Virgin Seeks Bad Boy (Bliss River #3) - Lili Valente Page 0,3
assumed before he proved immune to it.
I only dated a handful of boys during high school, culinary school, and the years since, but my affection was always returned. My crushes always crushed back.
Until now.
Now I’m off kilter, off my game, and anything but smooth. Every time I run into Nick outside of work, when I’m prepared for an encounter with the object of my unrequited affection, I feel like I’m stuck in an anxiety dream, the one where it’s opening night of the school play, and I don’t have a single line memorized.
“Okay, but what do I say?” I ask, biting my lip.
Kitty shrugs. “Um…hi? What’s up? When did you open the shop? Why don’t you want to have wild, passionate sex with me? Or I could ask for you.”
I squeeze Kitty’s arm. “If you say that, I will kill you. Dead. Or at the very least carve out your tongue and keep it in my pocket.”
“Gross.” Kitty giggles. “You never would have said something like that before. Seriously, woman, this crush is affecting you in strange and mysterious ways.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, feeling terrible. “Are you mad?”
“Of course not. Don’t be silly.” She rolls her eyes. “I like the wilder Melody. She’s more fun to go drinking with, but you need to face your fear.” She tugs me toward the door. “Come on, let’s go in. I’ll say I’m thinking about getting a tattoo. I want to meet this boy who’s too dumb to see how awesome you are and make sure he sees you in this insanely hot dress.”
I grin. “You’re the best friend ever.”
“True,” she says, before adding in a whisper, “Just let me do the talking and act surprised to see Mr. Hottie.”
I suck in a breath and nod, keeping my gaze fixed on the wild, tattoo-inspired art tacked to the walls as we step inside the shop, setting off a tinkling bell that’s barely audible over the punk music pumping through the speakers.
Still, Nick seems to have heard the jingle.
“Be with you in just a second,” he calls over his shoulder, shouting to be heard over the buzzing of the tattoo gun. “Feel free to look through the books.”
“Cool, thanks,” Kitty answers, winking at me before stepping up to the wooden counter where several binders filled with laminated pages of tattoo designs sit next to a thicker binder with “Nick’s Original Work” written in permanent marker on the cover.
With a quick glance at Nick to make sure he hasn’t seen me, I reach for the last binder and flip it open. Inside is page after page of gorgeously drawn and executed tattoos. Aria mentioned that her new husband, Nash, the town Captain of Police and Nick’s oldest brother, is a talented artist.
It must run in the family, because Nick’s work is breathtaking.
He’s done a wide variety of tattoos—everything from a cute little unicorn with a rainbow mane to a giant, scary-looking robot that covered a man’s entire back—but he seems to specialize in animals.
The feathers on his birds are extraordinary and the muscles on his tigers and panthers ripple with life, even in a still picture. But it’s the phoenix on the last page that really catches my attention. Nick used vibrant colors to capture every exotic detail of the mythical creature—turquoise for the scaled patches of skin, lush purples and greens for the feathers, and an orange so bright it looks like he dipped his needle in liquid sunshine for the flames. The expression on the phoenix’s face is equally captivating, somehow managing to be both pained and hopeful, at the same time.
It touches things inside me that I never imagined a tattoo could. It’s truly a beautiful work of art, and suddenly I wonder why I’ve always thought tattoos were tacky.
Nick’s work certainly isn’t.
“Melody?”
Nick’s voice pierces my thoughts, making me aware that the buzzing of the tattoo gun has stopped.
I glance up, meeting his bright green eyes, doing my best not to shiver as a current of electricity leaps between us.
Oh wow…
Something’s…different.
He’s not looking at me like a baby sister tonight.
He looks startled, but also a little…hungry.
I understand that hungry feeling…
And I’m suddenly very glad I decided to wear a scandalous dress.
Very, very glad indeed.
Chapter 2
Melody
“Oh hey, Nick.” I feign surprise to see him, even as my pulse races and I silently decide to invest in a fleet of cleavage dresses if that’s what it takes to make his eyes sparkle like that when he looks at me. “Is this your place?”