“This is really important, Kim. I gotta see him.”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Kyle ignored her, sidestepping her and pushing his way through the heavy curtains.
“Tiny, I need to talk to -” He never finished his sentence. Stretched out on the reclining chair was an expanse of pristine feminine skin. Bare backed, with a simple white sheet just barely covering her ass, and not a scar or mole or tan line to disrupt the flow of bronzed satin perfection. Golden curls interspersed with copper, bronze, and platinum spilled over the woman’s face, but Kyle’s dick already knew who it was.
“Lina?”
“You shouldn’t be back here, Kyle.” Tiny stood up from the other side of the chair, waving Kim back to the front.
“Just try to move me,” he challenged. Kyle stood to his full height. There weren’t many who would lock horns with him, especially given his fearsome reputation; very few of those stupid enough to challenge Kyle’s battle skills were able to walk away under their own power. But Tiny was nearly three hundred pounds, six and a half feet tall, and built like a pro-wrestler. He could probably make a significant impact. Kyle hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
He was putting Tiny in a rough situation, he knew. Tiny and he got along well; he was a good customer and brought him a lot of business. Still, business was business, and if one of his customers wanted privacy, he’d feel compelled to provide that.
“What do you think, sweetheart?” Tiny asked. “Want me to haul his ass outta here?”
“He can stay,” Lina said, her voice slightly muffled under all those curls. “I don’t care.”
Tiny shrugged and went back to the far side of the chair. Looking closely, Kyle could see that he’d already completed the outline and was working on the texture of an intricate display that ran from the back of her shoulder and down the right side of her ribs. It was beautiful. Delicate and feminine and unbelievably sexy.
Kyle wasn’t surprised. Tiny was the Rembrandt of tats. The guy had amazing talent. Rumor had it that Tiny got a scholarship to some swanky art school upstate just out of high school, but passed it up, preferring to open up his own business here. It had been a good call; there wasn’t a biker around that didn’t sport one of his unique, personalized designs. Each was a one-of-a-kind creation, crafted specifically for the individual canvas.
Lina’s was no exception. He’d never seen anything like it – Celtic-themed, detailed, inherently feminine. Looking down, Kyle’s fingers itched to trace the fine swirls. His tongue moved back and forth behind his teeth, wanting to follow.
The hum of the needle started up again and Tiny got back to work. Celina flinched with the resumed contact, but not much. Kyle winced.
“Thought you weren’t doing this till three.”
Tiny smiled, showing off a gold cap on one of his incisors. “Had to say that. Been standing room only since this little lady became my best customer. Now I’m forced to get outta bed and get my ass in gear before noon.”
Kyle looked pointedly at the mass of curls splayed across the headrest. “You’ve been here before?”
When Lina didn’t answer, Tiny said, “Gave her a nice navel ring last week. Fourteen karats with a diamond stud.”
A navel ring. Kyle loved navel rings – on the right female, that was. From what he’d been able to make of Lina’s hourglass figure, she was the perfect candidate for one. And just like that, he was rock hard. Good morning, cock. Rise and shine. Where the hell you been, buddy?
Kyle’s eyes slid over her partially exposed form, noting the rises and dips of skin the color of golden cream. Good thing said navel ring was sufficiently hidden; a quick glance confirming this only highlighted the rounded curves that peeked out slightly from her sides. Her arms were up, flanking either side of her head, giving Tiny the living canvas he needed. Something that soft shouldn’t be lying on a cold, inanimate seat. It should be under him, warm and protected. Fuck.
“Anything else?”
Lina spoke up before Tiny had a chance to answer. “Don’t know why you’d care,” she mumbled, sounding only mildly annoyed.
“Didn’t say I did. Does Johnny know about this?”
“Go away, Kyle.” The words weren’t spoken in anger, or with any increase in volume, though he would have preferred it if they were. As it was, she simply sounded bored, and that cut right through his heart. If she was still angry, why didn’t she just haul off and smack him again? Scream at him and call him the bastard he was? That, he could handle. This cool detachment – so unlike the Lina he’d come to know - felt more like acid slowly dripping down his throat, hollowing him from the inside out.
“Bike’s awesome,” she said finally. Reluctantly. Kyle felt a tiny stab of encouragement.
“You rode her?” Damn. He’d wanted to be there, wanted to see the look on her face when she mounted it for the first time. It was the same look he’d envisioned the countless times he’d dreamed of her mounting him. What he said and did was one thing, but his fantasies were his own and he’d be damned if he’d worry about things like right and wrong in them.
“Yeah, but not nearly long enough. After this...” She turned her head and looked at him. Her smile faded and her eyes clouded as they met his, probably remembering what had transpired the last time they’d seen each other. His chest grew heavy again. If he was smart he would just walk away before he said or did something even more stupid than coming in the first place. She obviously didn’t want him here.
But he couldn’t make his feet move. He could see her holding her breath as the needle moved quickly, piercing her skin over and over, and he needed to touch her. Without asking, he pushed a chair up close to the head of the nearly-flat chair and sat down, taking her hand in his. She resisted at first, but then he started rubbing his thumb in small circles against her palm, and she sighed. Kyle fought a smile. She responded so easily to his slightest touch.
Did she respond to every man’s touch that way? Or just his?
Chapter Eight
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” Kyle said softly, leaning close to her ear as Tiny worked on the super sensitive skin over her ribs. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
“You have no idea what I want.”
“Then tell me, Lina. Tell me what it is that you want.” Lina shivered, and Tiny shot him a warning glance. Any sudden, unexpected movement – voluntary or otherwise – was not conducive to his artistry.
“Tell me,” he prodded, his voice a mere whisper, “why would a nice girl want this?”
She turned her head so that her lips were just inches from his face, being careful not to move anything else. Her eyes flashed with familiar fire. “Maybe I don’t want to be so nice anymore.”
Kyle stiffened; the motion of his thumb on her palm ceased. This whole innocent thing – yeah, it was sexy as hell. What man wouldn’t want to believe he was her first? To be the only one to claim that prize. Ever. Like being the first man on the moon, or to climb the highest peaks of Everest, or... The list went on and on. No matter how many came after, the first was always the most special. Though the thought of any time with her – whether it be the first or any “afters” - had him clenching his teeth. Lina had implied that her “first” would also be her “only”, right?
But that was all moot anyway. Because she wasn’t that innocent, no matter how skilled an actress she was. The way she kissed him at the lake had sent his nervous system into spasms. The way she knew exactly how to drive him insane with a look, or with that subtle hint of hunger in her voice when she spoke his name spawned his dreams and haunted his waking moments. No innocent virgin goddess could affect him the way she had.
And he couldn’t forget the way her hands caressed him as they rode – so light, so warm, yet unyielding. How could anyone know how to do these things and still claim to be unspoiled? He knew pros that couldn’t elicit the same kind of response in him that she had. She had to be conning him, right? Right?
Because the
only other possible explanation was completely unthinkable.
So he had to ask himself – if he really believed she had more experience than she was letting on, then why would her words make him feel as if someone was grabbing him by the balls and squeezing all the air out of his lungs at the same time?
Maybe the illusion was just too damn good, and he didn’t want to face reality. Weren’t illusions what got people through life every day? Miracles do happen. True love lasts forever. Lina is in love with me not my brother.
Whoa, where the hell did that come from?
Lina was watching him intently, piercing him with those eyes that looked past the shades and right into his goddamned soul. What did she see, he wondered? And why the hell wasn’t she running away as fast and as far as she could?
“Maybe it’s true what they say, Kyle. Perception is reality. It doesn’t matter what you really are, because people – even the ones you think are special – will believe what they want to believe. To pretend otherwise is just a waste of time and energy.”
She sighed. It was a sad sound, like she’d given up hope. Lina couldn’t give up hope. She was hope, the frigging embodiment of “happily ever after”. If she lost faith, what chance did the rest of them have?
Kyle absently started rubbing her palm again. It felt good to touch her, to have his skin against hers. She closed her eyes. Even as pissed as she was, she had no defense against his touch whatsoever, and that sent a surge of pride through him. It was just him, his touch, that could do this to her. He felt it in his bones.
“When I was a kid, I snuck into the kitchen and helped myself to a piece of cake.” Her lips quirked at the memory. “The only problem was, it was a custom wedding cake my mom had made for one of her friend’s daughters. The wedding was only hours away and there was a great big hole gouged in the front where I had dug my fingers in.”
Kyle could picture it easily: the image of Lina as a little girl, unruly curls everywhere, icing all over her face, eyes lit in pure joy.
“Then Johnny came in and saw what I had done. He quickly washed off my face and made me hide in the pantry while he started taking handfuls of cake and stuffing them into his face. Of course, mom came in seconds later and started screaming when she saw what he was doing. She cried all day.”
She paused, and Kyle was silent. Even Tiny was listening intently, his electric needle poised just over her hip.
“Johnny got the whupping of his life that day from my father for making my mother cry like that. I snuck into his room that night; he had to lay on his stomach because his butt hurt so bad. I just laid next to him and stroked his hair. I asked him why he did it. He hadn’t done anything wrong; it was me who’d ruined the cake. He said it didn’t matter. My dad was going to punish someone, and he’d never hit me, so Johnny would have gotten it anyway. At least this way he got to enjoy some of the cake first.”
“I didn’t believe him. I wanted to tell them that I had done it, but he wouldn’t let me. He said that as long as I knew the truth, that was all that mattered. He told me that as long as I believed in him, he could deal with everything else.”
Lina paused and blew out a breath. “So maybe... maybe when there’s nobody who cares about the truth and you’re being punished anyway, you’re better off just eating the damn cake, you know?”
Kyle’s head was spinning. She did not just tell him that she was doing all this because of what he’d said to her that night at the lake. Why the hell would she care what he thought anyway? His brother believed in her. Wasn’t that enough?
“Seen Jamie lately?” The words came out of Kyle’s mouth sharper than he had intended. Lina let out a breath. She seemed to deflate right before his eyes.
“Have you?” she asked right back, her voice weary.
“No.”
“Maybe you should.”
Yeah, he probably should. He’d been avoiding Jamie like the plague. What could he tell him? I took your girl up to this romantic little spot in the mountains. We shared a kiss that was better than any sex I’ve ever had. And, oh yeah – she thinks you have all the sex appeal of a German shepherd, bro, but she is totally hot for me. Then I called her a whore and she made me take her home, where she has consumed my every thought ever since. And if I don’t kiss her again soon I swear I’m going to die.
Yeah, that’d go over real well.
“I’ll stay if you want me to, Lina.”
“I really don’t care what you do, Kyle.”
She didn’t care? Is that why her voice faltered? Or why her eyes filled with moisture before she could turn away and hide them?
In that moment, he wanted to whip that sheet off her ass and give her a good spanking for lying to him like that. But even more, he wanted to spend the next several hours kissing it until the sting went away.
Lina’s breath hitched suddenly and Tiny mumbled “sorry”, patting a cloth against the rapidly welling blood on her ass. Kyle let his eyes travel down her back to where her entire right flank was now exposed. Sweet Jesus.
Kyle met Tiny’s eyes and gave him a look that could have killed him on the spot. “You’re finished now,” he said, his voice low and deadly.
For several long moments, Kyle was afraid Tiny was going to disagree. They faced off over Lina’s prone body, but Kyle refused to back down. Luckily, Tiny heaved a sigh and said, “Yeah. Yeah, I’m done for today.”
Thank God Lina didn’t argue. Tiny cleaned off her back with soap and water, spread a thin layer of ointment over the new ink, then covered the design with clear plastic wrap.
“Take this off as soon as you get home,” Tiny advised. “Let your skin breathe for a couple of hours. Give it a quick wash with anti-bacterial soap – the unscented kind – and cool or tepid water only.”
Without a word, she eased off the chair and began to get dressed. Kyle refused to look in her direction until she was brushing past him.
Tiny gave her a jar after-care lotion. “Thin coat, three to five times a day. Loose fitting clothes, and no bras for a week, got it?”
Lina nodded in acknowledgement, and Kyle walked her out. Kim told Lina to call for her next appointment, and Lina promised she would. The hell she would, Kyle thought. She was not coming back here again if he had anything to say about it, not unless he was right there beside her, holding her hand and keeping the fucking yahoos at bay.
Kyle followed her out of the shop like a two hundred and twenty pound lovesick puppy. The loose-fitting, shapeless dress did nothing to minimize how sexy she was. Even the slightest breeze conspired with her natural, graceful movements to hint at the lush curves beneath the light fabric. Christ, she’d look hot in a garbage bag.
As much to distract himself than anything else, Kyle plucked the jar from her hand and read the directions, though he was already quite familiar with them. “How are you going to get this on?”
“I’ll manage,” she said without looking at him.
“What about Jamie?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“What about him?” she practically spat back.
“I’m sure he’d like to - ”
“No. Just...no.” She snatched the salve back and hastened her pace, as if she thought to increase the distance between them. His much longer stride made it a futile effort.
What the hell was going on with her and his brother? Were they on the outs? He heard Lina’s voice in his mind, the same echo he’d been hearing as part of a constant loop: “If I had any sense at all I’d be crazy about him. But it appears that I have no sense whatsoever.”
Those words were the ones that kept him up at night. The ones that kept him from walking away completely. Because if they meant what he thought they did, then there was no reason to keep fighting this insane attraction between them, right?
He wasn’t an idiot. He knew it was just a case of wanting what he couldn’t have, a craving for the forbidden fruit. But if she and Jamie were done – hell, if they were taking a break – then maybe he could finally get his t
aste, satisfy his craving, and move on.
And until then, if Lina thought for one minute someone else was going to be touching that golden skin, she had another thing coming.
Decision made, Kyle said, “I could help.” Lina stopped walking to give him such a look of utter disbelief that he felt the need to add, “Because you know, it’s not going to be easy to reach back there.”
* * *
“I’m sure I can find someone to help me if the need arises.”
Kyle’s eyes literally glowed with suppressed... something, and Lina took some pleasure in that. The only person she would allow to rub salve on her back was Amy, with whom she was crashing these days. Her call two weeks earlier had led to meeting for coffee, which led to Lina pouring out her heart and telling her everything. A few hours later, she’d packed a bag and had been working and staying at the book store ever since.
But Kyle probably didn’t know that.
“The fuck you will.” His voice was a low warning, almost a growl. It sent a shiver of desire from the back of her neck straight down to the aching spot between her legs, and that pissed her off. She was already angry with her body for its betrayal, firing to life the instant he’d walked into Tiny’s. Thank God for the pain of the needle; it had kept her mind focused. She didn’t want to be attracted to him anymore. She didn’t want to feel like he was the missing part of her soul. The last two weeks had been hard enough.
“Something you want to say to me, Kyle? Did you forget some other totally insulting thing you feel the need to share? Or can you just call me a lying whore now and be done with it?”
He winced. “I never meant it that way, Lina.”
He actually managed to sound sincere when he said it. Calling upon her inner strength, Lina ignored him and crossed the street. Kyle followed. “Please, Lina. Let me do this for you. Please.”
Lina knew she had to be out of her mind, because she was actually considering it. Despite what he’d said that night at the lake, the thought of him running his hands over any part of her body was an offer she just could not pass up. If it was anyone else she would have grabbed the nearest piece of jagged rock or glass and shoved it right up his arrogant ass. But this was Kyle. And like it or not, she was hopelessly in love with him. If he was here, if he was offering, there was still a chance, right?
Celina (Connelly Cousins #1) Page 8