Page 76 of Time To Learn

Of their own volition, my eyelids flutter closed as he bends his head, and the feeling of his thumb as he caresses the skin on my wrist sends my pulse leaping.

“But what?” I whisper.

“But don’t think I’ll forget what you just said, Laura. We need to talk about it—later.”

Crap.

“Kristian…,” I start, but the moment is lost when the bell above the door pings, interrupting our interlude.

“Morning.”

Alex’s soft bellow makes me turn my head, and I smile weakly at him. The gentle giant, as I’ve taken to calling him, seems cheerful today.

“Ready for your first ink, Laura?” Alex asks me as he stops in front of us. Excitement warms me from the inside when he rubs his hands together, clearly happy forme.

Or maybe I’m just reading too much intoit.

I hold my breath, trying to gather my wits. I can’t focus when Kristian’s touch is still wreaking havoc with my insides.

“Are you?” Kristian whispers.

I look up at him and nod slowly.

“Ready,” I whisper.

Kristian releases my hand and takes a step away. He motions to the bench and without losing my gaze, he takes a pair of black latex gloves from a drawer.

“Then hop on, sweetheart, and let’s get this show on theroad.”

* * *

Kristian

During my fiveyears of being a professional tattoo artist, I must have inked thousands of people—there have been some memorable ones—but they all blur together as I spend the next half an hour working on Laura’s wrist.

None of those tattoos are significant anymore.

None of them really matter.

I hadn’t expected that doing such a simple tat as this one would prove to turn my world around as much as it does, and maybe I’m deluding myself into believing that’s what I’m feeling.

Andyet…

Virginskin.

I try to mask my shaky intake of breath and clear my throat.

“You okay?” I ask Laura. She seems comfortable as she’s lying on the armchair, arm turned my way, but looks can be deceptive, and I pause for a moment.

She’s staring straight ahead as she swallowshard.

“I’m good, thanks.” When she smiles at me, shrugging lightly, I feel relieved. “It’s not as bad as I’d feared, to be honest.”

I turn on the needle and add some ink, ignoring the buzzing sound in the otherwise silentroom.

“Soon, you’ll become addicted,” I teaseher.

Her unladylike snort amusesme.