by J. M. Stone
Brandon lost the battle and burst out laughing. I was more polite and turned away before losing it. Which earned me a quick smack to the back of my shoulder. What the hell, man!
We tried to control our laughter as Allie stood there and glared at us before asking Brandon, “Well? Can you fix it?” I swear she even stomped her foot.
Brandon guffawed even louder before wiping tears from his eyes and then taking a deep breath to get himself under control. (I was still giggling)
He put his hand out for Allie to take and told her, “Come on, Allie, let’s check you out.”
Brandon and Allie took off down the hall ahead of me, turning into a different room than the one I was in last time with Luke. I turned to follow them, letting out a muffled “oomph” when I ran into a brick wall. Well, it was a soft brick wall. A soft, solid, living, breathing brick wall. And boy did it smell good, too.
I felt hands grab my hips to steady me as a deep, silken voice spoke in my ear, “Hey, careful there. Wouldn’t want you to bust your lip again, sugar.”
Oh. My. God. It was Luke. And he knew who I was. Eek!
I pulled back and looked up into his gorgeous eyes, giving him a sheepish grin. He was saying something, but the intense smoky blue-grey of his eyes drew me in, mesmerizing me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that color before, but I think its my new favorite.
“I’m sorry, what?” I stammer.
Luke grinned at me, shaking his head. “What are you doing here? Something wrong with your tattoo?” As he said this, he lightly grabbed my chin between his thumb and fingers and turned my face to the side. I felt his other hand come up and lightly trace the outside edge of my tattoo.
“No,” I said. “We’re here because Allie, believe it or not, ripped her tongue while eating a fudge bar. Brandon has her in the back looking at it.”
“Oh…okay…” Luke drew out the words in confusion, as if he wasn’t sure I was being serious. Sadly, I was.
“Can I go on back with her?” I asked him.
“Sure,” he replied, “I’ll come with you. I’ve gotta see this; it‘s definitely not the usual story we hear!”
We walked back to where Brandon had taken Allie and as I went to enter the room, I felt Luke’s hand rest at the small of my back. Whoa. Yup. There goes that electricity again, sending shivers skittering up my spine.
Allie was looking up at Brandon with a scowl on her face while he stood doubled over from laughing so hard. He had tears pouring from his eyes.
Luke asked, “What the hell, girlie?” and grinned at Allie.
Brandon wiped his eyes and straightened up, looking over at me and grinning widely.
“I’ve seen people rip their tongues before. But none by eating a fudge bar!” Brandon lost it again until Allie reached out and smacked him on his shoulder. He tried to reign in his mirth, but was failing miserably.
I looked over at Luke who was trying his damndest to keep from laughing and couldn’t help but smile at him.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Brandon wheezed, catching sight of the dismayed expression building on Allie’s face. He stopped laughing and walked over to cup her cheek in the palm of his hand. “Its just a little tear, didn’t do much damage, and as long as you don’t go sucking on any more fudge bars for the next week or two, it should heal fine. Might have a small scar, but the tongue literally is the fastest healing muscle in the body.” He stooped down to look into Allie’s eyes, watching her expression.
Allie replied quietly, “Okay. Thanks, Brandon. I really appreciate it.”
I could tell that she was affected by his gentle touch, but hell, so was I. He was being so sweet…well, now he was, since he wasn’t laughing uproariously in her face.
And then it happened. I should have known it. I mean, I was thinking it in the back of my mind, but Allie’s my best friend and even I would never have said it out loud. Ever.
Brandon pulled back, opened his mouth and said, “Are you sure it was just a fudge bar you were sucking on? I’m just sayin’…” he trailed off as he watched Allie’s eyes flash fire and then took a step back.
I gasped at the same time I heard Luke groan, “Oh, Brandon, no…” and then the resounding smack of a palm meeting cheek in what I’ll term, “The Slap Heard ‘Round the World.” It was loud!
I opened my eyes, since I had squeezed them tightly shut knowing what was coming, and watched as Brandon reached up to grab his cheek, mumbling, “FUCK” under his breath while Allie stood there shaking her hand. I looked over at Luke and saw him standing with his head down, one hand covering his eyes, the other rubbing the back of his neck.
He dropped his hands suddenly and glanced my way. Our eyes caught and held and I wondered if it was getting hot in there, or if it was just me? Even more confusing was the fact that my panties had started to dampen suspiciously, but my cha-chi hadn’t seen any action in so long, I figured the damn thing would have been dry as the desert by now.
I started as Brandon cleared his throat and softly said, “ I’m sorry, Allie. That was way out of line, and I didn’t mean anything by it.” He cut his eyes down to hers and continued, “Forgive me?”
Allie took a breath, nodded, and retorted, “For future reference, if I had something much more interesting than a fucking fudge bar in my mouth, I’d have said-”
I cleared my throat loudly, diverting the disaster that I knew was headed out of Allie’s mouth.
“For further reference,” she said as if I hadn’t just interrupted her, “if you want to question my intelligence as to if I know the difference between something soft, cold, creamy, and sweet versus hot, smooth, velvety and hard pushing past my lips…” Allie trailed off as she sidled closer to Brandon and smiled slyly up at him. “Then I assure you, I do,” she whispered.
She reached up and ran her finger lightly down the bridge of Brandon’s nose before sashaying towards the door.
I felt the wall behind me and leaned back against it for support, trying not to laugh at Brandon’s stunned expression and the way he shifted uncomfortably and stared out the door after Allie. My laughter died in my throat as I put my head back against the wall, only to realize that the wall was breathing…(Oh, God, not again…)
I turned my head slightly to the right and found myself face to face with Luke, his lips curved slightly upwards in a crooked smile. I froze for a second and then stepped quickly away from him before I did the first thing that had popped in my head, which was lick his lip where the silver hoop sat.
He reached out to steady me before saying, “Well, that was interesting.” He looked at Brandon , who was still standing there in stunned silence, before turning back to me and asking, “so, you ready for your next tattoo?”
I gulped. “Uh…no, not quite, but thanks…” I stuttered before turning to head out the door to see where Allie had gone.
Before I got too far, strong fingers reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me back to face Luke. I looked down at my wrist where his fingers encircled my flesh before letting my gaze roam upwards, taking in the thick, black lines of ink swirled in an intricate tribal design on his forearm, before disappearing under the sleeve of his long sleeved henley that he had pushed up to his elbows. I noticed lines of script positioned on the inside of his wrist but couldn’t make out what they said.
I dipped my head to look closer at the lines tattooed on his wrist but was stopped by his other hand as it came up to lightly turn my face up to his. I blinked at the heat in his eyes.
A small smile started to quirk Luke’s lips again as he said, “Dinner. Tonight. Say, seven o’clock?”
Huh? He was asking me out? Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod…this can’t be happening.
I managed to swallow the lump that had formed in my throat (barely) and managed to squeak, “Okay…yeah. Seven. Are you sure? I mean, you must be awfully busy…”
“Emma. I’m sure.” Luke’s smile grew wider as he took in the glazed look in my eyes.
He released my wrist and twi
ned his fingers through mine instead, then pulled me out into the hall, walking toward the lobby. Allie was no where in sight, so I assumed she had already gone out to the car.
When we got to the front door, I turned to Luke and opened my mouth to protest that dinner wasn’t necessary, but before I got a word out, he placed a finger gently over my lips, effectively shutting me up for the moment.
“Dinner. Seven. I’ll pick you up. Where do you live?” Luke murmured.
I gave him my address, flushing as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, and walked out into the sunshine where Allie was waiting in my car.
When I got in the car, Allie turned to me expectantly and asked, “What the hell took so long? You’re gonna be late getting back to work!”
Glancing at my watch, I groaned before putting the car in drive and tearing off towards Allie’s house to drop her off and make a mad dash back to the office. As I drove, I filled Allie in with the unbelievable details of what happened after she left.
“Aiiyeeeee!” Allie screamed excitedly. “I cant believe he asked you out! Where are you going, what are you going to wear, are you gonna finally get some?” The questions came fast off Allie’s tongue.
“Me, either, I don’t know, clothes, I guess, and HELL NO!” I replied. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that Luke had even asked me out, let alone the thought of getting naked with him. Hell, one hour with me during dinner might render him comatose from boredom, and then I’d be stuck doing all the work. Not that that’s not how its always been with the douche bags I’ve dated in the past. Let’s just say that none of them have ever tickled me pink in the bedroom department.
I pulled up outside Allie’s house and as she opened the door to get out she said, “Call me with the details as soon as you get home. That’s an order, Jensen.” Sheesh.
I pulled away and headed back to the office, praying to anyone who might be listening to have mercy on me and not let me get pulled over.
Once I got back to the office, I didn’t have much time to think about my date with Luke. The phone rang off the hook, I had about a million files to put away, and Floyd had been busy; he had dictated three tapes for me to transcribe.
At five o’clock I pushed back from my desk, pulled files for the next day, and locked up the office. I headed home to get ready, my nerves starting to show themselves in full force.
Chapter 4
By quarter after six, I was putting the finishing touches on my makeup. My hair was twisted up into a messy chignon, and I was wearing a soft, black, fitted cowl neck sweater over my charcoal grey skinny jeans that were tucked down into my knee high, cuffed, black suede boots with a stacked heel. (I finally settled on these after trying on all sixteen other pairs of boots that I own. What can I say? I have a shoe fetish, and you don’t even wanna know how many pairs of shoes I have on top of those sixteen pairs of boots. Its ridiculous; I need rehab.)
By six-thirty I was sitting on the edge of my oversized, overstuffed armchair, anxiously watching the seconds tick by. My eyes were getting heavy from staring at the clock and I closed them briefly. Or not so briefly…
The chime of the doorbell pulled me from my dream. Blinking my eyes against the light from the lamp on the table beside my chair, I shook my head to clear it. Uh oh. It clicked in my head as to why someone was ringing my doorbell and I jumped out of the chair, frantically smoothing my clothes and patting my hair back into place.
Taking a deep breath, I opened the door. My knees went weak at the sight of Luke standing there smiling at me. He looked even more delicious than ever in a dark grey button down shirt emblazoned with a gothic looking cross on the right side. It clung to him, hanging untucked over dark rinse jeans, and he wore black leather boots on his feet. Yum.
I leaned against the door jam, softly breathing, “Hey.”
His smile grew. “Hey,” he said in that deep, rich voice of his, making my insides flutter. He started grinning at me as he raised his hand to gently trace the side of my face.
“Were you sleeping?” he asked.
I blinked. “Umm…yeah. Sorry, I dozed off waiting…” Wait. How did he know?
I told him to come in as I turned to look in the mirror hanging on the wall over my sideboard table. Face. Palm. The whole side of my face was flushed and creased with the imprint of my sweater sleeve. I closed my eyes and wished that the floor would open up and swallow me down.
“Are you ready?” Luke asked from behind me.
“Yeah, let’s go,” I replied. Hopefully the imprint would be off my face before we got wherever we were going.
I grabbed my purse, turned out the lights, and walked out the door, checking the lock behind me. Luke grabbed my hand and held it as we walked out to his car.
Now, I’m not real knowledgeable about cars. I can’t look at one driving down the road in the middle of the night and tell you what kind it is just by the headlights shining in your face, like some of those fanatics out there can. But I can tell when someone has a nice car. And Luke’s car was NICE. As in, new Camaro ZL1, midnight black with cherry red pinstripes nice. Wow.
I nodded in appreciation at the car and smiled up at Luke. He grinned back and opened my door for me, waiting until I was safely ensconced before shutting the door and coming around to the driver side.
“Manny’s okay?” he asked.
I nodded in assent, trying not to drool on myself. Manny’s was my favorite restaurant in town and served the best authentic Italian food around. You can order food to be served family style, but I’ve never had it that way. I’m very protective over my Manny’s; in fact, my brother tried to steal a piece of chicken from my fettuccini alfredo one night at dinner. Note the key word, tried. Didn’t work, ‘cause I bit him.
We pulled up to the restaurant and parked. Before I could even get my seatbelt off, Luke was out of the car and holding my door open for me, reaching in to take my hand and help me from the car. Well whaddaya know? Smoking hot and chivalrous to boot!
Apparently, Luke was well known here as he was greeted by name and we were led immediately to a secluded corner booth. Luke ordered a bottle of wine for us to have with dinner and then, after giving our menu choices to the waiter, we were alone.
“How’s your tattoo doing?” Luke asked. “Do you like it?”
“Yes, thank you. I really do. I wasn’t really sure that I would ever be one to join the ranks of the tattooed, but I’m glad I did it. You did a really good job.” I replied.
He inquired about what I did for a living, so I told him the glamorous details of being a legal secretary before asking, “So how long have you been tattooing?”
“I started when I was twenty, so its been about twelve years. I’ve been drawing almost all my life. Drew something out that I decided I wanted inked on myself. I got my first tattoo when I was eighteen. Took my own work down to the shop to show them what I wanted. Guy running the place said I had a good eye, wanted to see more of my work. I came back the next day with my sketch pad and the rest was history. He helped me with the classes I was required to take, let me do my apprenticeship with him, helped me get my license, and there you have it. Three years after that, Brandon decided that’s what he wanted to do, too, so Lenny took him on as well.” Luke’s voice trailed off after that and he got a faraway look in his eyes.
“It was almost six years to the day of when I walked into that shop for the first time that I got the call that Lenny had died from a heart attack. Didn’t have any children, but he did have a wife. Jude.” Luke smiled. “She was hell on wheels but loved us as if we were her own. She asked me and Brandon to meet her at the shop, and when we did, she handed us the keys, kissed our cheeks, and told us Skin Deep was ours now.”
Luke caught my eyes and smiled ruefully before saying, “Then she told us that if we didn’t do right by Lenny’s shop she’d kick our asses and then sic Lenny’s ghost on us.”
I smiled back at him and said, “Well, it seems like you and Brandon are making it work.
I’m sure Lenny would be proud!”
The waiter arrived at our table then with our entrées, and the conversation lulled as we ate. I forked up a bite of my (what else?) fettuccini alfredo with grilled chicken and groaned uncontrollably with appreciation at the perfect harmony of creamy, cheesy sauce, succulent , juicy chicken, and firm but oh, so tender pasta. Chewing slowly, my gaze met Luke’s as he stared at me hungrily.
“Want to try a bite?” I asked him, hoping that he’d say no. What? I told you I was greedy with my Manny’s…
“No, thanks. Looks delicious, though. Want to try mine?” he asked.
I looked over at his plate, eyeballing his chicken marsala with appreciation. I decided I’d better not go there. “No, thanks. But I’ve had that here before, and its kick ass.”
The waiter came and switched out our basket of garlic bread for a warm one, but neither of us reached for them. I, for one, didn’t want to ruin my chances of a good night kiss with garlic breath.
We didn’t talk much while we finished eating. The waiter came back to clear the table and ask if we wanted dessert. Without waiting for Luke to reply, I jumped in and ordered my favorite black tie mousse cake, which is absolutely like an orgasm for your taste buds. We’re talking, rich, moist dark chocolate cake, creamy, smooth chocolate mousse and vanilla custard, and then decadent chocolate swirl icing with mini chocolate chips. Gah! I’m drooling…
Luke raised a brow at me before smiling and shaking his head. Hmm. No dessert for him? Too bad.
While we waited for the waiter to bring my cake, Luke asked me, “So you and Allie are best friends?”
“Yeah,” I replied. We’ve been friends ever since she shared her bubble gum with me on the playground in third grade. I don’t even remember exactly what happened, but my piece of gum fell out of my mouth into the grass. Allie saw it happen, came over, bit her piece of gum in half and gave it to me. Gross, yes, because she had already been chewing hers, but hey. We were young. Been inseparable ever since.” I shrugged.