Page 69 of His Kingdom

“It won’t take long. Come on through.” I lead Paulie to the dining table and sit down. “I want you to ink over this.” I hold out my left hand.

Paulie coughs. “You’re serious?”

“Deadly.” I glare at him.

“O… kay then.” He starts pulling his equipment out of his bag. “You get hitched or something?”

“I did. Last night.”

“Congratulations,” he says. “Gotta say, I’m a little surprised. I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”

“It was fast.” I smile.

Just as Paulie is cleaning me off and packing up again, Charlotte comes out. She just showered and got changed. I want to take her on a proper date. She’s wearing a red dress that reaches her knees, but it’s fucking tight, hugging all of her curves and leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. Her hair hangs in loose waves down her back.

Fuck, she’s beautiful. And she’s all mine.

“Paulie, this is Charlotte, my wife,” I introduce her. “Paulie is my artist.”

“Your artist, as in tattoo artist?” she asks. “What are you getting done?”

“Already done.” I hold up my hand, showing her my finger.

“You didn’t.” She smiles huge as she takes hold of my hand to get a closer look.

“I did. It’s never coming off,” I tell her.

“Can you do mine?” Charlotte looks to Paulie. “The same?”

“Absolutely fucking not,” I growl.

“Why not?” Charlotte glares at me.

Great, this is going to be another fight.

“Because you don’t need your body marred by anything,” I tell her. “Also, I’m not having another man touch you.”

“It’s a finger, and it’s not marring. It’s… symbolic. If you don’t want Paulie to do it, then you can do it yourself.”

“I’m not hurting you.” I shake my head, dismissing the idea.

“It won’t hurt,” she tells me.

“Yeah? How many tattoos you got, sweetheart?” I ask her, knowing damn well she has none. I’ve inspected every inch of her body. It’s a blank canvas.

“None, but I’m also not a wimp. I can handle whatever it feels like.” She crosses her arms over her chest.

I reach out a hand to Paulie, and he takes it. “Thanks.” Poor guy looks like he’d rather be anywhere else right now.

“It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Giuliani.” He nods and then makes a beeline for the door.

“That is not fair, Louie,” Charlotte pouts.

“Life isn’t fair, sweetheart,” I tell her.

“Don’tsweetheart me. Besides, this is Vegas. I’ll just drop into any old shop and get it done.”

I pull my phone from my pocket and message Paulie before he has time to even leave the building.

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