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other night.”
    He remembers my scarf.
    Ray pulls up his T-shirt to reveal his rippled six-pack and then points to a long, jagged scar running across his left pec. “Think you can do it here?”
    My training kicks in at the sight of his scar. Taking a deep breath, I gently run a finger along the edges. Five years old, maybe six from the way it healed, and deep. His skin is smooth, warm over the hard ripple of muscle beneath.
    “Yeah. I would have to modify it, make it bigger, but I could stretch it to cover the scar and then extend it and blend it in with the rest of your shoulder tat, but it would be quite painful. Scar tissue is more sensitive than skin, and you have a lot of it.”
    Ray draws in a ragged breath. “Not afraid of pain. Getting that scar was more pain than the needle would be.”
    My mouth waters at the thought of inking Ray’s skin. “If you want to talk to Rose, she can set you up—”
    “Now.”
    “Now?” My heart pounds in my chest. Now means freehand, which I’m not allowed to do. And I’m not ready for this. I’m not ready for my fantasies to become real. I don’t want to find out Ray isn’t all I imagined he would be.
    Finding my tongue, I look up at Ray. “For a piece that size, you should really let me do a couple of designs and then a stencil, so you can be sure it’s what you want. Everyone will see it when you’re fighting. I want it to be perfect for you. Tattoos are forever.”
    A curious expression crosses his face, part longing, part disappointment, all sensual promise. “I’ve gotta go outta town for a coupla days, but I’ll be training at Redemption tomorrow afternoon before I leave. You got time to bring me your designs?”
    My throat tightens, burns. Tag forbade me from going to Redemption after Amanda, the club’s attorney, was attacked in an alley a few blocks away from the gym. Even though I know most of the fighters, and would never walk around Ghost Town alone, Tag still added it to his “no-go” list. Of course, if I always listened to Tag, there would be few places in the Bay Area I would be able to go, and even fewer places I would get a chance to see Ray.
    “Sure.”
    “Gimme your phone and we’ll trade numbers. My line of work is not very predictable. Shit always comes up.”
    “What is your line of work?” I hand him my phone, and he does the number switch.
    He hesitates for just a heartbeat and then shrugs. “Private investigator. But I got a bit on the side.”
    “A bit on the side?”
    “A bit on the side.”
    “What does that mean? ‘A bit on the side’?”
    Ray chuckles. “Means I’ll take on the odd job that might go outside the boundaries of professional ethics, so it doesn’t count as official PI work. Mostly catching bad guys. Lookin’ for one right now, but let it slide tonight so I could come here.”
    “I thought it meant you were having an affair. Not that you’re the kind of person who would have an affair, or if you were, that you would tell me. I mean, it could be uncomfortable if you chose to share that information because I know Shayla, although—”
    “Sia…”
    Wound tight, I let my tension spill out in a nervous babble. “Not well enough that I would feel the need to call her up and tell her you’ve got a bit on the side, but you know, it could be awkward since I do go to all the Redemption parties—”
    “Sia.”
    “And if I was talking to her and saw—”
    He cups his hand around my neck, leans down, and kisses me. Soft and sweet, his lips press against mine, stealing my breath from my lungs.
    “Oh,” I whisper when he pulls away. “Is that how you shut babbling girls up?”
    “Only the hot ones.”
    Stunned, I can only stare. I was kissed by the Predator. He thinks I’m hot. Fangirl swoon.
    “I don’t do that shit,” Ray says, all cool and calm as if he hasn’t just rocked my entire world. “Two women is two times the trouble. Got enough to do with work and training.” He hands me my phone, and