Page 25 of No Small Sin

Jackingoff. Heh.

“No,” his coarse voice snapped me from my ridiculous thoughts. “The next time I have you in my bed I fully intend on having your hands on me. I want you to show me everything you like.”

Excuse me while I melt into the floor.

I didn’t totally know what to say to that, but I couldn’t think on it for too long because he pulled a chair out from my kitchen table and patted the seat, gesturing for me to sit down, so I did.

“Take off your shirt.”

I jerked my head to look up at him, lust apparently evident on my face.

“Thetattoo, cuore mio.”

I wondered what that meant, what he was calling me. Part of me wanted to ask but the other part was just content with the pet name.

Hopefully, it didn’t mean like, “Dumb Bitch” or something.

“How do you know Italian, anyway?” I asked.

“I’ve been with Ijah for ten years, which means I’ve been with Mattia for just as long and he speaks only Italian about fifty percent of the time. I guess I just picked up on it over the years. Kids’ brains are like sponges or some shit.”

Wow, Ijah must really be like family to him, then.

I slid my shirt over my head and dropped it onto the floor. His eyes darkened as he took me in. “Hands to yourself, lover boy. We’re on a tight schedule now that we’ve decided to tat me up today.”

He placed a chair next to me and grabbed the corner of my own, pulling me into him.

God, I hoped he wouldn’t actually not touch me. I was a bit of a needy mess after last night and every move he made lit my nerve endings on fire.

He removed the priming wipe from the package and tore it open with his teeth before taking it out and rubbing it over the length of my arm. A totally nonsexual gesture, but my pussy didn’t get the memo.

Once it dried, he took out the sections of the tattoo and got to work.

He peeled the backing off the first piece before sticking it down, then worked in silence, giving his full attention to making sure each one was angled correctly and evenly spaced before pressing it firmly onto my skin.

“They need to stick for a bit before I peel them off,” he ran his hand over my arm one final time. I suspected it had nothing to do with the sticky pieces of film he’d just placed all over it. “You can get ready for work while we wait. Like, do everything aside from getting dressed, then I’ll peel them off once you’re ready to do that.”

I trekked up the stairs to do my makeup, leaving him to get caught up on text messages he’d ignored over the last several hours.

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. Pulling my hair up into a cute messy bun, I took my time, making sure that each stroke of my makeup brush was perfect and that my eyeliner was well-defined and dramatic.

I typically didn’t put much thought into my appearance, but now that Beck was in the picture I maybe wanted to impress him a little.

I grabbed an outfit out of my closet and shoved a few necessary items into an overnight bag before heading back downstairs. Beck was lounging on the couch. I could hear the low rumble of his voice speaking to someone over the phone before I reached the bottom step.

Holding the phone to his ear, his eyes snapped to me. He spoke to the person on the other end of the line, “I’ll take care of it today. I have to go.” He ended the call without saying goodbye.

My heart pinched that he thought I was more important than whatever else he was dealing with.

“You think it’s okay to take them off now?” I questioned, rotating my arm while checking out the patches.

“Yeah, it’s been long enough.” He pulled at my arm and tugged me into his lap.

Fuck, I wanted to kiss him.

So I did.

I threaded my hand through the back of his hair and pulled his lips to mine. They were so very fucking soft. I ran my tongue over the seam of his mouth.Please. He was almost tentative about it, but then allowed me to sweep my tongue over his in a slow, unhurried stroke. He tasted like mint with a faint trace of the coffee we’d shared together this morning after we each had taken a shower at his apartment. The warmth of his body pressed against mine and I melted into him.

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