Inked by an Angel (19 page)

“Muffet . . .”

She pulled open the door but turned back to him on her way out. “Well, while you’re working out the many
differences
between us, I’ve got one more for you.” Her eyes filled with tears as she heaved an erratic breath. “I’m in love with you, jerk.”

Two days later, Kyle sat at her desk at Gentry’s studio and wondered if it had all been a dream. But the faint bruises on her arms confirmed it had all been horribly real. She had indeed been in a terrible accident and was lucky to be alive. And she’d either been stupid enough or brave enough, depending upon how you looked at it, to tell Jed she was in love with him. The word around the studio was that he’d been discharged home from the hospital the day before, but he’d yet to come by work. Was he avoiding her? Or was he simply not up to it?

She glanced up as Michael strolled by whistling under his breath. He was such a dear, sweet,
angelic
man. Why couldn’t she fall in love with someone like him? Someone who wouldn’t break her heart at every turn?

She flinched when her cell phone rang loudly. She grabbed it and flipped it open without checking the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Hey, girl!” Bethany’s chipper voice sang out. “How’s it goin’? How was your trip?”

“Oh, hi.” Boy, it was nice to hear a friendly voice. “Well, the trip was good and bad.” Bethany obviously had no idea about the accident. She had to fill her in.

“Oh, my God! But you’re all right?”

“Yes. I was just a little banged up, but I’m good now.”

“Wow. And Jed?”

Kyle relived seeing him crunched into the backseat again momentarily and her heart stopped. Oh, how she wished she could just not love him. “He was hurt worse. His leg is broken and he had a pretty bad concussion. But they finally let him go home yesterday.”

“Poor guy. I’m glad it wasn’t worse.”

She closed her eyes. “Me, too.”

“Listen, Kyle. I think we need to get together and talk. I have some stuff to fill you in on, too. Are you free Monday night?”

The bell over the studio door rang and Kyle looked up. A nice-looking blond man walked in with a large case in his hand and smiled in Noble’s direction. She watched as he set down his burden and the two men shook hands.

“Kyle?” Bethany interrupted her inspection of the man.

“Uh, Monday? Yeah, sure. I think I can do that. What time?”

She heard Bethany flip some pages of paper, probably a little pocket calendar. “How about seven-thirty?”

“Sounds good. Meet at the bakery again?”

“Yup. I’ll save you some more goodies.”

“Of course.”

They hung up and Kyle’s gaze returned to the man with Noble. He was obviously not a customer, but he obviously fit in very well here. He was dressed casually in dress jeans and a button-down shirt, and she saw hints of tattoos peeking out behind the buttons on his chest and forearms.

He propped his case up on Noble’s workstation and opened the lock. He glanced her way and offered her an award-winning smile. “Hi,” he said in a deep, naturally gravelly voice, “you coming to check out the newest products in our lineup this year?”

“Excuse me?” she said as she rounded the desk and headed his way. His charm was irresistible.

Noble watched her approach with hooded, unreadable eyes.

He held out his hand, which she noticed was also tattooed across his fingers. “I’m Blaine Christianson with Toxic D’s. I don’t believe we’ve met before. Are you new here?” He studied her with gorgeous amber eyes and a kind, interested smile.

She accepted his handshake. “Sort of. I’m Kyle O’Neill.”

“Are you an artist? I’ve got some great new colors of Iron Butterfly here.”

He thought she was an artist? She was strangely flattered. But, she had no idea what an Iron Butterfly was. “Uh . . .”

Noble started rifling around in the case and pulled out some metal object for inspection. “She does numbers.”

Blaine propped his hands on his hips. “Really? You’re a CPA?”

“I am.”

He actually looked interested. She peeked over into his magical case of colors and curiosities. Fascinating. “What’s this?” she asked, picking up a strange piece.

Blaine smiled. “They use that for piercing things . . . like nipples.”

“Oh!” She dropped it back into the case and stepped back. Enough curiosity for her. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Christianson.”

“You, too. Kyle, is it?”

“Yes.” She turned to head back to her desk. She heard Blaine murmur something to Noble before he followed her.

“So listen, Kyle,” he began as she sat back down, “I was wondering. Do you work strictly for Gentry’s as their private employee? Are you freelance? What’s your gig, if you don’t mind me asking?”

She peered up at him. He was unlike anyone she’d ever met before. Like Jed on happy pills. “No, I don’t mind. I guess you could say I’m freelance, though I pretty much work exclusively here at Gentry’s. Why do you ask?”

He ran his hand through his short, well-groomed hair. “Well, it just so happens that we’re looking for someone at our local office.” He glanced around. “And you seem to be
uniquely
qualified having worked in the industry, so to speak. We’re a pretty casual office, but we have a large customer base, both locally and on the Internet, so you’d be responsible for quite a bit. I don’t think you’d be able to keep up your freelance work.” He shrugged. “If you’re ever interested, come on by and apply. Let ‘em know you talked to me.” He handed her a business card.

“Thanks. I’ll think about it.”

“You do that.” He offered her another charming smile then pivoted and strode back to show Noble some more products.

She booted up her computer and got to work. She was waiting on a few more documents for Jed’s audit, so she moved on to logging in Michael’s expenditures for latex gloves, cleansers, sterilizations products, needles, sharps containers, ink . . . oh, now she saw it! Iron Butterfly was a brand of ink. She smiled to herself. She supposed she was uniquely qualified.

She had learned over her time at Gentry’s to appreciate not only her own skills, but those of the artists around her and the customers with their many, many stories. Because they all had one when they put something indelibly on their bodies forever. This time out on her own had started out scary—petrifying, really—but it had become an adventure. And she’d ended up learning so much about herself. Primarily, that she
could
do it on her own. That her dreams were worth something. That
she
was worth something.

She looked up and caught Michael’s eye. And just like that, the decision was made. It was easy. She gave him a small smile and set about making the arrangements to sever all ties with Gentry’s for good.

Kyle went home with her head held high. Michael had made it hard on her with his begging and pleading, but in the end, she convinced him that it was best for her to move on. But he wouldn’t accept her apology.

“No need to be sorry, Miz O’Neill. You gotta do whatcha gotta do, I guess.” But he’d given her big, puppy dog eyes and she knew he didn’t mean it.

She’d made some calls and arranged for a temp to come in from an agency to help Michael and Jed with their books first thing Monday morning. Then she typed up a resignation letter for Jed. Well, three, actually, before she felt like she got it right. She didn’t want it to sound like she was running away from him. Which was only partly what she was doing. She needed to get away from the pain he was inflicting on her, true. But more importantly, she wanted this opportunity to spread her wings and take on another new challenge. She was ready.

Now, she let herself into her dark condo and sighed. She made her way to the kitchen, flipping on lights as she went. She checked her messages and there was one from her mother.

“Kyle, darling. Call me when you can.”
Click.

Nothing from Jed. Had she been hoping? Of course she had. She shook her head and reached for the phone as she opened the fridge and grabbed a carton of yogurt. She glanced at the time making sure it wasn’t too late before she dialed her mother back.

Her mother picked up. “Hello.”

“Hey, Mom. You called?”

“Yes. Your father and I just wanted to see how you were feeling. Is everything okay?”

Kyle licked the foil lid of her peach yogurt. “I’m fine.” Her mother would probably have a coronary if she knew she’d quit her job so she left that out.

“That’s good. How’s work?”

Kyle choked down a swallow. “Uh, you know, fine,” she lied. Having no job was pretty fine. Liberating, she decided. What her mother didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. “So, how are things at the firm?” she asked to distract her.

“Oh, fabulous!” Her mom latched onto that like a prized tuna. “Your father got that big Sanderson account.” She paused a beat. “And Charles is doing very well.”

She licked her spoon. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“He’s still not seeing anyone else. I think he’s holding out hope for you, Kyle.”

She rolled her eyes. “Mother, please. Charles and I are over. Done. Caput. You need to understand that there will be no country club wedding in my future. I’m sorry,” she added.

“But he loves you.”

“Really? He loves me?”

“Yes.” Her mother sounded adamant. Convinced. One hundred percent sure of herself.

Kyle threw her half empty yogurt container in the trashcan and plopped down onto a kitchen chair. “Then why didn’t he ever remember that I don’t like red meat? And why didn’t he ever introduce me to his friends? And why couldn’t he find it within himself to go to a movie that
I
would enjoy? Or buy me flowers? Or kiss me just because?” She found herself on a roll as she kept going, her voice getting higher and higher as tears started pricking her eyes. “Why is that, Mother? If he loved me so much?”

There was silence on the other end of the line. “Well, Kyle, I had no idea.”

Kyle heaved a breath and controlled the sob building in the back of her throat. It wasn’t Charles making her cry. It was herself. She had allowed him to treat her that way. And then she’d gone and fallen in love with another man who, though he might remember the little things about her, he couldn’t give her what she needed most. Himself.

She dabbed her eyes. “Why would you?”

“Maybe if you would just give him another chance? People can change, sweetie.”

“No, Mother.” She thought of Jed again. “I don’t think so.”

But, man, she would give anything if a leopard really could change its spots.

Kyle nervously tucked Blaine’s card back into her purse and studied the front door of Toxic D’s. She grabbed the fresh copy of her resume and stepped out of the car. She hoped he was serious about them having a job for her. She may have jumped ship at Gentry’s to save herself, but the rent still had to be paid.

She pressed down the wrinkles in her new black pencil skirt and silk wrap blouse, hoping they weren’t too much. Blaine had said it was a casual place, but she wanted to make a good impression when she applied for the job.

She got her bearings on her heels and moved toward the door. It looked to be a professional establishment by the brick and glass exterior. But there were hints of the eclectic staff members apparent in the diverse array of cars in the lot and the flyers decorating the windows. She glanced up at the trendy logo that hung above the door. Automatically her eyes swung left then right searching for a pizzeria or a daycare. Nothing but other office suites. She silently cursed and reminded herself where she was.

She took a breath and entered. She was greeted by a funky lobby full of color and texture and reggae music playing from a small radio. A young black woman with dreadlocks and a nose piercing smiled warmly at her from a small front desk.

“Hello. You here for the morning meeting?”

Kyle immediately felt comfortable and smiled back. “Uh, no.” She walked closer. “Blaine told me to come by? I was hoping to apply for an accounting position?”

The girl stood. “Perfect. Let me get Malachi for you. Would you like some coffee? Herbal tea?”

Kyle shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m fine.”

“Have a seat. Malachi will be with you soon.”

Kyle wandered the lobby for a minute before settling into one of the mismatched but comfortable chairs. She crossed her legs and tried not to fold up her resume while her hands searched for something to do with their nervous energy.

After several minutes, a man with a long, gray ponytail appeared in the doorway. “Hi. Are you here about the accounting position?”

Kyle jumped up. “Yes. That’s me.”

“Great. Follow me.” He seemed harmless and had a kind smile so she started to relax.

He held out his hand as they began to walk. “I’m Malachi Williams. Toxic D’s is my company.”

“Kyle O’Neill. Pleased to meet you.”

She followed him down the hall to his office, where he offered her a chair. His office was as eclectic as the rest of the place and filled with knick-knacks and incense. He propped his feet up on the desk and leaned back.

“So, Kyle—it’s okay if I call you that?”

“Absolutely. Please do.”

He nodded. “So, Kyle, Toni up front tells me Blaine sent you in?”

“Yes, sir. I met him at Gentry’s, where I was doing some freelance work.”

“Ah, Gentry’s. I have to say it’s refreshing when customers don’t rely solely on the Internet for their product and our companies can form relationships. They’re one of our best clients.” He tilted his head. “You don’t work there anymore?”

She looked down then back up quickly. “No.”

“So tell me a little something about yourself and why you’d like to work here.”

Kyle flinched. She wasn’t sure how to answer that. Wait a minute. Yes, she was. Her newfound self-confidence kicked in. “My father owns one of the biggest accounting firms in the city, sir. The O’Neill Accounting Firm? I could slide right into a position there if I chose. But I want something different for myself. Something with more freedom. More creativity. Something with people like you have here. And I thought this might be a better opportunity for me. If Blaine wasn’t misleading me, that is.”

He glanced down at her resume and studied it for a couple of minutes. He nodded, seemingly impressed, and looked back up at her. “No, Kyle, he wasn’t misleading you. You’re obviously a well-qualified CPA and you seem to be a perfect candidate. Can you start today?”

Kyle let herself into her condo later that night feeling perfectly content. She
loved
her new job! Everyone at Toxic D’s was so fantastic to work with, and Blaine hadn’t been lying about there being tons of clients and responsibilities for her to keep up with. It was a whole new world to do accounting for a company whose business was just as much Internet based as it was local sales based. But she was relishing the challenge.

She flipped off her cheap knock-off heels, promising herself she’d never wear anything but Louboutin’s again, and punched the button on her answering machine. “Hey, Miz O’Neill. It’s Michael. Just callin’ to say hello and I miss you. We all do.” Something crashed in the background before Jed began cursing a blue streak. “Anyway, come by anytime. Please. Bye.”
Click.

Unbidden, tears filled her eyes. Why couldn’t Jed just call her? Was her love so scary to him? Or did he just not want her
that
much? Either way, she wasn’t sorry she had told him. It was the truth and it was time he heard it. Let him deal with the fallout.

She turned and padded to her bedroom to get ready for her girls-night-out with Bethany just as her cell phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sis.”

“Bry! How are you?”

“I’m good. Great, actually. Listen, I’ve only got a minute, but I wanted you to be the first to know that I finally proposed and Daphne said yes.”

Kyle laughed. “That’s wonderful! Congratulations! I can’t wait to meet her. And her kiddo. A little girl, right?”

“Yes,” he said proudly. “Her daughter, Sabrina, is three. I guess she’ll be my daughter now, too.” The smile in his voice warmed her heart.

Kyle reached for the zipper on her skirt. “You lucky dog. I hope you got her a big, fat diamond.”

“I did pretty well, I think. She seemed happy.”

“Good boy.”

“So listen, we were also thinking of having a little family get-together to celebrate our engagement and introduce Daphne and Sabrina to the family officially in a couple weeks. Would you come? It would help ease things with Mom and Dad and make me feel better, plus she really wants to meet you, too.”

“Of course I’ll be there. Just let me know where and when. I can’t wait.”

“Sure thing. I love you, Kyle.”

Her heart melted. This is how it should’ve always been between them. “Love you, too.”

She hung up and finished getting ready with a grin on her face. Lucky, lucky Bryan.

An hour later, she pulled up to the bakery and found Bethany locking up. They agreed to drive down the street and meet at a little coffee shop.

“So,” Bethany smiled at her over the rim of her steaming coffee mug, “what’s new?”

Kyle swallowed her bite of biscotti. “I started a new job today.”

“A new job?” Bethany’s jaw dropped. “What happened at the tattoo place?”

“Nothing happened. I just found a better opportunity. And it’s really great.” She picked up her iced coffee and licked the whipped cream.

“So, that’s it?”

“What do you mean ‘that’s it?’”

“I mean, you were just in a horrible accident with that guy. Both of you could’ve died. And now you go and quit on him. That seems kinda strange.”

Kyle looked down and sipped her drink. She wondered how much to say out loud. She’d said enough already and look where it had gotten her.

“Kyle?” Bethany prodded.

She turned her eyes back up to her friend and took a breath. “I fell in love with him.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widened in shock. “
Oh.
And? Did you tell him?”

“Yes, I told him. And he shut me down. So I had to go for my own sake.”

Bethany reached over and took her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’ll be fine. I’m not the first girl with a broken heart. I won’t be the last. I really don’t want to talk about it. So,”—she let her hand go and grabbed her biscotti again—“what about you?”

Bethany flushed. “I’m good.”

She leaned in. “Good, how? Work good?” She studied her face. “
Guy
good?”

Bethany looked at her from under her lashes. “Both. Well, Uri quit at work.”

“Oh. That’s too bad. I think.”

She shrugged. “It’s fine. But mainly things are guy good. Things are going really great with Steve.”

Kyle grinned. “I’m so happy for you. He is such a nice guy! You just had to give him a chance.”

“I’m embarrassed now that I let his deafness hold me back.” Bethany bit her lip. “He’s been teaching me and Cody some sign language. And he’s a great kisser.” She took a deep breath. “He told me he loves me, Kyle.”

Kyle’s heart thumped with unwanted jealousy. “That’s wonderful, Bethany! How do you feel about him?”

“I’m not sure. I think I might love him. But sometimes I think about Cody’s father and it seems disloyal to be having these feelings for another man.” She wrapped her hands around her mug. “Oh, I don’t know, Kyle. What should I do?”

“Well, I’m not the one to tell you what to do, Bethany. But, I can tell you that if your husband truly loved you, he’d want you to be happy. He can’t be here with you and Cody anymore. Maybe he arranged for Steve to be with you to take his place somehow. Have you ever considered that?”

Bethany looked up with tears in her eyes. “No. Do you really think it’s possible? Do you think that there’s a God or angels or
someone
up there who cares enough to give us people to love?”

Kyle shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’d like to believe in the possibilities.”

Michael very nearly skipped this week’s AA meeting. Jed and Kyle were done for. Put a fork in ‘em. Things had been looking up, but somehow he’d royally screwed the pooch. Again.

Dejected, he pushed open the door and walked into the church basement. Nobody stopped and stared so he knew word hadn’t spread about his momentous failure. He slunk down into a seat in the back and tried to make himself invisible. Maybe it was time to ask Gabe about that transfer out of Love Detail. Halo polishing was looking better and better every day. He probably deserved Wing Plucking at the rate he was going.

Gabe took his spot at the podium once the doors were sealed and looked around the crowded room. “Good evening, Brothers and Sisters. I trust everyone’s had a blessed week?”

Everyone mumbled their agreement except for Michael. He crossed his ankle over his knee and dipped down as far into his chair as his girth would allow. Blasted human bodies and their limitations. Next time he would select a nice, lithe dancer’s physique or a midget or something. But the biker thing looked good for his current assignment and it had worked out pretty well. Until he wanted to be incognito.

“Michael?” Gabe’s golden gaze honed in on him.

“Yes, Gabe?”

“How was your week? Last time we were together Jedediah and Kyle had gone off for a private rendezvous? How did it go? Do you have an update for us?”

Michael began to sweat. “Uh, there was a setback. Maybe you can skip to someone else and I can fill you in later?”

Gabe tilted his head. “A setback?”

Several actually, but Michael didn’t want to elaborate, so he stuck with just the facts. “Yes. They were in a major accident on the way home from their trip. It’s a miracle they survived.”

There was a collective gasp throughout the room. “Oh, my, Michael,” Gabe looked sincerely concerned. “But they’re all right?”

Michael nodded. “Yes.” If you counted alive but not speaking, Kyle quitting, and Jed avoiding everyone as all right.

“Well, thank goodness.” He relaxed his face. “And, yes, we’ll talk later.”

Michael breathed a sigh of relief as the meeting continued without further incident and he wasn’t forced to give any details of Jed and Kyle’s romantic demise. He kept hoping and praying that some way to rectify the situation would present itself before he had to come clean. But how?

Gabe adjourned the meeting and everyone milled about cleaning up the chairs and chatting about their upcoming weeks with their human counterparts. Michael wanted to make a quick getaway, but was stopped when someone he recognized from the Messaging Brigade shot through the door with a golden envelope for Gabe that looked urgent. The shimmering light emanating from the edges of the parchment could only mean one thing. A decree from Father!

Gabe exchanged a few words with the harried-looking redhead, then ripped open the package and scanned the document. His eyebrows dipped down and he looked truly puzzled. Hushed murmurs began to filter through the room as everyone began to wonder what the papers were about. Things from Father didn’t come special courier via the Messaging Brigade too often. When they did, it was usually an emergency. But for Love Detail? What could be so all-fired important for a bunch of cupids?

Gabe glanced up and caught Michael’s eye. “Michael? May I speak with you privately for a moment? Everyone else, you may go. Goodnight.”

Michael felt his stomach seize. He’d been busted. Father had figured out his screw-up. Surely he wasn’t destined for a wing clipping and being cast down into darkness! He hadn’t been intentional in his failure. Maybe he was being thrown off the love squad. Oh no! Well, wait . . . maybe that would be for the best. He hesitantly followed Gabe to the far corner of the room where they took a seat. He studied the pattern on the floor, unable to meet his superior’s gaze.

“Well,” Gabe began after clearing his throat, the papers clenched in his hand, “I have to say this is highly unusual.”

“I know, Gabe. I’m really sorry.”

“Sorry? Why are you sorry?”

Michael looked up. This was confusing. Should he fess up to some sort of breach of duty? The Fifth Commandment, maybe? “Uh, well, I’m not sure?”