Temptation’s Edge Read Free

for
her
. Although the shopping was quite nice.
    Their drinks came and Connor took them from the waiter with an almost imperial nod of his head that was still somehow charming. She noted he drank whiskey straight up. She could smell the perfumy fragrance after he sipped and leaned in close to her.
    “How’s yours?” he asked.
    She lifted her glass, sipped. “Perfect.”
    “Ah, I may not be able to bake, but I have other talents.”
    She laughed. “You say that as though you made the drinks yourself.”
    “That wasn’t necessarily what I was referring to.”
    She lowered her voice, batted her lashes. “Are you flirting with me, Connor Galloway?”
    “Why? Are you opposed to the idea?”
    “On the contrary.”
    He grinned, those brilliant white teeth contrasting with his plush red lips. So damn kissable she could feel her own lips twitch.
    He took her hand, pulled it to his mouth, and brushed a quickkiss over her knuckles that sent desire spiraling through her in sharp, fluttering arcs.
    “You have long fingers,” he said, keeping his tone low. “The hands of an artist.”
    “Do you think so?”
    He was still grinning at her. Still making her feel like a teenager with a mad crush. “Well, I admit Alec and Dylan may have mentioned that you are indeed an artist, but yes, you have beautiful hands.”
    Why was his little compliment making her blush? That and his heavy Irish brogue. She felt a surge of disappointment when he released her hand.
    “Thank you.”
    “You have your own tattoo shop down in San Francisco, they tell me. That’s a hard road, running your own business.”
    “Hard, but wonderful. After years of apprenticing in other people’s shops, then renting chair space, I love being my own boss.”
    “I’ll bet you do.” His green eyes were twinkling. He was teasing her, and she liked it.
    “I do, as a matter of fact. I like being in charge of my life. Doing my art my way.”
    He nodded. “That I understand. I’m an artist myself, though of a different sort.”
    She took another sip of her vodka, leaned toward him, intrigued. “What do you do?”
    “I’m a concept artist. I design for video games, some for film and television. Spaceships, robots, that sort of thing.”
    She laughed. “That’s like every kid’s dream come true.”
    “It is. Except that it gives me little time to do my own work.”
    “And what is your own work?”
    “I like to sketch in charcoal.”
    “But not spaceships and robots?”
    He shrugged, his massive shoulders rippling with muscle beneath his dark button-down shirt. “I’ve been more interested in the human form the last couple of years. I’ve started to do some erotic pieces.”
    She smiled at him. “Every young
boy’s
dream come true.”
    He nodded. “When I have the time. Which I’m just now beginning to have. I’m at a point where I can start to pick and choose which contracts I want to accept. You’re lucky to be your own boss, in charge of your schedule, although I imagine running the show is a lot of work.”
    “It is, but I have a great team, which helps. And I love it.”
    Being able to open her own shop was one of her biggest achievements, bigger, even, than getting her art degree. Her business was everything, the one thing in her life she
knew
she’d done right.
    “What does your family think of you doing tattoos for a living?” Connor asked.
    “My younger sister, Raine, is…different from me. She’s an English professor, married to a professor of mathematics. She’s been supportive, in her way, even though I think she finds it hard to relate. Evie is more of a free spirit, an artist herself, so she loves the idea.”
    “Evie? Another sister?” he asked.
    “My mother.”
    “You call your mother by her first name?” He wasn’t the first to ask about it.
    She laughed, but there was a raw edge to it that stuck in her throat. “If you knew Evie…she’s never really been anyone’s mother.”
    Why had she said that? She was