Page 25 of Beneath Your Beautiful

“Thanks.” I stuffed my money in my handbag and slid it onto my shoulder. “I’m meeting Ava. I didn’t know you were coming.”

“Same here.” His gaze glided over my body, scanning me from head to toe, his eyes so heated I was surprised I didn’t burst into flames. When he was done, he leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “Now we’re even.”

“Enjoy your coffee,” the barista said. He handed us our coffee and gave me a sly wink.

Heat flushed my cheeks as I walked my iced coffee over to the service counter and busied myself with adding milk and two sugars. God, it was hot and steamy in here. It took me ten times longer than it should have to perform this simple task. My motor skills had been severely compromised, and Killian was standing too close to me, in all his wet T-shirt glory. Coffee made, we carried our drinks to a rickety table too small for Killian, let alone me and Ava. It was like the kids’ table at Thanksgiving. I took a seat facing the room and slid my phone out of my bag. Nothing from Ava. I typed out a quick text and hit send. Help, I need back-up. ASAP.

Where are you? Killian is here.

Two seconds later, she replied.

I’ll meet you at the gallery in an hour.

I frowned at my phone. Double-crosser. An hour? I’d be done with coffee and finished at the gallery by then. I sighed and slid my phone into my bag. Killian leaned back in his chair which he’d pushed back to accommodate his long legs and…well, the rest of him…and took a sip of his coffee, his eyes on me.

“Ava isn’t coming.”

Killian rubbed his hand over his face and laughed.

I arched my brows. “Was that funny? Did I miss the joke?”

“The joke’s on us.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” I was still thinking about yesterday when he and Louis were running in the park. I only caught the tail end of their conversation when I turned off my music. Was Louis talking about me or someone else? Louis tried to cover it up, so I figured it wasn’t me. Besides, Killian didn’t need tips. Women gravitated toward him and didn’t seem to notice or care that he didn’t turn on the charm. All he needed to do was show up and all the work was done for him. Was I so shallow? Falling for him because of his looks? No, there was a lot more to Killian—I just wasn’t sure what it was. “You’re probably busy so if you want to go…”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“I was just giving you an out,” I guided my straw to my mouth and took a sip of my coffee.

“What if I don’t want an out?” he challenged.

I shrugged like it didn’t matter to me one way or the other. And it shouldn’t matter. But it did. I was happy he wanted to hang out with me. “Then I guess you can stay.”

He chuckled and lowered his gaze to my right hip as if he had X-ray vision and could see through the fabric of my black tank dress. Didn’t hurt, my ass. It was a lot worse than a needle scratching the skin. I couldn’t imagine sitting through all the hours of tattooing like Killian must have done to get a full sleeve. I left the shop an hour ago with full instructions from Jared, puffy red skin, and a bandage covering my tattoo. I promptly went home and changed out of the shorts chaffing my skin into a dress.

“Did you go through with it?” Killian asked.

I nodded, unable to keep the smile off my face when I thought about the set of wings on my hip. Killian’s smile matched my own. I loved his smile. I loved the dimples and the little lines that crinkled around his eyes. Adorable.

“You’re different outside of work,” I said, observing his relaxed posture.

“Different how?”

“More relaxed.”

“You caught me on a good day. It won’t happen again,” he joked.

I laughed. “Do you like running a bar?”

“It wouldn’t be my first choice, but I’d rather run a bar with Louis than work for someone else.”

“I can’t imagine you working for anyone.”

“Well, there you go,” he said.

“What would be your first choice?”

“Stunt man,” he joked, fixing his gaze on the hand holding my coffee. I didn’t do a thorough job of cleaning off the paint. “What were you painting?”