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“It’s brave of you to give him a second chance. Maybe you’re willing to extend that same graciousness to others? Because your father’s not the only one who made the mistake of walking away from you.”
I blink. Lick my lips. Try to hang on to my composure, but he’s been ripping down my protective walls since the moment he walked into the shop.
“You don’t really want a tattoo, Hunter. I think you should just admit it.”
“And then what?”
“Then we go our separate ways. You and me—we don’t work. We…”
My voice chokes up and I look away, aware of his gaze on me for several seconds before he shifts, and picks up the template I made from my tray.
The design is beautiful—and I’m not just saying that because I drew it up myself on the computer. It’s a vibrant display of watercolors painted across a tapestry of stars, and in the stars, there are distinct, unrecognizable faces peaking through the abyss.
“What does this mean to you?” he asks.
I lift my chin. “It represents the people who have come and gone in my life. Some who cared about me. Some who I cared about. But none who stayed.”
“So you see it as a reminder that we came into each other’s lives and then moved on?”
I shrug.
He sits back. “Do it, Dani.”
He sounds utterly serious.
I shake my head. “Hunter…”
“Do it, Dani. Not because I want to go our separate ways, but because people have come and gone in my life, too. Some who I cared about. But none who stayed. None who I wanted to stay. Not until you.”
I freeze and my gaze jumps to his. Instinctively I want to shout, No fair! He knows my family history. That my father didn’t stay. How I’m afraid that no man will stay with me because of my inability to have kids.
And now he’s telling me that he wants me to stay, even knowing what he knows about me?
Him? Hunter Kiss?
Golden boy agent who can have any woman he wants?
No. He’s fooling himself. Thinking he can fool me.
“Plenty of women would stay if you want them to. Amy’s super interested. Why don’t you just call her up and invite her to your place again. This time, I promise I won’t run her off.”
“I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about. I know who you’re talking about, but I swear, I haven’t talked to her since before I first met you.”
It’s not just his words or tone that makes me believe him, it’s the look in his eyes. His expression of utter truth and sincerity. I’d been wrong about him bribing Chad. I’d obviously been wrong to believe Amy about Hunter asking her over.
“Fine. For the final time, are you sure you want this tattoo? You sure you want me to ink it?”
“I’m sure.”
I place the design against his arm, and then fold it around carefully to get perfect placement. I pick up the ink gun, preparing to inject ink into his muscular, virgin flesh.
“Okay, here we go.”
He takes a deep breath, we take a deep breath together, and I press the throttle and run the gun over his skin. His entire body tenses as I begin to outline the eyes of the first face in the background, using a medium-shade of blue. He relaxes slightly the more time that goes by.
I’m about half-way done when I’m suddenly overcome with emotion and I stop because my hands start to shake and my eyes begin to water.
I put down my tattoo gun and am about to turn away, mumbling that I need a quick break, when he gently takes my arm, stopping me. After tipping my face up so I’m looking into his eyes, he shakes his head, his eyes lit up like the fourth of July with an intensity and hunger I’ve not quite seen before. “I need you, Dani Cross.”
