Chapter 27

27

It was Nate's last day home before he drove back to Noosa, which also coincided with Reece's birthday.

He disappeared earlier in the morning, telling me he had to pick up something for Reece before the party. I had the place to myself for a while, but it wasn't long after the door closed behind him that a knock sounded from the front door.

I thought Nate had forgotten his keys or something, so I started to speak before even opening the door.

"You're such a dumbass, Nate. Who even forgets their?—"

I was abruptly cut off when I opened the door and a pair of soft green eyes met mine before those familiar, soft lips crashed down to mine, his hands cradling my face as he walked me backward into the house and kicked the door closed behind him. I immediately yanked him closer with a tug on the front of his shirt. I couldn't help the smile from spreading across my lips as he kissed me.

Since the morning of New Year's, I've been feeling like I was walking on cloud nine and nothing could bring me down from that feeling. Not even as Reece pulled me into the laundry room that morning and kissed the breath out of me while Dad and Nate were in the next room making coffee in the kitchen. Not when he told me to be quiet while his fingers dipped under my pants and made me come undone against the washing machine. And not when he stepped away from me, lifting a finger to his lips to keep quiet, and told me to come out in a few minutes to not raise suspicion. When I did join back in the kitchen, Reece had already made his escape out the front door.

His lips lifted as he stood in front of me now, murmuring against my lips. "You know, it's quite hard to kiss you when you're smiling so much."

A short giggle left my mouth before I pressed my lips flat. "Sorry."

He shook his head, his forehead leaning against mine while he smoothed his thumbs over my cheeks. "No need to be sorry. I like making you smile. It's one of my favourite things to watch."

"I thought it was making me blush," I teased.

His lips stretched wide before kissing my cheek. "That, too."

I pulled away to look at him as my grin escaped again, and then I nudged his shoulder. "What are you doing here? Nate just left on an errand for you."

He smirked and shrugged. "I may have given him a list of the errands I was to do for the party and pulled the birthday card."

I shook my head. "Why?"

His eyes shone as they stared into mine and I could see the happiness radiating from them. His dimples were on full display, and he was such a gorgeous sight that I almost wanted to take a picture and capture the moment. But my camera was nowhere near me and I didn't want to waste a single moment in his presence by running up to get it.

"I wanted some alone time with you."

My heart stuttered. "Alone time with me?"

"Yeah," he beamed. "I have plans for us for today."

"Plans? What kind of plans?"

"Remember when we were talking about tattoos on New Years?" He questioned.

I nodded. "Of course. It was only a couple of days ago." My cheeks blushed at the memory of the rest of the night. Feeling his body against mine, skin to skin, his searing kisses, the look in his eyes as he watched me fall apart before his lips covered mine to keep me quiet, swallowing every sound.

He smiled devilishly as if knowing where my train of thought went and brushed his thumb against my left cheek before curving around my ear to tuck my hair behind it.

"Well, I may know someone who knows someone who could do those tattoos and I booked us in." He watched to see my reaction cautiously. "No pressure, though, if you're not ready. But I'll be right by your side."

There was no contemplation in my answer. My answering grin almost felt like it might have split my face in half. "Let's do it."

I grabbed my things before taking hold of Reece's hand as he led me to his car.

It was a short drive. Reece pulled into a small shopping centre before long, hopping out of the car and meeting me by my door, lacing our fingers together as we walked towards the shop.

My palms started to sweat and my heart started beating a little faster the closer we got. I hoped Reece wouldn't notice, but I was sure he could with my hand in his. He didn't say anything about it if he did, though.

"It's actually Sage's dad who owns the shops. I don't know if you noticed at Airlie Beach but that's how he already has some small tattoos. They're in less visible places, but he gets it for free."

My brows jumped. I didn't notice any on him. I wasn't really paying attention to him anyway. My whole focus was absorbed in Reece.

The bell jingled above the door as we walked in through the door and the sound of buzzing filled the room. Different art pieces and tattoo designs filled the walls of the dark interior of the reception and my eyes bounced over each one.

Someone called Reece's name and I turned to see a big burly man with dark eyes, dark brown hair, and a beard shadowing his jaw. Tattoos covered his arms and legs as he rounded the reception desk, leaning against the front of it with a wide smile and arms crossed.

"Sage told me you were coming in. I was wondering when you would have the guts to come see me. Didn't think it would be this soon when you turned eighteen."

Reece rolled his eyes. "You know, I'm not a little kid who's scared of needles anymore."

The man huffed a laugh. "Could've fooled me."

Reece narrowed his eyes before turning to me and introducing me. "Clint, this is Dakota. She's also getting a tattoo."

Clint's eyes turned to me then, glancing down at mine and Reece's joined hands before coming back to me, a grin growing on his face. "The more the merrier. Excited?"

I tilted my head, eyes flicking to Reece for a moment. "More nervous than anything."

Clint waved his hand nonchalantly. "You have nothing to worry about. You'll barely feel it." He paused and cocked his head to the side. "Well, depending on where you get it, that is."

I chuckled. "The less painful the better."

"Perfect." He clapped his hands together before rounding the desk again and clicking a few things on the computer. "Do you guys know what you're getting or do you want to look through our design books for inspiration?"

Reece looked at me in question and I smiled as I responded. "I know what I want."

Reece's hand squeezed mine before Clint ushered us back into a free chair. I sat in the chair while Reece grabbed a free stool and sat next to me. Clint busied around the area to prepare the station while I looked for reference pictures on my phone.

I kept wiping my hands along my shorts, nerves spiking my heart rate, but I kept my focus on my phone, hoping it wasn't noticeable every time I dragged my hands along my shorts.

Then I felt the warmth of Reece's hand skimming over the top of my thigh, squeezing just above my knee, making my eyes bounce to his.

His eyes were inquisitive as they stared into mine. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just nervous."

He squeezed the top of my thigh again. "I'll be right here, Kody." He leaned closer to look over my shoulder. "So what are you thinking?"

"I was thinking of the wave with the moon hanging over it. Avery, Alex, and I talked about getting matching ones one night in Airlie Beach but they refused. Alex even went to the extreme of stating he would be staying away from those ‘buzzing death machines'." I laughed. "But I want something to remind me of that week."

He turned to face me, a curious glint in his eye. "I'll get it with you. I wasn't even sure what I was getting yet. But I like your idea."

I shook my head. "You don't have to. This is permanent, remember? I don't want you to get something you don't want."

He smiled at me, reaching up to curve his hand around the back of my head, thumb resting against my cheekbone. "I want this. I want a reminder of that week because it was the best week of my life. The beach, the music, the parties." His eyes bounced between each of mine, softening with each moment he paused. "You. Coming back into my life like you were always meant to be there."

My heart skipped and tripped over itself as I leaned into his hand.

Meant to be there. For some reason my brain translated that into ‘always meant to be his' and I felt all of my heartstrings pull in gravitation to him.

He leaned his forehead against mine. "Let's do it," he repeated my words from earlier.

I showed Clint my reference pictures and then he disappeared for a moment to draw it up before coming back with the stencil and showing it to me. It was better than I imagined, with the crescent moon hanging above about a pinky nail in size and a crashing wave underneath. Mountains stood tall next to the wave and beside the moon was a little plane flying over the scene. He even added some stars to the backdrop. It was like he plucked the memory from my brain, of me and Reece sitting on the beach the night he had wandered off. It was the first night I'd seen him truly vulnerable, consumed by something that plagued his mind.

I shook off the memory and grinned at Clint. "This is perfect."

He smiled. "What I like to hear. Now where would you like it?"

"I think on my hip. On this side," I said, tapping my right hip, not wanting it to be visible because it would give Mum more reason to be upset with me.

"Okay," he nodded and situated himself on the stool on the opposite side of where Reece was. "Let me just lay the chair down and then you can relax and lay on your left side facing Reece and we'll get started."

Luckily my shorts were baggy so I was able to pull the one side down to expose my hip.

Once he had the stencil situated in a spot I liked, the buzzing of the needle started. Reece appeared in front of me, holding his hand out for me to grab onto and then he laced our fingers together, his thumb making soothing swirls over my hand.

The first scratch of the needle started against my skin and I squeezed his hand tight but released a breath when I found it wasn't as bad as I anticipated.

It didn't take long, maybe half an hour to forty-five minutes before he was finished, wiping away the residual ink.

"All done. Let me know what you think," Clint said, rolling away to start cleaning his station.

Leaning up to look down at the new art on my hip, I couldn't stop myself from smiling at how beautiful and wistful it looked.

I looked across to Reece, seeing his eyes already assessing the tattoo, my smile still in place as I asked, "What do you think?"

He looked up, eyes gleaming as he replied, "I like it. It suits you."

Clint came back and applied some balm and a clear adhesive film over the top while giving me the aftercare instructions.

He looked to Reece next. "Your turn now buddy. What are you getting?"

I got off the chair while Reece took my spot, his eyes meeting mine for a second. "The same."

Clint's curious eyes glanced between Reece and me, but he didn't say a thing before the buzzing filled the room again.