The North Star | COMPLETED ✔️

Chapter 36 ~ You Are Never Lost

Chapter 36

The tattoo gun and supplies were in plain sight on the bed, but I still lingered. I needed a moment to calm. Heat once again radiated from my neck to my face, and no matter how hard I wished, it wouldn't go away.

"Why?" I whined. Why did he have to be so attractive? Why did my brain abandon me anytime he got too close?

"Did you get lost, Tequila?" Bard called from the living room. He sounded amused. Damn him.

I couldn't show my face to him, at least not until it returned to its normal color. "Just a second," I called back, voice strained. I wanted to kick myself. I wanted to reach down deep, snatch inner Jessie by the throat, and shake her.

"Okay." I took a deep, calming breath in through my nose, then blew it out slow through pursed lips. "You've never done yoga, or meditation, or any other shit like that, but... you better figure it out..." I breathed again. "Right now." Great. I'm talking to myself. I've lost it. He drove me crazy.

Another, in through my nose, slowly out through my mouth. Then, again. My heart rate slowed. Okay, this is good. I took another deep breath in, blew it out slowly-

"Whatcha doin?"

I let out a shriek worthy of a police visit. "Fuck!" I glared at him and clutched my back-to-racing heart. "Don't do that!"

Bard smiled, and if that wasn't enough to undo all the work I'd done, he darted forward and laid a big kiss onto my cheek.

"Don't do that, either!" I wiped it away, and scowled at him. "You must not want a tattoo."

His smile widened. "I do. That's why I came looking for you." He stepped around me and flopped down onto the bed, placing his hands behind his head, smiling that gut wrenching smile at me. "We can do it here. There's an outlet right under the shelf."

I swallowed hard again at the sight of him, stretched out, on a bed, half naked. Damn.

Thankfully, this time, I was better prepared to deal with it. No way would I be able to handle it for the entire tattoo, though. Nope. Did I look like a saint? Well, I definitely was not, nor had I ever been, saintly. "Living room." I pointed, my expression as stern as I could manage.

His eyes crinkled. "Yes, ma'am." He lifted himself back up, gathered the supplies from the mattress, then slid off the edge to stand right in front of me. "After you." His voice was deep, a caress against my ears.

Just two words in that smooth tone, and my ovaries exploded. I bolted down the hallway as if the bedroom was on fire, which it damn near was. "Sit." I stood as far as I could away from him, and clung to the much needed space as long as possible.

Bard didn't make a sound as he took his place. He stretched his legs out the way they'd  been before and stared at his feet.

I plugged the gun into the wall and set everything out on the table. "What did you say you wanted?"

"You are never lost," he repeated, tone soft. He ran a finger across the left side of his chest.

I let my eyes roam over him once again, and noticed something my hormone crazed brain had overlooked before. "Don't you have any other tattoos?" I searched, but every inch of that golden skin was unblemished.

He shook his head. "That makes you my first, Tequila."

I ignored his comment. "I assumed you'd have tons."

"Never really wanted one." He shrugged. "Truth is, I don't like needles that much. I might need you to hold my hand."

I smirked at him. "It would be kind of hard to tattoo you while holding your hand." I eyed his chest. "You're gonna have to shave that."