Abiding Ink (Inked in the Steel City #4) (16 page)

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“So for being so small, that party was really something,” Mallory said, adjusting the rhinestone-studded tiara that sat on top of her head, a circlet of silver and crystal above her curls. “I definitely wasn’t expecting anyone to be crowned King and Queen of the New Year.” She dusted her hands across the front of her dark, slim-fitting jeans. “I kinda feel like I underdressed.”

Tyler barely suppressed a groan. “
Everyone
was wearing jeans. You look great. As for the king and queen thing, that was all Karen. Every day she spends with my boss Jed, she gets happier and she’s gotten to the point where she thinks she needs to spread true love’s joys to everyone she knows.”

He rolled his eyes even though he was actually glad that Jed had found someone, just like everyone else at Hot Ink was. For years after the death of his wife, he’d seemed determined to spend the rest of his life alone. Now, he and Karen had been dating seriously for more than a year, and showed no signs of stopping.

“Really?” Mallory raised a brow.

“Yeah. She thinks I’m some bumbling doofus of a bachelor and apparently she got all excited when I brought you to the party – I never bring anyone to the parties, so in her eyes we’re practically engaged already. I’m pretty sure she made up the king and queen thing on the spot just to force us to pose for those pictures together.”

“Hmm.” Mallory looked thoughtful. “That begs the question – why would she have had the tiara and crown on hand if she hadn’t planned it in advance?”

Tyler shrugged. “She’s just the kind of person that would have that stuff. They were probably props for one of her photo shoots. She’s a professional photographer.”

“Okay. But why aren’t you wearing yours?” She held up the bejeweled crown Karen had crammed down onto his head at the party. “The sparkly stones really bring out your eyes.”

“I’ll put it in the back of my closet with my one and only suit, save it for a special occasion.”

She stepped forward, crowding him in the doorway of his own apartment as he twisted the deadbolt into place. “Isn’t tonight a special occasion?” A slow smile curled her perfect lips.

“It doesn’t have to be,” he said, knowing what she meant and remembering what they’d talked about last time he’d seen her. “I mean, we don’t have to sleep together. As long as you keep that bulky coat on and don’t sweet-talk me out of my shirt like last time, I’m pretty sure I can control myself for at least ten minutes. That’s long enough to have a cup of coffee, if you don’t mind burning your tongue a little.”

“Let’s just set something straight right now.” She placed her hands on her hips, and didn’t move out of his personal space. “Coming back to your place ‘for coffee’ is code for sex. I knew what I was doing when I said I wanted to come here with you after the party. So from now on, when I agree to this, just assume that I’m planning to sweet-talk you out of your shirt … and other things.” She reached out and placed a hand on his chest.

Even through his jacket, it felt good. The pressure brought a promise of her heat and softness, and his dick sprang to instant attention. “You sure?” At this point, he didn’t trust himself to invite her into the kitchen if she wasn’t absolutely set on sex. Not after the way they’d used that counter last time she’d been there.

“Yes. I made a New Year’s resolution to let myself be human, not a robot-in-training. This seems like the perfect way to start.”

“I like the sound of your resolution.” He took half a step forward, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. “All I promised myself was that I’d try to eat less chocolate.”

The mention of their old joke sent a smile creeping slow and beautiful across her face. “It was easy deciding what I wanted my resolution to be. After we talked on Christmas, I decided that I’d rather pay attention to my feelings than let fear be the ruling factor in my decision making. Thanks for helping me get my head on straight.” She rocked up onto her toes, pressing a kiss against his jaw.

It was nearly two in the morning, and he knew the stubble that shadowed his face had to be scraping her lips. She didn’t seem to mind, and he savored the simple contact for a couple seconds before lowering his head and finding her mouth with his.

She tasted faintly of fresh fruit and champagne, refreshments from the New Year’s party. At Jed and Karen’s place, they’d rung in the New Year with a few sips of the bubbly stuff after sharing the year’s first kiss together. He’d never particularly liked champagne before, but had a feeling the taste had been seared into his memory, irrevocably pleasant now.

They didn’t stop in the kitchen or pretend to have any real interest in coffee this time. They barely made it to the bed, and when they did, all of their clothing came off without jokes or preamble. When they were both naked, he pulled her down onto the comforter, groaning as she rolled on top of him, rubbing her body up against him and settling with her hips pressed firmly against his.

She was so beautiful it almost hurt to look at her. Okay, so it definitely hurt, below the belt, anyway. It’d been just over a week since the only other time he’d shared his bed with her, since the best sex of his life. Turned out a week was a hell of a long time under those circumstances. He’d taken matters into his own hands quite a few times, thinking of her, but that made no difference now. His cock was hard as steel, pressing stiff and aching against one of her perfectly round ass cheeks as his balls throbbed below.

As if that wasn’t temptation enough, her breasts rested bare and full against his chest, dark nipples pointed right at him. The sight made his mouth water instantly, and he cupped one of her breasts, teasing the stiff tip to an even harder bud. “I’ve done nothing but work and think of this for the past week,” he said. “Nothing.” And he’d had a hard time not simply collapsing in his own booth at Hot Ink and spending his time there fantasizing about her, too.

“Nothing?” she asked, smiling like she thought he was joking.

“Nothing. I didn’t even watch TV. Mostly I just laid here thinking about this moment and did things I probably shouldn’t confess to you.”

She laughed, apparently oblivious to the way it made her breasts bounce and the agonizing jolt of hyper-lust the sight sent tearing through his body. “I can imagine.” She sat up, straddling him, adjusting her position so that his dick was between her thighs, the bare shaft touching her hot pussy. When she wrapped her hand around it, he nearly came.

He didn’t plan to confess that to her, either. Fighting for control over his body, he laid back and tried to relax as she moved her hand up and down his erection, putting his fantasies to shame. “Damn, that feels good.”

“I thought about our night together a lot too,” she said, skimming the pad of her thumb lightly over the head of his dick as she neared the end of one stroke. “I know we were only together for a few hours, really, but I think I memorized every single one of your tattoos.”

“Really?” That was pretty impressive, considering how many he had. Just a few on his torso, but full sleeves on both his arms.

“Yeah. I don’t know what any of them mean, though.” She ran a finger across the swell of his left collarbone, over the eagle that was inked there and to the script below. “November nine. What’s that about?”

“November ninth,” he said, grateful for the conversation she’d started. It distracted him just the tiniest bit from how good her touch felt and allowed him to maintain enough control to keep from embarrassing himself by coming then and there.

“It was November when I went to apprentice to my uncle at his tattoo studio. That was after I got out of high school and I stayed there for years doing odd jobs around the shop and learning about tattooing before I started actually doing it. He taught me everything I know. It was November when he died, too – November ninth – in an accident several years ago.

“Considering what he taught me, it would’ve been weird as hell if I hadn’t gotten a tattoo to remember him by. This is what I decided on. He had an eagle tattoo too – he had a lot of tattoos, but it was his favorite. The design was different, but this is my tribute to him.”

“Sorry.” Mallory frowned. “I had no idea. I guess this wasn’t the best time for me to bring that up.”

“It’s all right.” An atomic bomb could’ve gone off outside his bedroom window and he still would’ve been hard and ready for her. At this point, no conversation topic could turn him off. Besides, he liked that she was interested in his ink.

“Tell me about another one,” she said. “One without a sad memory.”

“Okay.” He breathed a long breath, hyper-aware that his balls were hugging his body as she continued to stroke him, slow and easy. “These—” he reached across his body to tap the roses that were inked on his left bicep “—I got for a couple reasons. One, because I liked the classic art style. Two, because when I went off to apprentice to my uncle my mom told me she didn’t get why I wanted to go. She said she’d never really liked tattoos much, except for maybe the pretty flowery ones. So I got these for her and my family. None of them thought it was as funny as I did, but I’m pretty sure she secretly likes them.”

Mallory smiled. “See, I told you you’re sweet. I hate to break it to you, but no one will ever think of you as a badass again if you tell them that story.”

He groaned and shook his head. “Wish I hadn’t told you.”

“Why? I already know you’re not the bad boy people think you are.”

“Because I just mentioned my family while naked in bed with a beautiful woman. Talk about instant regret.” He’d been talking just to talk, explaining on autopilot because what she was doing to him felt so good, he needed to distract himself. “I’ll explain the rest of my tattoos to you later. I don’t want to risk pulling another move like that again.”

“Deal,” she said, removing her hand from his shaft and splaying it on his chest instead. “I was kind of hoping we could move past talking anyway.”

She shot him a teasing grin and he rose up, pressing his mouth to hers and covering her smile.

When she leaned into the kiss, the head of his dick brushed the inside of her thigh, then the slick folds of her pussy. Urgency tore through him, and he wished like hell that he could just slide inside her, fuck her bare without worrying about anything. For one guilt-laced second, he thought back to his Christmas Day fantasy of her pregnant, by him.

It would be a good look for her – her already amazing curves would swell and she’d be more irresistible than ever. The idea of her body changing like that because of him would’ve given him a hard-on, but that ship had sailed a long time ago. Now it just made him ache more fiercely than ever.

Maybe someday – there was no hurry. He’d never really thought about getting a woman pregnant before, but it was hard to think of Mallory in the short term. He could imagine being with her for a long, long time, and that might mean anything, eventually. For now, he ignored the silky-soft whisper of her pussy against his cock and cupped one of her breasts, breaking off their kiss so he could suck the hardened tip.

She moaned and arched her back, causing her soft, hot flesh to swell against his lips. When he pulled away her nipple was wet and tight and she sighed when he teased it with his fingertips, pressing his mouth over the other one.

Tracing a trail over the front of her body, from her breasts to her hip, he slipped his hand between her open thighs and found her clit. Eyes closed and face buried against her cleavage, he moved blindly, feeling his way to the hard little swell and rubbing.

The sounds she made made him want to get inside her so bad that he almost convinced himself it wasn’t weird as fuck that he secretly liked the idea of a woman he’d only known for a few weeks ending up pregnant by him. Anything – everything – seemed like a good idea when she rocked her hips against his hand, grinding her slick skin against his fingertips. Summoning all his willpower, he slipped a finger inside her, where he wanted to put his cock, testing her heat and tightness.

It was incredible. She was so wet that even the way his mouth watered around her nipple didn’t compare to the moisture that slickened him as he ran a fingertip up and down her inner wall, stroking her sort of like she’d stroked him minutes ago. When her inner muscles quivered and tightened around the two fingers he’d pressed inside her, he nearly lost it.

Lying back, he reached for the bedside table with one hand as he cupped one of her breasts with the other, still toying with the nipple, liking the way it stayed so hard as the sweet taste of her skin lingered on his tongue.

The box of condoms he’d opened up during his and Mallory’s first night together was inside the drawer, and he shoved his hand inside, pulling out a strip and tearing one off. “You gonna stay up there?” he asked as he ripped the package wrapper open.

“If you want. I like it up here.” She rocked her hips slowly, letting the warm flesh between her thighs bump his shaft.

He rolled the condom down over his cock and gripped the base, finally guiding himself to her slit and indulging the almost-manic desire to press inside, to delve into her heat and pressure.

Her flesh was tight but it stretched around him, flooding his body with instant pleasure. Flexing his hips, he rocked her. The position left all of her exposed to his view, and it was heaven to watch the way her breasts bounced, to be able to see his dick disappearing into her body. It was also easy to touch her – anywhere, everywhere – and so he rubbed her clit again, teasing the bud until she moaned and worked her hips against his, making sure he went deeper with each stroke.

She tipped her head back when she came, and her curls cascaded over her shoulders, baring the graceful curves to his view as her breasts were thrust forward. He liked watching, but most of all he liked the way her pussy shrank around his shaft, squeezing and teasing him until he felt ready to come, too.

He held out. This was too good to end so soon, and so he fucked his way to a slow stop, forcing himself not to move. “Want to switch positions?” The insides of her thighs were quivering against his hips – he could feel the tremors in her muscles.

“Okay,” she breathed, eyes bright and breath faintly rushed. “What – I mean, how do you want to do this?” She slid off of him and he rolled, pulling her down onto the mattress.

“Like this,” he said, settling between her thighs and sliding inside her again.

She gasped, her breath streaming warm and sweet-scented against his jaw. There was a hot simplicity in having her on her back, in feeling her thighs cradle his hips as he thrust in and halfway out of her, relishing the tight embrace of her body. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down so that his chest crushed her breasts and they were skin-to-skin, so close it didn’t feel like they were two separate beings anymore.

He kissed her, letting his tongue delve deep into her mouth in imitation of how he took her below. When he raised his head it was because she was writhing beneath him, her breath coming faster. She rocked her hips against his and he felt the tight tell-tale wrench of her pussy around his hardness, the slick bump-and-grind of her clit against his groin.

He gave her all he had, thrusting into her hard and deep, knowing he was heading over the edge and hoping that the timing was right.

A blast of her breath – all steam and sweetness – accompanied by a gasp sent a sense of victory racing through him, searing him on the inside as he rode out her climax, succumbing to one of his own.

Coming inside her was like being hit by lightning. Everything built up, leaving his body feeling charged with electric intensity, and then blinding pleasure was rushing through him as everything rushed out of him.

He was more aware of her tightness than ever – more aware of every sensory detail as her hips ground against his and her nipples pricked hard against his chest, driven against him by her every uneven breath. The ache in his balls turned into the tired-happy ache of satisfaction, tearing through the center of his chest with force that threatened to crack his sternum, break him open beneath the cover of inked and sweat-slicked skin.

Still, he felt another spark of desire when he pulled out and reclined beside her, letting his gaze rove over her naked body, taking in every detail. Her pussy was swollen, the same as her nipples and lips, and her curls were wild. The image was seared into his memory and it occurred to him that he could draw her like this, that maybe he should – she was like a work of art, beautiful and all but impossible to look away from.