Page 31 of Covert (Ruthless Love #2)

Chapter twenty-eight

Beckett

" Y es! Thirty thousand new followers," Nikki says, rounding the half-wall with her iPad to show us.

She's very proud of herself. And shit, I'm proud of her, too. She had a hunch, tested it, and it paid off. It warms my chest to see a smile on her face.

"Who knew women loved to objectify men?" I say, a proud smile on my face.

"Aww, Beckett. I've been trying to objectify you for months," she replies, a teasing tone to her voice.

I swallow my nerves. "I think I'm ready."

"Really?" she replies eagerly, a glint in her eye.

I've been thinking about it for weeks, really, but I think I'm finally confident enough to do it.

I nod. "Yeah, just, like, if the comments are bad, could you just not tell me?" I wince at how pathetic I sound, but I really don't think I have a thick enough skin to be internet famous.

She laughs like I just said the most ridiculous thing. But when I don't laugh with her, she sobers and shakes her head.

"You'll see," she says quietly.

"So, what do I do?"

"Just go about your day, and I'll take a picture of you in your element. The girls are going to love it."

She sashays back up to the front register, her ankle bracelet tinkles softly as she moves .

Later that night, I've forgotten all about TikTok as I finish up the sleeve on the guy I'm working on. He's been a long-time customer, and I think he appreciates that we don't need to make small talk. He tells me what he wants, I design it, he sits, and I work.

Tinkling bells let me know Nikki's walking towards us, but I'm still fully concentrated on my work.

"Thank God my hysterectomy is on Wednesday because my ovaries just exploded," she whispers in my ear, causing a strangled, startled sound to escape my throat.

"Wha-what?" I whisper-shout, pulling my hands away from my client so I don't fuck up if she whispers something else in my ear.

"Sweet Jesus, there's a third? Where do I sign up?"

My client opens one eye, clearly interested in what's happening here.

"To be the meat in that hottie sandwich..." she continues. I kick off the machine and pull off my gloves, needing a breather.

"A tear just rolled down my leg, sir," she continues, a delighted giggle in her voice. I mumble something about needing a break and pace to the hangout area.

She follows me before leaning against the wall and crossing her legs.

I pace and blow out a deep breath, running my hand through my hair.

Nikki simply watches me from her post. I don't know what to make of their comments.

My relationship with women has always been so complicated and fraught with tension.

I know I'm a big guy. I know I'm intimidating, so I've always tried to make myself small, non-threatening .

I don't know how to process attraction. With Nikki, it's easy, safe, one-on-one, at my pace. Women on the internet? I've never had a woman approach me, let alone directly say they found me attractive. I don't know how to process it at all.

"Hey," she whispers, stepping into my space and holding her hands an inch from my chest. I nod quickly, giving her the permission she's asking for. Her tiny hands press into my pecs, and my hands reach up to cover hers.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable," she starts, but I shake my head. She didn't make me uncomfortable. The attention did. It's attention I'm not used to. "I just wanted to show you that other women see what I do. That you're special. That not every woman is going to be afraid of you."

I breathe in, my chest rising under her hands.

The touch is grounding, and my racing thoughts slow down.

Is it really such a bad thing that other women find me attractive?

I obviously only want the attention of one woman.

The woman in front of me. The woman who took a chance to show me that I'm not the monster I thought I was.

And that it's not just the way she sees me, but that maybe I'm not the monster after all.

"It doesn't change anything. Even if we get more female clientele because of posts like this, I'm still not going to schedule you any." She chuckles softly. "I'm not going to throw you to the wolves, Beck."

Before I can think twice, I bend down and kiss her lips. She gasps a tiny inhale of breath, before a wide, beautiful smile spreads across her face.

"Thank you," I whisper, before dropping another kiss to her forehead .

"The iPad will be up at my desk if you want to read anymore. I promise you, babe, they're all positive. You're gorgeous."

And like that, she spins on her heel and leaves again. I take another few sobering breaths before heading back to Frank.

"You good, man? You look a little pale."

I nod my head before slapping on a fresh pair of gloves and going back to work. As if I didn't just fall a little more in love. As if I didn't just have my entire world flipped on its head, and everything I've known about myself didn't just change.

Because of a pint-sized woman and her faith in me.