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Lori blushed and glanced away briefly.

Gabe took the hint and ran her fingers over the small, inked symbol above her right hip. “So this is the bad tattoo you told me about. It’s good work; what’s the problem?”

Lori blinked and took a deep breath. “It’s not the art, it’s what it means. I also told you that it was a bad decision if you remember?”

Gabe nodded but didn’t want to pry into its meaning. “The lawyer?”

“The lawyer.” Lori caught Gabe’s fingers and held them in place over the tattoo. “Would you go with me to have it turned into something else?” She lifted Gabe’s hand to her mouth and kissed her knuckles. “It’s time.”

“I’d be happy to. I had my Metatron work done in New York, but Solo’s tattooist here is excellent.” Gabe paused, not wanting to push the issue, but she was also ecstatic that Lori wanted to remove any trace of the lawyer’s influence from her life and her body. “When would you like to do it?”

“As soon as possible. Do you think I could get it done before the auction?” She looked down at herself. “When this is done and that rust bucket is out of my life, I’ll feel like I can finally close that chapter for good.”

“I’ll give her a call and ask her to let me know if she gets any cancellations. She’ll likely be booked a couple of months ahead. The great tattooists always are.”

An alarm began to sound beyond the bedroom door, and Lori rolled her eyes. “That’s my wake-up alarm. I suppose we should get dressed so that I can take you back to the garage. Or home to change.”

“The garage’ll be fine. I’ve got spare clothes in my locker.”

Lori arched her eyebrow. “Because you were prepared for unplanned nights out like this?”

“Because I was a soldier, and we always plan for all eventualities: oil spills, paint accidents. It’s a dirty job.”

“Mm.” Lori winked and extricated herself then padded out of the bedroom to retrieve her phone.

Gabe instantly missed the feel of her sex against her skin. “Can we both call in sick? I bet your boss would let you take the day off.”

Lori returned, holding the clothes Gabe had strip-teased off in the bathroom, and tossed them onto the bed. “I don’t think so. But you should definitely come to my place as soon as you finish work tonight, and the next night, and the night after that.”

“I see.” Gabe crossed her arms and did her best to look indignant. “The fancy hotel treatment stops now that you’ve got me hooked, does it?”

“You haven’t seen it yet, but I have a wonderful, brand-new Cal king-size bed with a very interesting headboard.” Lori pulled on her underwear and linen trousers.

“Interesting how?” Gabe asked, stirring at the possibilities.

“You only get to find out if you swing by tonight…unless you’re already tied up?”

Gabe bit her bottom lip at the unsubtle clue. “Oh, I’ll be there,” she said. “No time to shower?”

“I’m afraid not.” She fastened her bra and picked up her shirt from the chair that she’d thrown it on. “I’m already running behind, and I wouldn’t want to shower alone. I have a feeling that would make me very late, and Ellery’s coming over to check on the clinic renovations this morning. And I’ve got lots of animals waiting for me as well. Including your boy.”

“Boring.” Gabe reluctantly dragged herself from the bed but still kept her eyes on Lori as she redressed, which she was somehow making almost as much of a turn-on as she did when she was undressing.

“I thought you’d be excited for the second day of work at your new garage.”

Gabe tugged on everything except her shorts, which she stuffed in the leg pocket of her pants—they were way too dirty to put back on. “And you would’ve been right yesterday, before all this happened. All I want to do is spend the day in bed, making love, talking, and ordering room service. Scratch that. I want to do all of those things for the rest of the week, minimum.”

Lori came closer and stood on her tiptoes to kiss her. “I assure you that’s exactly what I want to do too, but thinking about that all day is going to make tonight even sweeter.”

Gabe wrapped her arms around Lori’s waist and kissed her deep and hard. “It’s going to make concentrating on fixing engines damn near impossible.”

Lori pressed her fingers over Gabe’s lips then wriggled away. “You’ll figure it out.” She grabbed Gabe’s crotch and squeezed. “And then you’ll be so ready for me tonight. Right?”

Gabe growled and made a grab for her, but Lori was already out of reach and managed to scoot away.

Lori motioned to the door. “Come on, stud. I need to get on the road.”

Gabe glanced back at the bed and the satisfyingly crumpled sheets that told a story of their own. She took Lori’s hand and kissed her gently. “Thank you for giving me the chance to explain everything. You should know that I was going crazy not being able to talk to you. I missed you.”