Page 17 of Bittersweet Redemption

“I know. I’m sorry. I. . . I’m staying for Roman, not for me. He likes this house, and I’ve upended his life enough the past two years.”

He seems to understand because he lets out a little sigh before sitting on his stool next to me.

“He with his dad tonight?” I nod. “Do you have any other tattoos?”

“Um, no. This is my first.”

“Of course it is.” He tells me a little about what it will feel like and what he’s going to be doing, and before I know it, the needle is piercing my skin. I bite down on my bottom lip and squeeze my eyes shut to keep from crying out.

“You’re handling this a lot better than the bee stings,” he teases, one of his hands wrapped around my arm to keep me still. I hate that I like the way his hand feels on me. His skin is warm, but his grip is firm and strong. For a split second, I wish he was gripping me somewhere other than my arm, but then I remember who he is and that it’s a bad idea to picture anything like that with him.

As he traces each letter onto my arm, I start to relax until I almost don’t even feel the needle anymore. I watch as his hand barely moves tracing the letters. My eyes trail up his arm to his face. His eyebrows are furrowed together from focusing. His lips are parted, and I can just barely see the tip of his tongue. I even notice a few freckles on his nose, which is so cute. My hand itches to reach out and touch them. The needle lifts from my skin as he moves to get more ink and start the next letter. But before he brings the tattoo gun to my skin, he looks up at me from under his dark lashes. His mouth tips up in a smirk because he caught me staring. I try to look away, but it’s too late. My cheeks warm with embarrassment.

“You doing alright there?” he asks, his voice sounding an octave deeper than usual.

“Yeah. Yes. I’m fine.”

“We’re almost done. You’re doing really well.” The hand holding my arm gives me a gentle, almost comforting, squeeze.

Before I’m ready for it to end, the gun turns off, and he loosens his grip on my arm.

“That’s it?” I ask, looking down at my arm.

“Yep.” He wipes my arm before putting some ointment on it and putting something called Saniderm over the tattoo. He hands me a piece of paper with aftercare instructions and quickly runs down the list, asking if I have any questions. I shake my head even though I’m not sure I listened to anything he said.

He grabs my hand to give his work another look. When he’s satisfied, his hand trails down my wrist and to my hand, where his fingers brush against mine, lingering on my pointer finger and making me think he might actually enjoy touching me.

When I look up to meet his heated gaze, he releases me and looks away before walking off. I can only assume I’m supposed to follow him. We get to the front desk, and Kayla is already talking to the woman.

“She’s done,” Kai announces, keeping his eyes anywhere but on me.

Kayla immediately turns to me. “Oooh, let me see.”

I hold up my arm for her. “I love it!” She holds out her wrist for me to see the stars she got.

“Cute!” I try to focus on Kayla, but I can feel Kai’s gaze on me, making it hard to concentrate on anything else.

“Jenna, add her tattoo to my bill, please.”

“Kayla, I said you didn’t have to—” I try to stop her from paying for mine, but she cuts me off.

“Oh, stop. It’s your birthday present.” She hands Jenna her card.

“It’s your birthday?” Kai’s voice startles me.

“Um, yeah.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

I look over my shoulder to see his arms crossed over his chest, his normal stance when he’s around me. “I didn’t know I needed to.”

“It’s her birthday, and her sweet son is with his dad, so I’m trying to make her live a little while she’s still young,” Kayla teases.

“Happy birthday!” Jenna tells me with a big smile on her face.

“Thank you,” I tell her.

“Happy Birthday,” Kai says quietly, not as excited as Jenna’s. It’s more like his mother is forcing him to be nice to someone.