Page 15 of Stone
“All right. Dismissed,” War decreed.
Stone stood up and walked out. His mind was whirling with everything Baron had said. Stone had known that the boys hadsacrificed but he’d been living in his own hell. Thinking about his family on the outside had hurt. If thoughts of what they might be going through entered his mind, he’d shoved it toward the back to try not to think about it. Maybe he needed to take Finn and Ben on a motorcycle ride and then have a chat. It had been almost a year since they’d come to Bluff Creek. Although they all worked together, Stone realized their conversations had been superficial because he’d shut them down any time they’d asked about his time in prison. Stone didn’t want to talk about it, but talking about the past might help his brothers and him in the future.
Chapter Nine
Naomi walked down the street. The girls were over at Faith’s house, hanging out with her daughter and some of the other kids.
After the shortened drawing lesson on Sunday, Stone had done one on Monday evening. They’d finished the cat, and he’d shown them how to use a projector and a picture to trace. The girls had loved learning about tracing and figuring out the movements of their hands to get the right look.
Stone had used a picture from a card that Phoebe and Blake sold at Broken Hearts Brewing. It was of a Monarch butterfly on a purple flower. Naomi had loved the colors and the way it looked. It had her thinking about maybe doing vines, flowers, and butterflies on the back of her thighs. She wanted something pretty to replace the thing that made her feel ugly and small.
She stood at the door of Bluff Creek Ink. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. She wasn’t afraid of the pain of the tattoo gun, though she was sure it would hurt. She was worried abouthow she’d feel having Stone that close to her, touching her, even if it was with a tattoo gun.
She didn’t understand why she was so fascinated with him, but she was. Everything about him intrigued her. Watching him teach the class last night, his hand holding the pencil as he showed the kids how to trace, had her mind drifting to his hands holding her, his fingers trailing down her arm. She shouldn’t be having these thoughts about him. She was newly divorced, and the last thing she should be thinking about was jumping into bed with Stone. The only person she’d ever had sex with was Jared, and it had been disappointing every freaking time.
“Hey, Naomi, Stone will be right with you. He’s grabbing some supplies,” Emerson called from her station.
“Thanks,” Naomi replied.
She stared at the pictures on the wall of some of the tattoos that had been done. She loved the way the designs contained thicker lines and thinner ones, giving the tattoos depth.
“See anything you like?” Stone’s deep voice rumbled behind her. She fought a shiver. She told herself it was the coolness of the room, but she was lying to herself. She turned toward Stone. Even though she’d started wearing pants more since being divorced, she thought a skirt would be easier today.
“I like the way this one and this one have such depth,” she noted, pointing at the wall.
Stone nodded, his face showing his pleasure at her choices. “Those are both mine.”
“I loved when you were showing the kids the Monarch butterfly on the purple flowers, the way the butterfly looked against the green stalks and the purple flowers. I was wondering if you think something like that might look good,” she said.
“We can do whatever you want, but flowers and butterflies in those colors would look fantastic on your legs. How about wehead over to my station and see how far down you want the tattoo to go?” Stone proposed.
Naomi nodded and walked in front of Stone toward his station.
“Our stations are designed for privacy. As long as you feel comfortable alone with me, I’ll slide these two dividers closed. No one will be able to see you,” Stone assured her.
“I’d like that,” she confessed. Stone pulled the dividers closed. Naomi breathed a sigh of relief that her butt and panties wouldn’t be on display for everyone. Not that she didn’t like her butt. It was nicely rounded from gaining weight while pregnant with the girls, and even though Jared had thought her boobs weren’t great, the plus was she didn’t have to wear a bra if she didn’t want to. Her curves were small enough that they didn’t need support.
And now she was thinking about her breasts with Stone standing right there. She needed to think about cleaning the oven or something she hated because thinking about Stone had her nipples hardening.
“For this, I need to measure the space after we decide how far you want the tattoo to go down your thigh and how far to wrap around. You can either stand with your skirt pulled up or you can lie down—whichever is more comfortable to you,” Stone explained, sliding on gloves while he talked.
Naomi stared at him. She wasn’t sure she could lie down.
“I’ll stand. Where?” she asked.
“Let’s turn you this way. You’ll be able to look over your shoulder and decide how far down," he instructed, rolling his chair until his back was to the mirror. She grasped her skirt, raising it up her thighs.
“A little higher,” he said, leaning close enough to her thigh that she could feel his breath. She pulled the skirt higher.
“That’s perfect. Good girl,” Stone praised.
His gloved fingers slid across her thigh. “How high were you thinking? Are you wanting something that is just on your thighs, so it hides them when you wear shorts? Do you ever wear a swimsuit, and would that matter how high you want it?”
Naomi swallowed. Stone’s finger was tracing the marks.
“I think we can hide these for you, no problem,” Stone said, leaning back. He seemed to be waiting on her.
“Naomi?” he prompted.
