“I’m just keeping them safe for you while they dry.” The sexy devil had the nerve to wink at me as he added, “I’m no expert, but I figured that no panties are probably better than walking around in a drenched pair.”
Darn it! The man had a point. I wasn’t looking forward to putting them back on while they were still wet. “Whatever,” I muttered as I put the rest of my clothes on.
Once we were both dressed, he gave me one last kiss before leading me over to the door. When his hand wrapped around the knob, my cheeks filled with heat. Maddox paused to ask, “What’s wrong, baby?”
“They’re going to know what we were doing back here.” I smoothed down the front of my shirt before running my fingers through my hair. “I’ve never done the walk of shame before, let alone past a guy’s employees after we had sex in his office.”
Maddox backed me against the door, his hands pressing against the hard surface on both sides of my head as he growled, “First of all, this isn’t a walk of shame, and I’m not just some guy.”
“I’m sorry if I worded that badly.” I sighed and pointed between us. “But this is all new to me, and I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to act.”
Some of the heat melted out of Maddox’s eyes, and he brushed his lips over mine. “Like yourself, baby. That’s all I need from you. Be yourself.”
“Right. Got it.” I heaved a deep breath and straightened my spine. “I can do that, so I guess I’m ready to go.”
“Not until I make this clear, too.” He kept me caged in as he continued, “My crew is not going to give you any shit. They might be surprised because I don’t let anyone but employees in my office, though I’m sure they’ve all already heard about how I did your ink in my private studio, which is another thing I don’t do. But if they’re smart—which they are because I only hire the best—they’ll get what that means and treat you with the respect you deserve as my woman. If not, they’ll lose their jobs because no way in hell would I ever put up with anyone making you feel uncomfortable when you’re in my shop.”
“Wow. Okay.” I blinked up at him in shock for a moment as the magnitude of what he said sunk in. There was no mistaking the sincerity in his eyes; he really would fire someone for embarrassing me. I didn’t want it to actually happen to anyone because I’d hate to be the reason someone lost their job, but it was a heck of a way for Maddox to make it clear that he was serious about this thing between the two of us, as new as it was. “I guess I don’t have anything to worry about. Lead the way, big guy.”
He took a couple of steps back, tugging me along with him. Then he opened the door, laced his fingers through mine, and walked me towards the front of the parlor. We stopped at three stations, and he introduced me to each of the tattoo artists. He’d been right about nobody saying anything bad, but I did get a lot of curious stares. When we made it to the reception area, Wendy flashed me a big grin and gave me the thumbs-up sign before we headed out to the parking lot.
I started to head to the left, but Maddox tugged me to the right. I pointed at my car and protested, “I need my car in the morning so I can get to work. It makes more sense for me to follow you to your place.”
“Nope.” Maddox kept on going, and I practically growled at his one-word answer. It wasn’t until we got to his black Dodge Challenger and he opened the door that he added, “I want your ass in my car the first time you come to my house.”
“Then you’re going to be stuck waking up super early to drive me back here,” I grumbled as I climbed inside his car.
He chuckled and shook his head. “Like I would let you get up and leave without waking me up, even with your car in my garage.”
“Let me?” If he wasn’t so hot and waking up with me wasn’t a nice thing to do, I’d almost be mad at him, I thought to myself after he closed the door and rounded the car to get in the driver’s side.
“Do you drive all your girlfriends to your house the first time?” I snipped.
“Never taken a woman to my house,” he said as he started the car. I didn’t know what to say to that, so I just settled back in my seat and enjoyed the warmth that bloomed in my chest from his words.