Dante's Way (27 page)

“I can’t believe this,” Ceanna snapped, storming away from him. She grabbed her portfolio off the manger’s desk, but it slipped from her hands causing all of her drawings to fly everywhere.

“Here let me help you,” Griffin said, heading over to her.

He didn’t mean for his rejection to cause her so much trouble. He bent down to help her, but Ceanna held her up hand stopping him. “No, I got this.”

“Fine, I’ll let you get it yourself and then you can get out of my tattoo shop,” Griffin said, taking a step back from her. He couldn’t wait until Ceanna was out the front door. He was too busy to be dealing with her attitude. Picking up the last of the papers, she shoved them back inside. Standing up, she held the binder against her chest. “You don’t know what a mistake you’re making. I’m a damn good tattoo artist and you just lost out on hiring me.” Ceanna stormed past him and went out the door.

“Who in the world was she and what did you do to piss her off? She was mad as hell at you.”

Pivoting, Griffin found Dante standing behind him looking at the front door and then back at him. “Ceanna Gibson. She wanted me to hire her as a tattoo artist and when I told her no way, she got upset then stormed out of here.”

“She can do tattoos?” Dante asked, walking up to him. “She doesn’t look like she has the gift, but something more than that had to happen between the two of you. She looked ready to take your head off.”

Griffin couldn’t believe Dante was riding him like this. Why did he care if he hired Ceanna Gibson or not? It was his call now what went on here at the shop, not Dante’s.

“Ms. Gibson wanted me to check out her portfolio and when I turned her down she got upset,” he answered.

“Why didn’t you look at it? What would it have hurt to have done it for her?”

“It would have been a waste of my time. Besides, I thought she was here for the interview. Now, I’m beginning to think she might have been the one to answer the ad only to get in here to see me since other tattoo shops had already sent her away,” Griffin said. “It wasn’t very professional for her to come here under false pretenses asking for a job.”

“If you say so,” Dante answered, “but I thought it took some guts and I do have to give her some credit for that.”

Of course he would want to see the good side of this
, Griffin thought.

“Well, you can but I won’t. Anyways, you know how the guys are who come in here. They would have eaten her alive within twenty minutes.”

Dante grinned. “So, you did notice how attractive Ms. Gibson was.”

“Yes.... No, I didn’t notice anything,” Griffin lied.

“Sure you didn’t.” His buddy laughed, walking around him heading back for the back. “I’m going to call and check on Amara. Let me know when my first client gets here.”

Watching Dante walk away, Griffin frowned when Dante picked up some papers lying at the corner on the other side of the desk away from him. His buddy glanced at them and then his eyes swung over in his direction.

“Where did these drawings come from? Are they something you or Caleb has been working on?” he asked, holding up several sheets of paper.

“Damn, those belong to Ms. Gibson. She must have missed those lying there when she snatched up the other ones.”

“Did you really not glance at any of them before she left?”

“You know that I told you I haven’t looked at them. Why?” Griffin asked, wondering why Dante seemed so interested in them.

“Come over here and take a look,” Dante said, holding out the papers to him. “You’ll see what I’m talking about.”

“I don’t see what the big deal could be. I mean I’m not about to hire her to work here at
Inked
no matter how good her sketches might be,” he said going up to Dante.

He grabbed the papers out of Dante’s hand and glanced down at them. No way was this possible! He kept flipping through the drawings while his mind tried to process what he was seeing. It wasn’t possible the woman who had just stormed out of his business had done these tattoos.

“Can’t say anything,” Dante asked. “Do you see those? I mean I’ve never seen any tattoo work that clean before. She could charge almost three to four hundred dollars for either ones of those. How did you let someone that brilliant at doing tattoos walk out of the door?”

Griffin wasn’t listening to anything Dante had to tell him. All, he could think was finding Ceanna and getting her ass on the payroll. He hated to admit it, but he might have just made the stupidest mistake of his life.

Why did he laugh when she offered to show him her work? African American female body artists might be a small percentage here, but she would be able to build up a reputable client list with her talent and with having the
Inked
name behind her. One thing was for sure, if Dante could find Amara, Griffin knew he sure in the hell would be able to find Ceanna. Brushing past his partner, he headed back for his office. He had a lot to do in a short period of time. He couldn’t let anyone else hire her before he did.

“Hey, where are you doing?’ Dante hollered after him as he continued to put more distance between them.

“I’m going to find Ceanna. She could be what
Inked
has been waiting for and I’m not about to let anyone else snatch her up away from me.”

“How do you expect to find her in a place as big as Los Angeles?” Dante questioned.

“You seem to forget, once I put my mind to something I can find anyone on the internet. I will find something that will lead me to her,” he replied.

“What if you find her and she tells you to go to hell?”

“She already wanted a job from me, so why would she turn me down. It would be foolish decision on her part,” Griffin said, right before turning the corner that went back to his office.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Hours later after doing more than his share of tattoos, Dante relaxed in his kitchen with Amara while soft music played in the background. He couldn’t believe he was still feeling the high of being back in the shop today.

He fell right back into the routine like he hadn’t ever left it years ago. Everything was going so much better for him now and he had to think it came from the addition of Amara. She was the spark of bliss he had been searching for. His feelings for her were growing more with each passing day, so it was time for him to introduce her to the other people he cared about in his life.

“I feel bad for not taking you out to do something exciting like I promised this morning,” he said. “So, how about I make it up you tomorrow night? I want you to meet my friends at the pool tournament. I think it’s time we brought our relationship out into the open. I want to show off my beautiful girlfriend to everyone.”

Amara laid down the take-out menu on the kitchen table and stared at him. “What are you talking about?” she asked, shocked. “I’m not ready to get introduced to your friends. I haven’t done enough to be introduced as your girlfriend.”

Coming around the island, Dante pulled Amara up from the stool into his arms then kissed her on the forehead. He knew everyone would love her. What wasn’t there to like about her? She was beautiful, intelligent and spunky. He didn’t want to keep one part of his life separate from the other.

Amara was becoming important to him and he wanted to let his friends know that he might have found the one. In addition, he needed to show her now that she had him as her man. There was no longer any need for Mr. Lee, Liam or anyone else for that matter. He would take care of his woman the way his buddies did for their wives. She was his and it was time to show her off.

“Darling, you’ve nothing to be nervous about when it comes to my friends,” he assured her. “They are going to welcome you with open arms.”

Leaning back in the circle of his arms, Amara’s beautiful eyes held his. “Okay, how do I tell how we met each other? I mean I think it’s pretty funny now, but they may not feel the same way.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you worry way too much to be so young?” he teased. “Yes, we met a little unconventionally, but what is so bad about that? I think it actually makes a great story. You’re the woman in my life now and I wouldn’t give you away for anything. I’ll let you have all the hot wings and fries your heart desires.”

“So, I’m the woman in your life now? Are you sure about that? I could just be another flavor of the month for you until something else better comes along,” she teased.

Lowering his head, Dante brushed his mouth over Amara’s. He only had one flavor of the month and she was wrapped in his arms. “I do have a sweet tooth, but after tasting you I think you’ve ruined me for any other tasty treats but caramel chocolate. I can’t think about sampling anything else.”

Amara grinned then gave him a slow, wet kiss that had his cock going from a semi-erection into a full blown hard-on that he brushed against her stomach. He couldn’t get over how just being around her put him in a constant state of arousal.

“I don’t think so, big guy,” Amara laughed, stepping back from him. “We aren’t going to make love right now.”

“All right, what do you have I mind, beautiful?” he asked.

“It’s my turn to treat you since you’ve done so many things for me on our last couple of dates. So, can you leave the house for about an hour and come back?”

He couldn’t imagine what Amara had planned to do for him. “Does this little surprise of yours have anything to do with the bags you had with you when I picked you up tonight?”

“I’m not telling you anything. All I want to know is can you leave for an hour,” she asked, again.

There were a few things in town that he had to take care of. They would give Amara enough time to do what she wanted for him. He wasn’t used to receiving surprises, so he couldn’t wait to see what she was up to.

“Yeah, I think I can do something for an hour and come back here. Are you sure you won’t need my help with anything. What about Bear?” Dante asked, glancing at his dog lying by the patio door. “Will you be comfortable being here by yourself with him?”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Bear and I have come to an understanding. He doesn’t have a problem with me now which means you need to leave so I can get everything ready on time.”

“All right, I’m going,” he said.

Easing away from Amara, Dante grabbed his motorcycle keys off the counter and headed for the front door with her close at his heels. He stopped halfway there and spun back around causing her to run into his chest.

“Damn, I forgot something,” he complained, staring down into her eyes.

“What was it?”

“This,” he whispered, before capturing her mouth for a long, wet slow kiss that had Amara wrapping her arms around his shoulders and moaning into his mouth.

“Are you sure that you want me to leave?” he breathed against her swollen lips.

Taking her hand, he wrapped it around his erection. “We can make our own fun right here and right now that could last for more than an hour, sweetheart.”

Amara gave his erection a tight squeeze and eased her hand away much to his disappointment. He guessed a quickie before he left wasn’t going to happen no matter how much his body and mind wanted it.

“Dante, you are so bad. You know how hard it is for me to turn you down, but I really want to do this for you. I promise that you will love it.”

“I never had any doubt,” Dante said.

Turning on his heel, he continued the short distance to the door and opened it. “Don’t forget to lock this behind me,” he said before shutting it behind him.

Since Amara wanted him gone for a little while, now was as good of time as any to take care of his problem. Hopefully, it would go as smoothly as he hoped.

Standing outside on the porch, Dante waited until he heard the lock click before stepping off the porch and climbing on the back of his motorcycle then taking off down the driveway.

****

Walking around the recreation room, Dante watched while Pastor Allen cleaned it up after the weekly town meeting that was held there. He wasn’t planning on stopping at the shelter: however, since Amara wanted the house to herself, he decided now was the best time to talk to his friend without worrying about her walking in on them.

“Tell me again how excited Amara was about the job interview.” He had to make sure he had done the right thing and Pastor Allen still had his back about this.

“Dante, she was thrilled. I had never seen her that happy since she started staying here, but I think you should tell her the truth. I don’t like lying to her about who really got her this opportunity.”

“You aren’t lying to her in a sense. You did help out by giving me a list of people to contact for her. We both want the same thing for Amara. She needs to feel like she used to before her parents died and the circumstances that followed caused her to live on the streets.” Dante was trying his best not to feel guilty for his deceit, but he was doing it for her best interest.

“You know how she is. She’s way too independent to take help from us directly so that leaves you to do this for the both of us...for her. Do you want her back out there fighting off guys like Ike? I’ll tell her later, just not right now.”

“You could have gone to Mr. Lee and he would have jumped at the chance to help Amara. She thinks the world of him and they have a very special bond.”

“I bet they do,” Dante mumbled. “I’m not about to involve that man any deeper into her life than he already is. He’s already done enough for Amara. It’s time for him to take a step back in my opinion. I just don’t trust him. Amara is beautiful and he might want more than only friendship from my woman.”

“How dare you accuse Mr. Lee of something so untrue,” Pastor Allen snapped, shocking him. “I’ve known him for years and he would never look at Amara like that, ever.”

“Stop! I hear enough about him from Amara. I don’t need you to defend him to me also. Look, I need to be heading back home. Amara is fixing up a surprise for me and I don’t want to be late. I just had to stop by to make sure you didn’t tell her I had anything to do with her upcoming job interview.