“Hey.” Aidan’s mouth curves into a grin. “Your dad said you were here. I tried to call . . .”

“Is this your date that wasn’t a date?” Jay asks, glancing up momentarily.

“Shut up,” I hiss before turning back to Aidan. “What’s up?”

“There are some things a guy just can’t say around his fake girlfriend’s friends.”

I roll my eyes. “Yes, I’m sure that’s it. More like you don’t want to look like a giant butthead when you need me all doe-eyed and hanging on your arm for some event.”

“Well, when you put it that way . . .”

“Oh my God,” Chelsey mutters, then looks at him. “It is, isn’t it? You’re going to ask her to be your bitch for an evening again.”

“Oh yeah. I even got her a collar and leash. Although it probably won’t be used in the traditional way.” He grins widely when her jaw drops.

“All right, all right, you two,” I interrupt, ignoring the flaming of my cheeks. “You,” I point at Aidan with my free arm. “Outside. Use that leash and tie yourself to a fire hydrant or something. I’m almost done. And you,” I turn to my best friend, “I love you, but I know what I’m doing.”

“No, you think you do. What you’re doing is making a giant fool of yourself.” She sniffs and gets up. “I’ll call you later when there isn’t a big man with abs and tattoos standing in front of you making your brain go gaga.”

She flounces out of the room, swinging the door shut behind her so harshly it almost hits Aidan in the face.

“Wow. And I thought you had a temper,” he remarks with a chuckle.

Jay laughs behind me, killing the tattoo gun and wiping across my arm. “They both have tempers. Jessie just sticks a needle in her skin instead of slamming doors the way Chelsey does.”

“She’s thrown a pot of ink at you before,” I remind him as he wraps my arm in plastic wrap.

“Oh yeah. You should reconsider bringing her in when you get work done.”

“I’m starting to agree with you,” I muse, stretching my arm and getting the blood flowing back through it. My skin tingles and I glance up at Aidan. “What?”

“Can I see?” He nods toward my arm.

“Didn’t I tell you to go to leash yourself to a fire hydrant?”

“The day I do something a woman tells me to will be the day I fall in love, sunshine.” He smirks. “Especially when tying is involved. Although, I will concede that if you and bed were used in the place of me and fire hydrant, I’d be tempted to do as I’m told.”

“The day I tell you to do that, you have my full permission to call the local hospital and commit me for psychiatric evaluation.” I hold my arm out for him, ignoring the sizzle that trails across my skin when he gently takes my arm in his hand and studies the coloring.

“This is amazing,” he says softly after a long moment. His thumb trails across the leaf coming down from my snapdragon, slowly, much more intimately than it should. “Have you done it all?” he directs the question to Jay.

“Yep. Did her first on her eighteenth birthday and I’m allowed to shoot her if she goes anywhere else.”

“With a Nerf gun, Jay.” I smile.

He looks at me, blond eyebrows rising, lips curving. “That’s what you think, darlin’.”

“Sure it is.” My smile widens as I follow him out of the room and into the reception area with Aidan on my heels. “Here.” I hand Jay my card over the counter and scribble on the receipt when he hands it to me. “I’ll call you when I’m ready for another.”

“See you in two weeks.”

“Cocky bastard.” I laugh, opening the door to the tattoo parlor and scooting through it.

Aidan grabs the door behind me and throws a wave over his shoulder to Jay as he follows me out onto the sidewalk. “I think he has a crush on you.”

I cough through my snort and glance at him. “Why the hell would you think that?”

He shrugs. “I’m a guy. I can just tell.”

“Are you jealous?”

“Why would I be jealous?”

“Why would you suggest such a dumb thing if you aren’t?”

Aidan

“I’m not suggesting. I’m stating. There’s a huge difference.” I quirk an eyebrow down at her.

Her pearly pink lips twitch to one side. “Okay. If you say so.”

“I do.”

“I gotta admit, I’m slightly freaked out by the prospect of my cousin crushing on me, but whatever.”

I stop. “He’s your what?”

“Oh, didn’t I mention that before? Jay’s my cousin.” Jessie stops and twirls, a sweetly evil smile spreading across her face and making her eyes dance with laughter. “Why else do you think my dad doesn’t grumble at all my tattoos? I’m supporting a family business. Plus I get a discount.”

I stare at her, still standing in the middle of the sidewalk. She looks so fucking amused, but I feel like a total dick. “I’m not jealous.”

“Mhmm,” she replies, shoulders trembling with giggles. “You really look not jealous right now.”

“Why would I be jealous?” I walk again, and she walks beside me when I draw level with her.

“I don’t know. That’s why I asked.”

“I can make a suggestion when I think something is right.”

“I thought you were stating it?”

“Shhh.” I nudge her with my elbow, pushing her to the side when I see the gate to the park at the end of the street.

She laughs, throwing her head back, and shoves me straight back. “You’re an idiot, you know that?”

“Apparently I should learn it,” I reply, cutting my eyes to her.

She sighs happily and tucks some hair behind her ear. We dart across the road when there’s a lull in the traffic, and she bumps the gate open. “You should. It would make this a whole lot easier if we were on the same page.”

“You know, it’s kind of tempting to smack your ass when you’re being a bitch to me.”

“Oh dear.” Jessie turns, walking backward. “If I wanted to be a bitch, I’d let you seduce me, then right at the last minute, be all, ‘Fuck no!’ and run away. Or I’d just see it through and leave you in the middle of the night without so much as a word or reassurance that the bill for the room had been taken care of.”

Her words carry the weight of a brick shithouse. As they always do. Jessie Law doesn’t sugarcoat anything she can say straight to your face. No word-mincing, no sweetness—just blunt rawness.

And shit, I respect the hell out of her for that.

I take a deep breath and look at her—at the vulnerability raging behind the anger in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” I say quietly.

“No,” she says quickly. “You don’t need to be sorry. You shouldn’t apologize for what you’re used to doing. And least of all to me.”

“You’re right, but I can apologize for how that made you feel.” I step toward her, and she tilts her head back, her eyes focusing on mine. She narrows her eyes, anger sparking in them, and I brush my thumb along the gentle curve of her jaw. “I am sorry,” I whisper. “There’s no excuse for making you feel like you’re worthless.”

Her lips part as she takes a deep breath, and she tilts her face toward mine. Slowly, her hand comes between us, her fingertips brushing my chest first before she flattens her whole palm against me. “It doesn’t matter,” she replies, just as quietly. “I’m not asking you to care about me or how you make me feel, Aidan, just letting you know that maybe, in the future, you should not be such a giant asshole.”

She pushes at me, but I hook my arm around her waist and bring her body flush with mine. “I never said I was caring, sunshine,” I murmur into her ear, sliding my hand around the back of her neck from her jaw. “I was recognizing what I did. Two totally different things. Don’t confuse it.”

“Your words completely contradict your apology,” she grinds out, fingers curving and grasping my shirt. “Recognizing would be, ‘Hey, I made you feel like shit. That was wrong.’ Not a gentle grasp of the chin and a softly murmured apology said with conviction.”