Forbidden Harmony (Harmony Falls #3) - Elizabeth Kelly Page 0,70

or an engineer, was sitting on the couch, his knee jiggling and his fingers tapping out a nervous beat on his thigh as he stared at the screen of his phone.

“Don’t you think?”

“He hasn’t been here that long,” Preacher said.

“Yeah, I know, but he’s already booked solid with walk-in’s this week,” Nolan said. “And a couple of the locals have meetings with him next week to talk about tattoos. You did good hiring him, man. I approve.”

“Since when did I start caring what you thought or approved of?” Preacher said.

Nolan laughed again before clapping him on the back. “Christ, you’re being a little bitch today. What crawled into your Wheaties and died?”

“Fuck off, Nolan.” Preacher made a show of looking at the appointment schedule on the laptop, hoping Nolan would take the hint and leave.

“I’m just saying, you start being even more of a grumpy little bear than you usually are, and your clients are gonna abandon ship to new guy.”

Preacher cut him a look and Nolan grinned and held his hands up before backing away. “I went too far. I realize that now. I’m gonna mop the floor before you rip out my tongue and tack it to my forehead.”

The dweeby tourist was staring at them, his fingers paused in their beat against his thigh, his entire body as stiff and alert as a deer smelling a predator.

“Just kidding,” Nolan said to him. “Preacher wouldn’t do that.”

The man relaxed a fraction and Nolan grinned at him. “He’d tack it to the wall.’

As Nolan walked away and Nix waved the client over to his station, Preacher stared moodily out the window of the tattoo shop. It was just after two and the sidewalk was packed with tourists. He watched them scurry past, his mood getting worse with every passing minute.

Nolan was right, he was being a little bitch today. He shouldn’t have been. The tattoo he’d just finished had been one of his best and his client had been almost delirious with happiness. The extra hundred he’d tipped Preacher should have been enough to drive away Preacher’s bad mood.

It wasn’t.

He rubbed at the back of his neck. He had the beginning of a tension headache and he was starving. He needed to grab a bite to eat before his next client came in. Instead, he leaned against the counter and continued to stare at the tourists.

He knew exactly why he was in a bad mood even if he refused to admit it.

Addison was hanging out with the asshole gamer this afternoon and despite what Lucas had said, Preacher couldn’t get the idea out of his head that maybe Addison and him would hook up. Lucas had the clean-cut look that women liked, he probably didn’t have a single fucking tattoo, and he probably made an ass load of money with that video game shit he did.

Don’t forget he hasn’t spent four years in prison.

The muscle under Preacher’s left eye twitched, and he gritted his teeth. No, he probably fucking hadn’t. Which is why he was much more suitable for Addison than Preacher was. If the little schoolteacher ever found out he was an ex-con, she’d drop him so fast, his fucking head would spin.

Drop you? You’re not dating, idiot. You’re fucking, that’s it. And it’s only for a month, remember?

Of course he fucking remembered. He was there when she proposed the deal, wasn’t he?

Yeah, well, she also said once a week, but that didn’t stop you from driving over there last night. Three days in a row, you’ve fucked her now.

He rubbed the back of his neck again. He’d thought about eating Addison’s sweet pussy all day yesterday and not a workout at the gym or a hike at the Falls had helped his restless energy. He’d paced his apartment last night until just after eight thinking of nothing but burying his face in Addie’s pussy, before finally giving in and driving to her place.

It was a good job he had too. She’d been about to use a vibrator for God’s sake. A goddamn vibrator. When he had a perfectly good cock she could use.

Maybe she’s not as into you as you think. She didn’t even try and do that post-sex cuddling shit that women want, did she?

No, she hadn’t, and why the fuck it bothered him, he didn’t know. He should have been happy she hadn’t tried. He didn’t cuddle with women after sex, it made them think what was happening between them was more than it was. He