When I pulled up at the next stop light, I turned my head in Belle’s direction and rolled my eyes. “You’re such a nosy Nellie! Did you spend all your time after you were done with your tattoo grilling Maddox’s staff?”
“Of course I did, silly,” she laughed. “What kind of sister would I be if I didn’t ask questions about the guy when the chemistry between the two of you was probably visible all the way on the moon.”
“Like you have any room to talk,” I grumbled. “I’ve seen how you and Griffith are together.”
Belle flashed me a triumphant grin. “Exactly! Thanks for making my point for me, sis.”
We bickered back and forth good-naturedly the rest of the way to her house. She practically leapt from the car when I pulled into their driveway. “Slow down before you hurt yourself,” I called as I exited the vehicle. “Or else you’ll end up in the emergency room, and Griffith will blame me for it.”
“No, I won’t since I saw it all happen from the window,” he disagreed from their open front door. “Your sister’s right. You need to be more careful, baby.”
He softened the warning by tugging her into his body when she got close and claiming her mouth in a deep kiss.
“Where’s Cyra?” I asked after they finally came up for air, and we headed inside the house.
“Sorry, she just fell asleep maybe five minutes ago. I tried to keep her up so you could see her, but my baby girl was beyond ready for her nap.” Griffith pointed at the monitor screen on the kitchen counter, where we could see Cyra in her crib. “What’d you two get up to while you were out?”
I figured that my sister would prefer to show him her tattoo in private since it was going to mean a lot to him to see his name and Cyra’s on her skin. But, she hadn’t seen mine yet, so I decided to show both of them and then get the heck out of dodge before she told him she’d gotten one too. “Belle talked me into getting a tattoo!”
“A tattoo?” Griffith echoed, his eyes narrowing. “You guys better have gone to see Maddox. I wouldn’t trust anyone else.” It wasn’t a surprise that he was worried. When he and my sister became a couple, he’d kind of taken on a big brother role with me. It was sweet.
“Of course she did.” I tugged the soft material of my shirt so they could see the spot on my left shoulder where Maddox had inked me. Belle oohed and ahhed over it, but Griffith was strangely silent as he stared at my skin. “What do you think?”
He pointed to at the top of his full sleeve where he had a smaller version of one of the unique symbols in my tattoo. When I looked closer at the very spot where his finger was pointing, I realized the center of the symbol was an M and an H. I gasped, and my eyes flew up to meet Griffith’s laughing ones. He grinned and winked. “He basically marked you as his.”
Chapter 4
Maddox
As soon as the girls left, I turned to Wendy. “When Ariel comes back, send her to my office,” I instructed as I walked past her desk. When another thought occurred to me, I stopped and pivoted around. “Unless the shop is on fire, I don’t want anyone disturbing me while she’s here.”
Wendy’s eyebrows rose, but I didn’t wait around for her to say anything. On my way to my office in the back, I stopped at each station to check in with the three artists on shift today.
Eventually, I got settled behind my desk and sighed in frustration at the mound of paperwork in front of me. I fucking hated paperwork. Wendy was doing her best to cover the front and temporarily fill the missing spot for an office manager. I really needed to find someone. Until then, I was doomed to a hell of my own making. So, I booted up my computer and got to work.
* * *
SLAM!!!
I jumped in my seat at the sudden crash of my door being flung shut with the force of a furious woman. It probably wasn’t the smartest reaction, but I couldn’t help grinning at the sight of Ariel standing in my office, her blue eyes bright with fury, looking like she was going to breathe fire any minute. She looked fucking hot, and I was instantly hard as a rock.
“What the hell, Maddox!” she yelled. “You marked me? This”—she pointed to her shoulder—“is freaking permanent!”
I leaned back in my chair and threaded my fingers together at the back of my head. “Yup.” My smile widened when her skin flushed even more.
“Who are you? Gary Cooper?” Ariel seethed and stomped her foot adorably. “What’s with the one-word answers?” She stormed over to my desk and bent over it, placing her palms on the top. “Explain yourself, Maddox Holt.”