“To what do I owe the dubious honor?” Brian asked, hopping up to sit on the counter as Evan turned back to him.
“Kelsey wants to get my name tattooed on her ass,” he said, earning himself a smack on the arm and his wife’s laughter.
And he could be pretty laid back too.
“Can’t a guy visit his kid brother?” Evan asked once she’d subsided.
“Not if he insists on calling him kid brother.”
“You should realize by now he only does it to annoy you,” Kelsey said. “Where’s Candace?”
“Off somewhere smoking up. Or mainlining. Or she might be getting coffee across the street. Where’s Alex?”
“At Mom’s,” Evan said. “We’re having the rare date night…though they might get more plentiful the closer we get to moving. She’s trying to soak up all the baby-time she can.”
“And so you come by to…get your name tatted on Kelsey’s ass? Ev on one cheek and an on the other, right?”
Kelsey was turning redder than her cherry-red sweater, covering her mouth in her laughter. Evan shook his head. “You are all kinds of wrong.”
“Hey,” Starla piped up, “I just had an idea. You should name your next baby boy Kevin. It would be like a combination of both your names.”
Brian’s upper lip curled. “That’s lame. God, you’re lame, Star.”
“We actually thought of that before we settled on Alex,” Kelsey said, putting her hands on her hips in mock offense.
“That’s because you’re both sappy dorks.”
“Ha. You talk smack, but we’ve all learned how sappy you can be too. It’s only a matter of time before you have Candace’s name on your ass,” Evan said.
“Can I say for the record that I always throw out very strong hints to my clients that they should not tattoo a significant other’s name onto their bodies? It’s their skin; they can do what they want. But I don’t care how long they’ve been together or how solid it looks. It never fails they’ll be back here a few weeks later, sobbing to me that they want it covered up. Sometimes I swear you need to be a licensed counselor to go into this business.”
“Aw, come on, Bri,” Kelsey said. “You wouldn’t get a tattoo of Candace’s name? Even a little one? I know you would.”
He grinned. “Oh, I’ve already got it, but it’s somewhere you can’t see.”
“Too much information, Brian,” Evan said as the room erupted in sounds of disgust.
Brian put a hand over his chest. “On my heart.”
This time the gagging sounds were even louder.
“That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard!” Kelsey cried over it all.
“Are you slackin’ off or what, dude?” Brian asked Evan. “Here I am, having to give your wife her romantic thrills and all.”
“Don’t let him snow you,” Evan said, drawing Kelsey close to his side. But even he had a grin on his face.
“I always knew Brian was a closet romantic,” she said. “I called it a long time ago, didn’t I? It just took the right woman to bring him out.”
Evan dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose, smiling down into her eyes. “Isn’t that all it ever takes?”
“All right, get a room. And no more talk of me being romantic in here.” Brian plucked at the front of his T-shirt. “I have an image to uphold.”
Ghost had sat watching the rampant mushiness in speechless dismay. Macy’s words in the car the other night came back to haunt him, when she’d said that sometimes things work out. He wished he could believe that for himself. Looking at the two relationships represented here, Brian’s and Evan’s, he could almost have hope. Of course, both of them were still in their infancy stages in the grand scheme of things. But he was beginning to realize he would be more surprised if Brian and Candace didn’t work out than if they did. In all the years he’d known him, Ghost had never seen his friend this way. And if Evan and Kelsey ever busted up…well, it would shake up the entire town.
He’d never felt deserving of it himself. He considered himself a confident-enough guy, but what in the ever-loving fuck could possibly be so appealing about him that another person would want to spend the rest of her life with him? He didn’t get it. Like Gus, he was fucked up, only in different ways. And look what Gus’s girl kept putting him through.
Candace and Macy took that moment to sweep in the front door, both laughing about something, but Macy’s vibrant smile faltered a bit when she saw him. Not in disappointment, though. Her eyes brightened. He didn’t know why or how, but he got the impression her heart had leaped into her throat. His had. Or maybe he was just fucking delusional where she was concerned. Nonetheless, he returned what smile she managed for him.
Kelsey and Candace rushed into a hug, both trilling with delight at seeing each other. Macy greeted Kelsey and Evan warmly, but Ghost didn’t miss her gaze sliding over to him every few seconds. Because he couldn’t stop looking at her.
Her cheeks, all flushed with the bite of cold. He remembered them flushed from arousal. Her bright hazel eyes—maybe he’d put the light there; it hadn’t been there the first night he’d seen her before their interlude in his car.
She was one of those girls who remarkably had a different hairstyle every time he saw her. Sometimes curly, sometimes long and sleek, sometimes in a variety of stylishly sloppy updos. Tonight it was simple—one dark sweep tucked behind both ears under her off-white knit cap. Her ears were slightly pink too, and what he wouldn’t give to take her home and warm her up…
Goddamn, she was out of his league.
“He was talking so sweet about you just now,” Kelsey said as Candace moved to Brian’s side and handed him the cup she’d brought in from across the street.
“Was he? He can be pretty sweet when he wants to be.”
Brian sipped his coffee and hugged his girlfriend to his side. “I might keep her around for a while. As long as she acts right and doesn’t give me too much lip. She’s all right to look at, you know.”
Candace smacked him on the chest. “So nice to know I’m wanted.”
“Weren’t you thinking of getting your master’s and going for the LPC, Candace?” Evan asked. “There you go, Brian. You said you needed a counselor in the parlor. You’d have one.”
The others laughed, but all at once, the atmosphere seemed to shift. Candace became very interested in the remaining contents of her drink, and Brian dropped his arm from her shoulders and promptly rubbed the back of his neck. Ghost cocked an eyebrow. Brian had hinted at a little bit of stress regarding Candace’s future career goals, but he got the feeling now that Evan had just inadvertently dropped a major shit bomb right between them.
“I’m exploring options,” she said carefully and looked up at Brian. He smiled at her, and the weirdness seemed to evaporate somewhat.
Ghost made a mental note to take Brian out for some one-on-one time.
As the lovey banter was resuscitated, he kept trying to figure out how in the hell he could get Macy off to the side without becoming a part of it all. His chance came when Brian decided he wanted to show everyone what he was working on. For all her hang-ups about ink and piercings, Macy loved to look at the artwork, so she followed the group. Ghost fell into step right on her heels. She was wearing some of those jeans with bling on the ass. As if he needed more reason to look there.
The sight had so captivated him that he almost missed it when Candace poked him in the arm as they all filed into the back room where they drew up designs. “I didn’t know you were coming in tonight.”
Macy glanced at him, smiled and ducked her head.
“Just hanging out,” he said. “Thought I’d ruin Brian’s night.”
But flippancy was futile. He swallowed around the tightness in his throat as Macy moved beside him and her familiar scent filled his nostrils. Christ, she smelled so good. He wanted to pin her against the wall right here, breathe his fill.
The others engaged in chatter around him, giving Brian their compliments and opinions
on this and that, but Ghost was concentrating too hard on not tenting the front of his pants to care much about what was being said.
“Have you changed your mind yet?” he asked Macy, damn near desperate to have that hazel gaze on him again.
Her delicate eyebrows dipped low as she looked at him. “About?”
“Miss ‘I’ll Never Get a Tattoo’.”
“Oh.” She laughed. “No, nothing will ever change my mind. Not that these aren’t beautiful.” She pointed to an elaborate floral design. “Especially that one.”
“That’s one of mine.”
“Really?”
“He does have rare moments when he doesn’t suck,” Brian said.
“Shut up before I rip the metal out of your face.”
“How rude!” Candace cried. Ghost didn’t miss the little glance she exchanged with Macy. “Come on, guys, let’s go back up front. Bri, I need you for a second.” She tugged Brian’s arm as she moved toward the door.
“Only for a second?” he asked, grinning as he followed with Evan and Kelsey.
“Well, when that’s all you’re capable of…” Ghost said, earning himself a middle-finger salute as Brian went out. Macy laughed, but it sounded strained, and she looked after the four of them as if she wanted to bolt out the door with them.
But she didn’t.
Bless all their scheming little black hearts. As soon as the others were gone, Ghost stepped over and shut the door. Macy’s eyebrows were practically in her hairline when he turned back to her.
“Hi,” she said simply.
He could only stare at her for a moment, then blew out a breath and shook his head. “Damn, girl.”
“What?”
“What, she asks.”
“Well…what? I mean really. I don’t know what to say, I don’t know… I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” She blew out a breath, her gaze on the floor in the vicinity of his boots. She pulled that luscious bottom lip between her little white teeth. Jesus help him, he wanted to do the same thing with it.
He waited until her eyes flickered back up to him. “You seemed to know what the hell you were doing the other night. And I liked that.”
“That part’s easy. It’s this part I don’t like. You know we’re going to have to be around each other sometimes—our best friends live together. I don’t want it to be awkward for everyone. Including us.”
“Okay, so let’s deal with it. Here and now. Do you want to keep seeing me? Don’t worry about hurting my feelings or any shit like that. I’m a big boy; I can take it. But I’m not down for games at all. I let you have a few days’ cooling off time, and I’ve been thinking too.”
“Oh? What are you thinking?”
“Come on, Mace. You’re beautiful, and you’re accomplished, and any time a girl like you wants to hang out with a guy like me, you’d better believe I realize what a fucking idiot I’d be to pass that up.”
“Maybe I don’t want you to want me just because I’m…those things.”
“All right, I didn’t word that so well.” He was opening his mouth to go on, but she held up a hand.
“Listen, Seth…I think we’ve done this all backwards.”
“Backwards?”
She crossed her arms, her gaze startlingly direct under her cap. “Backwards for me. Typically, I get to know a guy before I land in the sack with him. That didn’t happen here. In the beginning, that was okay. I didn’t count on wanting anything more with you. I thought it would just be fun, like we said.”
“So you’re saying…you do want more?”
“All I’m saying at this moment is that I don’t really know you…but I would like to.”
Hell, if she got to know him, really know him, she might run screaming. This was a good thing, though. She hadn’t run yet. He thought about all the nights he could spend slowly exploring her beautiful body without rushing to memorize it all before she booted his ass out of her bed and her life. All the hours he could spend inhaling the vanilla sweetness of her skin, her hair. Oh yeah, he wanted to get to know her better.
“Maybe we should cool off?” she asked.
All his sensuous fantasies ground to a halt. Cool off? That did not compute. “What?”
Macy cleared her throat, for the first time glancing away and absently studying the drawings on the board. “You could, I don’t know, ask me on a date? A regular date?”
Do things the way she was used to having them done. Give her her comfort zone. He could handle that. But not without a little teasing. She might as well know that about him right away, if she didn’t already. “Fine. I didn’t want to have sex with you again anyway.”
God, he loved her smile. Even more when it was accompanied by her laugh. She graced him with both at that moment. “Gee, thank you. I feel much better about this whole thing.”
“You? I’m the one who was just informed about the whole cooling-off thing.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to sleep with you again. Honestly? I want to drag you home right now. It’s all I’ve thought about. But…” She sighed and shook her head. “I have thought about it, and I don’t want to get caught up in something like that. It’s not for me. I don’t want a revolving-door relationship. I don’t need someone blowing in and out of my life. Either you’re going to be around or you’re not. There’s no in-between with me. If you can’t deal with that…”
He stepped forward and took her hands in his. Warm and supple. But strong. Just like her. “Where should our first date be?”
She blinked up at him. In the bright overhead lights, her freckles were more prominent. And her lips too, pink and glistening with the gloss she wore. He wanted to taste it, touch her face, hell, plant her back against the wall right here, but he held off. Yeah, maybe his self-imposed restriction on getting involved had just been blown to hell and gone, but he didn’t care. Not when she looked at him like that. What could it hurt to see where things went?
“In case you haven’t realized,” she said with a wink, “I really am an old-fashioned girl. You can decide.”
“All right, but I think I should give you fair warning.” He leaned down and put his forehead to hers, their noses nestling next to each other as she tilted her head up to meet him. “I’ll give you all the dates you want. But that cooling-off thing? I can’t promise you that.”
The door closed on the last client of the night, and Starla rushed over to lock it. Ghost turned off the Lamb of God video blaring on the flat screens and glanced over as Brian emerged yawning from the back, truck keys in his hand. “I’m out,” he said. “See y’all tomorrow.” He turned to go back toward the rear exit.
“Bri. Hit the gym with me, dude.”
He halted in his tracks. “You can’t be serious.”
“Come on. You need it.”
“Not at midnight.” Brian slapped a cap on his head with one hand and twirled his keys around his finger with the other. Candace had taken off, since she had an exam in the morning and the constant activity in the parlor wasn’t conducive to studying. “I’m hitting the sack.”
“Are you twenty-nine or sixty-nine?”
The devilish dimples appeared. “Twenty-nine with a sixty-nine waiting at home.” The others whooped and laughed.
“Lucky fuck. I’m definitely hiding in your bushes tonight. Hey, but see, you can come with me and get all pumped up for her. She’ll work it off for you.”
“You’re insane.”
“What did we join the all-hours fucking gym for? Because we work crazy hours. Stop being a pussy, and let’s go.”
And so they found themselves on the way to the gym after Brian grumbled an explanation to Candace over the phone.
“Is it like having a probation officer or what?” he asked after Brian tossed his phone on the seat beside him.
“Huh? No. Not at all.”
“So tell me where you see this thing going.”
“What?”
“Don’t play ignorant. It’s been almost a year for y
ou two, and she seems like a permanent fixture at the parlor.”
Brian shot him a glance. “Have you got a problem with that?”
“Would it matter if I did?”
“As far as us being together? No. As far as her being a permanent fixture at the parlor, I value your input.”
“Really.”
“This ain’t a dictatorship, man. I never intended it to be.”
“So if I said the word, she’d be gone?”
“I wouldn’t go so far as gone.” Brian reached over to turn down Soulfly’s “Prophecy”. Then he sighed. “Look, I just don’t want her identity all tangled up with mine. I don’t want that for her. I keep telling her she should, you know, explore other options. She’s a big help, but what the hell has she worked so hard for? I was too much of a fuck-up to go to college. But she did it, and she did it magna cum laude. I’m so damn proud of her and I don’t want to hold her back.”
Ghost grabbed Brian’s half-a-foot-thick CD case and began idly flipping through it. “So that’s what it was about. When Evan said what he did about her being an on-site counselor.”
“Yeah, I know he was joking but there’s…been some tension.”
“You’re being an insecure little bitch. You’re still thinking you’re not good enough for her.”
“Hey, fuck you.”
“That’s all it is, dude. What you’re saying is your life—our life, really, since I do what you do—isn’t good enough for her.” Or someone like Macy. “Admit it.”
“That’s not it. I barely keep her parents off my ass as it is. They’re just now getting to where they’ll look me in the eye. I wouldn’t give a shit, but it matters to her, I don’t care what she says.”
“Then maybe you not caring what she says is the problem.”
Brian drew a long breath in through his nose. Blew it out. Ah. He’d hit a nerve. “Her fuckin’ mother, man. After Candace and I got together, Sylvia pulled me aside and was all ‘Just promise me, Brian, that you’ll see to it she finishes school’.” He shook his finger in the air, taking on a high-pitched, scolding tone. “‘And don’t make me a grandmother yet!’ Like I’m hell-bent on making her drop out and knocking her up. Shit. I need a cigarette.”