Bad Boy Ink (Get Ink'd #5) - Ali Lyda Page 0,40

But I’m free all day tomorrow if you want to meet up again.”

“Sure, but on one condition,” he said, eyes twinkling. “Get over the kiss so we can actually get something done. You shouldn’t plan on snagging an FBI job if one pretend kiss gets you this flabbergasted.”

“No one says ‘flabbergasted’ anymore,” I said with a frown, my neck prickling with embarrassment. “And I’m already over it. You should work on getting over yourself. You shouldn’t plan on snagging a job at the FBI if you think the world revolves around you.”

Aiden’s responding laugh let me know in no uncertain terms that he thought I was full of shit.

He wasn’t wrong.

Bryan was the first person I saw as I stepped into Get Ink’d. He was leaning on the counter, a textbook in hand and a highlighter being mercilessly chewed to death between his teeth.

I leaned next to him so I could speak low enough that the others wouldn’t hear me. Normally I’d let their mocking roll off my shoulders but something about this thing with Aiden made me feel like it should be protected. “What kind of guys does Aiden like?”

The highlighter dropped from Bryan’s mouth and fell to the floor. “Excuse me?”

“What kind of guys does Aiden like? Who does he go for? Because he’s acting like my kiss isn’t affecting him and there’s no fucking way my kissing doesn’t knock a person on their ass.”

When I peeked at Bryan, I found his eyes wide and mouth open as he stared at me. I gave him a pointed look. “Well?”

“You. You kissed Aiden? And you didn’t get punched?”

Scoffing, I shook my head. “No punch. He let me stick my tongue in his mouth and everything, and he totally kissed back. But then he acted like I’d given him a stick of gum or helped him with homework instead of making out with him in the middle of the sales floor.”

“Wait. You kissed him at his job, and you don’t have a black eye?” Bryan burst into laughter and I couldn’t help but wrinkle my nose in confusion.

He laughed hard enough that he began to hiccup. I was about to storm away when he grabbed my wrist and managed to control his giggles. “Look, I’m just saying that if he didn’t hit you for kissing him, then it means he wanted the kiss. No one does anything to Aiden he doesn’t allow. But you didn’t hear that from me, okay?”

My ego managed to climb out of the deep hole it had fallen into. “Okay. Cool.”

I headed toward my station with a bit more pep in my step. I hadn’t lost my touch, it seemed. Aiden had been affected by our kiss. Though that begged the question: Why did it matter so much to me?

The door pinged and I looked up to see Eryk walking into the shop. He smiled at me. He was gorgeous and when I smiled back, he walked over, his stride filled with swagger.

“Just the man I was hoping to see.” He had a deep voice that was made for radio, and I bet he knew the effect that rumbling resonance had on many people’s knees.

“Hey, man,” I replied. Eryk was flirtatious and confident, and I couldn’t help but be lifted by that energy.

“You know,” he said, “Thor has always been my favorite Avenger.”

I smirked. “Oh? Why’s that?”

“He knows how to use his hammer. We’re talking real skill.”

Yeah, it was obvious innuendo, but that tended to be my style of humor. In fact, a lot of things about Eryk were my style. “It’s true,” I said. “Lots of practice at pounding things.”

His chuckle was pure sex, and I could feel the flirtatious pull building between us. Before it could go further, his sister called out, “Stop that, Eryk, if you want to work here. There is no way in hell I’m going to watch my brother hoe around all day.”

Work here? I knew he was visiting her, but we didn’t have an available station for him. Where would he work if he joined our crew?

Eryk offered me an apologetic shrug, though it was obvious he wasn’t sorry at all.

Before I could respond, though, Reagan grabbed my attention. “Bryce, could I see you in my office?”

Reagan was standing in the hall, his arms crossed over his chest. But that was just how he tended to stand, looking more like a bouncer than the gentle artist he was. I hadn’t updated him on school and work and imagined he