I’m completely amazed by how well these guys have managed to capture our personalities through the art. No wonder Randy won’t let anyone else work on him. I also understand exactly why this place is by appointment only.

  “These are amazing,” Randy says.

  His declaration is followed by a chorus of agreements. Hayden drops his head, a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. His knee bounces a couple of times before he picks up another folder.

  “Thanks. It really was a combined effort. We’ve got other options, though, and of course we expect to do some tweaking between now and the session, so know this isn’t the final product. We can adjust color, design elements, font, all that stuff. You just have to let us know what’s working and what isn’t.”

  Flipping the folder open, Hayden pulls out a second set of designs with small, but significant differences. It doesn’t take long for the girls to get bored with the back and forth over details. They head over to the jewelry case, where Lisa and Tenley are sitting, glancing at us every once in a while and whispering.

  After a few minutes the girls—and by girls I mean Violet—get louder. Giggling and some gasps and Oh my Gods follow.

  “I say go for it!” Charlene has her arm around Lily’s shoulder. “You won’t regret it.”

  Randy looks up from the design. His is much different, considering it’s going to be part of a sleeve. “Won’t regret what?”

  “Lisa’s trying to convince Lily to get her clit pierced!” Charlene explains.

  “Permanent vagina bling!” Violet chimes in.

  “Jesus Christ,” I mutter. “This is not stuff I need to know about.”

  Chris, the tattoo artist who’s big enough to pass for a hockey player, or a linebacker, snorts. “You wouldn’t believe the shit we hear on a regular basis.”

  “I don’t think I even want to imagine.”

  Randy gives Lily a full-body visual sweep. His eyebrow rises. “What’s the healing time on that?”

  “That depends.” Hayden says.

  “On what?” Randy’s knee is going now, and he’s having a hard time not looking at Lily like he wants to eat her.

  “On your level of patience. Isn’t that right, kitten?” Hayden glances at his girlfriend.

  Her eyes go wide, and her mouth drops open. “Seriously, Hayden?”

  “What?” He looks genuinely confused, even though we’re all suddenly super interested in the sketches, not the conversation. Well, except for Randy.

  “I think you’re badass for getting a hole in your vagina penis,” Violet says seriously.

  Chris barks out a laugh. “You guys need to hang out here more.”

  Lisa rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. She’s the one who answers Randy’s question. “If you follow the aftercare instructions, it’s usually about a week before you can resume normal activity.”

  “Normal being—” He gestures between him and Lily. She looks a little mortified, which is kind of funny, considering how those two will pretty much get their fuck on anywhere. They routinely disappear for half-hour increments when they think no one’s paying attention to them.

  “You have to be careful with too much friction, too soon, or you’ll prolong the healing period,” Tenley replies.

  “What do mean, prolong? Like, how sensitive is it going to be?”

  “You gotta take it easy for a couple of weeks,” Hayden says, eyes still on Tenley.

  “Like, once a day easy?” Randy asks.

  “Uh…” Hayden pokes the corner of his mouth with his tongue. I’m not sure if it’s some kind of signal or what. “Yeeaah, you’ll have to go easier than that.”

  Randy looks horrified. “Oh, fuck that. No way, luscious. I’m not going down to less than once a day.”

  “It has some incredible benefits.” Tenley strokes her braid. She and Hayden are giving each other the screw-me eyes.

  “What kind of benefits?” Randy still looks skeptical.

  “More orgasms for Lily,” Tenley replies.

  Randy snorts. “Yeah, cause there’s a real shortage of those right now.”

  “You probably couldn’t get the needle through anyway since Lily’s beaver is made of titanium,” Violet says.

  “Jealous again?” Lily smirks.

  “It has nothing to do with jealousy. I’m just stating facts. Clearly you have some sort of beaver superpowers with the amount of humping you and Horny Nut Sac do.”

  “She’s always like this, isn’t she?” Chris asks me.

  “Most of the time, yeah. It’s pretty entertaining.”

  He nods his agreement. “How’s she do with interviews and stuff? “

  “Those are always scripted,” Alex says.

  “What about nipples? What’s the healing time on those?” Violet asks Lisa.

  “About two months before they stop being sensitive, but a good four to six before they’re totally healed, sometimes longer.”

  Violet makes a face and holds her boobs, so I look away.

  Alex points a finger at her. “Don’t even think about it, Violet.”

  “Oh, don’t you worry. I would never take away your favorite toys for that long.”

  Alex relaxes back into his chair.

  Charlene slaps the counter. “I’m going to do it!”

  “You already have your nipples pierced. They’re not ears; you can’t get them done a whole bunch of times like Tenley here.” Violet motions to Tenley’s ears, which are indeed pierced numerous times. A ladder of rings climbs the shell.

  Now, I don’t have an issue with piercings. I’ve been with plenty of girls who have holes in various parts of their bodies—what I didn’t realize is how long it takes for something like that to heal fully.

  “I’m not talking about my nipples; I mean a hood piercing,” Charlene clarifies.

  Lisa does a little jumpy-squeal thing. “Yay! You won’t regret it!”

  “You’re okay with that?” Charlene looks to Darren.

  Darren taps the arm of the chair. His smile is tight. “If it’s what you want. Although, you may want to consider waiting until the season starts and I’m on an away series.”

  Charlene bites her lip and turns to Lisa and Tenley. “It’s only a week, though, right?”

  “For gentle use,” Tenley says.

  Charlene looks back and forth between the girls and Darren. “You can handle that.”

  “It’s not me who has to go without. There are plenty of ways for me to achieve the same ends; not so much for you.”

  “He makes a good point,” Lily says.

  “I think I need to sit down.” It’s the first time Sunny’s involved herself in the conversation since the girls started in on the piercing talk.

  All of a sudden the girls are flitting around, and Miller’s out of his seat. Sunny’s pretty freaking pregnant right now, and she’s a bit of a delicate flower—not literally, she’s a yoga instructor, so physically she can kick ass. But she’s not a big fan of blood or anything related to pain, so I can imagine this conversation is a little much for her.

  I’m actually relieved that she’s inadvertently put an end to it. Charlene seems to have decided to put off the piercing for another day, perhaps when Sunny isn’t at risk of passing out on us.

  When Sunny’s recovered, the girls decide to make a trip to the coffee shop and bookstore across the street, and we get back to going over what we’re here for: tattoo designs.

  There’s been some debate as to where we all want the tattoo, but it’s not like we need to have them in the same place. Alex already has the puck-stick combo on his bicep, Randy’s thinking about the top of his forearm, because he wants it on display, and I’m thinking I’ll go with the inside of mine. Darren and Miller are both considering chest tattoos.

  As we sit here, shooting the shit, I recognize that these guys have become my family. And that’s as good as it is bad, because at some point I’m going to get traded again—we all are—and then I’ll have to start over with a new team.

  This tattoo is a good way to remember to hold on to these ties.

  Chapter 9

  Location Relocation

  RANDY

  Lily and I move to the private room with Hayden after we finish going over the team tats. I’m pretty damn excited to get started on this new sleeve, even though the appointment is a couple of months out. We want to wait until closer to the end of the summer when time in the sun won’t distort fresh color. For now, it’s something to look forward to. And I’m just as excited about Lily getting ink of her own.

  Hayden pulls out Lily’s folder. “Ready to see some designs?”

  Lily gives me a huge smile before flashing it at Hayden. “So ready.”

  He withdraws three sketches, placing them on the table in front of us.

  “Oh my God!” Lily claps a palm over her mouth and drops it just as fast. “These are beautiful. I want them all!”

  Hayden chuckles. “So you like them?”

  “I love them!” Lily hugs my arm. “Do you love them? Aren’t they gorgeous?”

  “They are, but that’s what Hayden does.” He and I exchange a look. Seeing Lily get excited about her first tattoo makes me remember exactly what it was like when I started mine. Although, having gone in wanting a full sleeve, I’d committed myself to a lot more time and art right from the beginning.

  “Are you drawn to one over the others?” Hayden asks.

  “Oh, God.” Lily does this little bouncy thing and runs her hands down her thighs, which are bare since she’s in a dress. “I don’t know. They’re all so perfect for different reasons. Which one do you like, Randy?”

  I shake my head. “Nuh-uh. It’s your art. That decision is yours.”

  “You don’t have to choose right now. You can take some time to think it over,” Hayden says.

  She taps her lips. “I kind of want to get one right now.”

  Hayden and I laugh again. Her enthusiasm is hard-on inspiring. Although I’ve been sporting a semi pretty much the entire time I’ve been here with all the piercing talk and Lily giving me her sex eyes.

  “You haven’t even decided where you want it,” I remind her.

  She presses her knees together and looks up at me, then whispers. “I thought we said inner thigh.”

  “If that’s where you want it, but you don’t have to hide it from everyone but me if you want to put it somewhere it can be on display.”

  “Why do there have to be so many choices?” Lily complains, but she’s still grinning. “Why can’t this be easier so I can have it now?”

  “Why don’t we go over all your prospective locations, and the variables that impact them, and see if that helps you make a decision?” Hayden suggests.

  Lily expels a breath. “Okay. Sounds good.”

  “So there are a few important things to consider once you’ve chosen the design. Placement is one of them, but so is the size of the tattoo. You can go bigger than this.” He taps beside the design in the middle, then moves his finger to the one on the right. “But you can’t go smaller than this unless we make some modifications. Otherwise we’ll lose a lot of the detail, and the colors can bleed.”

  “Right, okay.”

  “If you decide you want the tattoo on your inner thigh, would you want it to be pretty small?” he asks, glancing between me and Lily.

  She chews on her lip for a second. “I guess? Otherwise it would look kind of strange, right?”

  Hayden taps the table. “Well, isolated, it might. If it was part of a series of tattoos, maybe not. But we want to treat this as the only one for now, right?”

  “Good point.”

  “The other thing you might want to consider is that you’ll likely have to be in your underwear for a couple of hours, and the inner thigh is sensitive for obvious reasons.” Hayden’s gaze stays fixed on Lily.

  “I hadn’t thought about that.”

  I sure have, ever since that conversation with Lance last week about the artist being up in Lily’s business.

  Hayden nods. “If you decide to get it on your hip, or that area, I’d say you might want to go this size—” He points to the smallest one. “—and depending on how low you’re going, sometimes you’re looking at towel coverage.”

  “Towel coverage?”

  “He means no panties while he’s putting it on.” I try really hard to keep my voice even.

  Lily’s hand flutters to her neck. “Oh.”

  “Obviously we’d do it in here. And you’d have privacy when you change—”

  “And I’m gonna be here,” I bark.

  Lily jumps a little, maybe at my tone.

  “Sorry.” I mutter.

  Hayden gives me a knowing look. “You don’t have to go with the hip if you don’t want. You could put it on the back of your shoulder, or high up on your arm. Depending on how visible you want it to be, you could always get it on the inside of your forearm, or your ankle. I’d say the top of your foot, but with you being a figure skater, that’s not a great place unless you have a couple weeks off to give it time to heal.”

  Lily traces the design in the middle. It’s the one she keeps looking at the most. “I might need to think about the placement a little more.”

  “Once you settle on a design, I can make up a few transfers so you can see what it would look like in different locations. Then you can decide what you like best.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Of course. And I’ll make copies of the designs for you to take with you. When you think you know which one you want, let me know, and if there are any changes, you can email them to me. Then we can schedule an appointment to check out placement. I can either book you on the same day the guys are coming to get their ink, or we can pick a different day.”

  Lily nods. “That sounds like a good idea.”

  Lily waits until Hayden leaves to make copies for her before she gives me the look I’ve been waiting for. This time it’s nothing close to sex eyes.

  “I know, I know. I’m sorry. I’m just not keen on the idea of some other guy’s hands and face right up next to my favorite place to have my hands and face.”

  She puts her palm on my thigh. “And moody dick, don’t forget him.”

  “Yeah. He’s pretty unforgettable.”

  “I don’t have to get it on my inner thigh.”

  “You can if that’s what you want.” It would be sexy, and I’ll have to get over my serious aversion to Hayden’s hands being that close to my girl’s pussy if it’s the location Lily decides to go with.

  “Maybe it should be more visible.”

  “That might be nice, too.” I’m way more partial to it being on her shoulder, or even her forearm, although I don’t want it to interfere with her employability. It’s irrelevant for me. Tattoos have no impact on my hockey career, but a highly visible tattoo on Lily might be different. It’s another thing to discuss.

  Hayden comes back a minute later with a rigid envelope that he passes over to Lily. “Usually I put them up in a place I like to hang out, like my living room or something, when I’m trying to make a decision.”

  “That’s great. Thanks.”

  “Just call when you’re ready, and we’ll set up a follow-up appointment. Unless you want to do that now? Say, in a few weeks? I’m guessing you want to wait until summer’s over since you’ve got a lot of light colors in there and you don’t want the sun to fade them out.”

  Lily nods again, and we make an appointment for a few weeks from now, as well as another one for October, when I’ll be home between a series of away games.

  We finish up, and Lily hugs the envelope to her chest as Hayden opens the door to the private room and stops dead.

  “What’s going on here?” he demands. “You giving away all my treats while I’m busy?”

  Everyone’s sitting around eating snacks. It takes me a second to realize they’re mowing down cupcakes.

  Tenley, who’s close to the same height as Lily, but curvier, flips her hair over her shoulder and gives Hayden a look I’m very familiar with. “Relax, cupcake, I made lots, and there are plenty at home if you don’t get your fill here.”

  “Oh, I’m pretty sure I’ll still be hungry when I get home, kitten.”

  Lily leans in to whisper in my ear. “And I’m pretty sure he’s not going to be eating cupcakes.”

  “Neither will I,” I whisper back.

  Chapter 10

  Cupcake

  TENLEY

  I seriously can’t get over the uncanny resemblance between Hayden and Randy. I mean, of course the beard is different, and Randy is way broader than Hayden, but put those two side by side, and they could probably pass for cousins, maybe even brothers.

  Hayden has that look on his face—the one that tells me I’m the cupcake when I get home. Lily’s whispering something to Randy, and ironically, he seems to be wearing a similar expression to Hayden’s, and it’s directed at Lily.

  Suddenly the only place I want to be is home. In bed. With Hayden. If we can make it that far.

  Lily excuses herself to the bathroom, and Randy watches her go.

  “Stay where we can see you, Balls,” Lance says.

  “Those two like to christen bathrooms, and based on the look on this one’s face, he’s strongly considering following her.” Violet points a finger at Randy.

  “They have a lot in common with those two.” Lisa motions between Tenley and Hayden.

  “Like you’re one to talk,” Hayden shoots back.

  “Jamie and I were never as bad as you two.”

  Hayden scratches his temple with his middle finger. “I think you have a short and faulty memory.”