The Dom With the Perfect Brats Read Online Free PDF Page A

of caffeine withdrawal. It’s been a long day and I usually drink it constantly. When I have money, anyway.”
    “Oh! Tell the m Izzy sent you and I bet they’ll give you one on the house.”
    “That’s where I’ve seen you! I knew I recognized you from somewhere.” Jake pointed to the table. “Up you go.”
    “Thanks for the tip,” Gemma grabb ed her satchel. “I’ll be back to check on you in a few.” Izzy watched her leave, distracted from the anxiety by her seductive sway.
    Now here she was, sitting up on this padded table, waiting, waiting, and trying to remember to breathe. Though he was no doubt doing everything right, Jake seemed about as purposeful as a snail with ADD. Her ankle was stenciled but he was fiddling with the machinery. Maybe sharpening the needles.
    She twirled a strand of her hair around her finger and played with it.
    The swing and click of the front glass door caught her attention. Gemma had returned, bearing one of the green-and-brown paper cups from Kafehaus.
    “That for me?” Jake piped up, angling his head as if checking out the steaming cup.
    Or maybe he was checking out Gemma? A twinge of jealousy shocked her. It wasn’t as if...or even if she knew Gemma was... Oh hell, it was just lust at first sight. She’d get over it.
    Gemma pulled a grumpy face and held the cup closer to her chest. “Mine. One of the perks of not working here yet. I get to hang around drinking lattes.”
    “No worries.” Jake gazed at her with a mischievous smirk. “Malachi will have you fetching drinks for us in no time. Part of being the new guy – er, girl.”
    “Uh, no. I signed on as tattoo artist, not errand girl.”
    He chuckled. “We’ll see.” The tattoo machine hummed and he poised it over her ankle. “Ready?”
    Izzy held her breath and nodded. Gemma slid into a chair to her left.
    He lowered the needle and it bit.
    “Motherfucker,” she murmured. A fiery warmth dug into her skin.
    “It’ll feel duller when you get used to it.”
    “Yeah then get worse again when it goes past two hours,” Gemma added.
    Jake tsked. “Now who’s got bad customer etiquette?”
    Gemma laughed. “ Touché. But she won’t be here that long so I think we’re okay. And she’s doing well too. Aren’t you?”
    “Uh. Sure.” She gripped the table so hard it hurt her knuckles.
    “So , how long have you been here in the States?”
    “Two months. My dad was born here so I claimed dual citizenship.” The needle hit a spot by her bone and zinged up her leg. She grunted and her leg spasm ed a little.
    “Keep still.” Jake paused. “Unless you want a snake with leprosy instead of a phoenix?”
    “No. I can keep still.”
    “Good.” Gemma patted her thigh.
    Don’t look at where her hand is.
    A few inches higher and she’d be there. The reverberations of the little slaps Gemma did on her skin fizzed upward into groin territory.
    “So, you’ve got family over here? Or are you just being adventurous by yourself?” Thank god, Gemma had moved her hand away.
    “By myself.” Revealing her dad was here wasn’t necessary. She’d rather not talk about him anyway.
    In the background , she was half aware of customers arriving, people moving about. Slowly, the pain also became a background thing. “Hey, this is relaxing in a way. If we were outside I could get a tan.” She shut her eyes.
    “Some people go to sleep,” Gemma answered then her chair scraped the floor as she stood. “Be back in a minute. I have to find the...what do you call it in Australia? Powder Room?”
    Izzy snorted. “In old movies, maybe. Toilet or just the ladies.” Caught by a twitch of mischieviousness, she dredged up some older slang. “Or the dunny! Aussies use that one a lot.”
    “Dunny? Sounds like a nickname for a dustbunny.” She shrugged then walked away.
    A shadow fell on her. Someone, or something, dwarfed her to her right. So unless the shop had its own we ather with clouds and all... She opened an eyelid.
    Oh