard. I was a little shocked and it took me a moment to realize that she was rubbing dried blueberries all over me.

  “You want to get dirty with me?” she murmured in my ear.

  I grinned and took her hand. “You got this, Josh?”

  “What—“

  I turned and walked out of the office without another word. When we hit the sidewalk, I swung Sofia up into my arms and darted across the street, running toward my apartment. Sofia laughed in my arms, holding on tight as I took the stairs two at a time, shoving through the apartment door without bothering to close it.

  “Hey,” I nodded to Andrew, heading straight for the bathroom.

  “Yeah, don’t bother to close the door or anything! I could be murdered out here while you’re fucking!”

  I slammed the bathroom door and started stripping Sofia out of her clothes. Her hair was a mess and she had blue tinged skin from the blueberries, but her smile was infectious. She quickly worked my belt and yanked down my pants. I picked her up and carried her into the shower, flipping the water on as I pressed her against the wall. Her legs were wrapped around me and her arms were wound around my neck, her fingers playing in my hair. I was so desperate for her that I couldn’t even wait until I warmed her up. My cock felt the warmth of her entrance and slid right inside.

  She gasped in my ear, her hot breath hitting my cheek as I pulled out and slammed back inside her. My foot slipped and I almost took us down, but I grabbed the bar and held tight as I held her with the other arm. My cock had a mind of its own, my hips jerking up against her with every thrust.

  “Ah!” She cried out, gasping as I started fucking her harder. God, I loved those gasps, those little pants that escaped her perfect lips every time I worked my cock inside her.

  “I love you, sweetheart,” I murmured, taking her earlobe in my mouth. I sucked on her skin, needing to taste every inch of her. She was fucking perfect.

  “I love you,” she panted. “I love you. I love you!” she cried out as her body squeezed around me.

  “Fuck!”

  My cock was struggling to do anything inside her pussy. She was holding me so tight that I couldn’t even move for fear my cock would snap in two. Releasing the bar, I slid my hand down to her clit, knowing this was a dangerous thing to do. Slowly circling her clit, she shook her head rapidly.

  “No, Joe! I can’t—“

  “One more, sweetheart.”

  I was panting hard, trying to hold back as she squeezed her eyes shut. She shook her head rapidly, but then she cried out, clamping down around me one more time. My hips jerked one last time and I came hard inside her, filling her with my cum. I groaned, slipping on the shower floor. I tried to reach out and grab something, but all I got was the shower curtain. My feet slipped out from under me and I fell backwards, landing hard on the bathroom floor with Sofia still on top of me. The shower curtain slowly floated down on top of us, covering our bodies.

  The bathroom door swung open and Andrew looked down at us shaking his head. “How many times do I have to tell you that sex is not a gymnastic sport?”

  * * *

  “Who are we meeting tonight?”

  “Some friends of mine.”

  She looked at me strangely, but when I pulled out a box for her, her eyes lit up. “What’s that?”

  “It’s a little present you’ll need for tonight.”

  She bit her lip and jumped up and down excitedly. I wondered if she would feel the same when she looked inside. She took the box out of my hands and opened it, frowning as she picked up the leather jacket. “I don’t get it.”

  “I’m meeting with my biker gang tonight. I thought we’d go riding with them.”

  She pursed her lips, knowing I was making fun of her comments from when we first met. Yeah, I was gonna throw that in her face for a long time to come. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”

  “Nope. Get dressed.”

  I walked out of the room, grinning like an idiot, but when I saw Andrew roll his eyes at me, I decided I’d had enough of this shit. I walked over to him, kicking his legs off the table.

  “You got a problem?”

  “Please, don’t pretend like you don’t know.”

  I bent down so that Sofia didn’t hear me. I didn’t want to spoil her night. “You know, you accepted everyone else into this family without any problems. Carly was the reason Josh went missing for seven years, and you didn’t bat an eyelash about that, but you have a problem with the woman I’m in love with?”

  He shook his head, obviously irritated. “Look, I get that you think you’re in love—“

  “I don’t think it. I know it. She’s the reason that I’m so fucking happy. Why can’t you just accept that?”

  “Because she’s gonna break your heart. You know this. Come on, man. She’s having fun, but she’s gonna go crawling home the minute things get rough. She’s using you. Why can’t you see that?”

  “Fuck you,” I growled, irritated with his attitude. “If you can’t stand to be around her, then you get the hell out. I don’t need this shit.”

  He stood and glared at me. “Is that what you really want? You’re choosing your fuck toy over your own brother?”

  I slammed my fist into his face. He turned with the hit and then came at me, catching me around the waist. We went crashing down to the floor and I rolled, catching him with my elbow before getting on top and swinging again and again at his face.

  “Stop!” I heard Sofia shouting. “Joe, just stop!”

  But I didn’t, and I should have fucking listened, because Sofia loved me enough that she didn’t want me beating up my own brother. And when she grabbed my arm and I tried to shake her off, I ended up swinging my elbow right into her face.

  She yelped and fell backwards on her ass, cradling her jaw in her hand. I scrambled off Andrew, immediately rushing over to her. My eyes filled with tears as I grabbed her and prayed that I hadn’t just ruined everything we had.

  “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. God, I’m so sorry.”

  I finally got her to move her hand and winced at the red mark on her jaw that I knew would quickly become a bruise. She cringed as I ran my fingers slowly over the bruise, hating myself for having done that.

  “I’m okay,” she whispered. “Just stop fighting.”

  I shoved away from her, pacing around the apartment as I tried to get my anger under control. I had never been this pissed before, but this was even worse. I had hit her, actually fucking hit her, and now she had a bruise on her face because of me. I could hear her trying to calm me down as I threaded my fingers behind my neck and tried to gain some control over my body. This was out of control. I was out of control, and it had to stop.

  I shot off a text to Josh, asking him to come over and get Sofia as soon as possible. I couldn’t be around her right now, not when I was so angry with myself. When I saw Andrew move toward Sofia, I stepped in front of him, my anger spiking again.

  “Stay the fuck away from her.”

  “I was just checking on her.”

  “Because you care so fucking much right now? You’ve been an asshole to her from the moment you met her, and now you give a shit?”

  Regret filled his eyes and he nodded, taking a step back. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s too fucking late for that. Get the fuck out of here.”

  He ran a hand over his face and nodded, turning on his heel and walking out o
f the apartment.

  “Joe—“ I tensed as Sofia placed her hand on my shoulder. I couldn’t have her touching me right now. I was too angry. She removed her hand and I heard her shuffle away from me. God, this was so fucked up. I heard the pounding boots on the stairs and then Josh was swinging the door open, charging toward me. I prepared for the hit, but it didn’t come. He walked straight to Sofia and looked at her face.

  “It was an accident,” she muttered. What a pathetic excuse. “I shouldn’t have tried to break up the fight.”

  “Joe?” Josh asked.

  “Just take her back to your place,” I murmured.

  “What? Are you serious? You want me to leave?”

  I closed my eyes, listening as Josh told her that was best for now. I hated myself. I hated that I had done that to her. I was so out of control that I had actually fucking hit her.

  I turned for the door and walked out, ignoring her pleas for me to stay and talk to her. I couldn’t think right now. I just needed to ride. I got on my bike and tore away from the sidewalk, heading toward Decker.

  * * *

  “Hey, look who it is!” Hawk shouted over the music. “Where’s the little missus, lover boy? I thought you were bringing her with.”

  I ignored him and stomped toward Decker’s office. I needed to talk, and out of anyone, Decker would understand. I knew a little about his past. He could guide me on what to do next. I flung his office door open, but he didn’t even glance up from his paperwork. He just kept writing.

  “I hit her.”

  He stopped writing and slowly looked up at me. “You hit her.”

  My eyes slid closed and I swallowed hard. “I didn’t mean to. My brother was talking shit about her and I lost it. I started hitting him and Sofia…” My voice croaked as I saw her in my mind, sitting on the floor cupping her jaw. My chest felt like it was going to cave in. I had hurt her. I shook my head. “I should have just walked out of there, but I didn’t, and now she’s hurt.”