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I knew that one of the guys ned the tattoo shop where both my sister and her boyfriend worked had painted the uy I was here to see, if I ever got up the nerve, worked on Nash Donovan’s e doors into soraffiti artists appreciated too much to deface Salem, my sister, mentioned that Wheeler was never opposed to a solid trade Which explained why the es courtesy of Nash and the rest of the artists orked at the Saints of Denver

I was used to being surrounded by heavily tattooed individuals--heck, olden skin before she was legally old enough to get a tattoo in order to annoy my father However, Hudson Wheeler was by far the ns swirled up each side of his neck and across his throat They dropped down over his wrists and splayed wide across the back of his hands He had artwork across his chest and it crawled from the base of his hairline all the way to the top of his jeans across his back and abdo art installation And while all that ink and color raceful, thoughtful way he moved and the quiet, measured way he spoke, all the color and noise that covered his body worked for the ured out after the first ti the world his story because he didn’t want to be bothered with repeating it over and over again

My father would be appalled by the way Hudson Wheeler looked He would hate everything about him That meant I allowed the trickle of attraction that had worked its way through the fear and doubt that suffocatedthatthat I wasto embrace with open arood

Taking a deep breath and tappingwheel, I looked over at the little box that was on the seat next to ed at my mouth when my eyes landed on the contents I had no idea if Wheeler was in the ured if he didn’t want it I would take it ho else out It was a bold ift, but as soon as I saw it I knew Wheeler had to have it

I scoldedmyself up for the kind of embarrassment and ridicule that would crippleaet to the point where I could leave the house without having a full-on panic attack Taking a step so far out ofoff a cliff without knowing if there was anything down below to cushion ift, if henice, it very wellback so to cheer up a man that I had no ties to or no investment in seemed like a foolish risk to take, but I still packed up the box and drove down here I tried to talkthat this was a h I was a nervous wreck I still ended up grabbing the box,under my breath at the contents like they could reassurefrom head to toe as I exited the car

The box shifted in asp and mutter a few choice words My father would hate that I earing, so I made it a point to do so at least once a day I had to shut the car door with my hip and I jumped when it slammed shut I watched wide-eyed as one of the painted metal doors started to roll up I squinted behind the dark lenses of e of a bay and deftly ju I gulped a little bit because there was nohis way toward low like autuhted the dips and valleys in his arms and across his broad chest as he wiped his hands on a red rag that he pulled from his back pocket He had the top half of his coveralls unfastened and hanging around his waist, leaving hi more than a black tank top that had a hole on the side He looked dirty and a little rough Both things totally worked for hiotten what lust felt like I was attracted to him and that terrifiedbut heartache and hurt Still, here I was, standing in front of hi to run as far away froain and stopped as he lifted his chin up in the direction where I had parkedwith the Camry?" Wheeler’s voice arhts, but his eyes were cold They were the palest blue I had ever seen, a blue so washed out and light that they had a silvery shia hold on as he got closer

"Um … no The Camry is fine, thank you" Rowdy, my sister’s boyfriend and the father of -ar a car froh to live on my own after I fell apart at the hands of the last man that was supposed to love me Wheeler tried to sell me a 1957 Bonneville that was hands down the coolest car I had ever seen, but I balked at the idea of riding around in souaranteed to attract unwanted attention Especially attention of the ed when I handed over the cash for the Camry but Wheeler just smiled like he understood why I ht one

I nervously shifted aze of his landed on the box clutched to ht on time the contents let out a little half bark, half yelp that had Wheeler’s rust colored eyebrows lifting up almost to his hairline andthe red rag tightly between thehtly an Most of the men I’d dealt with in the past would have been furious that I had not only showed up unannounced but did so with a tiny, wiggling puppy in tow