Page 2 of Adoring Ink

Humming to herself for some reason, she slid on a pair of black leggings and a peach-colored flowy tank with a knit shrug over it. She didn’t have to work today and was in the mood to be a little freer with her choice of wardrobe.

As soon as she entered the kitchen, she started her single-cup maker and slid two pieces of wheat-germ bread into the toaster. She missed normal bread, but she hated working out, and since she wasn’t even having sex anymore to burn calories, she was careful with what she ate. When everything was ready, she poured some vanilla creamer into her coffee and stood at her counter while making plans for the day in her head. She would have sat down, but she figured standing was better for her, and since she really didn’t want to work out later, she’d take any activity she could get.

Since it was summer vacation for her school, the students were out, and she had time off as well. Well…not really time off since she still had packets of things to go over for the next year, as well as a few continuing education classes to take to keep certified and updated. She just didn’t get paid for those hours since teachers had “summers off.” She snorted before taking a sip of her coffee. What a lie that was. Students were spending longer in the classroom nowadays because of snow days and delays throughout the year, and teachers even longer. Between the classes she had to take, the paperwork and notebooks she had to go through, and getting her classroom ready for the next year, she was lucky to get a full week off to actually vacation during her unpaid summer.

This happened to be that week. But because she scheduled herself as precisely as she could, she also had weekends off for the next five weeks. What she was going to do with that time other than lounge around in her new cotton dresses she’d bought on sale, she wasn’t sure.

Today, however, she had a little bit of a plan. She was having lunch with her friend Arianna at their favorite café, Taboo. The fact that Taboo shared a wall and a door with Montgomery Ink, the family tattoo shop run by Jake’s wife, Maya, and her brother Austin, didn’t even worry her. She wasn’t in love with Jake, and somehow, she’d even become friends with Maya. Maya was her complete opposite, and that only made Holly happier with herself. Because Maya loved herself and who she was, and Holly wasn’t going to let that put a shadow on her own self-confidence because that wasn’t who either of them were.

Of course, being a little more…well, just more would be nice.

She let out a sigh and cleaned up her breakfast dishes, annoyed with herself once again. She hated when self-doubt reared its ugly head, and it annoyed her to no end when she let it affect her. So she wasn’t a sexy temptress or even a kick-butt woman in leather. She was herself, and that was just fine with her.

She liked her clothes. Liked the fact that she was nice. Considering how she’d grown up, it surprised her she hadn’t become a jaded husk of a woman. Instead, she tried to be helpful, smiled because she liked smiling and not because someone told her to, and was just…Holly.

That had been good enough for her for years. Yet, now, she kind of wanted something more.

Holly blew out a breath and grabbed her keys. She slid on her ballet flats and put her purse over her arm as she left her house and got into her car. There was nothing wrong with her.

Just because she was having dreams about an unknown man that she didn’t have in her life, didn’t mean she couldn’t get a man like him. She’d gotten Jake—at least for a little while—hadn’t she? And she wasn’t about to change herself for a man.

But adding a little spice might be nice.

Being bored with herself even if she liked who she was wasn’t the best way to live.

She let out a little growl and made her way to downtown Denver, annoyed all over again. Her mind had been going on this familiar loop recently, and she hated it. She’d spent so many years figuring out how to rise from the ashes and become the woman she was now, that she despised the fact that she might not be exactly happy with how everything had turned out.

And that was enough of that.

She flipped her sound system on and, instead of listening to the latest book from her favorite romance author, she changed it to a local radio station. With a shake of her head and her grip tight on her steering wheel, she sang at the top of her lungs, completely off-key, making a general mess of herself. But she didn’t care. Even when she was at a stoplight, and there were cars around her, she kept at it. Of course, that was before she looked over at the guy on the motorcycle next to her.

She froze, her mouth going dry at the grin on the man’s face. He wore a helmet but no visor so she could see every plane and hard edge of his jaw and the beauty of his eyes that seemed to bore into her. The humor in them made her want to crawl into her back seat and hide.

“Why did you stop?” he called out, and she blinked.

Why could she hear him even over the music?

Oh. My. God.

She looked up at the open sunroof she hadn’t even remembered opening. She’d been on autopilot, and now she really wanted to crawl away—anywhere so she wouldn’t be there.

Wait. She didn’t know this guy and wouldn’t be seeing him again.

So she did something very un-Holly-like and turned up the music before singing loudly along with it again, leaving the freaking sunroof open like a loon.

He threw his head back and laughed, and though she couldn’t hear it, she knew it had to be one of those deep-chested sounds she loved. For some reason, she knew this guy wasn’t laughing at her, but with her. She shook her head, laughing along with him while still trying to sing.

When he waved at her before pulling away, she shook herself out of whatever had just come over her and lifted her foot off the brake.

Well, it seemed she’d done at least one surprising thing today. That had to count for something.

When she pulled into the back lot behind the tattoo shop, she quickly grabbed her things before heading around the building toward Taboo. The parking lot was for Montgomery Ink friends and family only, with a few spots for clients as well, and they had strict towing signs everywhere. Somehow, she’d become one of the select few who was allowed to park there whenever they wanted. She only did it when she was going to Taboo or the shop, not when she just needed to come downtown for other reasons. Maya and Austin might have told her it was okay, but she still didn’t feel quite comfortable.

Her friend Arianna was already at a small table near the window when Holly arrived at the café. Holly waved toward the counter where her other friend, the owner of Taboo, was making an espresso. Hailey waved back, her platinum-blonde bob shifting around her face as she did a little dance to the music playing overhead. Hailey was seriously one of the sexiest women Holly had ever met, and if she were honest with herself, she might be a little jealous of that. The woman was talented, smart, and owned her own business, in addition to being gorgeous. No wonder the big, inked tattoo artist Sloane had married her.

Holly turned back to Arianna and grinned before taking a seat. “Sorry I’m late.”

Arianna shook her head, her golden waves cascading around her shoulders. “I was early.” She looked down at her phone and frowned before typing back so quickly, Holly could barely see her fingers clearly. “Sorry. Work issue.”