Wilde Ink (Wilde Brothers Book 3) (9 page)

She looked pleased with herself when she answered this time. “Yes. Mom had some minor surgery a few years ago and I took time off to help take care of her.”

“That’s not a vacation, Cin.” Nick knew it was crazy to even consider it, but he was already thinking about whisking Lia away for a three day weekend somewhere warm. The shop could manage without him for a few days, and flights to somewhere like Vegas were cheap and easy to book. The hard part would be convincing her to take time for herself.

“You can’t get a lot of time off either. This place doesn’t run itself.”

“Lately, things have been on an even keel. I can actually get out of town now and then. I went back to Florida this summer to visit Tor and sit on the beach for a few days. When I got back, the place was still standing, so I think I can risk taking off again when I’m ready.”

Lia shook her head. “I can’t leave my parents. What if something happened while I was gone?”

“Then you’d do what the rest would do, grab the first flight home. You know you are allowed to have your own life, right?”

She scowled and shook her head hard. “Not when I’m all they’ve got. It’s easier for you, you have four brothers to share the load. You’ve got all the time in the world to build your own life and still watch over your family.”

Nick had been sketching as they talked, but now he set the pencil down. “They don’t need me to watch over them. Hell, they don’t trust me enough for that. I’m the black sheep, Lia, the one that never fit in. They love me, because that’s what you’re supposed to do with family, but if my mom got sick or my dad needed help, I’d be the last one they called. Right now, the rest of them will be at Leo’s eating burgers and shooting pool, just like they do every week. I’m not there, and they don’t expect me to be. That’s just the way it is.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Because I’m the one who didn’t fall in line. I went my own way, even when my dad was dead set against it. Fuck, when I was young and dumb I did things for no other reason than because my father told me not to.”

“Like going to art school in Florida?” she asked, her voice softer now.

“Yeah. Exactly like that. And worse still, I didn’t stay and finish my degree, I quit to apprentice to Tor, and then came back here and opened my own shop. I’ll actually be getting my degree in a few months, and none of them even know I’ve gone back to school to finish. We just don’t communicate that well. I do things my way, on my own terms. It’s not something the rest of them will ever understand. Well, Tag does now, but that’s because he had to quit the force and find something else to do with his life.”

“He got shot on the job, didn’t he?”

“Yes he did. Scared the hell out of us all while we sat in that hospital room and waited for news. I think our mom aged five years in the five hours it took for them to patch him back up again.”

“My mom was the same way. I came home the night we lost Alex, and everything had changed, even my parents. It was the first time I saw my father cry, and my mom…she looked so frail, like all the life had been sucked out of her. They were both so lost in grief I barely recognized them. I was out past curfew and expecting to get my ass chewed out for it, but instead, mom grabbed me and hugged me so hard I had bruises the next day.” Lia curled deeper into the quilt and Nick went to her, gathering her into his arms and holding her as she leaned into him with a near silent sigh.

He couldn’t think of a single thing to say, so he opted to say nothing at all. Instead, he just held onto her, his head bowed over hers as he offered her what comfort he could. Sooner than he would have liked, she was sitting up, flashing him a sheepish smile as she lifted her gaze to his. “Sorry. I don’t usually talk about this. I don’t know why I’m telling you now.”

“Because you know I can understand, at least a little. I nearly lost my brother to a bullet too. It’s something else we have in common.”

She wrinkled her nose. “We don’t really have that much in common, Nick.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. We do. You’re just not ready to admit to it yet.” He pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head and stood again.

“Where are you going?”

“To finish drawing your tattoo.”

“But we didn’t talk about what I wanted.”

He gave her a wink and sat back down at his desk. “Wrong again. You told me everything I needed to know.”

Nick sketched quickly, and within ten minutes he was ready to show her what he’d created. “Come here and tell me what you think.”

“You’re done already?” Lia hopped up and joined him at the desk, and when he moved his hand away so she could see, he was pleased to see a brief glimmer of tears in her beautiful eyes.

“Those are forget-me-not flowers, aren’t they?” she asked, one finger brushing along the curling lines that flowed around the trio of blooms he’d drawn.

“They are.”

She paused to tap a finger to the design he’d woven into the pattern, so subtle it would have been easy to miss. “I love it. Even this bit here. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

He grinned. “I was hoping you’d be distracted by the flowers. Do you want me to take them out?”

She glanced down at the sketch again, and he held his breath until she answered him. “No, leave the raven wings in. They’re pretty.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

Lia surprised him by dropping the quilt and curling into his lap, her arms around his neck and her head on his shoulder. “I love it. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

She snuggled in a little closer. “Just don’t get any dumb ideas that just because you drew a pair of raven wings on me, I somehow belong to you now.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Somehow, I don’t believe you,” she said with a soft trill of laughter.

“And yet you’re going to let me do it anyway,” he said, barely managing to keep from gloating.

“Yes, I am. Now get on with it before I change my mind. And if you make me say that ridiculous magic word again…”

“You don’t have to. I told you, already. We’re past the need for wishes and wands. Anything you want from me, Lia, all you have to do is ask.”

Chapter Nine

It had taken a while, but Lia was finally getting used to seeing Nick’s artwork on her skin. He’d taken her through the entire process, explaining each step as he’d transferred the design to a stencil and then laid it on her skin, getting the placement just right before moistening her skin with distilled water and letting the ink mark her so he had a guide to follow. The henna had been cold and goopy, like having someone doodle on her with pudding, but once it had dried, she couldn’t deny that she liked the way it looked.

Nick had told her that it would darken over the first few days, and then it would slowly fade away again. He had been right, of course. The man always seemed to be right, even about things he shouldn’t have had any clue about. Like how well they fit together, and how much she enjoyed his company once she finally stopped fighting the attraction between them. Each day that passed, her tattoo faded a little more, but her feelings for Nick were only getting stronger. Not that either of them had talked about their feelings. Nick was possessive and protective, but he seemed happy enough to keep what they had comfortably in the present for the most part. He was still trying to get her to consider taking a few days off and going away with him, but that was as far as it went.

Lia hadn’t agreed yet, though she
had
been giving it some thought. Going away with Nick would be an official milestone. It was something couples did together. It would mean that Nick was her boyfriend. Was she ready to have Nick as a permanent part of her life? Was he really the one she should be with? She blew out a breath and stared into her mug, looking for answers in the last inch of her latte.

“What the hell am I doing?” she asked the world at large. Her tabby cat lifted his head at the sound of her voice, yawned and then blinked at her sleepily from his vantage point on the window sill. No help from that quarter either. Not that Mister Darcy’s opinion could be trusted. Her normally shy cat had taken an instant liking to Nick, climbing into his lap and purring like they were the best of buddies.

The fuzzy little traitor.

She drained her mug and set it on the coffee table in front of her, never losing the rhythm of her back and forth motion. She loved sitting in the old rocking chair. It helped her think, and the constant motion soothed her on nights like this. Usually she’d be demolishing a pint of ice cream instead of drinking espresso, but Nick was working late at the shop tonight and she needed the boost to get her past the events of the day so she would be energized by the time he arrived.

Lia had made it a personal goal to never try and drink away the dark part of her job, but there were days she was tempted, and today was one of them. She’d been called to a half dozen convenience store robberies over the last few weeks. The suspects had gotten more aggressive with each hit, beating up cashiers and trashing the place after they got what they were after. They wore masks, caps and long sleeves to hide their identities, leaving Lia and her partner with next to nothing to go on.

Today’s robbery had turned into a blood bath. The shop owner had been manning the register when the two gangbangers had stormed into the store, guns out, screaming demands. Instead of complying, the owner had pulled his own gun, and in the carnage that followed, all three of them had been shot. Now one suspect was in the morgue, the other was in intensive care, clinging to life by a thread, and the would-be victim would be spending a few days in hospital to recover from having two bullets tear through his body.

It had all hit a little close to home for Lia. That could have been her family’s store, and her father the one lying in a hospital bed right now. She’d become a cop to protect people, but today she’d been too late to help anyone. Days like this, she would usually withdraw from the world, seeking solace in ice cream and solitude while she went over everything that happened, trying to find something she could have done differently. Not this time. Instead of Rocky Road, she was having coffee, and instead of curling up in her pyjamas and hiding, she found herself looking forward to Nick’s visit and the comfort having him near would bring her. She braced her foot against the floor, bringing the rocking chair to a sudden halt.

She’d been so busy wondering if she was ready to invite Nick into her life, she’d somehow failed to notice he already was. Still perched at the edge of her seat, Lia started thinking back to everything that had happened since the day Nick had sent her the wand. They’d seen each almost every day, as well as called and texted. She’d still managed to check in on her parents, keep up with her job, and make sure Mister Darcy’s food bowl stayed full.

Well, shit.

Apparently she had a boyfriend, and the world hadn’t come to an end. She let that idea sink in slowly. Waiting for some part of her brain to protest or produce evidence to the contrary, but there was nothing but silent acceptance and a sense that things were exactly the way they should be. As if her heart had already known and was just waiting for her brain to catch up.

Lia rose from the rocker and wandered down the hall to her room, stripping off her shirt before she even reached the doorway. She went over to the floor length mirror and stood close to it, running her fingers over the lines Nick had drawn on her skin before making love to her again. The three forget-me-nots were still easy to see, one for her brother and two smaller ones for her parents, but that wasn’t what she was looking at. It was the pair of wings that he’d hidden in the curling vines and flowing lines surrounding the flowers that drew her eye. He’d curved the wings down so they seemed to be folded protectively around the rest of the design. His mark, over her heart.

It was time to stop pretending that it didn’t mean anything.

Lia checked her watch and grinned to herself. She still had time to shower and dress before Nick arrived. The plan had been to order in tonight, but Lia didn’t feel like hiding away any longer. If Nick was game, she had something else in mind.

****

Nick barely managed to knock once before the door to Lia’s apartment flew open, revealing a vision straight from his wildest fantasies. Lia was wearing black jeans that molded to her hips and thighs, showing off every inch of her gorgeous legs, right down to the knee-high leather boots she had picked. What really caught his eye though, was the top she’d chosen. It was black with metallic bronze studs along the scooped out neckline, and it was revealing enough that he could see part of the tattoo he’d given her. She looked incredible. Sexy, hot, and his.

“Wow,” he said, trying to take in the transformation.

“You like?” she asked, eyes dancing with pleasure at his reaction.

“I like very much. Is there a reason you look like you’re ready to take the city by storm?”

She backed up, letting him into the apartment. “I thought maybe, if you were up for it, we could go out for dinner tonight.”

So, she wanted to go out, did she? Nick was all for that idea. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed having Lia all to himself until now, but seeing her like this…fuck, he wanted to parade her around on his arm and let every other man in town see what they’d missed out on. He tugged her into his arms and kissed her hard. God, he liked the way she felt in his arms, like she’d been made just for him. She twined a denim-clad leg around his, rubbing herself against him until his dick was hard enough to drill through concrete. When her teeth closed on his lower lip, he was damned tempted to forgo dinner in favor of tearing her clothes off and fucking her up against the nearest wall.

“Do that again, Cin, and we’re not going to be leaving this place until tomorrow,” he told her, barely lifting his mouth from hers long enough to utter the words. Her answering laughter bubbled up, spilling over until she had to break their kiss to gasp for breath.

“Nuh uh. Tonight, we’re going out. No one can live on pizza and great sex alone.”

“We could try,” he teased, pointedly reaching down to adjust his aching cock. Truth was, he’d do whatever it took to keep that smile on Lia’s face.

“How about we come back here for dessert, then?”

“You have yourself a deal. Any thoughts on where you’d like to go? I’m not exactly dressed for fine dining.” He was in his usual work clothes: jeans, boots, leather jacket and a blue jersey knit sweater.

Lia leaned back and he caught a brief flicker of doubt in her eyes as she said, “We could go to Leo’s.”

All brain function stopped the second she uttered those words, and it took Nick a few seconds to untangle his thoughts enough to speak. “You want to go to Leo’s? As in, the place where there is a very good chance we’re going to run into at least some of my family and your coworkers. That Leo’s?”

“That Leo’s. If you want to. If you don’t feel like seeing your family, we could pick somewhere else.”

Like hell they were going anywhere else. Lia had just agreed to go public with their relationship. He’d have to be three kinds of stupid to argue with her. Even on his worst day, he’d never been more than two kinds of stupid, and this was far from his worst day. “If that’s where you’d like have dinner, then get your coat on and let’s go. You’ve been there before, right?”

“A few times. Often enough to know the bacon cheeseburgers are perfection on a pretzel bun.”

“Tell my brother Jared that when I introduce you and I promise you’ll have a friend for life.”

“He’s the one that looks the most like David, isn’t he? I’ve seen him around Leo’s but never met him.”

“He’s blond like Dave and our mother, and like all my dear brothers, he fancies himself a ladies’ man.” He stopped dead as an uneasy feeling came over him, one he’d never felt before…because he’d never brought a woman he was seeing anywhere near his family before.

Fuck.

“Is something wrong? You look disturbed about something,” Lia asked.

“Oh, I’m definitely disturbed. I just realized that if any of my brothers look at you sideways, I may have to kill them. Thank God Ben and Tag are spoken for. Suddenly I’m seeing things in a new way, and I can’t say I’m enjoying it.”

“You lost me.”

“The first time Ben brought Kelly to the pub, Tag hit on her. I wasn’t there, but I hear Ben didn’t take it well. Kelly still calls him caveman because of what happened that night. Until today, I thought that was fucking funny. Now? Not so much.”

Lia snickered. “Not much fun when the shoe is on the other foot, huh? You have nothing to worry about.”

“You already know you have the pick of the litter?”

She grinned at him as she shrugged into a red leather jacket. “Nope. It’s just that your only single brothers are blonds, and I like brunettes.”

She was still laughing as they hit the parking lot, her hand caught tight in his.

Nick had managed to find parking out back of the pub so they didn’t have to walk far. It was a good thing too, because the wind was picking up and the forecast was predicting a late season storm coming in. Nick was sick of winter, and if he never heard the words “polar vortex” again, that would be fine with him. He was itching to escape to sunnier climes for a few days, but he wasn’t going anywhere without Lia.

Just before they reached the door he stopped and snagged Lia’s hand, then leaned in and brushed a kiss across her sweet lips. He could see she was nervous. Hell, if he was going to be honest, he wasn’t totally tranquil about this idea either. His family could be a rowdy handful. “Stick close to me, and don’t believe a word my brothers tell you about my childhood. It’s all lies.”

She flashed him a smile and squeezed his hand. “Uh huh. Remember, I’m okay with you being a bad boy. Besides, I don’t think there’s anything they could tell me that would make me change the way I feel about you.”

His mouth opened, but before he could say a word she was darting through the door and into the bar, pulling him along behind her. He wanted drag her back outside and finish their conversation in private, and if she said what he
hoped
she’d say, what he wanted her to say, then he had a few things he needed to say to her too. Judging by the way she had bolted, though, Lia wasn’t ready to talk about it. Nick could understand that. He hadn’t told her about his past career as a dancer yet either. Something told him he was rapidly running out of time to make that confession.

He followed her deeper into the crowd, waiting until she slowed on her own before he gave her hand a tug. She fell in behind him, and he led her across the room to the oversized bar where he knew his father would be holding court. There were some friendly waves and a couple of curious stares as they crossed hardwood floors and made their way to the brass and polished wood behemoth where he’d spent countless hours pouring drinks in the days before he’d left for college. Leo’s looked like countless other pubs in the city, dark wood paneling, tables polished by the sleeves of countless customers and grooves worn into the floor from the passage of thousands of thirsty patrons. It looked the same, but it didn’t feel the same. For Nick, this place felt like coming home.

Nick reached the bar first and announced his presence by slapping his open palm down on the liquor stained wood. “Hey, barkeep. I need two beers, a couple of menus and none of your usual shitty attitude.”

Jared spun around, ready to do battle, then grinned when he spotted Nick. “Hey, stranger. I was wondering when you’d show your ugly mug around here again. I need you to distract mom from her new goal of finding me a nice girl to settle down with. She keeps drifting by and pointing out pretty girls, loudly.”