The Harder He Falls: 2 (So Inked) Read Online Free PDF Page A

It’s not so bad.” She lifted a shoulder.
    “What is there to do around here? I haven’t lived in the area long.”
    “Depends on what you’re into.”
    “Would you have time to show me around a little?”
    Kellie glanced up from the tattoo. “Probably not. It’s nothing personal, but I’m busy and don’t go out much.”
    “All the more reason for you to get out a little, doll.” He grinned when she glared. Taunting the devil had always been his favorite pastime.
     
    Kellie was five seconds from pulling a Pandora and stabbing the tattoo needle through his eye. It wasn’t his fault she was crabby, but she didn’t want to do this song and dance tonight. She managed to get out a simple, “Um, no,” instead.
    As if her day couldn’t get more complicated, the front door swung open and a girl wearing faux vintage sauntered in.
    Kellie leaned back, straightening her spine and stretching. “Hey, can I help you with something?”
    “Yeah, is Autumn here?” She pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head. “I was supposed to come in and talk to her about a tattoo.”
    Inwardly Kellie groaned. Autumn owed her for this crap.
    “She isn’t here. I think she’s sick. Did you have an appointment with her?”
    “Yeah. Is she not coming in at all today?”
    Kellie hated lying to a client, but it was better than admitting the truth. “No, she’s really sick. It’s only me here or I would offer to have someone else do it.” She stood, stripped off her gloves and headed for the desk. “Let me get your name and number. When Autumn gets back in I’ll have her give you a call.”
    She grabbed pen and paper for the client and pushed it toward her. She waited for the girl to scrawl her information down and stuck it in the drawer. At this rate she was going to get a headache. Massaging her temples, she returned to her chair and pulled out a new pair of gloves.
    “Why do I get the feeling Autumn isn’t sick?” her obnoxious client asked.
    She sighed. It wasn’t his fault the truth was easy to see. She didn’t like lying. “Because she’s not sick. As far as I know she’s playing hooky.”
    “So you lied to that girl?”
    The familiar weight of the tattoo machine helped ground her. She had a job to do, and complicated moral situations could wait until she could examine them through the bottom of a bottle. “Yeah. Autumn’s going to pay for that.”
    “Being the boss is tough work.” He rubbed a hand over his jaw. “I would have done the same thing.”
    She glanced at him. Maybe he wasn’t such a douchenugget after all. She shifted in her seat, uncomfortable with the thought.
    Before she could even set the needle to his skin, the shop phone rang to life. She groaned and rolled her chair back as the bell over the front door chimed. Glancing at the newcomer, she sighed in relief. It was time something went right today.
    “Hey, Mary, can you get that?” she called out.
    “Got it.” Mary leaned over the receptionist desk and grabbed the phone.
    “Okay, let’s knock this outline out.”
    Not looking at him was the best thing to do. He might not be of the good-guy mold, but she had been hard on him. He had yet to squirm or complain while she worked, and besides his annoying habit of calling her doll, he was an average guy. If average guys were hot, buff and knew it. She even bet he was the rough sex type—hard and fast, just the way she liked it.
    As much as she’d like to entertain the idea of a man in her life, she couldn’t. Between the shop, people drama, tattooing and Grandma, she didn’t have time for herself. There wasn’t enough of her to go around.
    They lapsed into blessed silence for the last twenty minutes it took for her to use the lining needle to draw thin, black lines on his tanned arm. She connected the last of the outline and sat back to examine the bare bones of the tattoo. The muscles in her back ached and she was beginning to regret her decision not to look at him. She could feel