Page 42 of Sugar & Ink
The maple tree was starting to change colors. Leaves littered the grass beneath it, and I made a mental note that I should probably rake this weekend.
Probably. I wasn’t going to.
The kitchen was quiet except for the ticking clock over the stove, but my brain wouldn’t shut the hell up about Josie.
I scowled into my coffee.
That woman had somehow managed to invade my thoughts in less than two weeks, which was irritating.
Not because I didn’t like her.
I did.
I liked crossing Main Street and seeing her smile when I walked in.
I liked arguing with her.
I liked that she gave me shit and didn’t seem remotely intimidated by me.
I liked the way she’d looked at her tattoo when I finished. Like I’d given her something she’d wanted for years.
I especially liked the kiss.
I scrubbed a hand over my jaw.
The kiss had been... Different.
Not explosive.
Not one of those moments where the world stopped spinning and fireworks shot out of your ass.
I would’ve hated that.
No.
It had been quiet. Slow. Tentative.
Josie had looked at me like she wasn’t sure if she was allowed to want something.
That pissed me off at whoever taught her that.
Her ex. Bruce.
Just thinking about him annoyed me.
I didn’t know the guy and didn’t want to.
But every now and then Josie let little things slip. How he talked her out of opening the shop. How he hated tattoos. How she spent years waiting for the right time to do things.
The right time. Bullshit.
Life was too damn short to wait around for permission.
I looked down at my calloused and tattooed hands. A scar on my right thumb from when I was nineteen and thought a circular saw was less dangerous than it actually was.
Everything I had, I built.
The shop. The house. My life.
