Page 29 of Double the Redemption

He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Baby, that’s what I do. Tattoos and art are my passions, so I always find ways to enhance them. Half the time, the brothers don’t even come to me with an idea anymore. They just give me creative freedom.”

“That must feel good. Knowing they trust you so much.”

He’d never really thought about it, but now that she mentioned it … “Yeah, it does.”

She smiled. “Well, if I change my mind, I’ll come talk to you.”

“I’ll be pissed if you go to anyone else,” he teased. “That skin is mine when you take the jump.”

She giggled, and his smile grew. Damn, he wanted her to do that again. “That sounds so bad, but sure, you can have my skin if I ever get over the fear of needles.”

It’s not the only thing I want …

Whoa. Where did that come from?

He tried to fight back the panic building in his gut. Nope. No. He wasn’t doing that. He did not do the fall-in-love thing. Club girls, random hookups, that was it. Never anything that could be permanent.

He needed to get out of there. Now.

“Was there one more thing you needed to tell me?” he asked, trying to keep his tone casual.

“Oh, ah, yes. I noticed you don’t have an effective tracking system for payment plans. I was doing a bit of research using the materials Scarlett brought for me, and Ice agreed to help me set something up in the software if you’re okay with that. It will just make it easier to keep track of, and we might even be able to set it up to send reminders to those you think need them.”

“Sure, yeah, that sounds good. You and Ice can let me know what you come up with.” He made a brief show of checking his phone. “I’m sorry, but I have to get back to the clubhouse. Do you need to go over anything else with me?”

Her cheeks flushed, then she shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you. I know you’re busy.” She quickly grabbed the papers, put them back in the folder, and slid it over to him. “This is all ready to go.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow night, then.” He leaned down, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and froze.

Oh, shit. What had he done?

Naomi froze, staring up at him, mouth agape. Before she could say anything or freak out—more than he already was—he turned and hurried out the door.

That was a big mistake. A huge fucking mistake. He needed a beer and something to distract himself with. Now.

12

NAOMI

He’d kissed her forehead. She couldn’t remember anyone ever doing that except her mother when she was young. So why did it make her skin tingle and her body feel warm, even a few days later?

She’d thought about it over and over. It was an uncomfortable feeling. Well, not in a bad way. More unexpected, and it made her wonder if she was losing her mind.

Her brain kept turning over questions about what it could mean. Or did it even mean anything at all? Why was she getting so worked up over a kiss on the forehead? Hell, he practically ran out of there afterward.

Was he worried she would read too much into it?

Of course he was. And here you are doing that very thing.

She pushed that thought from her mind and forced herself to focus on what she was doing. Tonight was the night she would work at Rogue’s shop to complete the weekly paperwork. Not that there would be much since they closed the shop once Esme had her baby.

There had been a lot of commotion around the grounds in the last few days, so she’d tried to stay out of the way as much as possible. The twins, however, had taken it upon themselves to visit with her and play with Asher as much as possible, keeping her updated on all the goings-on. She appreciated the company and the break from trying to keep Asher entertained.

Which is how she already knew Esme had a little boy they named Jett, and how she nearly broke Fury’s hand during labor when he dared to remind her she wanted to do everything without an epidural.

After only being around Esme a handful of times, she’d gotten the impression he was lucky she hadn’t torn it clean off. Or worse. The woman was fierce. And if she wasn’t mistaken, when Fury came home to pick up a couple of things, he’d been very gingerly using his right hand for everything.

Karissa, on the other hand, was enjoying the hell out of the entire situation. Well, mostly. The morning after she got back, she made a point of finding Razor and telling him she’d never have a kid. If he brought it up to her again while all of that was fresh in her mind, she’d hurt more than his hand. Razor, smartly, never said a word.