Page 177 of Wildest Dreams

She makes a thoughtful hum, her eyes trailing over his body.

“He has so much ink,” she whispers, taking in the tattoos on his forearms and thigh.

I glance over at Caden, those inked arms wrapped tight around Winter’s waist.

“Yeah,” I say, absentmindedly wrapping Aisling’s hair around my fist. “He gets them for her.”

Aisling’s eyes shoot up to mine, her eyebrows raised in intrigue.

“He gets themforher?” she asks huskily, her breathing suddenly a little shallow.

I look down and meet her eyes, a half-grin tugging at the corner of my mouth.

“Yeah,” I tell her. “You like that?”

She looks quickly away from me, one hand reaching up to play with her cap.

“I mean… well… I hadn’t really thought about it before,” she whispers quickly, eyes flicking to my arms and my chest – big, tan, and with a fuck-tonne of surface area to ink.

I smirk and yank her hips against mine, dropping my forehead to hers so that no-one else can see her turned-the-hell-on expression.

“Want me to get some ink for you?” I murmur, but she frantically shakes her head, cheeks getting warmer and more pink by the second.

“I love your body,” she whispers. “You don’t need to do that for me. I mean, if… ifyouwant to… because with or without it I would, you know… I love everything about your body so…”

I don’t think that my ego has ever been this goddamn big. I smirk like a motherfucker as I dip my hand beneath the lake’s surface, groping her ass.

“I can get some ink for you,” I tell her and she does a full-body shiver. Grinning, I add, “This year we had to talk Caden down from getting his nipple pierced.”

Aisling’s eyes flash to mine before she lifts her palms to my pecs, giving them a gentle massage, and breathing out a littleoooh.

A chuckle rumbles through my chest as I rub her hips.

“Obviously, that’d be a fucking terrible idea with the amount of full-body clashing hockey players do,” I tell her, but, with the innocent, intrigued look that she’s now giving me, I suddenly understand how hell-for-leather Caden was about wanting one when he was thinking that maybe Winter would be into it.

I mean, if Aisling askedme to get it done then maybe…?

“But if you had a barbell then I would only be able to lick it, not bite it,” she whispers suddenly, “so maybe… maybe yes to a tattoo, but no to a piercing.”

I cup my palms around her face, bringing us nose to nose.

“You are a very smart woman,” I rumble, crushing my mouth straight down on hers.

She giggles against my mouth and I hold her tighter, my heart fit to burst.

Chapter 39

Aisling

Present day

I scoop my hair up in the palms of my hands, tying it tightly into a high ponytail. Tanner stands behind me, leaning against the bathroom wall in the lake house with his large forearms folded across his chest. His eyes are on mine even when mine aren’t on his.

I give my hair another tug, tightening it in the band, and then I turn to face him, resting my palms on the counter behind me.

He immediately closes the small space between us, resting one hand on my hip and using the other to entwine his fingers with mine.

“You’ve got this,” he tells me, his voice a quiet rumble.

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