Dirty Ink Read online

  She laughs. “Don’t worry about that. There’s no chance of that happening.”

  I wonder does that include me? Where the fuck did that thought come from? She’s going to be the death of me.

  “Right, come on then, let’s go. I’ve got a customer coming in this afternoon and need to get ready.” I open the door for her and I can’t help but watch her ass as she sashays down the corridor to the front of the shop.

  Instantly, Dane and his customer look up and watch her as she walks towards them and stops just in front of Dane. Her smile is huge, and I’m instantly jealous that she didn’t smile that hard for me.

  “This is Alyssa, and she is going to be working here for a while. She’s going to be doing our management accounts along with any other business jobs we can find her to do. Be nice to her, Dane.”

  Dane stands and extends his hand for her to shake. She does. “Nice to meet you, Dane.” He holds her hand longer than he should be and when I glance at his face, he is smiling at me. The bastard is doing it on purpose. She pulls her hand back, slightly embarrassed by the contact.

  “The pleasure is all mine sweetheart. It’ll be great to have someone good looking to look at. I get stuck with his ugly mug all day.” Dane laughs and Alyssa looks over to me and giggles. God, I want to make her giggle all the time if that is the reaction on my dick.

  Shaking my head to get those thoughts out, I reach over and grab her hand, “Come with me, I’ll show you the office and tell you everything you need to know.”

  She looks down at our joined hands then back up at me, lifting her brows asking why I was holding her hand. I don’t care. I’m not letting go. I pull her down the corridor to the office and she follows, meekly.

  Opening the door next to my room I pull her in with me. It’s not a big room and all of a sudden it seems so much smaller with the two of us in here. I can’t breathe. What is she doing to me? It’s kind of freaking me out. I’m not used to this.

  “This is where you’ll work.” I pull out the chair for her to sit down. She does, obediently. “I’ll grab everything you need. If there’s anything we don’t have and you need to order it, just go ahead and order. If you’re looking for older documents, then I’ve sent them off to storage and we can have them in the next day. I guess that means you’ve got to be organised.”

  “Don’t worry Mason, if there’s one thing I am it’s organised. I think I’ll take some time to look around and acquaint myself with the layout, how you do things. Is that okay with you?”

  “Whatever you want Alyssa, whatever you want.” As long as it’s me. Fuck!

  “First show me where the kitchen is so I can make a coffee, I think I’m going to need it. I think you’re going to be a challenge, Mason. But I will win you over. I know I will.” She stands again and brushes past me. Just her scent drives me insane. Her body skims my own and all my nerves are standing to attention. And so is my cock!

  Chapter Five

  ALYSSA

  After Mason shows me the kitchen, he leaves me with my own thoughts. How can I be so attracted to someone I don’t even like? Well that’s not true. I don’t know him well enough to say I don’t like him, but I don’t like the way he’s treated Richard and by extension me and mum. He’s clearly arrogant, thinks he’s right all the time and unbelievably sexy.

  Underneath all of that I get the impression he’s actually a decent guy. From what little I’ve seen already he’s very organised, he seems to know what he’s doing and isn’t just in it for the tattooing. He’s making a go of his business and I think that Richard is just pissed off that Mason won’t tell him anything. I know he put me in here as his spy, but I promised Mason I wouldn’t tell on him. I’m not sure how that’s going to work out when Richard is expecting me in his office every Monday morning early to recap my weeks work. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

  With my coffee cup in hand, I go back to the small office and sit at the computer. I need to get to grips with the management software he uses and then start looking at his procedures. After a few minutes, I know that I am going to be in here for a few hours.

  There’s a quiet knock on the door and it opens before I say anything. Dane puts his head inside the door. “Hey, it’s lunchtime, do you want to come out of there and join us?”

  “Lunchtime? Wow I didn’t see the time go. What do you do for lunch around here?”

  “We usually go to the pub over the road, The Jolly Sailor.”

  “Do you drink at lunchtime? You know that’s not…,” I don’t get to finish my sentence before Dane interrupts me.

  “Listen, we’ll have a beer if we feel like it. No one is going to stop us, but we don’t get hammered. We just need time to wind down, it can be stressful leaning over a piece of art all day. Our muscles get tense, so we need to unmind and just relax for an hour.”

  Standing I smile. “Sorry, I suppose I’m used to corporate businesses where things are very different. Yes, I’d love to come to the pub with you for lunch.”

  I follow him out to the front of the shop and wait while he locks up. Then I follow him across the road into the pub.

  “Hey, over here.” Turning left, I see Mason waving us over. I groan because I thought he would be somewhere else. I didn’t want to spend my lunch hour with him. Just being close to him makes me blush and want to reach out and touch him.

  Dane puts his hand on my lower back and steers me over to Mason. Mason looks at his hand and Dane removes it. What’s that about?

  “Hey, come, sit down. I’ve got the menu for you, Dane and I know what we want already.”

  “I’m off to get a drink, Alyssa, what do you want?”

  “A glass of lemonade please.” I’m not going to drink at lunchtime, I’ve got too much work to do.

  “A lemonade?” Mason asks, with a smirk on his face.

  “Yeah, I don’t need to unwind like you and Dane. I’m good.”

  Mason reaches out and puts his hand on my leg. My breath hitches, I can’t seem to let it go. “You looked like you were engrossed in work when I looked in earlier. Everything going okay?”

  His hand is still on my leg. I can’t breathe. “Lots to do.” I look down to his hand and then up to his face. He smirks but doesn’t take it away. I’ve got two choices, I can either just ignore it but who gives him the right to touch me, or I can lift it and move it away. Choices. Choices.

  I decide to remove it, or I’ll pass out from holding my breath. As I touch his hand to move it off my lap, he turns his palm and clasps mine. When I look over to him he’s smiling and his eyes are wide open like he thought I would fight him. Well he’s right.

  “Mason, what are you doing?” I whisper. “Please give me my hand back.” I tug it. He doesn’t let go. I tug it again and this time he does.

  “Sorry, just wanted to see how soft your hands were.” He smiles and I can see the lust swirling in his eyes. Fuck he wants me as much as I want him. Shit!

  MASON

  The way that Alyssa is looking at me right now makes me want to pull her under me and fuck her stupid, I don’t care we are in public. They can watch if they want. But then I remember she’s my step-sister and now I have to back off. Fucking dad.

  “So, how’s your first morning been? Did you find any skeletons yet?”

  She giggles. “No, I’m just trying to work out how you store things and get used to Quickbooks. I’m here to help you Mason.” This time she reaches out and touches my arm, fleetingly. Even though it’s barely a whisper on my skin, it feels like she burnt it. “I’m not going to change anything without coming and talking to you about it. Dirty Ink is your baby and I won’t forget that. I’ll seek your guidance every step of the way. I’ll do whatever you want.” Her face flushes when she realises what she said. If I’m not stupid I think she wants me as much as I want her. This is going to be fun, but torture at the same time.

  Dane comes back over and puts our drinks down in front of us, breaking whatever moment we were having. I’
d love her to do whatever I want. I hope I don’t have to go and order food because my dick is as hard as a rock and it doesn’t look like he’s going to go down fast. She’s removed her hand from my arm to take her drink and it’s cold where she removed it.

  Dane and Alyssa start talking about Dirty Ink and I think about something, anything to bring my dick down. When I feel safe enough, I stand. “What do you both want to eat? I’m going to order.”

  Dane asks for his usual and Alyssa asks for a ploughmans salad. When I’m at the bar I turn around to face them and I see them deep in conversation. Watching them laughing is making me feel strange inside. I want her to laugh like that with me, not Dane. I want to punch his lights out. What is that all about?

  Dane looks over and smiles and nods his head at me, then he reaches over and touches her hand that’s resting on the table. I want to fucking kill him. He’s doing it on purpose. He’s trying to get a reaction out of me. I want to drag her out of here and back to Dirty Ink, into my room and keep her away from everyone else. Caveman much?

  My teeth are clenched, my forehead is screwed up and that’s when Dane looks over at me, removes his hand and laughs. The fucker is doing this on purpose. I’ll kill him.

  After ordering, I go back to the table and sit next to Alyssa. We are sat on one of the long couches and I inch myself so that my thigh is touching hers. I need to feel her.

  She reaches out and touches my thigh, bringing me back to their conversation. “Dane was telling me how you got started and how you did it all on your own at first. That’s really commendable, Mason.” She takes her hand off and smiles at me.

  “Thanks. Yeah it was tough at first, but I knew I wanted to do this for mum. She would have been proud of me even if dad isn’t.”

  “I’m sure he is Mason, he just doesn’t know how to show it. If you’d let him into your world then I’m sure he would see that what you do is great business.”

  I don’t want to talk about this right now. “Tell us how you got into business, Alyssa.” I change the subject.

  She goes on to tell us about when she went away to college, all she’s ever wanted to do is run her own business, but she doesn’t think she has the ideas to do it, so she helps other people run their businesses.

  “Smart move, so you get to enjoy what you do without the financial risks.”

  “Absolutely,” she says lifting her glass to her lips. I can’t help but watch the tip of her tongue come out to meet her lips as she leans the glass against the bottom one. As she swallows, I can follow the line it takes down her throat. I want to be that glass. I want to be the one that makes her lip come out to taste me.

  I have to stop torturing myself like this. I want her so much. I really don’t care that she’s my step-sister I need to taste her. When I look at Dane he’s smirking, trying not to laugh at me. I’ll punch him in a minute if he keeps laughing at me.

  “I have to go.” Standing I walk away from the table. I can’t stay there another minute without taking her mouth in mine. I don’t turn around as I walk out of the door and back over to work.

  Shit… it’s only been half a day and it feels like forever. How am I going to be able to work with her and not touch her? I’ll be fucked if I know how.

  Chapter Six

  ALYSSA

  My mouth is hanging open. Mason just walked out on Dane and I before lunch arrives. “What is wrong with him? Did I say something wrong?”

  Dane laughs. “No babe, he’s just feeling frustrated. He hates his dad interfering with his business.”

  “He’s not interfering though, he just wants to make sure everything is right and the correct procedures in place. He doesn’t want him to fail.”

  “Mason feels like he’s a failure if his dad feels he has to interfere. Do you understand that?”

  “No. I need to though, don’t I?”

  “Yeah, you need to understand Mason more to understand their fucked-up relationship.”

  We eat our lunch and then when we go back to Dirty Ink, Mason isn’t there. I go back into the office and surround myself with his books and computer programmes.

  It’s three days later before Mason comes into the office to see me. They’ve both been busy, and I haven’t had much to do with them. There’s been people in and out. Women laughing, lots of whispers and hushed conversations, but I’ve just got on with the work I was sent here to do.

  He knocks on the door and walks in. “Hey, you got a minute?”

  “Sure.” I stop typing and turn my chair around to face him. God he’s just breathtaking. His hair is messy, like he has been running his hands through it. His beard is overgrown. His arms are inked, muscular and they are bulging as he crosses his arms across his body.

  “Sorry.”

  “What for?”

  “Sorry for running out on lunch like that. I think I owe you an apology.”

  “You don’t owe me anything, Mason. If you think you need to apologise then do it because you mean it, not because you feel you ought to.”

  He smiles. “Do you know something? My mom would have liked you. You have attitude and spunk and she loved anyone that would challenge me.”

  “Your mom? Thanks, I guess.”

  He moves closer and sits on the desk in front of me. He takes one of my hands and my heart rate increases. It’s pushing the blood around my body so quickly I feel like I’m going to pass out.

  “I need to tell you something. It’s why I walked out the other day. I feel it’s only far to explain myself.”

  “You don’t have to Mason. It’s fine. I know you don’t like me. I know you hate the fact that I’m he...”

  Before I get chance to finish my sentence, he’s kissing me. Not just a peck on the lips, but a full-on passionate kiss. I look into his eyes and see him looking at me waiting for me to hit him or do something else. But he keeps kissing me and it’s only a slight second before I kiss him back.

  He slips off the desk and kneels between my legs, so he is the same height as me. One of his hands snakes around my neck to clamp me at the base of my neck, pulling me closer to him. I can’t help myself and a groan escapes me.

  His other hand is in my hair, pulling it and wrapping it around his hand. Fuck the pull is painful but hot. He slows down the kiss and then keeps looking in my eyes, waiting for me to say something. Slowly he pulls away.

  “Wha..?” I’m speechless.

  “That’s what I wanted to say to you. I want you. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care how we’re related. I don’t care about anything like that. I can’t think of anything or anyone other than you. I thought if I stayed away from you my lust would dissipate, but it hasn’t it’s just got stronger. I think you feel the same, but I need you to think about what you want. I want to fuck you so bad, but it’s more than that for me. I want to own you and keep you away from everyone else. I’ve never felt like that before.”

  “Mason.” I whisper.

  He looks up at me. I can see the confusion in his eyes.

  He leans forward and kisses me chastely on the lips, then stands. “I’m going home for the night. I’ll talk to you when you’ve thought about what I said.” He walks out of the office without turning to face me.

  I’m in shock and don’t know what to think. He’s just kissed me like he owns me and then he walked away. Fuck.

  MASON

  I can’t believe I kissed her. I can’t believe how good it felt. It was like no other kiss I’ve ever had. I felt it deep inside me. It stirred emotions that I’ve never had before. I didn’t want to hang around and find out how she felt just in case she didn’t want me.

  Driving home I just want to lean my head forward on the steering wheel. What did I do?

  I feel like a caged lion a few hours later. All I’ve done is pace up and down my kitchen waiting for her call. Nothing. No text. No call. Nothing. Fuck.

  As I’m eating my pizza that came half an hour ago my doorbell rings. I’ve had a few beers, so I stagger slightly going
to the door.

  Opening the door, I’m shocked to see Alyssa standing there, looking up at me with her doe eyes. “Can I come in? We need to talk.”

  Don’t you hate when someone says that to you? I open the door wider for her to step through. “Alyssa, I’m so…”

  “Shut it, Mason. It’s my time to talk. I need a drink. Where’s your kitchen?”

  Feisty. I walk ahead of her into the kitchen and open the fridge. “I’ve only got beer. Is that alright for you?”

  “It’ll do for now.” I open a bottle and hand it to her. She puts it to her mouth and slugs it back. I watch her with fascination. This is a side of her that I didn’t know existed. “Fuck that’s good. Give me another one.”

  Laughing, I open a second one and hand it to her. She drinks this one slower. “Do you want to sit in the lounge?”

  “Yeah, I need to sit down for this.”

  I show her into the lounge; she sits in a chair and I sit on the couch. “Sorry, Alyssa. I didn’t mean to offend you. I just couldn’t control myself around you anymore.”

  “I want to talk, Mason. Me. You’ve had your say, in words and in actions. Let me process this and talk.” I nod to let her carry on.

  “What you did shocked me. I won’t deny that. I won’t deny that I kissed you back too. I also won’t deny that I enjoyed it.” She looks at me and blushes. “A lot.”

  “You did?”

  “Mason, I’m still talking. This is hard for me. I’ve never had to address anything like this before.”

  “Okay. Sorry I’ll let you speak. I just wanted you to know how I feel, that’s all.”

  “I think I know how you feel. No one has ever kissed me the way you did. I felt that you wanted to dive inside me and own my heart and soul as well as my body.” She blushes again and it’s so fucking hot. She hit the nail on the head though. That’s just how I felt when I kissed her.

  “That scares me, Mason. For a number of reasons. You’re my stepbrother for one. And secondly, we work together. Thirdly, I don’t know what to do. I’ve never been in a relationship before, I’ve just concentrated on my school work. I don’t want to start something that will change the dynamics in the family.”