Page 20 of Painless
“Don’t worry, Shadow.” I couldn’t resist shooting him a teasing smile. “Ididthink this through.”
Both guys seemed to hold their breaths as I peeled off my scrub top. Underneath I wore a halter camisole over a strapless bra. Taking the rubber band around my wrist, I piled my hair on top of my head in a messy bun.
“Will this work?” I turned my back to Shadow. With the exception of the halter strap across the back of my neck, my upper back was completely bare.
“Yes,” he grunted out. I didn’t catch his expression, and when I turned back around, he was rummaging through the supplies on his desk. “Let me get you a towel. Your arms will be resting on the back of the chair for a while.”
He took off quickly into the house, and Gunner looked moments away from laughing his ass off.
“A towel, huh? I think your little strip tease made him jizz his pants.”
“Don’t be a dick.” I swatted at him, only to be dodged and have my wrist grabbed.
“This reminds me,” he smirked, playfully pinning my wrists to my sides. “Reaper wants me to teach you self-defense stuff. Weapons and hand-to-hand combat. You down for that, baby girl?”
“Sure.” I tried to ignore the heat in my body that erupted, seemingly out of nowhere. It could only be from his gentle, playful restraint. “It’ll probably be useful.”
“Let’s hope you won’t ever have to use it ‘cause you’ll have one of us there.” He released my wrists, trailing his fingertips up my forearms. “But it’s better to know than not. In case that tattoo doesn’t deter someone.”
Someone like Corinne, only more evil and deranged. He didn’t have to say it, but we both knew what he meant. She was going to make him a sex slave anyway, tattoo or not.
At the sound of Shadow’s heavy footsteps returning, I turned to see him place a folded towel over the back of the chair. “There. That should be more comfortable for you.”
I smiled at him. “Thank you, Shadow.”
He nodded and turned back to his desk, pulling on a pair of gloves as he sat on a wheeled stool, a bigger version of the one I had in my office.
“If you don’t mind,” he muttered with a glance at me. “I’d like to draw the design directly on you first, to make sure I have the proportions correct and it fits the whole area.”
“I’m fine with that. Just sit with my back to you?”
“Yes.”
“Here, baby girl.” Gunner pulled another chair over, placing it directly behind mine. “Just hop on, straddle that thing, and look into my eyes.”
I chuckled at his innuendo as I took my seat, resting my forearms on the towel Shadow placed and stared into his gorgeous blue eyes.
“I’m, uh,” Shadow stammered behind me. “I’m going to clean your skin with some rubbing alcohol, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Relax, man,” Gunner said over me to him. “It’s nothing you’ve never done before.”
Shadow muttered something under his breath in reply. I felt nothing for a few long moments, maybe almost a full minute. But then a damp, cotton pad gently wiped across my upper back, from my shoulders to my bra line. When my skin dried, the tip of a pen pressed gently as it moved across my flesh. I could tell Shadow was trying not to press too hard, but still felt the edge of his gloved hand, warm and heavy on my back.
“What was getting your tattoo like?” I asked Gunner, resting my chin on my hands as Shadow drew on my back.
“Same as you, pretty much.” He leaned back in his chair, raking his hair back to put it in a bun like mine. “Shadow likes to draw on the body first to make sure the tattoo fits and flows well. I didn’t get no towel for my armrest, though!” He glared at Shadow over my shoulder, who only grunted in response.
I got the sense that Shadow didn’t like to be bothered while he worked. The lightest breeze of air from his breaths hit my skin as he drew, and I wondered if he noticed my goosebumps.
Shadow rides in the rear because he’s the last line of defense,Jandro had told me.Nothing gets past him.
The large man at my back felt like nothing short of a shield. Even though he was drawing so carefully on my skin, I felt completely protected. The house could collapse in on us and I wouldn’t get a scratch on me, because of Shadow.
“There were some parts,” Gunner continued his tattoo story, “that had me white-knuckle gripping my chair. And I’m no puss, but fuck.”
“Oh no.” I felt the blood drain away from my face. “Did I end up picking the most painful spot?”
