Rose (Thorn Tattoo Studio Book 1)

by Leslie North

  She frowned. Given the circumstances, she’d have researched all the shops listed to vet their quality and reputation. Where an artist worked said a lot about their professional ethics and their personal standards. Already she was apprehensive. If Derrick was bouncing around shops so often, there had to be a reason. Riley was willing to bet money that he was either hard to work with, or he had no sense of loyalty or commitment.

  That, or his art was sub-par, but if Giovanni approved of him, she figured that wasn’t the case.

  Whatever the cause of his flightiness, his work history raised red flags for her that Giovanni refused to see. Still, Riley flipped the page to look at the photographs included.

  Derrick Destruction was talented. Riley cocked her head to the side as she examined the tattoos photographed on the pages. The styles varied, showing a wide range of talent. Derrick’s American traditional style tattoos were crisp and well saturated, and his Japanese style tattoos were intricate and filled with contrast and dimension. Even his photo-realism looked good.

  She looked up from the photographs to glance at Giovanni. “We take ten percent off The News’ salary and offer him the position, just like we discussed earlier.”

  “Good.” Giovanni leaned back in his chair, but his eyes were still on her, hungry. Riley tried not to notice the way her sex pulsed when she saw him looking like that. “That’s what I’ve already done.”

  “What?” Riley closed the portfolio and leaned across the desk, irritation splayed across her face. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I already called him. He should be here in… well, now, actually.” Giovanni glanced at the clock on the wall and shrugged. “The News had clients booked all week. It’s not as if we could reschedule that many appointments. We need the money, and we need a new artist.”

  It wasn’t right. Giovanni wasn’t following procedure. Riley clenched her fists and resisted the strong words she had for him. They’d spent their time at the meeting yesterday talking about compromise and working toward shop rules that everyone would follow; Giovanni included. Less than twenty-four hours later and Giovanni was already breaking the rules.

  A man like him could never be tamed.

  The thought riled her, and she pressed her thighs together doing her best not to lose herself to the slick desire between her legs.

  “Hey, guys,” Ben said from the office door. Riley turned around in her chair to face him, startled. “Some dude named Derrick Destruction is here for an interview. You wanna see him?”

  “Send him in,” Giovanni said. Riley opened her mouth to protest, but there was nothing she could say. Ben stepped back from the door and let Derrick Destruction into the office.

  Derrick was tall and muscular. The muscles down his arms were corded, and his T-shirt stretched thin across his chest to reveal his hardened pecs and washboard abs. The man was shaped like an inverted Dorito, powerful in the shoulders and modest at the waist. He had a secondary portfolio tucked under his arm. Riley sucked in a little breath and turned back around in her chair to take her eyes off him.

  If it hadn’t been for Giovanni, she wouldn’t have been worked up at all, but right now, she needed to check herself. There were way too many handsome men in the office, and Riley needed to stop getting distracted. She had more respect for men than this, and she had more respect for her profession too.

  Working in a tattoo shop was something she’d dreamed of doing since she was a freshman in college, and something she needed to do to put her grief over the loss of Amanda to rest. She wasn’t going to let herself be distracted from her goals now that she’d landed the job she wanted.

  “Nice to meet you,” Derrick said as he entered the room. “Name’s Derrick. I’m stoked to be here.” Derrick passed her chair and shook Giovanni’s hand. Giovanni had stood to greet him, and Riley stood as well. When Derrick turned to face her and he got his first look at her in full, his face changed. Riley recognized the expression well.

  Derrick was no different from any other meatheaded man she’d crossed paths with. The way he looked at her told Riley that he already considered her his.

  “Even more stoked to be in the presence of such a fine lady.” He extended his hand, and Riley did the respectful thing and met it with her own for a handshake. The handshake never happened. He lifted her hand instead, brought it to his lips, and kissed it.

  Riley’s cheeks burned from embarrassment. Who the hell did he think he was?

  Behind Derrick, she saw Giovanni clench his jaw.

  “I heard I was going to be interviewing with someone named Gio. I didn’t realize I’d be joined by someone as easy on the eyes as you.”

  “Riley is co-manager,” Giovanni snapped. Riley flicked her gaze to him, watching him try to control his anger. It was masked thinly on his face, but showed clearly in his narrowed eyes.

  Was he jealous?

  Excitement twisted in Riley’s stomach, and she did her best to hold back a smile. There was no reason to be pleased, but she couldn’t help herself. Seeing Giovanni up in arms about her made her feel powerful, like she had a shot at turning things around in the shop. If that stubborn mess of a man could be thrown off his game, she might best him yet.

  Riley quashed her emotions down. The pleasure she felt seeing Giovanni crumble had nothing to do with how attractive she found him. She’d never involve herself with a man like him, especially now that they were working together. No, no, a work place romance wouldn’t do. Although she did wonder what Giovanni would consider romance. A candlelight dinner or was he more the type to bend her over the office desk and take her from behind?

  “Oh, so beauty and brains. If you’re managing, you must be good with giving orders. Maybe you and I can meet up after this interview is over, and you can tell me everything you want me to do.” The corners of Derrick’s lips were twisted up in the faintest of smirks and his gaze was fixed on hers, cocky and confident. Riley pulled her hand away and brushed it discreetly on her pant leg.

  “I don’t think that will be necessary,” she replied. “Why don’t you take a seat,” she said and gestured to the chair she’d abandoned, “and Giovanni and I will go over your body of work and ask you some questions.”

  Giovanni’s lack of professionalism was coming back to bite her in the ass. Riley had no time to prepare for this interview, and she knew she was going to come up short. With Derrick’s constant flirtation and the way Giovanni made her feel simply by being near him, she was distracted. She worried about sounding unprofessional without a list of questions to follow.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Derrick winked. “You can ask me anything. I promise I’ll be honest.”

  If they ended up hiring this man, Riley wasn’t sure what she was going to do. She took her place awkwardly by Giovanni’s side and looked at Derrick from across the desk, arms crossed over her chest. Partially it was to come across as stern, but mostly it was because she didn’t want Derrick to spend the rest of the interview staring at her chest. Riley had only just met him, but she didn’t put it past him to leer at her, management or not.

  “So.” Giovanni’s body was tense. From the corner of her eye, Riley saw him gripping the arms of his chair so tightly his knuckles whitened. The tendons in his neck popped, and she could tell he was sitting with rigid posture. It was unlike him. “Why don’t you start off by telling us about your specialty?”

  Derrick laughed. “Is there a style called awesome tattooing? Because if there is, I’m the master of it.”

  Cockiness went a long way in the tattooing industry, and Riley didn’t doubt its importance. Sometimes an artist’s confidence alone was enough to make a client feel great about a poorly executed tattoo. It was all in the presentation. Derrick’s confidence was a little abrasive, though. She stored that gut feeling away for later consideration.

  “I guess if I had to choose, I’d say I’m a beast at tribal. You can see more of my work here.” Derrick settled into the chair and tossed his supplementary portfolio onto th
e desk. Giovanni snatched it up before Riley had a chance to reach for it. “But really, I can do whatever you tell me to do. Got someone coming in from off the street? I’ll take ‘em. I’m versatile and I’m damn good at what I do, so it’s all good by me.”

  “While we’re looking this over, why don’t you draw us something, then?” Giovanni took a sketchpad from a drawer in his desk and slid a pack of pencils with different strengths of graphite in Derrick’s direction. Riley was surprised by his quick wits. Had she been in charge of interviewing, she knew she would have overlooked such a simple test of abilities in favor of working from Derrick’s portfolio. She was impressed. “Pretend Riley’s a client coming in off the street. She’s a tattoo virgin. She’s looking for something tribal, but she doesn’t want it to be on a visible part of her body because she’s concerned about her employment prospects. She’s looking to be tattooed the same day, but nothing too big. Not anything more than eight by eleven. Show us what you’ve got.”

  Derrick blinked, but then he steeled his gaze and set his head down to work. Riley took a second to watch as he selected a pencil and began to outline. While he did, Giovanni opened the portfolio and began to go through the extra work Derrick had brought to show off.

  The new photographs were even more impressive than the old ones, and Riley leaned over Giovanni’s shoulder to get a better view. It wasn’t until her chest bumped against his shoulder that she realized how close she’d come. Heart racing, she drew back and tried to get her head on straight.

  Touching Giovanni, even accidentally, left her breathless. What the hell was wrong with her?

  Giovanni hesitated on the pictures in the portfolio a little longer than he needed to. Riley didn’t see anything wrong with them—the line work was solid and even, there was even black to make the colors pop, the black and gray shading was gentle and skillful, and the color theory was on point for the color pieces—but the way Giovanni tightened his lips and squinted made her doubt herself. Riley felt like she understood what made a good tattoo, and what set the mediocre apart from the spectacular. She’d studied tattooing religiously under Amanda throughout college. What was Giovanni being hung up on?

  Fifteen minutes later, Derrick slid his sketch across the table to Giovanni. Riley looked down at it and frowned. It was tribal, but there were some design flaws in it that Riley spotted right away. The balance between negative space and tattoo were off. The lines weren’t even. Some lines were even misshapen.

  “Okay, cool,” Giovanni said flippantly. “Now, where would you put it on her?”

  “Lemme show you,” Derrick said with a smirk. He grabbed the sketchbook from the desk, stood, and then made his way around to Riley. Riley shot Giovanni a hard look, but regained her professionalism quickly. Derrick grabbed her by the waist and repositioned her so her back was to him, and she knew he was standing closer than he needed to. Her blood boiled that Giovanni would put her in a humiliating position like this.

  “So I’d put it here,” Derrick pressed the notebook against her hip, right along the curve of her waist.

  “Why?”

  “Cuz it’d look hot on her there,” Derrick said with a shrug. “Why else?” He set the sketchbook back on the desk and was about to take a seat when Giovanni stood.

  “Thanks. You can take back your portfolio if you want. Riley and I are going to discuss your qualifications and she’ll call you back to let you know about the job.”

  “Shit, that’s it?” Derrick grinned. “Must’ve blown you guys out of the water with my work if you’re ready to deliberate so quickly. Best interview ever. Sometimes dudes ask all kinds of stupid shit, like what animal I’d be if I were an animal and why, or what my best job experience was. Glad you guys aren’t full of it here. Seems like a chill place.”

  “Yup.” Giovanni crowded Derrick toward the office door. Riley read hostility in his posture, and she heard it thinly masked in his voice. How did Derrick not notice it?

  Was she really that attuned to Giovanni? Her heart stirred, and she let her eyes travel down the length of Giovanni’s back. Beneath his suit jacket, Riley had to imagine how tight the skin there would be, and how tantalizing the line of his spine would look. The thought of Giovanni’s hardened, powerful muscles working beneath potentially tattooed skin thrilled her, and heat rose in her cheeks. She hoped it didn’t look like she was blushing.

  It was wrong of her to think things like that. So wrong. But when it came to Giovanni, she couldn’t help herself. That arrogant asshole of a man got under her skin in all the best and worst ways, and she didn’t know how to shake him.

  “So we’ll call you later. Thanks for stopping in.” Giovanni saw Derrick out the office door, and then closed it firmly. Riley saw that the tension remained in his shoulders and she imagined what that would look like beneath the fine jacket he wore.

  A shiver worked its way down her spine.

  “Goddammit,” Giovanni uttered. “That fucking bastard better never come back in here again.”

  5

  Giovanni

  Derrick Destruction was an explosive mess of a man, and he’d set off Giovanni’s bullshit radar from the second he’d walked through the office door. It wasn’t only because he looked like an asshole, with his smug grin and the way he held himself like he was hot shit, it was because he treated Riley like she was already his.

  There was no fucking way Giovanni was letting that bastard into his shop when he couldn’t stop himself from flirting with Riley. Flirting with anyone in the shop was risky territory, but flirting with management?

  It fucking pissed him off to no end.

  “You sent him away before we could ask him any questions about his work ethic,” Riley said. She still stood by Giovanni’s desk, her arms back crossed over her chest. Giovanni could tell she was uncomfortable. Her thighs were pressed tightly together, and paired with the way she crossed her arms, he knew she was trying to make herself as small as possible.

  That Derrick jerk had pushed her past her limits and all Giovanni could do was watch. He’d been waiting for the second Derrick’s fingers dipped down any lower than they should have so he had a proper excuse to punch the guy square in the jaw, but it hadn’t happened.

  Giovanni had to make him leave before he lost it for good.

  “Yeah, because we’re not hiring that asshole.”

  “What?” Riley’s lips twitched, and he did his best not to let them draw his eye. Seeing her only made his heart beat faster, and as strung up as he was on anger and adrenaline, he didn’t need the extra push. Not unless he was going to pin Riley against the wall and take her like he’d wanted to from the moment he’d first met her. Every day that week, she’d tempted him especially the way her clothes hugged her curves and the tap tap tap of her heels as she walked left him wondering how they’d look up by his ears, as she lay splayed across the desk. He wanted to silence her lips with his own and make her bend to his will.

  She didn’t belong here, and there was no fucking way he was going to adhere to the rules she’d put in place.

  She was going to be the one who’d have to come around.

  “I’m. Not. Hiring. Him.” Giovanni didn’t bother hiding the anger in his words anymore. If Riley was going to work at Thorn Tattoo like Antonio insisted she did, he wasn’t going to coddle her. Some days life got real. If she couldn’t handle him when he was at his worst, then she could walk. The choice was hers. “He’s a lying bastard. He’s not who he says he is.”

  Riley said nothing, and Giovanni took it as license to explain himself. “The tattoos in the portfolio he just brought in? They were lifted straight off the internet, and from some pretty famous names in the business, too. They’re not the most recognizable designs, or their best work, but they’re not his. I remember seeing some of those tattoos live at some of the conventions I’ve been to.”

  Nothing made Giovanni madder than being lied to directly to his face, but in this instance, he was glad that he had a reason never to speak to
Derrick again. The guy was a fraud, and he was a pig. No one was going to look at Riley like that and make comments like he had.

  No one.

  “I thought there was something off about his design,” Riley said softly. She picked up the sketchbook and traced her fingers over the tattoo. “I know it was only a fifteen-minute sketch, but there are some fundamentals that are sorely lacking here. The line work, the composition….”

  How the hell did she know about any of that? Giovanni scowled and took the book out of her hands. He positioned the sketchbook against her hip, just like Derrick had. “It’s not just the work that was jacked; the placement was off, too. You see this?” Giovanni took the sketch off her hip and handed her the sketchbook again. Riley took it and looked down at the image, and he unceremoniously lifted her shirt and planted his hand on the silken, pale skin he found there. It looked like she wasn’t hiding ink beneath her designer clothes. “A design like that, rigid as he made it, would throw off the natural curves of your body.”

  Touching her shot sparks up his arm and through his chest and did nothing to stop his impulsive thoughts. Giovanni moved his hand up her back, beneath her shirt, until he crossed the thin strap of her bra to trace against her shoulder blades. “A design like that would look better on a flat, angular surface. We’re talking shoulder blade, or calf, probably. I’d put something like that—not that I’d ever design such a shitty tattoo—right here.”

  Riley didn’t move as his hand caressed her shoulder blade. The skin he touched was smooth and tight, warm in the most alluring way. Giovanni traced the design with his finger, working blind beneath her shirt. Every time he crossed the stretched fabric of her back bra strap, his cock throbbed. It wasn’t hard to imagine what Riley’s creamy breasts would look like spilling out of her bra when he undid the clasps. Just a peek at the skin on her hip had him hard.