Five First Dates (Sassy in the City 2)

I rolled my eyes and gave her a smile. “Don’t shortchange yourself. Okay, I’m off. I’ll be back in a bit, thank you!”

The shop was basically what I had pictured. Cool, artistic, filled with tattooed and pierced people. Jana was behind the front desk and saw me and came running straight up to me. She hugged me before I could even react to the unexpected greeting, as well as the fact that there was a camera crew taking up one whole corner of the shop.

“Hi Savannah,” she said, pulling back. “I’m so glad to see you here.”

“Oh! Hi. Nice to see you again.” The greeting seemed more effusive than necessary given we’d met once for two minutes, but I knew she and Maddox had become good friends. The way he talked about her it was clear she had a big personality, so maybe the hug wasn’t unusual. Jana was beautiful. She had high cheekbones, flawless skin, and a mischievous grin that was on full display.

“I have heard everything about you. You’re all Maddox talks about.”

Really? That was interesting. Or maybe that was part of the non-reality part of the reality show. “We both know Maddox is more the strong but silent type,” I said. “I don’t see him gushing about me at work.”

Jana laughed. “Fair enough. I always tell him he’s pragmatic and he hates it. Come on over and meet everyone.”

She took me by the hand, which amused me, and basically dragged me around, introducing me to the camera crew. Maddox appeared from a back room and I was suddenly overwhelmed by how incredibly sexy he was. He belonged here, that was obvious. He walked with confidence and it was hard sometimes to remember how young he actually was. He saw me and gave me a smile that made my insides warm.

“Hey,” he said. “Thanks for coming by.”

Then he kissed me, which I guess I should have seen coming, but hadn’t. It was no quick peck. It wasn’t “get a room” either, but it was beyond a friendly greeting. My face felt hot when he pulled back.

“Of course,” I said. “I’m excited to see where you’re working. This is a great shop.”

Jana was next to us, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Do you have any tattoos, Savannah?”

“Me? No.”

“Are you afraid of needles?”

I shook my head. “Not really. I just never felt connected enough to anything to ink it on my body permanently.”

Jana nodded. “Not a bad philosophy. I have a milk carton inked on my leg. I’m random and impulsive.”

“She is,” Maddox said. “She falls in and out of love with people, hobbies, and food with amazing speed.”

They seemed to know each other really well and I felt just a teeny tiny bit jealous of that. “As long as you don’t get hurt, that’s probably a great way to live. No regrets.”

“Oh, I never regret anything.” She gave me a look that seemed searching. “No one wants regrets, right?”

I felt like she was trying to tell me something, but what, I had no idea.

Maddox took my hand and introduced me to Samuel, who was adorable and quite the flirt, then to Stella, who was polite, but slightly bitchy. Travis seemed genuinely curious about me.

“Maddox is a steel trap. He never talks about his personal life. It’s cool to meet you.”

That seemed more accurate than Jana’s claim he talked nonstop about me. Probably true, but slightly disappointing. But why would he talk about me? We weren’t really a couple.

Even though his hand in mine felt really, really natural.

Felicia might have been right. This was a stupid, muddy-the-waters thing to do.

“This is a great shop,” I told Travis. “What an amazing accomplishment at your age.”

He grinned. “Thanks. You can’t be afraid to just go for it. What’s the worst thing that can happen, right?”

That casual comment gave me goosebumps.

So many thoughts were swirling through my head and I didn’t want to acknowledge any of them.

“I want a tattoo,” I blurted out.