Page 49 of Headstrong Like Us

“Okay, Bossy.” I stare mostly at his eyes while he traces my ink with his hands. His fingers track burning lines on the symmetrical blood-red sparrows tattooed on my collarbones. His hands journey over the masts of the pirate ships the birds fly through.

And my muscles contract as he descends to the half-skull on my sternum. My cock twitches with a pulsating ache, and his Adam’s apple bobs in raw desire.

Before his hands travel lower, I grab his wrist. “Are you trying to turn me on, Maximoff, or do you want to tell me something?”

What do you want tattooed on your body, wolf scout?

His cheekbones sharpen, staring off. Lost in thought, but I’m patient and I wait for his focus to return to me.

His eyes meet mine. “Don’t laugh, man.”

My features turn completely serious. I let go of his wrist, my fingers gliding over his palm before our arms drop to our sides. “I promise, I won’t fuck with you.” This really means something to him—and a realization suddenly slams against my head. “The tattoo is about me.”

Maximoff nods a couple times.

I nod back, my lungs expanding in a deeper breath.

“Yeah.” He cracks his knuckles. “There’s only one tattoo I want, one I’d even consider, and it has to do with you.”

Emotion wells up in my chest. Even if I hadn’t already promised, I wouldn’t be able to make a joke. I’m choked up for a second, my eyes carrying the powerful sentiment.

“I want your name tattooed on me. JustFarrow.” Before I can respond, he barrels ahead and says, “I get that I could be dooming us, tattooing the name of my significant other on my body before we get married—”

“Let me stop you there,” I cut him off. “You wouldn’t be ‘dooming’ us. Fuck, I tattooed something that represented you when we weren’t even engaged yet.” I remind him of the pirate wolf tattoo on my lower back, which includes the initialsws.When I got that, I broke my one and only tattoo rule.Never get a tattoo that relates to a boyfriend.I blew past it for him. Always for him.

“It wasn’t my name, though.”

“So what?”

His brows furrow. “Isn’t there a rule aboutnevertattooing names?”

I smile into a laugh. “There are no rules, wolf scout. You can do whatever the fuck you want.”

Maximoff smiles, a fucking gorgeous breathtaking smile, but unfortunately, his lips flat-line fast. “Still, I could be cursing you and me. I’m a Hale. Bad shit does happen to my family.”

I give him a look. “Don’t mention the Hale Curse.” I’m going to kill Donnelly for coining that bullshit.“Tattooing my name on your ass won’t curse anyone or anything.”

“It’s not going on my ass,” Maximoff says strongly, bypassing my light teasing. “If I’m tattooing your name on me, it’s going to be one-hundred percent visible. For the whole world to see.”

His pride thunders through me. Bursting emotion into a million vibrant colors that I’d never contain. I wipe an escaped tear with the heel of my palm and I nod more than once, letting this overwhelming feeling sink deep. “I love the fuck out of you, Maximoff.”

He rubs a hand over his heart, as though it’s beating out of his chest.

My lips rise.

He inhales. “I’m pretty sure I love youless.Like bottom-barrel love.”

Yeah right.I grin more.

He just moves closer.

I move closer. Like magnets, we slam together, our hands devouring before our mouths do. My blood cranks to a blistering simmer, and our tongues entangle and fingers grip. We wrestle for the advantage like we’re in a slow dance, giving and taking the lead.

In a split-second, Maximoff pins my shoulders to the black-painted wall.

“Shit,” I pant, my breath heavy and lip stinging under his force. I grapple with the hem of his shirt and tear the crewneck over his head. Our mouths find each other again. Muscle grinding against muscle. I skim my hand down his toned abs and veer to his ass.

I can only guess how this might go tonight. But I love roaming alongside his desires. Carving out the trajectory of his needs. Fulfilling his wants inside a sea of vulnerability and giving him that release. It’s what catapults me to mind-numbing peaks.