my chin, lifting my head so our gazes locked. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I whispered.
“I’m yours, River.”
Hearing that helped ease some of my anger and jealousy. “And I’m yours.”
He gave me that sweet smile that was mine alone. “Go get your books, and come in here while I’m doing her piece. You’ll hear the door if anyone else comes in.”
“No, it’s okay,” I said, shaking my head as I stood. “I trust you.”
“I know you do,” he assured me. “But I want you in here with me.”
I gave him a quick hug. “Okay. Should I tell the skank princess to come back, or do you need more time?”
He grinned. “I’m nearly finished, but I need her approval before I print it.”
I sighed, exhaustion suddenly pushing down on me. “Okay, I’ll send her back.”
“River.” I paused at the door when he called my name. “You are my everything.”
I glanced at him over my shoulder. “And you’re mine.”
Two
Maverick
One of the first things I’d learned while apprenticing under my brother-in-law was not to roll my eyes at the client. My dad hadn’t taught me that during the months I’d watched and worked under him. He had no patience for people who didn’t take getting ink seriously.
Lyric had been different, though, teaching me things I probably never would have learned without his help. Like how to help some of the more nervous ones keep calm during their first time. And the not-rolling-your-eyes thing was definitely something that had come in handy.
His teachings helped me get the client list I now had, but sometimes it was hard to keep my face from showing how annoyed I was. Especially when my girl was sitting only a few feet away and some chick was trying to flash me her pussy every two minutes.
“Sit the fuck still,” I barked, fed up. I doubted even Lyric could have kept his cool long enough to deal with this chick, but then again, my sister probably would have already had a handful of this bitch’s hair in one hand as she dragged her out of her husband’s shop.
The girl jumped, startled by the sudden menace in my voice. “Okay,” she said after a moment of stunned silence before rolling her eyes. “Jeesh, calm down. I’m just trying to get comfortable.”
“You have needles digging into your bikini line,” River muttered behind me, keeping her gaze focused on her schoolwork. “I doubt there is a comfortable position right now.”
The blonde on my table huffed. “Shouldn’t you be watching the front or something?”
“She’s here because I want her here,” I snapped, adding more ink before touching the needle to her skin again. The piece she wanted was small and didn’t require a lot of shading, so I was almost done. Thank fuck, because this chick was giving me a raging headache.
As soon as the needle touched her skin, she whined at the discomfort and began to squirm again, causing the protective padding I’d had River place in the top of the chick’s shorts to shift, showing me yet another half inch of her skin. Soon, her pussy lips would be exposed, and the thought turned my stomach.
It wasn’t the first time a client thought she could try to tempt me by picking a suggestive place for their tattoo and then try to seduce me by showing me her tits or pussy. Even if I didn’t have River, I would have been turned off by their efforts. I’d never been tempted by an easy lay, and the clients who tried to get me to fuck them reeked of desperation.
I was nearly finished when the buzzer alerting us to the front door opening grabbed River’s attention. She stood to see who had arrived then returned a minute later. “That must be the box that arrived yesterday,” she said as she walked past my room.
I glanced up just as Lyric followed her toward the storage room. He had a car seat in one hand, and I saw the top of my nephew’s head. At a guess, I figured it was Ian because he was the troublemaker of the twins, and only Lyric and my dad could make him behave. Isaac, on the other hand, was the more even-tempered of the two, always wanting to cuddle with anyone, and basically a momma’s boy.
Lyric said Ian was more like his own twin, Luca, while Isaac was one hundred percent his father. Even at just four months old, Ian was already a pain in the ass, but I