Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 121992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Billie shook her head. “Absolutely not. Devin’s like a father to me. And he’s been happily married as many years as I’ve been alive. My mother just hates what I do for a living.”
“Why?”
“Because she doesn’t consider it art. Only paintings that hang in a gallery and sell for six figures are worthy of Renee Holland’s time. She calls my work ‘a waste of talent drawing obscenities’.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I’d rather look at your art book than walk around MOMA any day of the week.”
She smiled. “Thank you. She’s been bugging me to show some of my art at an exhibit she’s planning. It’s sort of a good opportunity, because there will be a lot of reviewers from magazines that people who like my kind of art read. But I’m not sure I want to do it, because I hate the thought of owing her anything.”
“You know the old saying, ‘don’t cut off your nose to spite your face’? Sometimes in life you just need to suck it up if it helps you get where you want to be.”
Billie was quiet a minute. “Yeah, I guess. Maybe I’ll think about it some more.”
Eventually, Owen showed up with the part I needed, but since he had to relieve my sitter in a few minutes, he couldn’t stay. Billie and I were once again alone.
“Alright. I’m going to go plug this baby in, and hopefully we’ll get the lights back on,” I told her.
“You go ahead.” Billie groaned. “I’m too hot to move.”
Ten minutes later, the lights flickered back on. When I turned around, Billie was lying back in her tattoo chair. Her skin glistened with a sheen of sweat, exactly the way I’d pictured her in my dreams. And that sent my mind reeling about fucking her on the chair. I couldn’t stop staring at her.
“Umm…check me out much?” Billie laughed as she sat up.
“No, I wasn’t… I was just thinking about the wiring.”
She swung her legs up and hopped down. Smiling, she strutted toward me. “You are so full of shit.”
“I am not.”
She stood right in front of me and raised a brow. “Look into my eyes and tell me you weren’t just thinking some dirty thought about me.”
My gaze shifted back and forth between her eyes. I opened my mouth, and then closed it. Then I opened my mouth once again, but nothing came out.
Billie laughed. “It’s okay. You just have to own it when you get caught.” She ran a fingernail down my arm. “I mean, you didn’t notice me noticing all these muscles while you were busy looking at me. To be honest, I didn’t think you’d look like this under your stuffy dress shirts. But if you had caught me looking, I’d have owned it. There’s nothing wrong with appreciating someone’s physique. It’s just creepy when you lie about it.”
Well, if that’s how she feels… I looked down. Since she was so short and standing so close, I had a straight view of her phenomenal cleavage. I grinned. “In case you’re wondering, I’m looking. I admit it.”
Billie laughed again and shoved at my chest. “You’re such a dork. Now fix my AC before I die of heat exhaustion, Mr. Landlord.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
A half hour later, I finally got the AC blowing cold air. I hated to leave, but I really needed to go make my daughter dinner. So I collected the tools and packed them into the toolbox. “I have to get upstairs and feed Saylor.”
“Oh, yeah, of course. Thank you for coming to my rescue. The old landlord would’ve taken four days to return my call. I appreciate the fast response.”
“No problem. Why don’t I give you my cell number, just in case it gives you any more problems?”
“That would be great, thank you.”
Billie handed me her phone, and I punched in my number and handed it back to her. “Well, have a good night.”
“You too, Colby.”
It had been a good couple of hours together, some flirting even. So while I knew she’d just come out of a relationship, I said fuck it. “Hey, would you want to have dinner sometime?”
Billie smiled sadly and shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’m sorry.”
Ugh. Talk about a kick in the gut. But like she’d told me to, I owned it. I forced a smile. “Well, that sucks.”
She smiled back. “I’m sorry. It’s not you.”
“It’s not?”
She shook her head.
“Well, if it’s not me, I guess it would be okay if I tried again another time?”
She laughed. “Goodnight, Colby.”
“See you soon, Billie.”
CHAPTER 4
Billie
Deek kicked his feet up. “Why the hell would you tell him no? That dude is smoking hot, successful—he has everything going for him. Well, except that he doesn’t have tats. That I don’t like.”
It was Thursday afternoon, and I’d gone upstairs to Deek’s apartment in between clients. He and his boyfriend lived just above the shop. He was burning incense, probably because he’d smoked weed before I got here. Aside from working full time for me, he also did some freelance web design on his days off. He was good at it, but unlike when he tattooed, he usually got stoned to work on a website.