Colour Me Alive

Eleven: A Surprise Visit

A/N: akjnsjhqw, Inked Desire is at 4k reads! Thank you all so much! I'm always speechless to these milestones. Just, ugh, THANK YOU!

That being said... hehe, good luck with this chapter.

Happy reading! ;)

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Liesla Montez

 Friday nights at the tattoo parlor are no joke. There's always someone to tattoo. Whenever we're done with one, there's someone else waiting to get tattooed, it's amazing. Back at the Other shop I worked at, it would never get this busy. Valentin, Drew, and I are working at a fast pace but never losing focus on keeping our tattoos up to par with the other ones we have created.

 It isn't until ten at night when Isaac finally closes the store and lets us finish the tattoos we are working on. After thirty minutes pass and all of us have finished with our customers, we start to clean our spaces and place our machines back in the autoclave.

 "Hey, Liesla?" I hear my name being called out by Isaac from behind, I turn around and face him. "You can go now. I'll close up shop with the guys, okay?"

 I look at him hesitantly but reluctantly agree, wanting to go home and see Dayana. Nodding at him, I finish cleaning up my space then saunter to the locker room to grab my purse and jacket.

 Thinking I'm alone, I sway my hips to the beat of a song that has been stuck in my head ever since Valentin played his music earlier. Damn him.

 I can't believe I accepted to go to this baby shower, let alone, let him pick me up at my house. Or should I say, pick me and my daughter up. Isaac is right about me having to expose Dayana more to different people, and maybe this baby shower is a good step forward. Although, for some reason, I'm kind of nervous about Valentin finding out I'm a mother.

 There's something about him that makes me feel something I haven't felt in a long time, not since him. However, it feels wrong to even compare this feeling I have for Valentin with the feelings I had for Dayana's father, because with Ram, it feels pure and raw. He has ignited this ongoing fire in me, an intense yet tranquil fire. So different and foreign to me. But, it would be foolish of me to believe he might even consider something more with me, especially when he finds out about Dayana. He's a big flirt and may not even want commitment, a huge commitment considering my daughter.

 "You know there's no actual music on right now, right?" Valentin's voice startles me, causing me jump into the lockers and hit my forehead against them. He stifles in a small laugh, covering some of it up with a cough.

 "Shït," I curse, rubbing my forehead and slinging my bag around my head. "I know that, Valentin. Doesn't mean there wasn't any playing in my mind."

 This time, he chuckles as he nervously rubs his neck with his left hand, a habit I am growing very fond of. It makes him look younger than he already does. The way his full eyebrows quirk up along with the left side of lips. His eyes quickly flicker up to the ceiling then land back on mine, looking intently at them. And just like that, the fire he has ignited in me spurs back up, flaring from the tension.

 Valentin makes a cautious move towards me, slow but confident. When he comes to a comfortable distance, the urge to feel a more intense flaring of the fire surges. I make a bold move and close the distance, our chest just inches apart. My curious hands move to his arm, his body relaxing into my touch. I gently trace his intriguing tattoos, tingles covering my hands as I study them.