Indelible Feelings
Must be the nerves, he thought, as she began to discuss the design he had brought of what he wanted on his forearm.
Her name was Lauren – she told him quickly and efficiently – before patting the leather tattoo bed for him to lie down on and darting out of the room to make the stencil necessary for the ink she was to lay below his skin.
She was incredibly professional, and he had no need to question her skill. Still, he wasn’t sure if she was flirting with him as when she returned and tenderly took his hand, turning his forearm to face her, she ran her fingers lightly down his skin, giving him goosebumps, which elicited a cheeky grin from her as she lifted her eyes slightly up. She met his gaze with hers, and he noted a twinkle in her eyes as she inspected him through her long dark lashes.
Lauren softly put his arm back by his side and wheeled her chair over to her workstation covered in inks and gloves, and small plastic-wrapped needles that he watched her open with rising trepidation.
“Is this your first tattoo?” she asked as if sensing his rising unease.
“Um…yes.” He swallowed hard.
She wheeled back toward him and, a tattoo gun in black-gloved hands took his forearm. She looked up at him and smiled. “I promise I won’t hurt you…unless you want me to.”
He realized immediately that she was flirting with him, but before he could reply with something suave and witty, she put the tattoo gun to his skin, and with a buzz, the pain overwhelmed him and drove all rational thoughts from his mind.
Time moves differently when pain is involved. One hour usually feels like an eternity and yet, as the pain buzzed up his arm and the extremely loud Fleetwood Mac boomed over the speakers (she had started playing Stevie Nick’s crooning soon after she had begun the art piece). He felt that he could spend forever in her company.