“A rose? Where is that going?”
Eli hesitates. “On her ass.”
My eyebrows fly up. “You’re tattooing a woman’s ass?”
He grimaces. “Yes?”
“Why?”
He shrugs. “It’s where she wants it. Not really my taste, but the client is one of my regulars, so I didn’t want to say no.”
“Oh, so youregularlytattoo her ass?”
He snorts. “No, Em, I—” He pauses. “Are you jealous?”
“No,” I snap, glaring at him and crossing my arms in front of me like a child.Am I?
Before either of us can say anything else, a melodic voice calls out chirpily. “Eli!”
Eli pokes his head out the door and murmurs something I can’t make out before he’s opening it wide and in steps a woman who looks like she could be a model. But it’s not the way her small perky breasts sit perfectly in her crop top, or her denim shorts that barely contain her pert ass, that has me frozen. It’s her hair. Blonde. Bleached. But blonde, nonetheless.
She’s exactly Eli’s type to stalk.
Ice trickles down my spine.
Not from fear.
Fromdoubt.
What if I’m just a phase? What happens when he gets bored? Has he stalked her before? Is he still?
“Megan, this is Emily, my angel. Em, this is Megan, she’s my client today.”
“Hi.” I force a pinched smile, and a weak wave with my hand before it’s dropping down to grip my thigh.
“Hi Emily.” Megan returns my greeting before stripping outof her shorts until she’s standing in just a G-string, then lays herself down on the chair that’s now flat as a table.
Eli gets to work quickly. He uses a stencil to get the position correct, then starts up the gun.
It takes two hours, and the whole time I’m fixated on his hands touching her skin. My jealous thoughts drown out the sound of the needle.
“All done,” Eli states, moving away from Megan to clean up. He smoothes an ointment over her new ink after giving it a clean, then covers it in a bandage.
Megan doesn’t even ask to look at it. Just hops off the table, presses a kiss to Eli’s cheek, then disappears.
“Have you ever stalked her?” The question bursts from me the second we’re alone.
Eli startles. His brow furrows. “No, I haven’t.”
“But she’s blonde.”
Eli drops down in front of me, hands resting on my legs. “That’s a new development.”
“And the change doesn’t make you want to… stalk her?”
He drops his head in my lap. “Why would I want to follow anyone else when I have you?”
“But Jenny—”