Page 72 of Business Casual
“To the event?” I ask. Jeremy nods. “Are you going to help?”
He shrugs. “Sure.”
“Then, yes, you can come.”
He shifts on his feet and dusts the edge of a mirror, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “Can I get a tattoo?”
“No.”
The door to the tattoo shop swings open and Charlie appears. Expensive camel coat with the collar turned up and a thick green sweater beneath. Awareness lights me up, a knot of anticipation low in my belly.
I scowl at him. He grins.
“Hiya, Nova girl. Did you miss me?”
Yes. Unfortunately, I think that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.
“No.” I tip-tap my way across the keyboard and pretend like I’m doing something important. “Why? Have you missed me?”
He strolls his way to the table and drops a folder and two cups of coffee on the edge. “Desperately,” he says, still with that grin. He glances over his shoulder at where Jeremy is pretending to dust while I pretend to type. We really do make an excellent pair. Nothing is ever going to get done in this studio. “Are you aware that Jeremy is assaulting your tattoo displays?”
Jeremy huffs. “I’m dusting them.”
Charlie’s face collapses in confusion. “Why?”
“Because I work here,” Jeremy says, sounding far too smug for someone who has been employed for less than seventy-two hours.
Charlie turns back to me with both of his eyebrows raised. I raise mine right back.
“What?”
Charlie picks up one of the coffees, opens the lid to peer inside, then hands it to me. “Nothing.”
I reach for it and curl my palms around its warmth. It smells like cinnamon and pumpkin, my favorite Tuesday pick-me-up from Ms. Beatrice’s. Charlie takes the other cup for himself and props himself against my desk.
“It doesn’t look like nothing.”
He shrugs and picks up one of my printed tattoo cards. “You’ve got an ooey gooey heart, Nova Porter.”
I snatch the card out of his hand and put it back on the stack. “No,I don’t.” Apparently, I have a bubble-wrapped heart. A stone heart, if my siblings are to be believed.
He hums and plucks up another one. “Yes, you do. You’re a big ol’ softie beneath all of those tattoos. But don’t worry.” He winks and goose bumps erupt across my skin like a shower of sparks. “Your secret is safe with me.”
I might be safe with him, but I’m starting to think I’m not so safe from him. Not my secrets and not this feeling in my chest every single time he’s around. Like someone is pressing down and pulling me up at exactly the same time.
I am cracked wide open, want spilling out and filling me to the brim. I don’t understand how this happened. I don’t have cravings and I don’t do distractions. I don’t go back for seconds.
But I think Charlie might be the exception to that rule. He was supposed to get out of my system, not burrow himself deeper.
He looks at the tiny tattoo card in his hand and waves it back and forth. “What are these for?”
“Exclusive influencer party,” Jeremy answers from the front of the room. Christ, I forgot he was here. “You’re not invited.”
“Is that so?” Charlie ignores Jeremy completely and stares down at me, one dark eyebrow raised. “Am I not invited, Nova?”
“Do you want to be invited?”
“Depends.” He taps the card against the palm of his hand. “Can I get a tattoo?”
