by T Gephart
It happened so fast, me planning on backing her into the corner and commandeering the picture and her seeing my advance and shoving the folded picture of me down the front of her top.
My likeness was now nestled somewhere in between her tits.
Boom.
Instant fucking hard-on.
Up to that point, I’d done a good job of keeping shit on lockdown. I’d noticed the way her top had clung to her tits and that her jeans did a nice job of curving her ass. But with some choice imagery—the hairy trucker who wanted a tramp stamp above his ass—I’d managed to keep the big guy in my pants under control. There were a few times he’d shown interest, her eyes on me something we both enjoyed, but it wasn’t like I could hide a boner while I was sitting in the chair. Standing up was even worse.
Now, all bets were off as my dick gave me the you’re-on-your-own-buddy, and inflated in my pants.
“Oops.” Her lips twisted into a smirk. “It just fell in there. I hate it when that happens.”
She clearly hadn’t noticed things in my crotch were getting tight as I could barely pull my eyes away from her chest. We no longer had to worry about her being the one who was acting unprofessional.
“You know I could just reach in there and get it.”
I hadn’t meant to say it. Because hello, sexual harassment anyone? But those were exactly the words that shot out of my mouth as I stalked closer.
“And I’m standing right here.” She shoved her hands on her hips, her feet rooted on the floor. “Do I look worried?”
Was she fucking flirting with me? I mean, most of the time I got the vibe when a girl was interested. The hair flick, the giggle, the over enthusiastic touching—but she hadn’t done any of that, so it wasn’t clear what the fuck we were doing.
What I did know was my offer to reach in there and get it wasn’t an innocent one. I no longer cared what was on that piece of paper, which had made the whole exercise redundant. But touching her, that was something I was very interested in.
My feet moved me, one in front of the other until I was toe to toe with her, a couple of inches the only thing separating us. A bomb could have gone off two feet away and I wouldn’t have even blinked. My focus completely on her.
“You want to play dirty, Eve? They teach you that at your fancy school?” It was like my dick had its own heartbeat.
“You think I don’t know how, Josh?” Her brow rose, her lips parting as she took a breath. “It wasn’t something I needed to learn.”
I’d never wanted to kiss a woman as much as I did right then and there. She looked like she wanted it too, her chest heaving up and down as our eyes locked.
Fuck.
My brain was screaming to back the hell off. We absolutely could not do this. And if we did, it would be bad ju-ju. Unfortunately the rest of me didn’t fucking care what my mind had to say.
“Yo, J. You around, man?”
Motherfucker.
That bomb I thought I would have been able to ignore, just fucking detonated. And it was about to leave one hell of mess.
Goddamn it, Dallas.
“Sounds like we have company.” I took a step back, a big dose of reality kicking in. “You lucked out.” I laughed, pretending like I hadn’t been about to kiss her.
“Practice run it was then.” And if she was disappointed, she wasn’t showing it. “I’ll go get things started out front.”
What the fuck?
I was beginning to question my own sanity. It was as if the whole thing didn’t happen. Her breathing seemed normal, no hint of embarrassment and she wasn’t awkward or running out the door. Just the same knockout smile that sucked me into a vortex of questionable decisions.
“Good plan,” I coughed out, giving her a thumbs up. “I’ve got to set up.”
“I’ll let you know when your appointment gets here.”
“Great.”
All so fucking polite. And with a wave of her fingers she was out of my door and gone. Dallas’s voice boomed a welcome as she passed him in the hall, the hi-how-are-you’s not waving any red flags.
The kicker, I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed.
“You hiding?” Dallas poked his head through the door not bothering to wait for a response or an invitation. “Eve got me coffee.” The cup lifted in case I was blind.
“If I’d known that all it was going to take was coffee in the morning to get you to work early, I’d have done it a lot sooner.” I flipped him off, able to get behind my desk in just enough time to hide my hard-on.
Not that Dallas was usually perceptive, but I didn’t need the dude to suddenly have a moment of awareness when my dick was bulging and Eve had just left the room. That was a whole new set of complications.
“I’m not here for the coffee.” His eyebrows danced smugly. “But I’ll admit it’s a nice touch. Only if Eve does it though, I’m particular.”
“I’m sure you are.” I wondered how long I had to pretend to be interested before I could toss him out of my room. I was still hard, and actually contemplating jerking off at work. It was a new low for sure.
“You’re acting weird.” He stopped short, giving me a head-to-toe I wasn’t comfortable with.
Great.
“Didn’t get much sleep last night.” My ass sunk into my chair while my hands shuffled papers. “I was working from home.”
“Dude, seriously.” Dallas rolled his eyes. “You’re boring me to tears. Stop working, and go get laid.”
“Thanks for the advice, I’ll take it under advisement.” I flipped him off even though getting laid was what was actually on my mind. “Go set up.”
“Aye-aye, captain.” And with a two-finger salute Dallas removed himself from my doorway.
All I had to do was concentrate on getting my work done and ignore how hot my new employee was.
It was only a few weeks.
It would fly by and then she’d be gone. Hopefully before I chafed my cock raw.
Eve
THE DRAWING HE’D ASKED ME TO DO was intense.
I’d felt his eyes staring back at me from the page, his lips parted like they were about to call my name, and it’s how I imagined he’d look above me while we had sex. There was no way I was showing him. There was also the added bonus that I’d neglected to add a shirt, Picture Josh’s chest spectacularly naked. My imagination filled in the blanks, and if I was even halfway right, he looked amazing with no clothes. Lord, I could only hope to find out. For accuracy, if nothing else.
Just before Dallas interrupted, our eyes had connected in a way that wasn’t platonic. He’d been so close to me I could feel his breath and my heart felt like was about to stop. My skin literally tingled from the heat radiating between us, and if he had touched me, I would have combusted.
Josh. Logan. Was. As. Hot. As. Fuck.
I’d never really gotten behind the phrase tossed around the Twitter-sphere, but I had a new appreciation for it. It efficiently described the man in a way three paragraphs couldn’t.
And those few words had been stuck in my mind on repeat all day long.
I did my best not to dissolve in a puddle of hormones as I went about pretending it was business as usual. Got through the entire day successfully without any major incidents. We said goodbye with neither of us mentioning the exchange in his room or my picture. And maybe that sketch had been put to good use that night—don’t judge me—but I was still able to look him in the eye the next day when I waltzed in with three coffees like I always did. And that had taken some talent.
Ignoring the voices in my head that chanted how delectable he was, I did my best not to moan my thoughts—even if I couldn’t stop thinking them—while I kept busy.
“Hey, Josh, your twelve o’clock is here. Want me to send her in?” I tried to hide the fact he made me spontaneously ovulate by giving him a bright cheery smile.
“Thanks, Eve. I’m almost ready.” Hot as fuck head nod followed by a hot as fuck wink.
“Josh, a
supplier called and said your delivery is delayed but I got them to refund the freight cost.” I’d also been considering wearing heat-retardant clothes in case they accidently combusted in his presence.
“You’re amazing, thank you.” Hot as fuck smile with an added hot as fuck look of approval.
And building on his hot as fuck exercise from yesterday—drawing without trying too hard to interpret—I’d also grabbed a spare sketchpad and some pencils and drew while I worked.
Nothing in particular came to me. No light bulbs of inspiration struck. But as I doodled on the page while I answered the phone and spoke to customers, I felt calmer and a little more connected. Or maybe I was just going further down the rabbit hole, it would give the papers something different to write.
Eve Thorton now completely off the rails, hiding out in a tattoo shop in Queens.
“You need more cowbell.” Dallas chuckled over my shoulder. I’d been so involved in what I was doing I hadn’t heard him approach.
“More cowbell?” I looked at the reaper caped figure I had inadvertently drawn. I put the blame on the wall I’d been staring at mindlessly. The skulls and demons featured on it obviously seeping into my brain.
“Please do not tell me you do not know that SNL skit?” He looked at me horrified. “Christopher Walken?” He looked at me with expectation. “Will Farrell?”
“Nope.” I had no idea what he was talking about.
“Lordy, lady, you are in some serious trouble.” He laughed, smirking as he leaned against the desk. “You let J take care of the art BS and Dallas here will take Comedy 101.”
Funnily enough Dallas was not ugly. His dark hair fell to his shoulders, one side shaved to almost zero. With multiple piercings—lip, eyebrow, nose, and who knows where else—and more tattoos than I could count, somehow it all worked to make him look good. And while he was shorter than Josh, he still towered over me. His body also looked like it was impressive under his black-on-black uniform he always seemed to wear, but I had no desire to find out.
Dallas, my funny and extremely flirty co-worker, did not make my skin tingle. He was not hot as fuck.
“Hey, Eve.” Josh’s hot as fuck hand—seriously, I had a problem—ran through his hot as fuck hair. “Want to sit . . .” On your face? Sure “ . . . in on the next client? You’ve been stuck at your desk all day.”
I’d avoided close proximity for all of the morning and most of the afternoon. Obviously I spoke to him—categorizing all his hotness—whenever it was needed, and as far as I could tell, I’d acted normal. It was an effort I will admit that took a lot of energy. But shit was faaaaaar from fine when you considered the condition of my underwear. And that was not a good way to be when I still had another two hours to go. His hotness, the almost kiss yesterday, my imagination—all reasons for my situation.
“Of course, I would love to.” I smiled sweetly as I rose off my chair even though sitting there watching him would be the equivalent of watching porn. “See you, Dallas, I’ll add jingles or whatever later.”
“Cowbell.” He laughed, watching me as I walked to where Josh’s next appointment was.
“Michelle, you’re up next.” I ignored Dallas as I directed Michelle down the hall where we walked into Josh’s room. It was no doubt going to be pleasurable and painful for both of us, and only one of us was getting a tattoo.
“Oh, I love it!” Michelle’s face morphed with delight as she looked at the filigree butterfly that was about to become permanently part of her body. “It’s exactly how I imagined.”
Please don’t let this be a back tattoo, please don’t let this be a back tattoo. My whispered request hoping that Michelle’s position on the chair wouldn’t eliminate visual contact. I figured we’d do better if there were a pair of eyes on us, acting as a referee.
“So glad you like it.” Josh grabbed the transfer paper and directed Michelle to a weird looking chair. Strangely not the huge reclining one he usually worked on. “It’s going to look great on your back.”
Crap.
Well, there went that theory.
Michelle slid off her shirt, remaining in her bra as she sat on what looked to be some kind of therapy stool. Face first into a cushioned doughnut for her head, she wiggled to get comfortable so there wouldn’t be a chance she’d see a thing. Yep, I was pretty much on my own as I grabbed one of the rolling stools and sat adjacent to Josh.
“You ready?” he asked, preparing her skin, ready to accept the stencil.
“Yep, go for it,” Michelle responded, her arms flopping either side as he rubbed the paper just above her bra line in between her shoulder blades.
“If you need to stop at any time, let me know.” Josh reached for a machine, looking at me as he placed his hand on Michelle’s back.
Why did it feel so erotic when he was talking and touching someone else? This couldn’t be right. I would need to investigate side effects of mental trauma; maybe this was some weird thing I was going through.
“I won’t need to stop,” she responded, not bothering to lift her head.
Funnily enough I wasn’t able to say those words with any conviction.
It wasn’t a huge tattoo, but Josh took his time as he inked in solid black outlines. While the needle was against Michelle’s skin, his eyes were on his work, but when he took a minute to wipe off the excess stain, they found their way back to mine.
Curves and swirls, his steady hand moved, and I was both captivated and mesmerized. He watched me, watching him, as the air around us seemed to crackle.
I wondered what it would feel like if he did that to me, and surprisingly I got wet. The thought of his gloved hands on my bare back and the buzz of the machine got me more excited than I thought it should. Was it the combination, or was it just because it was him? It intrigued me, and maybe it was something I’d consider. Or maybe it was the thought of him doing anything to me that was the turn on. I silently contemplated as he worked, his eyes on me at every available opportunity. My breath started coming out in slow exhales, the draw in and then out, deeper. It was ridiculous that a moment that had nothing to do with sex was so overtly sexual.
There was something wrong with me because surely this wasn’t normal.
“We’re done.” The buzz of the machine cut off as Josh wiped Michelle’s back one last time. “Let me clean it up and then I’ll grab a mirror so you can see.”
Putting his previous tools aside, he cleaned the reddened skin and then let Michelle have a look in the mirror.
“It’s perfect.” Her body turned, the butterfly seeming to move as she twisted. “Thank you so much.” Genuine happiness exploded across her face as she reached out and hugged him. “I love it. It’s exactly what I wanted.”
A pang of jealously echoed through me. Not because I thought Josh was interested in Michelle, or vice versa. But because unlike her, I had no reason to hug him, and I wished that I could.
“Here’s some info on after care.” He unwrapped himself from the hug, handing her a leaflet and a small tube of ointment. “Make sure you keep out of the sun and keep it moisturized, it’s going to take at least a week to heal.”
“I will, I promise.”
After she was done inspecting and admiring her new back adornment, he rubbed in some of the ointment and then added a bandage. At each step he was slow, careful and considerate, not rushing just to be done and get her out the door.
And I couldn’t look away.
I saw a slight smile on his lips each time his eyes met mine but it wasn’t like I didn’t know he would notice. It was odd how even with another person in the room it still felt like there was only the two of us.
With Michelle’s shirt back on, I got to my feet ready to walk her out so Josh could clean up. Once the tattoo was done, I’d lead them out to the front where I’d usually process their payment and check if they wanted another appointment. Today it would give me a minute to catch my breath and give my vagina a break.
“I’ve got it, you can stay her
e if you want.” Josh nodded, as my butt froze halfway off the stool, he and Michelle walking out.
I wasn’t sure why he’d decided to handle it himself. Maybe because it was the end of the day and he wanted to wrap it up. Or maybe he had felt the zap between us too and needed the physical break. I know I sure did, my body so wound up that if I put my hands into my panties I could probably make myself come with the sweep of my thumb.
There was a goodbye and then heavy footsteps came back into the room. Could he see how aroused I was? Could he feel it? Did he want to rip my clothes off as much as I did his, the idea of putting my mouth on his slowly making me crazy.
Sitting idle wasn’t something I usually did, so I saw no point in starting now. If I wanted something, I needed to go get it or at least make it clear that’s what I wanted, right? Sure there were lines that maybe shouldn’t be crossed but wasn’t part of the fun breaking the rules? But I wouldn’t risk another interruption. No, I needed him somewhere where it would be just the two of us alone. Hopefully naked.
“Thanks for letting me sit in, I love watching you work.” I eased into it, wading into the water a little before taking the dive headfirst. I was all for going out and getting what I wanted but had no intention of making a fool of myself.
“I’m glad.” He smiled—which was sexy as fuck, of course—studying me like he knew I was up to something.
“So Michelle was your last appointment.” I did my best not to sound too eager, off-the-cuff and unrehearsed more of what I was hoping to achieve. “Maybe we can go out and get something to eat.”
It wasn’t as confident as I usually was, and I should have omitted the “maybe.” It sounded too desperate, too unsure, which I was neither, even if I really, really wanted him to say yes, I wasn’t going to throw myself at him.
“I’d love to, but I can’t.” A slow breath pushed out past his lips. “I’m sorry.”
It might have been a nice brush off, but it was a brush off nonetheless. So, either I was feeling all of this on my own, or he had other reasons. Who knew what they could even be.
“Okay, maybe some other time.” I quickly recovered, flashing a smile so he didn’t see how disappointed I was.