Under His Skin (14 page)

“Pandy?” He took a step toward her. “You don’t look so good.”

She flinched away from his touch. “I can’t do this.” She hugged her arms around her stomach.

He stared at her. “What are you talking about?”

“I can’t be what you need me to be. I’m sorry, I don’t fit here. The sex was great, but that’s all it was.”

Brian jerked as if he’d been slapped. “What?”

“If you want touch-ups, you know where the shop is.” She pushed past him and fled to her car.

* * * * *

He circled the parking lot again, the truck’s engine rumbling and spitting exhaust. She’d been there, in her piece-of-shit car. He’d watched her and the cripple eat together. He’d wanted to storm in there and break his arms for daring to touch her. They’d had the nerve to prance around in front of him, holding each other like the adulterers they were.

He knew what they’d done. When he got his hands on that punk who’d touched her, he’d kill him. Pandora was his. She’d always belonged to him. He was the one who took care of her. Who provided for her. Who watched after her. He knew her routines, her habits, when she was alone and who she went out with. The cripple was not on that list. He’d take care of that cripple. No man looked at much less touched that cunt without his permission.

It was time to stop waiting for her to come back to him. He’d given her time to come crawling back to him like the dirty whore she was. He would have let her off easy if she had. Instead, he’d make her pay for making him play chaperone.

Of course right now she needed a little reminding of who the real man in her life was. She’d spread her legs for the musician like a slut. She’d pay for that. She’d pay for everything. No one left him. Ever.

* * * * *

The bell hanging on the door chimed, further aggravating her headache.

“Hey, Pandora.”

Her head jerked up at the overly chipper voice. She felt like shit, her eyes were grainy and her nose was stopped up. “Hi, Carly.” She waved at the girl and glanced at the clock. Since getting her tattoo, Carly had come into the shop almost religiously to browse, ask questions or bring in someone else.

Sam, the shop boy and Mary’s son, didn’t even glance up from the comic he was reading.

Carly walked up to the display case and set her hip against it. “Rough night?”

She glanced up from disinfecting her table and tried to think how to answer. “You could say that,” she finally replied. “How’s it going? When do you ship out?”

“Two weeks.” Carly ignored the glare Sam shot at her as she put her hand on the case. He’d wiped the glass down a half hour before. “Where’s everyone else at?”

“Mary’s in the back and Autumn and Kellie have today off. What are you up to?” Talking was the last thing she wanted to do, but Carly exuded the aura of someone often ignored. She couldn’t bring herself to do that.

Carly took a deep breath. “I was thinking about getting another tattoo before I left. What do you think?”

She put the cleaner away and spun on her stool to give Carly her full attention. “It’s what you want.”

Carly glanced at Sam and bit her lip.

Pandora tracked her gaze. Standing, she closed the distance to Sam. “Hey, Sam.” She slapped his shoulder.

“What?” he said, with perfect teenage annoyance.

“Shouldn’t you be studying for Mr. Ricky’s test?” She thumbed toward the hall. “Go take the trash out and do some studying.”

He lifted his shaggy head and glared at her from under his mop of hair. “I already took it out.”

“You put it by the back door. Go take it out. Now.” She gave him a push to get him off the stool, and watched him retreat down the hall grumbling. Turning back to Carly, she leaned against the case and waited.

Carly twirled a piece of her hair around her finger and tugged on it. “I was thinking, and I get that this is weird, but could I have my send-off party here?”

“Send-off party?”

“Yeah.” She traced a pattern on the glass and tried to assume a nonchalant attitude. “My parents said they weren’t going to celebrate my funeral, and none of my friends that have their own place will host it. I was thinking it would be cool to do it here. Nothing crazy big, a few people, some cake and hanging out.” She wrung her hands and rocked up on the balls of her toes.

Pandora didn’t know how to respond. Her knee-jerk reaction was to say yes, and fuck Carly’s parents. Who said that to their kid? Clearly their parents had taken the same bad parenting classes.

“Well,” she said, keeping a level head on her shoulders, “I’ll need to talk to Kellie and Mary. It’s their call since they own the shop, but why don’t you write down when you’re thinking of doing it and the details, and I can talk to them later. How’s that sound?”

Her face broke out into a grin. “That’s great. Thanks, Pandora.”

She pushed paper and pen across the glass to her. Sam was going to want to kill her later. “No promises, but I’ll see what I can do.”

Carly scrawled the details on a notepad and left them with her. She practically skipped out of the shop when she was done, taking all of the sunshine and rainbows with her.

Heels clicked on the tile, announcing Mary’s arrival from the office. Pandora could feel her gaze on her back and the nearness of her when she stopped next to her. Instead of looking at Mary, she stared at the paper without seeing the words.

She was tired and grateful for a slow day.

The bell clattered, announcing Autumn and Kellie. They walked in, both wearing sweatpants and tank tops.

“Dude, you look like death,” Kellie said as she leaned on the case across from her.

“Thanks, you look awful yourself,” she popped back. “What are you doing here?” Glancing between the three, Pandora had an idea that it wasn’t an accident that they were all here.

“Don’t cop a ’tude with me, Pandy.” Kellie wagged a finger in her face.

“Yeah, Pandy.” Autumn jumped up on the case, ignoring the glares from Kellie and Mary, who had told her over and over again not to do that. Her pink velour track suit, complete with rhinestone bling, matched the hue of her hair. “Why the long face? Where’s bass boy?”

“How the hell should I know?” He hadn’t texted or called her, and she would know. She’d lain on her couch staring at her phone most of the night.

Kellie pinched Autumn’s knee to no effect. “Excuse me, but I would have assumed you’d be floating around on a postcoital cloud or something.”

She took a deep breath and braced her hands on the display case. “I know you guys meant to do something nice by trying to hook me and Brian up again, but don’t. Nothing’s going to happen there. It’s over and done.”

“What do you mean, done?” Autumn leaned toward her, oddly serious. Usually she shrugged off a guy like a bad hair day and moved on. Pandora had expected support from her at the very least.

She pushed off the case and spread her hands. “We aren’t right for each other, that’s what I mean.”

Autumn finally jumped off the case at Kellie’s prodding. “Then why are you yelling and upset?”

Pandora growled and threw her hands up in the air. “Because you won’t stop bugging me about it.”

Kellie crossed her arms and glared at her. “Chill out, spaz. No one is making you do anything. Whatever you did or did not do was all you. We just thought you might want a little sisterly support, but if you want to tackle this all on your own, be my guest.”

It wasn’t fair to get mad at them, even if last night was their fault, in a roundabout kind of way. But she was upset and they were the readily available targets.

“Look, thanks for trying, but it’s not working out with Brian. We’re too different, and I don’t want to get into a relationship I know is going to end badly.”

“What makes you so sure it’s a bad thing,
mija
?” Mary leaned against the case and straightened a rack of business cards.

“Not all guys are shitheads like Robert,” Kellie chimed in. “You deserve someone nice.”

“Yeah.” Autumn nodded. “Dude, he called here trying to figure out something sneaky and sweet to do for you. I wish I had a guy who did that for me. You never know if it’ll end badly unless you try it.”

“Maybe,” Pandora muttered.

“Hey.” Autumn jabbed her in the arm. “I ordered a dress and it doesn’t fit me. You want to try it on?”

Slowly Autumn was transforming her into a real girl. Makeup, heels and dresses were things she’d secretly coveted but had never understood without the guidance of a mother. “Um, sure. I need to go research for a sketch. I’ll take a look at it later.” She pivoted and headed for the hallway, desperate to get away from everyone and have a moment to herself.

Chapter Nine

Bodysuit: Complete coverage of the body with tattoos, sometimes including the neck up, the wrists to the hands, and the feet.

“
Mijo
, you’d better know what you’re doing.”

Brian nodded before he remembered Mary couldn’t see him. “I do.”

“Okay, I’m taking my son out to grab some food and I sent Kellie to the bank. Pandora will be in the shop for the next half hour by herself.”

He paused. Mary didn’t appear old enough to have a kid, but what did he know?

“What about Autumn?”

Mary snorted. “Who knows? Haven’t seen her skinny ass, but I’ll text her in case. I’m giving you a half hour. I don’t care what you do, but un-piss her off, because she’s worthless working like this.”

“Yes ma’am.” He hung up the phone and watched the front door to So Inked. He only had seconds to wait before Mary and Kellie, with a teenage boy, left the shop together and split off to separate cars.

Brian didn’t know why Mary had called him yesterday, but he was glad. Not that he had a grand plan besides show up and convince Pandora to talk to him, but it was a start. If he’d screwed up, he could fix it. If it was something she wasn’t comfortable with, he could be patient. He couldn’t let her run away from him though. It wasn’t in the cards.

The bell chimed as he pulled the glass door open. Scanning the shop and not seeing anyone, he flipped the dead bolt as a precaution. The last thing he wanted was to get interrupted.

“One second,” Pandora called from the back.

He had no intention of waiting. Crossing the shop, he stepped over the chain and followed the sounds of rummaging to a back room he hadn’t seen before.

Pandora was bent over a cardboard box, the hem of her cherry print dress kicked up to reveal a hint of red tulle. Straightening, she turned and screeched to a halt, inches from his chest. Her eyes were so wide he could have fallen into them.

He cupped the back of her head and took in the makeup, the perfume she was wearing. Was she already seeing someone else? Or was this normal shop attire? He didn’t know. Time slowed as he walked her backward to another of the padded tables set up against the wall. She squeaked when she hit the edge. When she couldn’t retreat farther, he leaned against her.

Small hands splayed over his chest. She didn’t push him away, but neither did she pull him closer. Her gray eyes were wide, and she wore the same red lipstick she had at the conference.

“What are you doing here?” She gulped.

He didn’t want to talk. Talking, he’d reasoned, had caused all of their problems. He kissed her, sucking her plump lower lip into his mouth and coaxing her into kissing him back. If she had doubts about them, he’d show her how much he wanted her.

Pandora offered up no resistance, allowing him to thrust his tongue into her mouth and hug her against him. Her heels added the perfect height to press his pelvis against hers. Her hands curled into his shirt and yanked him closer. A voice in the back of his head shouted with joy. She fucking wanted him. He nudged her foot and waited until she widened her stance to ease his thigh between hers. She wrapped her leg around him and burrowed her fingers into his hair, pulling him closer.

Reaching down, he hiked her skirt up until his hand met smooth skin, then slid farther up her thigh. He pushed his thigh harder between hers. She edged her feet out farther, making room for his questing hand to cup her mound. The silky fabric was hot against his palm. He rubbed fingers over her core. She moaned and clutched him tighter.

Possessive desire and greed twisted together into a needy beast. It scared him how she could make him feel this way. Angry because she’d denied what they were to each other. Scared of losing another person who mattered. The one person he could talk to.

Her hands curled into his chest. The freshly tattooed skin burned as she gripped him and moaned into his mouth, her hips shifting against his hand.

Kicking back, he closed the door to the room. Mary and Kellie had keys, and he wasn’t about to replay the tableau from how they’d met.

Pandora jerked away from him at the sound of the slamming door. Her mouth was red and swollen, her eyes slightly dilated with desire. Pushing aside her panties, he stroked her folds. His dick hardened, pressing against his zipper. Her lips parted on a moan as he pumped his fingers in and out, feeling how wet she was. She could tell him they were done, she could lie to herself, but her body told the truth.

Ever so slowly, she slid her hands down his chest.

Grabbing her shoulders, he turned her to face the wall. She arched her back and ground her ass against his dick without him urging.

Expletives were on the tip of his tongue, but speaking might break the spell their bodies had woven. Words could be falsified, they could fool themselves, but in this conversation, neither uttered a sound. They moved.

Pandora planted her hands on the table and leaned forward. Her hair fell over one shoulder when she glanced back at him. There was uncertainty written all over her face—the pinched brows, the wide eyes and parted lips.

Angling his body over hers, he kissed her shoulder and cheek. He’d forgotten to shave, yet again. His stubble rasped over her skin, leaving little red marks behind. She half turned and offered her lips to him, and because he was a greedy bastard, he kissed her. Supporting himself on one arm, he wound the other around and palmed her breast, fitting her spine to his chest.