by Ranae Rose
She breathed hard when he sucked her nipples, and sighed when he finally stopped. When her panties were the only scrap of fabric left on her body, he found that they were damp and she was hot beneath, ready for him.
That combined with the way she pulled off his shirt and went aggressively for his fly stoked his lust.
He rolled a condom on and flipped her onto her back, pressing her down into the blankets. He wanted to be inside her so bad it hurt, and the tight embrace of her pussy squeezing his cock was the only thing that’d ease the ache.
She tilted her hips, inviting him in, and he placed the head of his cock against her folds.
He thrust in with one long, slow stroke, savoring the way her body stretched and molded to his shaft.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and he buried a hand in her hair, pulling on a fistful of silky locks until her mouth was up and open, ready to meet his.
He kissed her deeply – something else he’d missed while he’d been gone. Her breathing grew rapid as he delved into her mouth with his tongue and rocked into her below. When he broke off their kiss, he didn’t give her much of a chance to catch her breath.
“Let me go,” he said, touching one of her thighs. “I have somewhere else you can put those legs.”
He sat up, still inside her, and helped her get her legs up on his shoulders. The noises she’d made last time he’d done it, and the way she’d come around his thrusting dick, had been haunting his best dreams for the past two weeks. At the moment, there was nothing he wanted more than to experience it again.
He got exactly what he wanted on the first stroke. She sucked in a hard breath, made a noise that was half sigh, half yelp.
“Okay?” he asked. He knew he went deep this way. And damn, did it feel good. At this point, the only thing that could stop him would be knowing he was hurting her.
“Don’t stop! God, don’t stop.” Her gaze looked hazy, and a flush had spread across her chest. Her nipples were still stiff and swollen from when he’d sucked on them. Her pussy lips were a darker color – in this position, he could see them laid open by the shaft of his cock. Another reason he liked it this way.
Her pussy drew tight with a quick contraction, and that spurred him on almost as much as her words. Drawing back his hips, he held on to her legs and thrust hard into her.
He didn’t relent after that, instead building on his pace, effortlessly filling her with all of his dick and watching the way she tensed and tightened all over in response, the noises she made growing louder with each stroke.
When she came, he couldn’t help doing the same. Her tightening pussy drew the climax right out of him, and he poured himself into her in an explosion of lust and devastating pleasure, unable to tear his eyes from her body.
After it became painful to keep going, he pulled out and let her down gently. Her body blush remained, and nothing changed right away – not the way her nipples stood hard and tempting, or the way her lips were flushed pink. And not the way she looked at him, either, which was much like she’d looked at him when he’d first arrived that day: like she was glad he was there.
He could practically feel his heart swelling against his ribs, beating hard with satisfaction.
As he dropped the condom into the wastebasket, she laid back on a pillow with a sigh.
He joined her on the bed again and reached for one of her hands.
She squeezed back immediately.
For a while, he just enjoyed lying beside her. It was good to be back – good to be with her. He could still hardly believe she was with him.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about,” he said eventually, after they got dressed.
“What?”
“I don’t know if he’s said anything about it to you, but your brother has a major problem with you dating me.”
He figured the time to bring it up had come – there’d be no ignoring the problem once he settled into Pittsburgh for good and saw James day in and day out at Hot Ink. He hated the thought that he was creating tension between Crystal and her brother.
Crystal’s face turned pink as she ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing it out. “He said something to you?”
“That night when I came over and we had Korean, he waited for me in the parking lot.”
“Seriously?” She stopped messing with her hair. “Oh my God!”
“There’s no need to get upset – I’m not trying to tattle on him. I just thought you should know that he doesn’t approve, since you two are so close.”
“Oh, he’s already made it clear to me that he doesn’t approve of me dating.” She scowled.
Guilt hit Dylan like a ton of bricks. “Sorry if I’ve caused any bad blood between you two.”
She shook her head. “I can’t believe he was lurking out in the parking lot waiting for you. What did he say? He didn’t hit you or anything, did he?”
“No, but he probably would’ve liked to. The gist of what he said is that he thinks I’m taking advantage of you. He doesn’t think I’m doing you or Emily any favors by hanging around.”
“Don’t worry about what he said – I’ll set him straight.”
He took her hand and squeezed. “There’s something else – Jed knows I’m bipolar. I told him when I explained why I had to leave to help out my brother. Jed and James are close, right?”
“Very.”
“Well, I don’t have any way of knowing whether Jed will keep what I said to himself. And if he tells James, I have a feeling that’ll make me even more unworthy of you in his eyes.”
Crystal frowned and touched his jaw. “Dylan… Seriously, don’t worry about James. He’s just overprotective. I can handle him.”
He shot her a wry smile. “I have to admit, he has a good point about you being out of my league.”
Her scowl returned. “No he doesn’t. You’re a wonderful person. And this might be hard for you to believe, but compared to the men from my past, you’ve been a rock so far.”
He raised her hand and pressed his lips against it. “I’m going to need you to put that in writing. No one else has ever said it before.”
She smiled. “I mean it. You dropped everything and drove all the way across the state to help someone who needed you. You even saved my ass all the way from Newark, which was super embarrassing, by the way.”
“It was just a phone call. And I’m not always ‘a rock’. Sometimes I’m not even close. I don’t always see things through – sometimes, I cave under stress.”
Crystal was silent for a little while. “Do you mean things like Ultimate Ink Challenge?”
He fought a frown. “I take it you watched Season 2.”
“Curiosity got the best of me. I have to admit, I was shocked when you left. What happened? They never explained on the show.”
The truth weighed on him like a physical burden, and he was tired of carrying it around. He’d never fully explained to anyone before, and suddenly, he wanted to. Needed to.
“I had to live with the other competitors while I was on the show.”
She nodded. “I watched every episode, up until the one where you left.”
“The house was pretty small, and we had to double-up on bedrooms. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to live with strangers like that. I felt almost claustrophobic – trapped, and like I never had any privacy. And then there were the cameras…”
“It seems like it’d be really weird to be filmed all the time.”
He nodded. “They were always trying to stir up little melodramas to keep things interesting, and I hated that. Between that and the lack of privacy, I was afraid to take my medication. Afraid people would ask questions and the truth would come out. I didn’t want anyone to know that I’m bipolar, and thinking that it might come out on reality TV was a nightmare.
“So, I stopped taking my medication, and things got shittier and shittier from there. Mentally, I was all over the place, and it got harder and harder to focus on my tattoos.”
>
“You had me fooled – your work was amazing. I thought you were going to win the entire competition.”
He shrugged. “I pulled myself together for each challenge, until I couldn’t anymore. I was a wreck – depressed, and so anxious I couldn’t stand it. I hated living with the other artists and having a camera in my face. I was terrified that I’d flip out and everyone would see it.
“Eventually I got to the point where I just skipped out mentally – I’d hit these moods where I felt like I was living in a dream. Everything seemed surreal and I didn’t feel connected with anyone or anything. It was almost like I was watching myself go through the motions of living from outside my own body. My emotions would be swinging one minute, then flatlining completely the next. It scared the shit out of me.
“By the time the eighth episode was being filmed, I knew I couldn’t hold it together anymore. I stopped things myself before I could do anything I’d regret.”
It’d been so easy. They’d been assigned a black and grey tattoo challenge, and he’d ignored it to do what he loved most – black and grey combined with elements of vivid color. He’d gotten his client’s consent first, and then he’d done his best. But he’d flagrantly ignored the rules.
His client had been a mountain climber. The piece he’d designed for him had been a half-sleeve featuring a jagged black and grey mountain face steeped in tall pines and backlit by a brilliant orange sunrise. Dramatic and fiery, it’d flown in the face of the challenge the judges had issued.
That day, his client had gone home with a beautiful tattoo, and he’d gone home to Jersey after being chewed out by the judges.
The fact that he’d left everyone asking ‘what the fuck?’ hadn’t mattered. Nothing had mattered, besides getting out. He still wasn’t sure what he’d been thinking when he’d applied to be on the show.
Crystal grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Well, I think you left on a beautiful note. The tattoo was gorgeous. At least you got to show everyone the quality of work you’re capable of.”
He shrugged. “I’m sure that last tattoo was the most memorable one I did on that show. But the point is that I quit because I couldn’t handle it. Most people think I threw away a good thing, and they’re right.”
“There’s nothing wrong with knowing your limits. It was just a TV show, anyway.”
He laughed. “It’s been almost two years and people still ask me why I did what I did. All the time, actually. It gets old, especially since I’m not ever going to tell anyone.”
It felt absurdly good to have finally told someone. He hadn’t even shared the details of the truth with his friends back at his home studio in Jersey, even though they were among the few people who knew he had bipolar disorder.
He was pretty sure they wrote the whole thing off as him being a little crazy, and he’d rather leave it at that than explain, which would probably only reinforce that notion.
“Even if you quit, good things still came out of it, right? You’re a popular artist. I looked you up online and I know your work has appeared in magazines. Winning isn’t everything. Finishing isn’t always everything, either. Knowing what’s good for you and what’s bad is more important.”
He nodded. “I’ve been pretty lucky, considering what an ass I made out of myself.”
She was quiet for a while, and he felt no need to break the silence. It was comfortable – even peaceful. It was nice to have someone who gave zero fucks about his fifteen minutes of infamy.
“I really do appreciate what you did for me while I was sick,” she said, squeezing his hand again. “I was at the end of my rope.”
“All I did was pick up the phone.”
“Still, it made a world of difference. Thanks.”
Her cheeks were pink. He didn’t apologize for embarrassing her, because he wasn’t sorry. She’d needed help, and he understood it could be hard to ask for.
“It was no big deal. If I’d been here, I would’ve gone all out with the embarrassing rescue.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Mostly that I would’ve brought you terrible homemade soup and asked you invasive personal questions about how often you were vomiting, and whether you thought you could hold down any fluids. The whole nine yards.”
She shook her head. “I’m so glad you weren’t here. I was a mess.”
“You’re a mess now.” He grinned and reached out to touch her disheveled hair. “I like it.”
She smiled, and her green eyes locked with his. “There is one thing you should know, though, Dylan – I definitely want to keep seeing you, but I need us to take things slow.”
“So we’re off to a bad start?” He was pretty sure their relationship so far wouldn’t be considered slow by anyone’s standards.
“I don’t mean physically – obviously, that ship has sailed. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past, and I’ve been rebuilding my life, for Emily’s sake, and mine. Letting someone else in was always something that felt far away. All I’m really saying is that I have to stay independent. I have to be able to rely on myself, if I’m going to be someone Emily can rely on.”
“I get it. You’re strong, and you’re afraid that if someone else butts in and helps you shoulder the burden, you’ll become weak.”
She shrugged, then nodded.
“It’s your call. I’ll take you any way I can get you.”
CHAPTER 18
“I can’t believe Jed’s expanding the studio into his old apartment,” Crystal said, staring out the café window at Hot Ink’s storefront. It was the first time she and James had met for lunch since the day he’d asked her to the café to talk to her about Dylan. She’d been ready to bury the hatchet, until Dylan had told her about James waiting in the parking lot to chew Dylan out.
Emily chanted ‘Wames’ from where she sat in her stroller, playing with a board book.
“Why are you surprised that Hot Ink’s expanding?” James asked, tickling one of Emily’s sandaled feet, making her laugh. “You know how busy we’ve been.”
“Isn’t that apartment where Jed used to live with his first wife?”
He nodded. “I think the fact that he’s repurposing it is a good thing. He never would’ve done it a few years ago. Maybe not even a year ago. But he’s moved on. Plus, we need the space if we’re going to accommodate more artists. The only reason Dylan’s been able to tattoo here is because he’s been sharing Abby’s booth, working around her schedule. She’s been busy with her books and her kids.”
Crystal’s heart missed a beat at the mention of Dylan. She had no idea whether Jed had told James about the conversation he and Dylan had had.
She decided to just plunge in, not knowing how to bring her relationship with Dylan up gracefully.
“I know about you waiting in my parking lot so you could tell Dylan off.”
His gaze was unwavering, locked with hers. “Yeah.”
It wasn’t even a question.
She frowned. “I don’t think that was appropriate.”
“I disagree.”
“I don’t care – I don’t want you harassing Dylan. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“I couldn’t just sit back and watch him take advantage of you.”
“He’s not taking advantage – we’re dating.”
“You weren’t when I talked to him. He hadn’t even decided to stay in Pittsburgh at that point.”
She raised a brow. “So you’re okay with him now that you know he’s sticking around?”
“I considered kicking his ass just this morning.”
Crystal glared, and the tiniest smile cracked James’ serious expression.
“I know he’s been staying at your place every night,” James said, the smile flickering.
“Like I said, we’re dating.” She tried to sound confident, but this was still hard to talk about with James. He might’ve been unfair to Dylan, but she still didn’t want him to think badly of her.
“Look, I know what you�
�re thinking,” she said. “But dating Dylan isn’t another bad choice like the ones I made in Philly. I’m just – just acting like a normal person. Or trying to, anyway. I know I messed up, but—”
James shook his head. “Arianna and I talk. I know you think I don’t want you to be happy with anyone.”
“I think that no matter what kind of person I’m with or how happy I am, you won’t be able to see anything but me making my old mistakes again. Letting everyone down.”
Emily got fussy, and Crystal lifted her out of her stroller and into her lap, pushing her coffee cup and plate out of reach.
“Arianna thinks you’d be letting yourself down if you stopped seeing Dylan. That true?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t worry about what I think.”
For a few seconds, she was too stunned to say anything.
“He’s heading back to Jersey in a few days, isn’t he?” James asked eventually, breaking the silence.
“Only for a few weeks. He has to arrange his move and take care of some family things. His booth at Hot Ink won’t be ready until the end of September anyway.”
“What are you gonna do while he’s gone?”
Crystal narrowed her eyes. “Take care of Emily. Work at the cosmetics counter. Film a tutorial on how to transition work-appropriate daytime make-up into an evening look in just five minutes. I really, really like Dylan. But I’m not going to lie down and die if I don’t get to see him for a while.”
She might spend a lot of time lying down and thinking about him while she touched herself, but that was her business.
“Good.” James’ smile was back in place. “So if I ever have to kill him, I know you’ll be just fine.”
“You won’t be, Wames, if you so much as lay a finger on him. I know you used to be my bodyguard when we were kids, but I don’t need that anymore.”
His expression turned serious. “You can see why I’m not feeling the rainbows and unicorns that prance through your heart when you look at Dylan, right? It’s not that I think he’s a bad guy. It’s just that I’d like to break the face of every person who ever hurt you, and if he crosses the line, I’m gonna have to take it all out on him.”