sarcastic, and he was cute besides. He had short brown hair and a full beard and moustache, and lots of ink peaked out beneath his band T-shirt and holey jeans.
Heath handed her a mirror. “Want to check out the placement?”
Makenna walked to the full-length mirror near her chair and looked over her shoulder. Butterflies raced through her belly. The design was beautiful and she loved it, but a part of her couldn’t believe she was having this done. She never would’ve been brave enough to do this without Caden.
She didn’t mind when he walked up to look, because Heath was leaving her little surprise off until he was almost ready to do it.
“What do you think?” she asked Caden as she studied the design in the mirror. Beneath the tree, the roots were made up of the initials M, E, P, I, M, C—for the six members of the James family, including her mother, Erin. “I think it looks perfect.”
“So do I,” he said, his gaze fixed on her skin. “You ready?”
“So ready,” she said.
The kiss he gave her was deep and wet. He whispered in her ear, “I’m already getting turned on thinking about you getting inked.”
Well now she was turned on. “Appetizers after, remember?”
He nodded, his crooked smile bringing one of his dimples out to play.
Heath gave her a few instructions and then his tattoo machine came to life on a low buzz. “Let me know if you need a break. This one’s going to take a little while, so it’s completely fine.” From the corner of her eye, she caught him dipping the tip into a little cup of black ink, and then leaned in, his gloved hand falling on her back.
Makenna bit her lip at the first contact of the needles. It kinda hurt, like something almost sharp scratching you, but it was tolerable. “Not too bad,” she said to Caden, who was sitting in a chair right in front of her.
“There will be more sensitive places, but nothing you can’t handle,” he said, his dark eyes full of a sexy look that was part pride, part satisfaction, and part lust. Appetizers were going to be good.
“How you doing, Makenna?” Heath asked.
“Good,” she said, staring at Caden. “No problem.”
“So Caden said you two met in an elevator,” Heath said, amusement plain in his voice.
“We really did. We were trapped in it for over four hours,” Makenna said, smiling. It was a little weird to talk to someone she couldn’t look at, but she couldn’t move while he was working. “In my office building. I rode it just today.”
“That’s quite a way to meet someone,” Heath said with a chuckle. “How come nothing like that ever happens to me?”
“Maybe you don’t ride enough elevators,” Makenna said.
The tattoo machine pulled away from her skin. Heath laughed. “I guess I don’t,” he finally said, leaning back in.
The needles hit a sensitive spot along her spine that had Makenna grimacing. Originally, she’d been thinking of putting the piece on her shoulder, but when she’d decided on the bigger size, she thought it would look better in the center. Heath had warned her that the central placement meant inking over bone, which could hurt more, and it sure did.
Caden braced his elbows on his knees so he could lean closer. “Want to play twenty questions?” he asked.
She smiled, knowing he was trying to distract her and appreciating the heck out of the gesture. “Are there still questions left we haven’t asked each other?”
“Probably,” he said. “For example, I don’t think I’ve ever asked you your favorite sex position.”
“No laughing,” Heath said, as Makenna tried to hold back her humor. Heat filled her cheeks. “Also, TMI. However, I like TMI, so feel free to answer, Makenna.”
Since the needle was away from her skin, she did laugh that time. “Okay, so maybe there are questions we haven’t asked.” She winked at Caden as Heath got back to work. “And, to answer the question, the second part of the night on my floor.”
Caden’s gaze went molten. He flicked at the spider bite piercings with his tongue. And that had parts of her going molten, because she knew how freaking talented that tongue was.
“Yours?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.
“The same night, but the first position,” he said, flicking at his piercing again. So, his favorite was her on top of him. That had been hot too. The position gave her a fantastic view of so much of his ink and all of his piercings, not