She shrugged a tiny shoulder. “What? It’s true, isn’t it?”
His arctic eyes landed back on me and the chagrin in them made me laugh out loud. “She’s from Brooklyn. None of us know where Uncle Phil found her and they refuse to tell us but she keeps the shop running like a well-oiled machine. Most of us wouldn’t know if we were coming or going without her.”
“I can stay up here and wait for you. I’m hungry, though, so you need to feed me when you’re done.”
He bent down and put his lips right next to my ear. “Oh, I’ll feed you when I’m done all right.”
A hot shiver shot through me so I gave him a heavy-lidded look. “Goody.” He kissed my cheek and made his way back to his waiting client. I shifted my gaze to Cora and blushed when I noticed she was grinning like a demented Cheshire Cat.
“So it’s like that, is it?”
I blinked and shifted from foot to foot. She grabbed my hand and pulled me around the counter, actually shoving me into another leather chair that was stashed back there.
“Like what?”
She swiveled her chair so we were facing each other and gave me a level look. “It’s like all hot and bothered but sweet and fuzzy, too. I didn’t know the asshat had any of that in him. You make him human.”
That was the second time she had mentioned something like that but I had to wait until she fielded a couple phone calls to question her about it. “What do you mean about that, exactly?”
“I’ve worked with Rule for the last five years. I was here when he and Nash started their internships right outta high school. Phil and I go way back so I’ve known the boys for a while. I adore Rule. I think it’s genetically impossible not to be kind of in love with him when you come equipped with a vagina. It’s just something about all that angsty, moody swagger he has that makes you want to cuddle him up and make him feel better.”
I knew exactly what she was talking about so I just nodded in agreement. “But he’s also arrogant and explosive, he treats women like crap because too many of them let him get away with it, and for a long time after his brother died I watched him just go through the motions of living his life. He came to work, he hung out with his boys, he gave me shit on a daily basis, and he screwed his way through the entire Front Range. But he was doing it all locked inside this bubble that none of us who loved him could get through. He was cold and unreachable but then all of a sudden there were cracks, and some of the old Rule was showing through. The robot version of himself he had been operating from for so long started to fade and the good ole human Rule was back, and I think it has to do with you.”
“That’s a really nice thing to say.”
“It’s not nice if it’s the truth. So tell me how a vanilla girl like you, all virgin skin and no piercings, gets into a guy like Rule. From first appearances I would never peg him as your type; you look more Brooks Brothers than Dickies if you know what I mean.”
I twirled a piece of hair around my finger and watched as she typed a bunch of stuff in the computer. She was freakishly efficient and fast and I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk about how sexy I found Rule with someone who already had intimate knowledge of my boyfriend’s junk.
“When he was sixteen he came home one day with an awful tattoo of a horseshoe and a shamrock on his forearm. Phil had given Nash a tattoo machine and some ink for his sixteenth birthday and instead of trying to learn on pigs or melons they decided that they would try to learn on each other. Both of them were always really gifted artistically. Nash was more into street art and graffiti-type stuff where Rule just fiddled around with it and happened to learn he had some real talent.
“Anyway, I was over at his house and I don’t know if you ever got a chance to meet Remy, but identical doesn’t even come close to how those two looked: the same eyes, the same dark hair, and the same innate sense that they were out-of-this-world good-looking. So Rule came home with that terrible tattoo and suddenly he was a new guy. He claimed his skin as his own, made the mark to define who he was and how he was different from Remy, and it was just beautiful how much he loved what changing his outer appearance did for his inner sense of self. He’s always been a babe, but when he started to customize the hotness it just made it better and better. Without all the tattoos and piercings he just wouldn’t be Rule.”
“And what about you? You’re not into any of it?”
“I don’t really know. I had really particular parents growing up and if I had come home with a tattoo or any kind of extreme piercing they would have grounded me until graduation, so I never even thought about it.”
“How old are you now?”
“I just turned twenty.”
“You still live at home?”
“Nope.”
“Then shouldn’t you be allowed to do whatever you want with your body without fear of their reaction?”
I sighed and swiveled my chair back and forth. “Yeah. I’ve actually been thinking about getting a little something done.”
“A tattoo? You know Rule would give you something beautiful, especially since he’s the one who would have to look at it all the time.”
We shared a laugh that had the guys in the shop looking at us curiously.
“No, I was thinking about getting my nipples pierced.” I wasn’t normally so open but I figured since she did it for a living it was kind of like talking to a doctor about a health problem. Her unusual-colored eyes widened and she gave me a huge grin.
“That’s superhot.”
I shrugged and continued to twirl my hair. “I like the way it looks and like you said, I’m familiar with your work so I know it can be awesome. I just don’t know that I’m ready for something so extreme.”
“They take a bit to heal but when they do it’s amazing. If you decide to go through with it let me know and I’ll do it for you for free, I’ll just charge you for the jewelry.”
“Well, Rule’s birthday is next month so if I do it, it’ll be before then.”
She clapped her hands together and giggled like a little girl. She was kind of crazy but I think I liked her. I had always had such a hard time making friends and just being at ease around new people, so it was a testament to all the positive ways Rule was influencing me that I could talk with this wacky girl with no reservations or inhibitions.
“Oh, a sexy surprise, I just love that idea. Like I said, just let me know and we can work something out. I like seeing my boys happy and doing right by a good girl.”
“Thanks, I think.”
We chatted easily for another hour because whatever Rule was working on was taking longer than he thought. I watched her process out the clients who were finished getting their designs done and watched her help a few people come in who had questions and were interested in setting up consultations. She chased off another girl who came in looking for Rowdy, and by the time Rule walked up to the counter with his freshly bandaged canvas, I felt like I had made a new friend. She was sarcastic and witty as hell but her insights into the way my guy’s head worked were clear and coming from a different perspective than I had ever heard before.
Rule’s client looked like he was barely old enough to drive but he was sporting some major artwork and had his entire upper arm wrapped up and shiny with ink and salve. I didn’t miss the appreciative look he gave me as he was walking out and apparently neither did Rule. He flicked the kid in the back of the head and told him that if he wanted his sleeve finished he better keep his eyes to himself. He told me to give him just ten more minutes so he could clean up his station and then we could go. I watched him walk away and noticed that the female client Nash was working on and the young girl that the artist they called Mase was working on both did the same thing. Cora was right, it was just some kind of magnetic pull he had