Into The Fire (34 page)

“Yeah?” He looked down at me with affection
in his eyes.

“Best guy I know.”

Fondness burned in his eyes but then he
quickly dropped it and returned to his typical ways. “Best guy in
bed you know, you mean.”

I rolled my eyes because I knew the moment
was over. “So, do you have a first customer?”

He looked around the empty shop. “Not
yet.”

“Well…what about me?”

His eyes narrowed on my face like he didn’t
understand what I said. “What about you?”

“What if I were your first customer?”

The excitement crept into his face. “You’re
being serious right now?”

I smiled in response.

“Don’t mess with me, baby. You can’t tease me
like that.” He squirmed like he was on fire.

“I’m not messing with you.”

“You want some ink?” he asked. “Shit, you’d
look so damn hot.”

“Not ink.”

“Then what?” he asked in surprise.

“Umm…” I looked down at my waist. “I was
thinking of a piercing.”

“Shut. Up.” He held up his hand to me. “You
want a clit piercing?”

I shrugged. “Maybe…”

He slammed his hand on the counter then
jumped on it. He did a quick dance before he hopped back down.
“That would be hot as hell. Let’s do it.”

I chuckled at his excitement. “I know you’ll
do a good job.”

“Baby, you’re going to love it. So sexy.”

“I’m sure I will.”

“And then we’ll get you some ink.”

“Well…let’s start with this first.”

Ash rubbed his hands together greedily.
“Let’s get this started.” He grabbed my hand and yanked me into the
back room. He prepped me then got his equipment ready.

I lay on the table and felt a little
nervous.

“It’ll barely hurt,” Ash said. “Trust me.”
His hand moved to the area between my legs and massaged it
gently.

“Do you do this to all the girls?”

“Why?” He smirked. “Jealous?”

“Yes.” I didn’t hide it anymore.

“I used to—not anymore.” He kissed the area
and made me relax more. “You know what? I think you’re my soul
mate.”

“What?” I blurted it out in a negative way.
“How do you figure?”

“Because you’re piercing your clit.”

“By that logic, every girl with a pierced
clit is your soul mate.”

“But you’re doing this for me.” He held my
gaze as he said it. “And that’s what makes it different.”

My eyes softened even though this was hardly
romantic.

“You’ve turned me into a huge pussy but I
like it. I’d never thought I’d say that.”

“Neither did I.”

“Spending my life with just one person always
sounded lame. Why the hell would anyone want to do that? But now I
get it. I have someone that will do the craziest things just to
make me happy. And I would do anything to make her happy.” He
averted his gaze for a moment. “I’m not good at expressing
myself…I’m not even sure what I’m trying to say.”

My hand moved to his. “I am.”

“Yeah?” he asked quietly.

“You love me.”

He smiled slightly. “I do.”

“And I love you too.”

EPILOGUE

Ash

The shop was saturated with people. Bodies
filled the lobby, and I had to turn down the music because the
noise was becoming too much. The calendar was filled with
appointments but people continued walking in, hoping they would
squeeze in.

“I’m sorry,” Alessandra said. “There’s just
no availability today.”

“Come on,” the guy said behind the counter.
“Help me out. I need this done before a show next week.”

Alessandra looked at the calendar again.
“We’re totally booked. I’m not yanking your chain.”

He sighed then glanced at her hands on the
counter. “Your husband lets you front a place like this? If you
were mine, you’d be at home waiting for me every day.”

Did this fucker want to die?

“Flattery isn’t going to get you an
appointment. Actually, it might get you killed.”

“That’s not why I said it. There are other
shops in the city. But there’s only one you.”

Enough of that
. I was used to men
hitting on Alessandra left and right. I tried not to let it get to
me because I honestly couldn’t blame them. But it pissed me off
anyway. I approached the counter beside Alessandra and looked down
at him.

“Oh no,” Alessandra whispered under her
breath.

“Lay off my wife.” I stared him down with
malcontent.

He stiffened like he’d just been stabbed.
“Your wife?”

“Unless you want to die, of course.” A tattoo
of a wedding ring was on my left finger. Jewelry wasn’t my thing
unless it was pierced into my skin.

“Sorry, I didn’t know…” He backed away.

“That she was married?” I asked
incredulously. “Yes, you did, motherfucker.”

Alessandra rested her hand on mine. “Keep
calm. People are in here.”

The guy headed to the door. “I’m gonna
go…”

“He’s lucky I don’t keep my gun here.” My
eyes followed him until he was completely out of sight.

Alessandra balanced on her tiptoes and gave
me a kiss. “Don’t let him bother you. You have an appointment in
room three.”

I released a quiet growl. “I’m going to get
you a sandwich board that says you’re mine and make you ring a bell
so everyone will see it.”

She rolled her eyes. “Go, Ash.”

I crushed my mouth to hers and gave her a
hard kiss before I finally walked away.

***

The shop finally closed and it was time to go
home. Alessandra and I were usually there from nine to five during
the week. On the weekends, we had the employees take care of
it.

After wiping everything down and sanitizing
the equipment, everyone else left and I took care of the money and
the safe.

“Long day, huh?” Alessandra asked from behind
me.

“It really was.” I locked the safe then threw
the receipts on the desk. “I’m ready for dinner.”

“Me too. But there’s something I want to do
before we leave.”

I eyed the desk. “You want me to bend you
over? I’d love to.”

She didn’t bother rolling her eyes. She
walked into one of the piercing rooms then undressed herself.

“You want to have sex in the chair?” I asked.
“That’s fine by me. Lay on your stomach and I’ll give it to you
deep.”

She removed her clothes then lay on her
back.

“That’s great too,” I said. “I love watching
you come anyway.”

“No,” she said calmly. “I want you to remove
my clit piercing.”

“What?”
Was she trying to kill me?
“Why?”

“Sit down and I’ll tell you.”

I dropped into the stool then rolled toward
her. “You love that thing. Why would you want to get rid of it?”
Was she crazy? That thing gave her so much pleasure in bed. If I
just blew on it, she writhed and screamed.

“Ash.” She grabbed my hand and rubbed her
thumb over the knuckles. There was joy in her eyes, not anger or
pain. Excitement brewed deep inside, and it seemed like it would
explode at a moment’s notice.

What was going on here? Why was she so
excited to have her piercing removed? Did she not realize it would
be a little painful? Did she want me to pierce something else
instead? Or maybe get some ink? “What’s up, baby?”

She took a deep breath before she spoke. “I
need you to take it out because…I’m having a baby.”

Of all the things I expected her to say, that
wasn’t it. My jaw automatically unhinged and I couldn’t wipe away
my surprise. Before we got married, I didn’t want kids. But now
that I’d spent two amazing years with her, it didn’t sound so bad.
But when she told me she was having my baby, indescribable
happiness flushed through me. My eyes even watered. “What?”

“I’m only a month along…” She moved my hand
to her stomach. “But he’s in there.”

My hand took up her entire stomach. I tried
to feel for kicking or a heartbeat. In a few months, she would be
bigger and rounder. My family would begin. I’d be a father.

“Ash?” Her smile faded at the look on my
face.

I came back to reality. “Baby, I’m so damn
happy.” I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her stomach.

She breathed a sigh of relief at my reaction.
“I knew you would be.”

I returned my hand to her stomach and stared
into her eyes. “I’m just a bit surprised.”

“Why?” she asked. “I’m a cream queen,
right?”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you are.” I loved
the glow on her face. She was so excited for this baby, for the
baby I made with her. It was beautiful in a way I couldn’t explain.
“I guess I will have to remove this piercing.”

“Yeah…but maybe you can give me something
somewhere else.”

“Yeah?” My eyes lightened in interest.

“Maybe some ink.”

I smiled because I had the most amazing wife
in the world. “Will you let me do the honors?”

“Let?” she asked. “You’re the only one I
would let do the honors.”

Acknowledgments

This book was hardly written in a day. It
took me a lot of plotting and research until I finally figured out
what I wanted to write about. I can’t count the number of times in
my life when I didn’t feel good enough for someone else. Maybe I’m
a little rough around the edges and I’m hard to understand, but
that doesn’t make me a bad person. Ash and I are two apples from
the same tree—but he’s much hotter and has a lot more ink.

I’d like to thank my fellow author, Aspen
Drake, for helping me so much with this book. In fact, you hated my
first draft and told me to completetely start over. At the time it
sucked, but this final product is a million times better. So, what
I’m trying to say is…you totally rock.

Thank You

I hoped you enjoyed reading
Into The Fire
as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did
love it, it would mean the world to me if you left a short review.
It’s the best kind of support you can give an author.

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Check out my next release,
Monday
.

Release Date: April 1
^st
, 2016

Preorder it now!

Monday

I don’t believe in destiny.

In fate.

Or in soul mates.

But I believe in Hawke.

My life has never been whole since my parents
left forever. I have my brother, someone I can barely tolerate most
of the time, and I have my best friend, Marie.

And I have myself.

But when Hawke walks into my life, there’s an
immediate connection. Our eyes lock and an unspoken conversation is
exchanged. For the first time in my life, I actually feel
something.

But he doesn’t.

He keeps me at arm’s length and pretends
there’s nothing between us when there clearly is. I’m not the kind
of girl to wait around for any guy, so I don’t.

But that doesn’t mean he isn’t in the back of
my mind.

Our paths cross again in a way neither one of
us expect and it changes everything. Was it destiny that made it
happen? Was it fate?

Another Day At The Office

Francesca

On my first day working at The Grind, a
coffee shop in Myrtle Beach, the constant sound of the running
blender gave me a headache. Just when it would stop spinning for a
damn second, it came on again. Taking orders from customers was a
hassle because I couldn’t understand a word they said. And just
when I raised my voice so they could understand me, the blender
shut off and I looked like a screaming lunatic.

But now that blender reminded me of
home.

I’d been working at The Grind for nearly
three years. It was a great college gig. It was flexible with my
class schedule, and when I wanted to blow off work for a party it
was easy to change shifts with another worker.

It wasn’t my dream job, but it was okay for
now.

The shop was dead that afternoon, so I opened
my jar of homemade batter and beat it with a spoon until it was
fluffy again. Then I poured it into the pan and shoved them it the
oven.

“What are you baking now?” Marie, my roommate
and best friend grabbed her apron and tied it around her waist. She
reeked of smoke, so I knew she lit one up in the back alley. I
tried getting her to quit a few times, but that just made it
worse.

“Apple cherry muffins.”