Skin Deep (4 page)

And then it happened. I should have known it.
I mean, I was thinking it in the back of my mind, but Allie’s my
best friend and even
I
would never have said it out loud.
Ever
.

Brandon pulled back, opened his mouth and
said, “Are you sure it was just a fudge bar you were sucking on?
I’m just sayin’…” he trailed off as he watched Allie’s eyes flash
fire and then took a step back.

I gasped at the same time I heard Luke groan,
“Oh, Brandon, no…” and then the resounding smack of a palm meeting
cheek in what I’ll term, “The Slap Heard ‘Round the World.” It was
loud
!

I opened my eyes, since I had squeezed them
tightly shut knowing what was coming, and watched as Brandon
reached up to grab his cheek, mumbling, “
FUCK
” under his
breath while Allie stood there shaking her hand. I looked over at
Luke and saw him standing with his head down, one hand covering his
eyes, the other rubbing the back of his neck.

He dropped his hands suddenly and glanced my
way. Our eyes caught and held and I wondered if it was getting hot
in there, or if it was just me? Even more confusing was the fact
that my panties had started to dampen suspiciously, but my cha-chi
hadn’t seen any action in so long, I figured the damn thing would
have been dry as the desert by now.

I started as Brandon cleared his throat and
softly said, “ I’m sorry, Allie. That was way out of line, and I
didn’t mean anything by it.” He cut his eyes down to hers and
continued, “Forgive me?”

Allie took a breath, nodded, and retorted,
“For future reference, if I had something much more interesting
than a fucking fudge bar in my mouth, I’d have said-”

I cleared my throat loudly, diverting the
disaster that I knew was headed out of Allie’s mouth.

“For further reference,” she said as if I
hadn’t just interrupted her, “if you want to question my
intelligence as to if I know the difference between something soft,
cold, creamy, and sweet versus hot, smooth, velvety and hard
pushing past my lips…” Allie trailed off as she sidled closer to
Brandon and smiled slyly up at him. “Then I assure you,
I
do
,” she whispered.

She reached up and ran her finger lightly
down the bridge of Brandon’s nose before sashaying towards the
door.

I felt the wall behind me and leaned back
against it for support, trying not to laugh at Brandon’s stunned
expression and the way he shifted uncomfortably and stared out the
door after Allie. My laughter died in my throat as I put my head
back against the wall, only to realize that the wall was
breathing…(Oh, God, not again…)

I turned my head slightly to the right and
found myself face to face with Luke, his lips curved slightly
upwards in a crooked smile. I froze for a second and then stepped
quickly away from him before I did the first thing that had popped
in my head, which was lick his lip where the silver hoop sat.

He reached out to steady me before saying,
“Well, that was interesting.” He looked at Brandon , who was still
standing there in stunned silence, before turning back to me and
asking, “so, you ready for your next tattoo?”

I gulped. “Uh…no, not quite, but thanks…” I
stuttered before turning to head out the door to see where Allie
had gone.

Before I got too far, strong fingers reached
out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me back to face Luke. I looked
down at my wrist where his fingers encircled my flesh before
letting my gaze roam upwards, taking in the thick, black lines of
ink swirled in an intricate tribal design on his forearm, before
disappearing under the sleeve of his long sleeved henley that he
had pushed up to his elbows. I noticed lines of script positioned
on the inside of his wrist but couldn’t make out what they
said.

I dipped my head to look closer at the lines
tattooed on his wrist but was stopped by his other hand as it came
up to lightly turn my face up to his. I blinked at the heat in his
eyes.

A small smile started to quirk Luke’s lips
again as he said, “Dinner. Tonight. Say, seven o’clock?”

Huh? He was asking me out? Ohmigod, ohmigod,
ohmigod…this can’t be happening.

I managed to swallow the lump that had formed
in my throat (barely) and managed to squeak, “Okay…yeah. Seven. Are
you sure? I mean, you must be awfully busy…”

“Emma. I’m sure.” Luke’s smile grew wider as
he took in the glazed look in my eyes.

He released my wrist and twined his fingers
through mine instead, then pulled me out into the hall, walking
toward the lobby. Allie was no where in sight, so I assumed she had
already gone out to the car.

When we got to the front door, I turned to
Luke and opened my mouth to protest that dinner wasn’t necessary,
but before I got a word out, he placed a finger gently over my
lips, effectively shutting me up for the moment.

“Dinner. Seven. I’ll pick you up. Where do
you live?” Luke murmured.

I gave him my address, flushing as he tucked
a stray strand of hair behind my ear, and walked out into the
sunshine where Allie was waiting in my car.

When I got in the car, Allie turned to me
expectantly and asked, “What the hell took so long? You’re gonna be
late getting back to work!”

Glancing at my watch, I groaned before
putting the car in drive and tearing off towards Allie’s house to
drop her off and make a mad dash back to the office. As I drove, I
filled Allie in with the unbelievable details of what happened
after she left.

“Aiiyeeeee!” Allie screamed excitedly. “I
cant believe he asked you out! Where are you going, what are you
going to wear, are you gonna finally get some?” The questions came
fast off Allie’s tongue.

“Me, either, I don’t know, clothes, I guess,
and HELL NO!” I replied. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact
that Luke had even asked me out, let alone the thought of getting
naked with him. Hell, one hour with me during dinner might render
him comatose from boredom, and then I’d be stuck doing all the
work. Not that that’s not how its always been with the douche bags
I’ve dated in the past. Let’s just say that none of them have ever
tickled me pink in the bedroom department.

I pulled up outside Allie’s house and as she
opened the door to get out she said, “Call me with the details as
soon as you get home. That’s an order, Jensen.” Sheesh.

I pulled away and headed back to the office,
praying to anyone who might be listening to have mercy on me and
not let me get pulled over.

Once I got back to the office, I didn’t have
much time to think about my date with Luke. The phone rang off the
hook, I had about a million files to put away, and Floyd had been
busy; he had dictated three tapes for me to transcribe.

At five o’clock I pushed back from my desk,
pulled files for the next day, and locked up the office. I headed
home to get ready, my nerves starting to show themselves in full
force.

Chapter 4

By quarter after six, I was putting the
finishing touches on my makeup. My hair was twisted up into a messy
chignon, and I was wearing a soft, black, fitted cowl neck sweater
over my charcoal grey skinny jeans that were tucked down into my
knee high, cuffed, black suede boots with a stacked heel. (I
finally settled on these after trying on all sixteen other pairs of
boots that I own. What can I say? I have a shoe fetish, and you
don’t even wanna know how many pairs of shoes I have on top of
those sixteen pairs of boots. Its ridiculous; I need rehab.)

By six-thirty I was sitting on the edge of my
oversized, overstuffed armchair, anxiously watching the seconds
tick by. My eyes were getting heavy from staring at the clock and I
closed them briefly. Or not so briefly…

The chime of the doorbell pulled me from my
dream. Blinking my eyes against the light from the lamp on the
table beside my chair, I shook my head to clear it. Uh oh. It
clicked in my head as to why someone was ringing my doorbell and I
jumped out of the chair, frantically smoothing my clothes and
patting my hair back into place.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door. My
knees went weak at the sight of Luke standing there smiling at me.
He looked even more delicious than ever in a dark grey button down
shirt emblazoned with a gothic looking cross on the right side. It
clung to him, hanging untucked over dark rinse jeans, and he wore
black leather boots on his feet. Yum.

I leaned against the door jam, softly
breathing, “Hey.”

His smile grew. “Hey,” he said in that deep,
rich voice of his, making my insides flutter. He started grinning
at me as he raised his hand to gently trace the side of my
face.

“Were you sleeping?” he asked.

I blinked. “Umm…yeah. Sorry, I dozed off
waiting…” Wait. How did he know?

I told him to come in as I turned to look in
the mirror hanging on the wall over my sideboard table. Face. Palm.
The whole side of my face was flushed and creased with the imprint
of my sweater sleeve. I closed my eyes and wished that the floor
would open up and swallow me down.

“Are you ready?” Luke asked from behind
me.

“Yeah, let’s go,” I replied. Hopefully the
imprint would be off my face before we got wherever we were
going.

I grabbed my purse, turned out the lights,
and walked out the door, checking the lock behind me. Luke grabbed
my hand and held it as we walked out to his car.

Now, I’m not real knowledgeable about cars. I
can’t look at one driving down the road in the middle of the night
and tell you what kind it is just by the headlights shining in your
face, like some of those fanatics out there can. But I can tell
when someone has a nice car. And Luke’s car was
NICE
. As in,
new Camaro ZL1, midnight black with cherry red pinstripes nice.
Wow.

I nodded in appreciation at the car and
smiled up at Luke. He grinned back and opened my door for me,
waiting until I was safely ensconced before shutting the door and
coming around to the driver side.

“Manny’s okay?” he asked.

I nodded in assent, trying not to drool on
myself. Manny’s was my favorite restaurant in town and served the
best authentic Italian food around. You can order food to be served
family style, but I’ve never had it that way. I’m very protective
over my Manny’s; in fact, my brother tried to steal a piece of
chicken from my fettuccini alfredo one night at dinner. Note the
key word, tried. Didn’t work, ‘cause I bit him.

We pulled up to the restaurant and parked.
Before I could even get my seatbelt off, Luke was out of the car
and holding my door open for me, reaching in to take my hand and
help me from the car. Well whaddaya know? Smoking hot and
chivalrous to boot!

Apparently, Luke was well known here as he
was greeted by name and we were led immediately to a secluded
corner booth. Luke ordered a bottle of wine for us to have with
dinner and then, after giving our menu choices to the waiter, we
were alone.

“How’s your tattoo doing?” Luke asked. “Do
you like it?”

“Yes, thank you. I really do. I wasn’t really
sure that I would ever be one to join the ranks of the tattooed,
but I’m glad I did it. You did a really good job.” I replied.

He inquired about what I did for a living, so
I told him the glamorous details of being a legal secretary before
asking, “So how long have you been tattooing?”

“I started when I was twenty, so its been
about twelve years. I’ve been drawing almost all my life. Drew
something out that I decided I wanted inked on myself. I got my
first tattoo when I was eighteen. Took my own work down to the shop
to show them what I wanted. Guy running the place said I had a good
eye, wanted to see more of my work. I came back the next day with
my sketch pad and the rest was history. He helped me with the
classes I was required to take, let me do my apprenticeship with
him, helped me get my license, and there you have it. Three years
after that, Brandon decided that’s what he wanted to do, too, so
Lenny took him on as well.” Luke’s voice trailed off after that and
he got a faraway look in his eyes.

“It was almost six years to the day of when I
walked into that shop for the first time that I got the call that
Lenny had died from a heart attack. Didn’t have any children, but
he did have a wife. Jude.” Luke smiled. “She was hell on wheels but
loved us as if we were her own. She asked me and Brandon to meet
her at the shop, and when we did, she handed us the keys, kissed
our cheeks, and told us Skin Deep was ours now.”

Luke caught my eyes and smiled ruefully
before saying, “Then she told us that if we didn’t do right by
Lenny’s shop she’d kick our asses and then sic Lenny’s ghost on
us.”

I smiled back at him and said, “Well, it
seems like you and Brandon are making it work. I’m sure Lenny would
be proud!”

The waiter arrived at our table then with our
entrées, and the conversation lulled as we ate. I forked up a bite
of my (what else?) fettuccini alfredo with grilled chicken and
groaned uncontrollably with appreciation at the perfect harmony of
creamy, cheesy sauce, succulent , juicy chicken, and firm but oh,
so tender pasta. Chewing slowly, my gaze met Luke’s as he stared at
me hungrily.

“Want to try a bite?” I asked him, hoping
that he’d say no. What? I told you I was greedy with my
Manny’s…

“No, thanks. Looks delicious, though. Want to
try mine?” he asked.

I looked over at his plate, eyeballing his
chicken marsala with appreciation. I decided I’d better not go
there. “No, thanks. But I’ve had that here before, and its kick
ass.”

The waiter came and switched out our basket
of garlic bread for a warm one, but neither of us reached for them.
I, for one, didn’t want to ruin my chances of a good night kiss
with garlic breath.

We didn’t talk much while we finished eating.
The waiter came back to clear the table and ask if we wanted
dessert. Without waiting for Luke to reply, I jumped in and ordered
my favorite black tie mousse cake, which is absolutely like an
orgasm for your taste buds. We’re talking, rich, moist dark
chocolate cake, creamy, smooth chocolate mousse and vanilla
custard, and then decadent chocolate swirl icing with mini
chocolate chips. Gah! I’m drooling…