Charlotte

C harlie walked into the back of the tattoo shop, just as she had promised Ink that she would. Having the freedom to run to the store by herself made her feel almost normal again. Getting Ink to agree to let her go out by herself was no easy feat. He came up with every excuse in the book to tag along with her, but when she explained that she needed to do this for herself, he backed down. He made her promise to only go to the grocery store and come right back through the back alley to the shop. He didn’t want to take any chances that her ex was still hanging around town looking for her.

And that was the problem. Charlie knew that Zeb could pop up at any time. Having a restraining order against him didn’t mean that he’d respect or follow it. In fact, she was sure that given the chance, he’d ignore the restraining order altogether.

“You must be Charlie,” a woman said when she walked into Ink’s office.

“Um, where is Ink?” Charlie asked.

“He had to run out for a few minutes, but he said to tell you that he’d be right back,” the woman said.

“Okay, who are you then?” Charlie questioned.

“Oh, yeah, how rude of me.” The woman stood and offered her hand to Charlie. “I’m Cynthia. I’m a friend of Ink’s from down at the club.” Charlie shook the woman’s hand and nodded, although none of this made any sense to her. If she was such a good friend of Inks, why hadn’t she met Cynthia yet?

“I haven’t seen you around the club,” Charlie challenged.

“Yeah, that’s because I’ve been out of town for a few months—family issues and all that,” Cynthia explained.

“Oh, so you’re married then?” Charlie asked.

Cynthia’s laughter filled the room. “Um, no,” she said. “My parents live in California, so I had to go out there for a while. My dad fell and my mother couldn’t take care of him on her own.”

“I see,” Charlie mumbled. She wasn’t sure why she felt so disappointed that Cynthia wasn’t married. “So, why are you here if Ink is out?” God, she sounded bitchy even to her own ears. She wasn’t usually like this with other women, but then, she hadn’t ever found another woman in Ink’s office before. The fact that she was absolutely gorgeous and looked just like the type of woman a biker like Ink would fall for, didn’t help her green-eyed monster.

“Ink has hired me to be one of his new artists. He said that he had too much work and not enough time, and I plan on staying in town for a while, so I said that I’d lend a hand with his workload.” Charlie just bet that she’d lend Ink a hand. She looked Cynthia over, noting her colorful tattoos that ran up and down her arms. She even had one that ran up the side of her neck, and if Charlie was a betting woman, she’d guess that Ink’s new employee had more tattoos hiding under her clothing—well, what little bit she had on.

“I like your tattoos,” Charlie whispered.

“Oh, thanks,” Cynthia said. “Ink has done most of them.” The thought of him seeing other parts of Cynthia’s body made Charlie feel sick. “Are you all right? You look like you’re going to be sick.”

“I’m sure that it’s just morning sickness. It seems to happen at all hours of the day, even now. I think I’ll go to the bathroom, just in case.” Charlie practically ran to the bathroom and shut the door and locked it. Maybe she was acting like a child, but she didn’t care. She didn’t plan on coming back out until Cynthia was gone. Then, she’d tell Ink that she decided to move out. Where she’d go was a mystery, since she had given up her apartment a month ago. Ink convinced her to stay with him until after the baby came and Charlie could get back on her feet. She took him up on his generous offer, but now, she saw that was a mistake. She wouldn’t stick around and watch Ink and Cynthia together—it would be too much for her heart to take.

After spending about ten minutes in her self-imposed prison, she heard Ink’s voice asking where she was and Charlie worried that her hiding time was up. Cynthia told him that she went to the bathroom, not feeling well, and within seconds, Ink was pounding on the door, telling her to come out.

“I’m not feeling well,” she lied. Well, maybe it was partially true. She felt sick to her stomach thinking about Ink with his new employee.

“All the more reason to let me in. I want to make sure that you’re okay, Charlie,” he insisted. She knew that Ink was an impatient man—well, except for when it came to her. He was taking his sweet time trying to get Charlie into his bed and now, she knew why. He was sleeping with Cynthia. He had to be. Why else would he touch her, kiss her, and lead her on if he didn’t want her? Maybe he changed his mind about Charlie as soon as he found out that Cynthia was back in town.

“Are you sleeping with her?” Charlie asked through the door. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know his answer, but she couldn’t take not knowing another minute.

“I’m going to get out of here, Ink, so you two can talk,” Cynthia said. “I’ll see you on Monday.”

“Thanks, Cynthia,” Ink said, still not answering Charlie’s question. She waited until she heard the bell over the front door chime before she asked him the same question again.

“Are you sleeping with her?” she almost whispered.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Charlie?” he asked.

“I’m talking about you and Cynthia. She told me that you two are friends and that you’ve done most of her tattoos, but I think she was secretly trying to say that you two were an item.” She felt foolish explaining all this to him, but she needed to know, for the sake of her own sanity.

“No, I’m not sleeping with her. I’ve never hooked up with Cynthia and I have no desire to. She’s more like a little sister to me than anything. I met her when I first moved to town, and we became friends. But then, she went to California to help her parents, so I haven’t seen her in months,” Ink assured.

“But then, why did you hire her?” Charlie asked.

“Because she’s a damn good tattoo artist and I thought that by hiring her, I could spend more time with you and the baby when she gets here in a few weeks,” he explained. Shit—why did he have to go and be so sweet while she was acting like a complete jackass? It would have been easier to stay mad at him than to feel bad about asking him all her silly questions.

“You did?” she asked.

“For fucks sake,” he breathed, “just open the fucking door, Charlie. I don’t want to have this conversation through a wall. I want to be face to face when I tell you that I’m falling in love with you.” Her breath caught and Charlie had to remind herself to breathe.

“Did you just say that you’re falling in love with me?” she asked.

“Can you please just open the door, honey?” he asked. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to face the fact that she had just accused him of sleeping with his new employee, but now he was admitting that he was falling for her. She felt the same way about him and maybe that’s why she acted so crazy, but she couldn’t help herself when it came to Ink, and she wouldn’t apologize for being jealous.

Charlie slowly pulled the bathroom door open and peeked out at him. He was wearing his sexy, angry scowl, and she wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry about her behavior.

“I’m sorry for accusing you of sleeping with Cynthia,” she breathed.

“I don’t care about any of that, honey,” he admitted. “I just care about you hearing me when I told you that I’m falling in love with you.” She had heard him loud and clear.

“I did,” she said.

“Good,” he whispered, pulling her into his arms. “Now, this is the part where you tell me that you’re falling for me too.”

“How do you know if that’s true or not?” she asked, smiling up at him.

“Because I can see it in your eyes every time you look at me, Charlie,” he said. “I think that it’s time that we stopped playing games and figure out what we are supposed to do next.” Hearing him say that gave Charlie hope that he’d want to do the same thing she did.

“Why haven’t you said any of this before? Why tell me that we need to slow down after I moved in with you?” she asked.

“Because I worried that you might not be over your ex at first,” he admitted.

“And now?” she asked.

“Now, I know that you are and have been for a while,” he said. There had to be another reason why Ink was holding back with her. It couldn’t all be about Zeb.

“What else are you not telling me?” she asked.

He sighed, “I’ve never been with a pregnant woman before and I’m afraid that I might hurt you,” he admitted. Charlie couldn’t help her outburst of laughter. Ink pulled away from her and she instantly regretted her reaction to what he had just told her.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I just wasn’t expecting you to say that. You won’t hurt me, Ink. Pregnant women have sex all the time—well, not me. I mean, I haven’t had sex with anyone since finding out that I was pregnant. But from what I’ve read, they do it all the time. Plus, my hormones are all out of whack, and you’ve honestly been drying me crazy with all the touching and kissing.” She reached for his hand, and he took hers.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yes, really,” she whispered. “I want you Ink and I have for months now. Heck, I’ve wanted you since the first night that I spent at your house. You were the one who told me that I had to stay in my own room.”

“I can close the shop early today,” he breathed. “I don’t have any more appointments if you’d like to head home early.” Was he finally going to give into his desires and give her what she had needed for months now?

“Tell me that you will let me move into your room, Ink,” she insisted. “I don’t want to just have sex with you and then go back across the hall to my room.”

“I think that can be arranged, as long as you promise to stay with me, permanently. I don’t want you to leave after the baby is born,” he admitted.

“I think that I can manage your request,” she said. “Now, how about you take me home?” she asked.

“Deal,” he agreed. Ink tugged her back to his office where he turned off everything and grabbed his sketches that he had been working on for future clients. He shut off the lights and grabbed her bag, quickly walking to the back of the shop.

“You’re in a hurry,” she teased.

“Yeah, and I don’t want you to change your mind,” he admitted. There was no way that she’d change her mind—not now that he said he was falling in love with her. All those months of waiting were finally going to pay off and honestly, there was no way that she’d tell him no now.

Ink drove like a bat out of hell to get them back to his house as quickly as possible. When he parked in his garage and cut the engine, he turned to her and the worry on his handsome face made her scared that he was going to change his mind.

“Hey, what’s that look for?” she asked, framing his face with her hands. She loved the feel of his beard as she held him and wondered what it might feel like to have his beard roam all over her body as he kissed every inch of her.

“I’m worried that I’ll hurt the baby, now,” he admitted.

“I think that you’re over thinking this, Ink,” she insisted. “You can’t hurt the baby. She’s perfectly cocooned inside of my body. And we’ve already been over the fact that you can’t hurt me. How about you put all those fears to the side and just let me show you?” she asked. He nodded and she leaned in to gently kiss his lips.

“We need to go into the house,” she said. “I’m afraid that having sex in your truck won’t work for me right now.” She patted her belly, and he smiled rubbing his hand over hers. “I’m worried too, you know,” she admitted. “I’ve never done this while pregnant either, so this is going to be new for both of us. My body probably isn’t what you are used to—you know, like all the other women that you’ve been with.”

“I think that you’re sexy as fuck,” he admitted. “And I don’t give a fuck about other women, honey. I want you and only you. Stay put,” he ordered. She watched as he got out of his truck and walked around to her side, opening her door. “You ready?” he asked.

“Yes,” she breathed. He helped her out of his truck and led the way into the house and up the stairs to his bedroom, stopping in the hallway. He walked into her room, and she wondered what he was doing.

“You promised that I could move into your room,” she reminded.

“Right,” he said, walking out of her room with an armful of her blankets and body pillow. “I noticed that you don’t sleep without this thing,” he said, nodding to the pillow, “and I want you to be comfortable.”

“Oh, that is very thoughtful of you,” she said.

“Why do you always seem surprised that I’m thoughtful?” he asked. “I can be nice.”

She giggled, “You are always very nice to me, Ink. I’m just not used to any man being that kind to me. You’re the first man to ever consider my feelings and well, I appreciate that.”

“I will aways consider your feelings in everything that I do, honey,” Ink promised. Hearing him make such pretty promises did strange things to her heart. She had been hurt so badly by Zeb, she never thought that she’d ever trust another man again. But with Ink, she found herself wanting to put her trust in him more and more with each passing day.

He walked into his room and dropped her things on the chair that sat in the corner of his room. Ink wasted no time pulling her over with him to his bed, kissing her as they went. By the time he helped her back onto the bed, she was breathless and needy. Ink tugged off his shirt and she nearly swallowed her tongue. She knew that he had tattoos but never imagined that they would cover most of his torso and back. He looked down at his body and back to her.

“Do you mind the tattoos?” he asked. She didn’t mind them at all.

“To quote you,” she said, “I think that you’re sexy as fuck.” He covered her with his body, careful not to put any pressure on her belly.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

“It’s more than okay,” she breathed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “Um, I’ve heard that the best position for pregnant women is on our side or from behind.” She could feel her face heat and she was positive that she was blushing.

“I’m game for whatever you need, honey, but first, I want to see you and taste you.” She moaned and he chuckled. “I take it you like that idea,” he said.

“Very much,” she agreed. He stripped her bare as he worked his way down her body, kissing every inch of her as he went. And when he got to her leggings, he tugged them down her body, standing at the edge of the bed as he did so. Ink knelt down onto the floor, and it was hard for her to see him over her belly.

“What are you doing down there?” she asked.

“You’ll see,” he said, pulling her down to the edge of the bed. Charlie felt his hot breath on her pussy and held her own breath as she waited for him to do what he promised to do—taste her.

His tongue slid through her wet folds, and she nearly bucked off the bed. It had been so long since she had sex, that she felt as though she might explode at any minute. He worked his tongue in and out of her body, working his way up to her clit and when he thrust two fingers inside of her core, she couldn’t help but cry out.

“Hold still, honey,” he ordered as he pumped his fingers in and out of her pussy, giving her sensitive nub special attention with his skilled tongue. Zeb had never done what Ink was doing to her. He said that he didn’t like doing it, so she never asked him to. But God, she could see what all the fuss was about. It felt like heaven, and she never wanted Ink to stop. When she found her release, writhing uncontrollably, she cried out is name, knowing that Ink had just ruined her for all other men. That worked for her though because Charlie didn’t plan on having to ever be with another man again.

“Mine,” Ink whispered, kissing her inner thigh. She wasn’t about to argue with him because if Ink was game, she wanted to be his forever.