Page 12 of Ashes to Ink

“I didn’t know what you were going to say. So I didn’t askbefore. And I didn’t want to take advantage of our friendship by asking. But nowthat I did, I don’t want to take it back.”

“Oh.” Her words a breath.

“So? Abby? Do you want to get some dinner with me?” He ranhis thumb across her cheek, and she barely resisted closing her eyes andleaning into him. “Any time you want. Any place. All you have to do is say yes,and I’m yours.”

That sounded nice. Being his. Though she didn’t know whatthat would entail.

And she knew she was ready, but she didn’t know exactly whatthat meant.

Because she took so long to answer, she saw his gazeshutter, saw the way he wanted to move back. He thought she was going to say no.He wondered if he was making a mistake.

And because she knew she should say no, because theirfriendship was more important than anything, she did the one thing that sheshouldn’t do.

She opened her mouth and spoke. “Yes. I’d love to go outwith you.”

She just hoped she hadn’t made another mistake.

Chapter Four

Ryan had lost his damn mind, and it wasn’t even one in theafternoon yet. He’d left Abby in her shop, not even touching his tea since itseemed awkward to stay after she’d said yes to the date he knew neither of themexpected.

He’d just looked at her there and hadn’t been able to holdhimself back. He liked her, that much he knew. But with his brother back intown, it was kind of hard to think about anything but the fact that a calamitywas probably on its way.

He had no right to step into Abby’s life like he was, butapparently, he couldn’t help himself.

He thought about her often—the way she smiled, the waysadness sometimes shone in her eyes before she shook it off. She didn’t ignoreit, that much he could see, but she tried to move forward.

He understood that. He tried to do the same. He just figuredthat Abby was a little more successful at it than he was.

Of course, her memory stared at her every day in the eyes ofher daughter.

His came back and asked for money, asked for a place tostay, and tried to find ways to ruin Ryan’s life.

Because Michael always wanted to discover ways to get intoRyan’s mind, figure out how to get under his brother’s skin. Because Ryan’stwin wasn’t a good man. No matter how hard Ryan wished it were different.

“What’s up with you, man?” Shepasked from his station. Ryan turned to his friend and watched as the mancleaned the area. Shep had just finished a tattoo,and the client had already left. Ryan figured that his boss had a few minutesbefore he either went to check on his daughter, Livvy,or took the next walk-in client. Even with the holiday season, they were busierthan usual.

Montgomery Ink Too was a branch of the Montgomery Inkfranchise that was settled in downtown Denver. The artists at the originalMontgomery Ink had waiting lists that were months long, but they also had roomfor some walk-ins for last-minute tattoo decisions that meant somethingimportant.

Since Shep and Adrienne hadmodeled Montgomery Ink Too after the one up in Denver, and their cousins werealso investors, it made sense that the shop would be like the other. MontgomeryInk Too wasn’t as busy as the original one, but it was getting busier as themonths passed. They were getting a reputation for having talented artists and adamn good business practice.

That meant that while Ryan had a long list of people waitingfor him, he was also able to take walk-ins just like the rest of them. He didhis best to make sure everyone got exactly what they wanted and turned awayclients that wanted something he couldn’t give.

Most of the time, that happened with women who wanted to getto know him better, or even men who wanted to get to know him like that. Yes,he was bisexual and had dated some of his clients back in the day, but he’dlearned the hard way not to do ink for anyone that he wanted to sleep with.

Things got tricky with that. Of course, when it came to Ryan’srelationships, everything was complicated.

“Hey, you there?” Shep asked. “Whatare you thinking about that’s making you look like you’re going insane?”

Ryan flipped him off. “I don’t look like that.”

“I beg to differ. But what’s up?”

“I asked Abby out.” He hadn’t meant to blurt it out likethat, but apparently, he hadn’t been able to hold it back.

He hadn’t been able to hold a lot of himself back lately.

That didn’t bode well for his dates—or his life, for thatmatter. Considering that Michael could pop out again at any moment, Ryan reallywasn’t sure what might happen next.