“Nothing normal about you, Sia.” He rubs his knuckles over my cheek and I melt beneath his touch. “More questions,” he says, his voice gruff.

“Biggest vice?”

“You.”

A hot wave sweeps into my belly, but I can’t believe he’s being serious. Me? After he told me the other night was a mistake?

I turn on the tattoo machine to finish the line work, and the fresh scent of ink mixed with musky male makes me shiver. “I meant it as a serious question. My vice is potato chips. Put a bag in front of me, and it will be gone in five minutes. I can’t keep them in my house. The minute I see a bag of chips within reach, I lose all control. That’s what I mean by a vice.”

“Definitely you then.”

His words do strange melty things to my stomach, and my voice flattens as I roll my artist’s chair closer to his soft, black leather seat. “I’m nobody’s vice. Arm on my lap, please. I’ve finished the outline and I just need to sterilize and bandage.”

Ray drops his arm to my lap, but this time his fist doesn’t clench on my hip. Instead, his fingers stroke my thigh, sending zings of sensation straight to my clit. The temperature rises and the air between us sparks, like the calm before a storm. But I’m not letting it get to me. Maybe it’s just a casual brush of his hand as he settles it in my lap. Or a nervous twitch.

The bandaging takes forever, especially since my concentration is focused on the soft stroke of his fingers on my thigh. Good thing women are good at multitasking. Finally, I’m done. I give the bandage a last check and force a smile. “Okay. All finished.”

Ray doesn’t move.

“Usually when I say ‘all finished,’ my clients leap up from the chair, determined to rush home and rip off the bandage to see what’s underneath.”

Ray raises his hand from my lap and cups my jaw, brushing his thumb over my cheek as he tilts my head up, forcing me to meet his gaze.

“What’s wrong?”

My cheeks flame and I try to pull away. “Nothing. I’m done. That’s all. You can go. I have to clean up and lock up the shop.”

He tightens his grip. “Is this about what happened in the alley?”

“There’s nothing to say about what happened in the alley. Adrenaline was running high. We had a moment. It was what it was, and that’s all that it was.”

“You don’t believe that.”

“Sure I do.” My heart pounds as the lie slides off my tongue, and I pray he’ll just go and leave me to wallow in my misery. He is everything I have been running from. The ultimate temptation. The ultimate danger.

His jaw tightens and his body stills, like a predator about to spring. Then he leans so close I can feel his breath on my cheek.

“Tell me again that’s all that it was. Tell me I shoulda stayed away.”

I open my mouth to say just that, but before I get the words out, he leans down and kisses me. Shock, then heat, run through me, straight to the juncture of my thighs. He tastes of whiskey and coffee, sex and sin. All the tension of the evening, my confusion and indecision, coalesce into a red-hot ball of need. I thread my fingers through his soft hair and pull him down hard, deepening the kiss.

“Jesus,” Ray murmurs against my mouth. “Don’t know what I was thinking.” And then he breaks our kiss and slides his arms under my shoulders, tugging me out of my seat. “Up on my lap. I wanna have you up close and personal like.”

“I’m wearing a skirt.”

“Oh, I know.” His voice drops to a husky growl. “Been thinking about that tiny skirt and those fuck-me boots since the second I walked in the door.”

“I might lose my job or, at the very least, a whole lot of professional respect if someone walks in and sees me on your lap.”

He pulls me closer. “I’ll deal with them.”

“What if it’s Torment? Or Rampage?”

Ray frowns. “You doubting my fight skills?”

“I’m doubting your sanity.”

He turns in the chair and pulls me between his legs, his hands tight on my hips. “Man like me meets a woman like you, throws him for a loop. He’s gotta take a step back. Get things straight in his head.”

“What kind of woman am I?”

His hooded gaze locks on me; then he stands and pulls me into his arms. “The kind that can bring a man to his knees.”

Mindful of the bandage on his chest and with my usual reticence washed away in a tidal wave of desire, I lean up and nuzzle his neck. “I don’t see you as an on-the-knees kinda guy.”

“Neither did I.” His hands sweep up my body, in and out my curves, and then down again, curling around my ass, his fingers digging into the tender flesh as he yanks my hips against his hardened length. “But then I never met a sexy artist before, watched her put beauty into the world where most of us destroy it. Never thought I’d cut corners to get my work done early so I could see her again. Spent a lot of time thinking about you, so soft and sweet, your heart-shaped face, the way your eyes turn green when you’re scared, your lips—”

“I thought you weren’t coming back.”

“I was coming back as soon as I walked away.” His gaze fixes on my mouth. “It was just a matter of time.”

One hand still on my ass, holding me tight, he traces my lips with his thumb and then slides it into my mouth.

“Suck, beautiful girl. Show me what those lips can do.”