“Yep, and I’m the lucky one doing it.”

  “I know you’ll do a great job. But seriously, she’s getting a tattoo?”

  “Again, yes. What’s the big deal?”

  Gigi’s eyes move around, not meeting mine. “She just never seemed like the tattoo type.”

  I narrow my eyes, knowing someone’s playing me or both of them are. “Listen, it doesn’t matter if she’s the tattoo type or not. I know why she’s here. Lily explained to me the grand plan to identify and fix my issues. I told her I’m game because I’ve never been scared of a challenge.”

  “If you’re up for the challenge, why are you back here and not up there, welcoming her to the shop?”

  Pike strolls in behind my cousin, his wife. He looks at me and then at her. “What did I miss?”

  “The woman Lily is fixing Carmello up with is here,” Gigi whispers.

  “Oh boy,” he mutters.

  I throw up my hands, glaring at him. “You too? I mean, I expect this shit from the girls. But you, Pike, I thought you’d have my back in shit like this.”

  He shrugs. “I have Gigi’s back first since she’s my girl.”

  “You’re a traitor to all dick-kind.”

  He stares at me, blinking. “Dick-kind?”

  “The bro code. You’re a traitor. Card revoked.”

  Pike turns his head to where Lily and the girl are talking but still not visible. “Have you seen her yet?”

  “Nope.”

  He stalks toward me, arm out, and pokes me straight in the chest. “Then withhold your judgment, brother.”

  “Hello,” Gigi says, waving her hands. “I’m right here, and I can hear you.”

  He glances at her, smiling. “Babe, you’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever met. I’m just calling a spade a spade. You going to tell him she isn’t beautiful?”

  “No,” she groans. “I just don’t like hearing you think she’s beautiful. But I ain’t gonna lie, if I were even remotely interested in pussy, I’d be following her around like a puppy dog and totally go lesbo.”

  Pike stares at his wife, speechless for a second before he recovers. “You’d leave me for her?”

  She comes up behind him, wrapping her arms around his middle. “If chicks were my thing, you wouldn’t be here, sweetie. So, no, I’m not leaving you for her. Anyway, she’s Carmello’s girl.”

  “She’s not my girl,” I argue. “She’s my fake girl for a month, and that’s it.”

  Pike pulls Gigi around his body, throwing his arm over her shoulder, both fuckers laughing. “He’s so gone and doesn’t even know it.”

  “I know,” she says, almost too giddy. “It’s going to be fun to watch.”

  “There’s nothing to watch. It’s like the world’s longest homework assignment, or therapy session, by someone who isn’t qualified to diagnose me when there’s nothing broken.”

  Gigi’s smile brightens. “Oh, honey. Pike’s right.”

  “I’m pretty sure I’m going to break her.”

  She stares at me before bursting into laughter. “She can’t be broken.”

  “She’s never met me. Not the real me, anyway,” I tell her, touching my chest, knowing my abilities and how easily I’ve charmed members of the opposite sex.

  “This is going to be the most entertaining thing to watch,” Gigi replies.

  “Mello!” Lily yells from the front of the shop. “Come here.”

  Gigi’s eyebrows rise, and her smile gets even bigger. “And so it begins.”

  I tip my head back, staring up at the ceiling, and say another prayer.

  “What the fuck are you praying about again?”

  “That she’s ugly as sin or has bad breath. Something that’s going to make this the easiest month of my life.”

  Gigi chuckles, shaking her head. “You’re shit out of luck, buddy.”

  “Fuck,” I hiss, moving away from my station and heading toward Lily and the mystery woman. “I hate you all.”

  “Good luck,” Gigi calls out, teasing me. “Love you.”

  I give her a middle finger over my shoulder, not bothering to look back at her because she’s loving this shit as much as Lily.

  The girl’s back is to me as I step into the customer waiting area, so all I see is long brown hair, long thin legs, and nothing in particular that makes her so freaking special.

  But then she turns around.

  “Mello, you two have already met, but just in case you forgot, this is…”

  The world slows down the moment our eyes collide.

  “Arlo?” I whisper, feeling like someone gut punched me.

  “Hey, Mello,” Arlo says, her voice sweet and seductive. She lifts one hand, brushing her long dark hair over one shoulder in the sexiest way. “It’s great to see you again.”

  Her voice wraps around me, making it hard to breathe.

  This isn’t good.

  Not good at all.

  Get your shit together, man.

  She’s only a woman. An extremely hot woman, but still a woman. One I am never going to sleep with. I am an experiment to her and my cousin. A pet project…nothing more.

  “It’s been a while. I didn’t know you became friends with my cousin.”

  “We’ve been hanging out.”

  “We’ve all been hanging out,” Lily adds. “We go out every few weeks for ‘book club.’”

  “No one told me that,” I whisper.

  “You were on a need-to-know basis, and you didn’t need to know. It’s not like you were going to come to book club,” Lily says.

  “I may have,” I lie, but I stare at Arlo, soaking in her beautiful eyes and dark hair. She’s just as stunning as she was the last time I saw her.

  “Lily said you were the best tattoo artist at the shop, and since she wanted me to work with you on the other thing, I figured I’d get a tattoo in the process.”

  “Ah, right. The other thing. I’m going to warn you now. I love a good challenge.”

  “Me too.” Her smile morphs into a smirk. “But this is more of a learning opportunity than a challenge. I’m not here to push your boundaries.”

  “Push or cross any boundaries you want, sweetheart. I’m yours for a month.”

  “It’s going to be fun,” she says, and I have no doubt it will be. “I needed a project and a little excitement, and when Lily told me about your issue, I thought I could help. You saved me twice, and now it’s my turn to return the favor.”

  “I have no issues,” I tell Arlo, but I’m staring at my cousin when I speak. “Not wanting to settle down is not a disease or a weakness. It’s a lifestyle choice and not something that needs to be fixed.”

  “Sure, Carmello. I’m not here to fix you. I’m just a keen observer. But today, it’s all about my tattoo consult and laying the groundwork for the next month.”

  My eyes finally wander, taking her all in, and goddamn, do I love every bit of her. “Where do you want to get the tattoo?” I ask, going back into business mode.

  She runs her hand down under her breast to the top of her hip over her ribs. “Right here.”

  Naturally, she wants it on a part of her body where I have to navigate around her breasts and tons of exposed skin. Of course, she couldn’t pick the top of her foot or her wrist to keep shit easy and basic.

  “What do you want…a flower?” I ask, knowing she totally looks like she’d have something beautiful and delicate like a flower.

  “A dragon,” she says softly.

  I blink. “A dragon?” I ask, thinking I heard her wrong.

  “Yes, a dragon. Why are you surprised?”

  “It’s just… Do you have a design idea?” I ask her, Lily’s head swiveling between as we go back and forth.

  “I do.”

  I fucking hate doing other people’s designs, but I’m not one to turn down a job, especially when it’s a friend of a family member, even when she’s here to fix me.

  “I showed her your book, Mello. She wants the dragon on page five.”

  I swing my gaze to my cousin. “You showed her my book?”

  She nods, her brown hair moving as she smiles. “She wanted to see your work, and she fell instantly in love with that design.”

  “You want my dragon?” I ask Arlo this time. “It’s not girlie at all, and it’s pretty big.”

  “I’m not super girlie, and I like them big,” she says, smiling at me with those green eyes and pretty face. She knows exactly what she said and how she said it, fully aware of how I’d react.

  I cough, almost choking on my own spit. “It’s a good four hours of work and a lot of pain. It may require more than one session, Arlo.”

  “I don’t mind pain, Mello. I can handle it if you can,” she challenges, her eyes sparkling.

  “Fuck,” I whisper to myself.

  This girl is trouble and completely different from the meek and mild woman I met for the first time over a year ago.

  And I’m not talking about a little bit of trouble, but a ton of it. How am I supposed to spend a month with her and not have sex?

  My fucking ass, she’s a virgin.

  “If you think you can handle it, I know I can,” I tell her, holding my shit together. “I’ll get the consultation room ready, and we can go over a few things and come up with a final size and do any design changes. It’ll be better to have some privacy.”

  I don’t even have to turn around to know Gigi, Pike, Trace, and Rocco are behind me, elbowing one another, all in on the bullshit. This wasn’t just Lily’s doing. This was a relationship intervention, and they were all cockblocking me.

  “Whatever works for you. I don’t mind being in public,” Arlo replies.

  “I mind,” I say, shocking myself a little. “You’re going to have to remove your shirt, and there are going to be a lot of people in and out of here in the next few hours.”

  “They’re just breasts,” Arlo says like I’m totally overreacting.

  Again. The signs are there.

  She is not a virgin.

  No freaking way.

  No woman who hasn’t given herself to anyone would say They’re just breasts.

  Nope.

  I’m not believing it.

  They’re totally yanking my chain and lying to me.

  But that’s fine.

  I can play the game.

  “I’m just going to throw this out there, and you can totally tell me to fuck off, Arlo, but this is a big tattoo for your first. You may want to think about something smaller and in a different area.”

  She steps forward, getting in my personal space, and I do nothing to move away. “Carmello, a woman knows what she wants, and I want it. I want it bad. As for the pain, I can handle it. My pain threshold is really high, and sometimes, I actually enjoy it.”

  Someone could punch me in the face right now and I wouldn’t flinch or feel it. Her words have smacked me down, making my cock hard, and left me winded already.

  Arlo is an enigma. Someone I want to peel the layers away from to expose the real woman underneath. So much about her doesn’t add up, and I am going to make it my personal mission to figure her out.

  “Whatever you want, babe,” I tell her. “You want it, I’ll give it to you. You want to start the tat today, I have some time this morning and can squeeze you in.”

  Arlo stares at me and I stare back.

  There’s a spark and sizzle to the verbal tango we’re doing. She likes me, and not in the platonic way either. The chick wants a piece of me, and I will be more than happy to oblige.

  “Um,” Lily mutters. “Hello…”

  “What, Lil?” I ask, but I don’t dare tear my gaze away from the green-eyed temptress.

  Lily clears her throat and steps next to us to stand to our side. “Maybe you two should move to the other room. We have customers coming in, and your back-and-forth is…”

  “Hot,” Gigi finishes from behind me. “So fuckin’ hot.”

  “Shall we?” I say, motioning toward the back of the shop with one hand. “You can keep me company while I prepare everything instead of waiting out here. I’m sure you can read in a quiet room just as easily as you can out here.”

  She lifts her book to her chest, cradling it against her shirt. “Whatever you want.”

  She smiles, and my belly flutters like I’m some pansy-ass chick.

  I don’t really want her reading. I want her on her knees, sucking my cock, but I don’t dare tell her. At least, not in front of everyone. I’d save that for a later time once I peeled away a few layers and we are better acquainted. I have no doubt she’d drop and suck me dry, and I’d let her even if it was the end of me.

  “You two kids have fun,” Lily calls out as I stalk toward the back, my cousins and brothers parting like the Red Sea as we walk through the public work area.

  “Nice,” Trace mutters, and I know he’s checking her out. But I ignore him and keep on walking.

  If this chick wants to try to fix me, I will let her do whatever she wants and happily play along with the charade. If she is going to pretend to be my girlfriend, I am going to have as much fun as possible.

  8

  “Dude,” Trace says as I stalk by him, double-checking my design while Arlo waits for me in the other room. “She’s fucking mint.”

  “Shut up, man.” I collapse into a chair, knowing I’m about to get an earful of shit from my family.

  “If you feel too much pressure doing her tattoo or anything else, I’ll happily step in and take control of the situation,” is Trace’s reply.

  I snap my head to the side and glare at him. “You better keep your ass in that chair. And get the words doing her out of your mouth when talking about Arlo.”

  He lifts his hands, throwing himself back in his chair. “Someone’s touchy,” he teases. “She already got your dick all twisted, and it’s been what—” he looks at his wrist, then smiles when he looks back at me “—ten minutes.”

  “This isn’t your game to play, li’l man,” I announce, setting the ground rules before my little brother tries to make a move. “You need to let the adults handle the situation.”

  “This is going to be extremely delicious,” Gigi adds as she readies her station for her first client. “Super tasty to watch.”

  “Don’t you start,” Pike tells her, getting a glare from his wife, but that doesn’t stop him. “Leave the man alone. He’s going through something, and he doesn’t need you guys adding to it.”

  Gigi turns around, hand on her hip, leveling her gaze at him. “What the fuck is he going through? I mean, besides pussy like it’s in limited supply and he’s trying to have a monopoly.”

  “I’m not that bad,” I say, earning a laugh from everyone, including my know-it-all cousin Gigi.

  “You’re clearly out of touch with what you’ve been doing.”

  “I’m a man with an appetite, and I’m single. I’m not going to make excuses or apologize for my behavior.”

  She slides her chair over to me, leaning into my space, eyeing my design like she gives a fuck. “So, what’s your endgame with Arlo? Steal her virginity and run? She’s too nice of a girl for you to dirty her.”

  “Nah, Gigi. I know Arlo’s sweet. I’ve met her before—twice, in fact—and she’s Lily’s friend, so I plan to play by the rules and be a complete gentleman.”

  She stares at me, studying my face, but I don’t dare look at her. I’m not being entirely truthful, and Gigi is a human lie detector. “We’ll see,” she whispers. “And by the way, she’s all of our friend.”

  “Why didn’t you guys tell me you were hanging out with her?” I ask, glaring at my cousin.

  She crosses her arms. “Why would we?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know. I’m the one who found her and introduced her to Tamara and all of you, in fact.”

  “We didn’t see a reason to tell you. She’s a good girl, Mello, and while we love you, we didn’t want to see her get hurt.”

  “But now, it’s okay?”

  “Now, it’s different. It’s fake, but so help me God, if you…”

  “I’ll behave, Gigi. I can take a month out of my life to placate my cousin and her whims. Plus, I really do want to move toward something more stable.”

  Gigi steps closer until I can feel her breath hitting the back of my neck. “So, you’re not attracted to Arlo?”

  “I didn’t say that,” I mutter, tweaking the claws of the dragon to make sure they’re absolutely perfect.

  “Don’t use her and then discard her, breaking her heart into a million little pieces like you’ve done to every other woman you’ve tempted into your bed.”

  Her words hit me, cutting a little too close to the quick. “You make me sound horrible.”

  “You’re an unapologetic player, Mello. You never make promises, but the girls go stupid around you. And while Arlo is one of the smartest and savviest women I’ve ever met in my life, I also know you have the ability to destroy her.”

  I finally turn my face, looking straight at my cousin. “Maybe she’ll destroy me. Ever think of that?”

  Gigi studies me for a second, and then she rolls her eyes. “You’d need to have a heart for that to happen.”

  “I’m out,” I announce, pushing back and out of my chair. “I got shit to do. You guys can stay out here, talking about me and my shitty behavior the rest of the day, but let’s not forget, you all were every bit like me before you found your other half.”

  “I don’t count,” Trace adds. “You’re my pussy hero, and I’m still single.”

  “Fuck you,” I tell him, pointing my finger at him as I stalk by. “You’ll never be as great as me.”

  He laughs, throwing a pen at me and hitting me in the middle of the back. “Go get her, bro,” he says.

  “He’ll lock it down within two weeks,” Pike says, getting my middle finger high in the air with my back to him and the rest of the jerk-offs I call family.

  I knock lightly. “Arlo, you ready?”

  “Yeah, Mello. Come on in,” she says, her voice soft and sweet.

  I turn the knob, not one bit prepared for what I see when the door opens. I stop dead with one foot inside and everything else still in the hallway.

  Arlo’s sitting on top of my table, perched with her back against the wall, holding her book, and wearing only a lacy black bra, leaving very little to the imagination.