Bad Boy Ink (Get Ink'd #5) - Ali Lyda Page 0,33

my hand. “I can't decide if the fact that someone almost as beautiful as Erykah standing next to my station with her is proof of God’s existence, or if it's just a cruel twist of fate to put two such incredibly tempting people in my path.”

Erykah giggled as the man shook my hand. His grip was warm and strong and lingered a little longer than was necessary. When I met his gaze, he was definitely looking at me with interest. I felt my pulse tick up.

Erykah chimed in, saying, “This is my twin brother, Eryk. He's also a tattoo artist and came to visit for a while.”

Like his sister, he was covered in ink. Clean, bold black lines formed the shapes of plants and animals all over his skin, turning his body into a nature guide. The art was sexy as hell.

And while I admired his tattoos, I felt Eryk admiring me.

It had been a long time since I'd let my flirtations slip into anything more. I hadn’t been lying when I’d told Aiden that I'd just been too busy between work and taking care of my grandmother to even consider dating. Now, though, I found myself giving Eryk a second look. Taking in his broad, strong shoulders and thick, muscled size. The dude clearly didn't skip leg day.

But…

It wasn't like I magically had time now for someone new. And my grandmother had specifically asked me to stay focused on school—I couldn't handle a distraction if I was going to make her proud. Even one as sexy is the man in front of me. So it was going to have to be flirting, and flirting alone.

“It's nice to meet you,” I said. “I have to get my station ready, but I'd love to hear about how two siblings got into tattooing.”

Eryk nodded with one more weighted smile and moved so that I could get to my station. As I set down my stuff and began to prep for the night's work, I found myself thinking not of beautiful ebony skin and strong, muscular limbs, but of Aiden. His thin limbs and reserved passion. And his anger, so quick to flare up yet so slow to dissipate.

Because there was a growing sense of longing in my cock, one that seemed to feed on thoughts of Aiden. As far as attractiveness went, the guy was unbelievably gorgeous. The rivalry I felt with him made fantasies of him all the more delicious.

He pushed me and kept me on my toes. The kind of challenge that had me leaving common sense at the door. And each time I got a peek at the softer side of him? It left me starved for more of it.

And here I was, trying to balance work and school, with Erykah’s hot twin who would probably be interested in me if I gave the signal—yet my mind was a million miles away from where it needed to be, stuck on Aiden. And my cock wasn't making it any easier to find my way back to my focus. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair.

I needed to be more careful than ever with Aiden. He wasn’t just a dream...he was out for my dream job. He was rough and walled off and ruthless when need be, and I couldn’t let him distract me.

I needed to keep my eye on the prize, but what exactly the prize was?

That seemed to be getting more muddled by the day.

10

Aiden

Three things I knew to be true:

One: Bryce was smarter than he looked. This was evident from the notes that he sent me over email regarding our case study. He had a unique way of looking at the data and finding things that I wouldn't have seen. Not that I would ever tell him that.

Two: Being around Bryce caused a physical reaction I wasn’t remotely prepared to negotiate. The kind of tight-skinned, nerve itching, heated discomfort that meant I was thinking about things I didn't have the time for. Everything about him radiated sexual energy. No wonder so many people wanted to bone him. He wasn't just good-looking—he was a magnetic force of nature.

Three: I had been avoiding him. Ever since our fight after class when he'd shown me up in front of the professor, I had gone out of my way to not see him. This had included embarrassing efforts such as hiding in bathrooms until the last minute to duck into a lecture hall or making sure I was sitting where there were no