Whispering With You

26. Cursed blue balls and skin blankets .

Kelly

I'M LYING ON MY STOMACH WITH MY arms extended in front of me under the pillow, my head lifted up to stare at the beautiful and very naked woman next to me on my bed Saturday morning. Her white-blonde hair is a halo on the pillow, framing her makeup-free face. I resist the urge to kiss her yet again, her lips already pink and swollen from the other times I gave in to my impulses. Instead, my eyes wander along the exposed skin, most of it hidden under the sheet. The contrast of her light skin against the dark canvas of my bed is an intoxicating sight.

She traces a finger along an intricate design of a tattoo on my bicep, and when she comes to the parts hidden under the pillow, she nudges me until I roll over onto my back, revealing the black ink on my chest.

"Why all the blank spaces?" she asks, continuing her finger's investigation over my skin.

I glance at the outlines of the mandala tattoos, some only partially filled in. "They're placeholders." Taking her hand, I guide her fingers over the incomplete designs. "I'm waiting to fill them in with something meaningful to me." When our fingers brush over the empty space over my heart, I place my hand over hers, stopping our movements. "This is reserved."

Her electric blue eyes meet mine. "Reserved?"

Squeezing her hand over my heart, I nod. "For the one who steals my heart."

Her eyes widen and she tries to remove her hand, but I press it firmly against my chest. "You'd actually permanently tattoo a girl onto your skin forever?"

"Yes, I've been waiting for her."

When I sense the subject is freaking her out, I pin her onto her back, my body hovering over hers. "What about you? You ever think of getting tattoos?"

"Yeah, I've always wanted one, but I have commitment issues. What if I hate it and I'm stuck with it forever?"

"Just do what you do with everything. Overthink it until it makes sense." I grin at her when she sticks her tongue out at me.

I press my lips to her forehead before rolling off her, resuming my spot next to her on the bed. "We could always go to Sully's place and feel it out. He's done most of mine."

"Sully tattooed you? Really?" She stares at my ink again as if seeing it for the first time.

"Yeah, he's really good. He knows what I want. We planned some stuff out. I go once every so often to fill shit in. You could come with me next time, get a feel for it. See if it's something you're interested in."

"Ok," she says in a quiet voice, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.

I free her lip, tracing my finger along its curves. "What are you nervous about?"

She tries to hide her slightly pink cheeks behind her hair, and I give her time to process her thoughts as I brush her hair back off her face. I knew she was overwhelmed last week from the way she dodged my invitations and the randomness of our rushed meetings. I struggled with giving her the space to figure it out and wanting to call her out on it.

When she's still silent a few minutes later, I make a guess at what I think can be bothering her. "Is it Sully? Are you worried about him finding out about us?"

"No. Yes. I mean, I guess kind of. But not in the way you're thinking. I want him to know. I want everyone to know. It was torture hanging out with everyone at Roxy's last night and keep up the pretense that we're nothing more than friends. Especially when I had to watch some chick hit on you."

I laugh when she narrows her eyes at me—I can't help it, she's just so cute when she's trying to be mean—but it just further provokes her, and she swats at my arm. "Laugh it up, Kelly. But let's see how you react when it's you in my shoes. What if some guy had been all touchy and flirty with me?"