Free Trouble by Nadene Seiters Page B

vibrates and my teeth grind together as I watch him grab a tattoo gun and proceed to tattoo a dolphin on the girl’s ankle.
    I grumble and stomp around my office a little before I calm down and sit at my desk again. I finish up the shading of the rose and shove the piece of paper in the envelope labeled Joel. It’s Friday night, maybe I’ll take Daisy out to dinner. That ought to calm her down; at least, I hope it does.
    With that idea in my mind, I grab my jacket off the back of my chair and pull it on, the leather creaking. I ignore the giggling ladies and put my hand on Daisy’s hip when she comes around the corner. The giggling immediately ceases when Daisy smiles up at me , and I know I’ve dashed some women’s hopes that instant.
    “You want to go out for dinner?” I ask her quietly, enjoying the way her body levitates towards mine.
    “O-okay,” she stammers, holding a manila envelope up in her hands.

Chapter Eight
    I don’t know if she’s nervous or if it’s just that all women lose their marbles when they’re asked on a date. She’s gone to the bathroom to recheck her makeup three times now, and she’s changed her shirt eight. I grumble in frustration when she tells me to hold on a sec again and heads for the bathroom. I grab her around the waist with my right arm and pull her back against my chest, my nose dipping down to involuntarily sniff at her hair.
    “You look beautiful, now can we go?” I try to keep the heat out of my voice, but it still slips through like water through a crack.
    “I just need to fix –” I clamp a hand over her lips and I’m really glad that she’s not wearing lipstick or lip gloss. She never does, not anymore. She sure can get elaborate with her eye makeup though. Yesterday she practically looked Egyptian.
    “Nothing, you need to fix nothing because you are absolutely perfect. Besides, it’s nowhere fancy, alright?” I pull away my hand when she nods reluctantly, and let it fall to take one of hers. She doesn’t carry a purse, but after she got all her papers situated from the government she now has a state issued I.D. that she carries. I now know that she’s nineteen years old.
    I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her birth certificate. I never bothered to ask her how old she was before I pulled her down onto the bed that night, for all I knew she was sixteen. My fingers loop in between hers and remain loose as I lead her towards the door.
    “But –” she starts again, and I put a finger to her lips. Then I silence her with a kiss when she still tries to argue. By the time I’m done kissing her breathless, she’s like pudding in high heels. I lean down to whisper in her ear, my cheek touching hers.
    “I could do all kinds of things to you right here, right now, because of that shirt, your tight jeans, and your heels that will stay on tonight. Do you want me to start now?” She whimpers and shakes her head in the negative, and I chuckle against her neck.
    My free hand pulls open the door , and I watch her leap out like she’s the mouse and I’m the tiger. I pull my car keys out of my pocket and press the start button. The Mustang roars to life, and I take those final steps to get ahead of Daisy to open up her door for her. Never in my life have I had the urge to open up a girl’s car door, but with Daisy it’s different. It’s like if I don’t do that one, small thing I don’t deserve to be able to tear off her clothes at night and make her call out my name.
    I manage to stay well within the parameters of the speed limit even though my blood is roaring through my veins. I told her it was nowhere fancy just to placate her, in reality we’re going to one of the nicest places within a one hour radius. I drive right out of town and turn on the music softly to set the mood.
    When I pull up to the curb in front of a world renowned brewery her eyes widen ever so slightly , and I see her catch her breath. Every movement she makes screams at me to kiss