Inked in the Steel City Series (23 page)

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Karen fought the instinctive urge to turn and face Jed as he approached the table and sank back down in his chair. Where had he been? She was so hyper-aware of his presence – or lack thereof – that she noticed when he was gone. He hadn’t been at the table when she’d returned a few minutes ago.

Tyler elbowed Jed, grinning. “Beer not good enough for ya?”

What did that mean?

Jed smiled a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes and shook his head.

“Lay off him,” James said. “It’s his birthday. Matter of fact, I think we should order a round of shots for the whole table.”

Jed frowned. “There are kids here. Take it easy.”

“Easy for you to say,” James muttered. “Are we taking turns sneaking to the bar?”

Karen eyed the bar at the other side of the restaurant. If Jed had stopped by for a drink, she couldn’t blame him – not when she was already craving another one in the wake of the lemonade cocktail she’d recently finished. Being around Jed put her nerves on edge in a bittersweet way, and it would be nice to have something to take the edge off. Then again…

She’d blurted out her crush-confession to Mina after having half a bottle of champagne. Maybe she should resist the urge to soak her nerves in alcohol – who knew what she’d say to Jed’s face if she overindulged.

“You were right about the lemonade,” Abby said, rattling the ice left in the bottom of her drained glass. “It’s amazing. Should I ask the waitress for two more?”

“Uh…” Well, she could always sip her next drink slowly. Very slowly.

But she didn’t. The straw was making slurping sounds as she pushed it to the very bottom of the ice by the time Mina stood up at one end of the table and announced that she had a gift for Karen.

“You really didn’t have to,” Karen said, accepting the beautifully wrapped box Mina handed her.

“Of course I did,” Mina replied with a smile.

Karen untied an artfully-curled white ribbon and tore the golden wrapping paper, revealing a plain white box. When she lifted the lid, something green-grey peeked from beneath layers of tissue paper. It was soft between her fingertips as she lifted it from the box.

“Wow, Mina, this is beautiful.” It was a summertime sweater – an airy knit with short flutter sleeves, done in tones of dove grey, moss green and steely blue.

“I thought it would really bring out your eyes,” Mina said with a smile.

Karen gently lowered the sweater back into the box. Mina understood her style exactly. “I love it. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Happy twenty-fifth birthday.”

Abby said something about how the sweater would complement Karen’s hair, and Karen nodded, thanking her too as she reached automatically for her glass. Condensation cooled her fingers, at odds with the heat she could feel, the pressure of someone’s gaze.

Not just anyone’s gaze – Jed’s gaze. She could feel it. It shouldn’t have mattered – everyone had watched her open the gift, after all. But she couldn’t help noticing.

“Hey Jed, we’ve got a gift for you too,” Tyler announced, alleviating the silence.

Mina watched as Tyler waved an arm, grinning.

As if on cue, the waitress appeared, carrying a tray laden with shot glasses.

“I hereby declare that
everyone
must take a shot in honor of the birthday boy,” Tyler announced. He shot a quick sideways glance at Jess and her boyfriend, Blake. “Everyone of age, I mean.”

Jess and Blake were so lost in their own little world that they hardly seemed to notice the waitress lowering the glasses onto the table. Ah, young love. Karen couldn’t help but smile when she looked at the two of them. They’d been seeing each other ever since they’d attended the homecoming dance together months ago, and they were adorable.

“Hold on,” Jed said.

Karen raised her gaze, daring to look at him directly for the first time since she’d returned from the restroom. Was he really serious about not drinking in front of the kids – could he be about to send the drinks back?

For someone who looked like sin in rolled-up shirtsleeves, he was surprisingly conservative.

But he didn’t say anything to the waitress. Instead, he looked directly into Karen’s eyes. “I have a gift for Karen, too.”

Karen’s heart launched itself into a series of cartwheels. He had a gift for her? Seriously?

He reached under his chair and retrieved a giftwrapped box a third of the size of the one Mina had given her. It was wrapped too, in teal paper, no ribbon. She willed her hand to stay steady as she reached across the table, accepting it.

Jed’s fingertips brushed hers, sparking an electric sensation that raced throughout her entire body. “Thanks. You really didn’t have to get me anything. I…” She hadn’t gotten him a gift. She hadn’t dared, even after she’d discovered that he shared her birthday.

She broke eye contact, staring intently at the gift instead as she peeled back the wrapping paper. Even it was masculine – the deep blue-green color suited Jed. Heck, the same color was visible on his skin, in some places – all sorts of colors were, thanks to his tattoos.

After divesting the box of its wrappings, she lifted its lid, revealing something blue. A soft shade of blue – a lot like the blue in her new sweater, actually – with golden embellishments.

It was a camera strap. She lifted it, unfolded it and ran it through her fingers. It was sturdy but beautiful, definitely not cheap. She’d admired some like it online just the week before, but hadn’t been able to bring herself to shell out the cash. A little tag near one end confirmed that it was the trendy brand she’d been lusting after. The little golden fleur-de-lis designs that had been embroidered onto the strap looked even better in person than they had online.

“Wow, Jed. This is beautiful. I’ll definitely use it.”

Every. Single. Day. She’d use it even if she didn’t need it, and not just because it was so pretty.

“But you know, you really didn’t have to get me anything. Now I feel bad that I didn’t get you a gift.”

He shrugged, his broad shoulders straining the dark fabric of his ridiculously sexy shirt. “Don’t worry about it. I wanted to get you something – you’ve done so much for Hot Ink. You deserve a gift.” He motioned toward the camera strap. “You deserve a lot more than that, actually, but I saw it in a camera shop and thought it would look nice on you.”

Her cheeks burst into figurative flame as he held her gaze, eyes dark and more intense than his casual shrug.

“Thank you.” For once, she didn’t ramble or babble. No other words came as she lowered the strap back into its box, carefully replacing the tissue paper.

Time flew after that – each moment Karen spent trying not to stare at Jed seemed to take forever, but when she slipped up and caught his eye, the evening seemed to melt away in fleeting hours instead of minutes.

Eventually Mina and Eric rose to leave, along with Jess and Blake, saying something about the kids having some sort of extracurricular weekend trip related to their school’s art club starting the next morning.

Karen nodded, smiled, hugged Mina and thanked her again for the sweater, butterflies fluttering in the pit of her stomach all the while. Jed wasn’t making any move to leave, and neither were the others from Hot Ink. In fact, they’d just ordered another round of drinks.

“Have a great rest of the night,” Mina whispered in Karen’s ear, leaning back with the tiniest of winks.

“You’ve gotten downright evil lately, you know that?” Karen whispered back, careful to keep her voice low. “I can’t believe you’re leaving me.”

“Eric and I both volunteered to chaperone the art club’s summertime weekend trip, and that means getting up at five tomorrow morning. Obviously, the others aren’t ready to call it a night yet. You’ll have fun without us – you’re among friends.”

“They’re your co-workers, not mine. I don’t know any of the others half as well as I know Jed.”

Mina’s smile broadened. “So talk to Jed. See you, Karen. I’ll give you a call and let you know how the trip goes.”

“You do that,” Karen said, fighting a fit of nervous laughter as she watched her friend leave, waving until she could no longer do so without looking like a weirdo.

Cheeks still blazing, she finally turned around.

“For the birthday girl.” Abby pressed a shot glass into Karen’s hand.

“What is it?” Karen asked, staring down into the shallow depths of the shot glass. A furtive glance around the table revealed several sets of hands clutching the little cups, all of them full of the same greenish mixture.

“It’s a kamikaze. You’ll like it. Come on!” She thrust a hand into the air, raising her own glass.

Karen shot a sideways glance at the empty glasses crowding the space in front of her and Abby and noticed for the first time that Abby had already knocked back several of the potent lemonades Nate the bartender considered his specialty.

Karen had been too busy worrying about Jed to notice. Fortunately, she’d also been too busy to order another drink. She’d had two lemonades, but the first had been almost two hours ago, and she’d had a big meal. She could afford to have a shot with the group. Maybe it would do her good – Jed’s gift had sharpened the edge on her nerves considerably.

She drained her shot glass along with the others, on Abby’s count.

It wasn’t bad. Her lips burned a little in the wake of it, and she focused on the sensation as she paid way too much attention to her empty glass.

“What’d you think?” Abby’s glass clinked loudly against the table top as she set it down.

“Not bad,” Karen said, looking up to smile at Abby and catching Jed’s eye.

“We should do another round!” Abby declared, and Tyler agreed, high-fiving her.

Oh, boy. The Hot Ink staff seemed a lot rowdier after dark and away from the studio than they did at work. Was this how they released the tension of having to concentrate so intently on their art all day? All of them except Jed … he was still sitting calmly, and was probably the only other person at the table besides Karen whose head wasn’t spinning.

He smiled a faint half-smile. “You look a little flushed. You don’t have to let Abby ply you with shots if you don’t want to.”

Karen laughed as Abby whirled around from her conversation with Tyler, her expression indignant. “Of course she wants to. It’s her birthday! And it’s yours too, Jed. When are you going to lighten up?”

Jed just smiled and shook his head. “Someone has to open up the shop tomorrow.”

Abby groaned. “Holy crap, Jed. James can handle that for once! Live a little.”

James, who was halfway through what looked like one of Nate’s lethal Long Island Iced Teas, looked utterly hapless.

The next hour sped by in a blur of shots and cocktails, most of which were imbibed by Abby, Tyler and James. Karen took a tentative sip of a lemonade Abby had ordered for her, then left it barely-touched when she glanced at her phone and saw that it was approaching midnight.

“I’m going to get going, guys.” Her grandmother was taking her to a birthday brunch at her favorite winery, not far from the city, the next morning. The last thing she wanted was to show up red-eyed and drowsy.

“I should head out too,” Jed said, flattening his hands on the table and pushing back his chair. “I don’t think I trust any of you three to open up shop tomorrow, and I’ve got a session scheduled for noon, anyway. I’ll leave cash for my bill – make sure the waitress gets it, and tell her to keep the change.”