Page 58 of Embraced in Ink

“For a progressive city such as Boulder, they sure as hell don’t like the queer guy behind the desk as it is,” Ronin said, rolling his eyes. “They can deal with my language.”

“Yeah, they can. And as for Bristol? We’re taking things slow.”

“You’re engaged, not too slow.”

“We can take it slow and still be engaged,” Marcus said, knowing that wasn’t entirely correct. But he was still figuring shit out, after all.

“Go get to your appointment in Denver. We’ll be here when you get back. And I better be invited to the wedding.”

Marcus pushed back from his desk entirely and stood up. “You know you will. And the guys already want you to come to our guys’ night or whatever.”

“Is it going to involve lifting? Because I can do that, but I’d rather go for wings. Wings sound great.”

“And now I’m starving. Thank you for that.”

“I try. Now, back to work. The book club’s coming in today.”

Ronin didn’t have to elaborate. Many clubs came in, and they loved them. However, there was one book club that Marcus hated. They were rude, cranky, and demanding. And they didn’t seem to like books at all. They mostly wanted to judge and to lord over them. But it wasn’t like he could kick them out. Not when his bosses loved the ladies, and one of them was their cousin. So, Ronin and Marcus dealt with it. It was one of the small things that made his job not the best at times. But still worth it.

He wasn’t headed home. Instead, he went to Bristol’s house to pick her up. He had made this appointment down in Denver nearly a year ago and had planned to go alone. He had honestly thought Bristol would be on tour by now. Instead, she was going with him.

He tried to let that little clutch finally go away at the thought of her on tour. She was allowed to do that. It was her fucking job. Just because he felt like he was going to miss her even more now than before didn’t mean he had any say in the matter. They’d figure out a plan. He had enough time off that he could visit her around the world. Or, there was such a thing as a phone. With the invention of video calling, you were never too far away from someone. At least, that’s what he told himself when he got stressed out about the idea of it.

Bristol was waiting for him on her porch, and ran to the car, smiling.

“Are you ready?” she asked, slapping a kiss on his lips. He grunted, then tugged at her hair and tilted her head back as he took her mouth completely. She moaned into him, clutching his shoulders.

“Well, then. That’s a hello. What for?”

“I felt like it. Got a problem with that?” he asked, raising a brow.

“No problem at all. I liked it. This is going to be fun, though. I’ve been with you for one tattoo, but this is going to be great.”

“Well, I hope so. Getting into your cousins’ shop is ridiculously difficult.”

“That’s because Austin is amazing. And so is Maya. But you’re working with Austin today, right?”

Marcus nodded and pulled into the driveway.

“Yes, mostly because Austin’s done nearly all of my other work. Maya hasn’t, and you know how your cousins always fight over who gets to claim more territory.”

“They joke about it. But if you let her do the iris, then that’ll wipe the slate clean.”

Marcus gave her a look before he got onto the highway.

“What was that look for?”

“Because you think I’m going to get a Montgomery iris,” he replied, keeping any teasing out of his tone.

“You’re not?” she asked, clearly insulted—though it was probably only for show.

“I may have had my mouth on your iris. Doesn’t mean I’m going to get one of my own.”

“That sounds far dirtier than it needed to be,” she said, snorting. “But I thought you wanted one. Don’t you?”

“Maybe. Not all those who marry into your family get one, do they?”

“I think nearly all of them do. I don’t think my cousin Meghan’s ex-husband did. Neither did Alex’s ex-wife. But, you know, they weren’t the best people anyway.”