Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 10

girl came another, then a guy, and after that he just lost count. He wasn't fast when it came to the job, since he tried to give everyone the time they deserved and the best focus an artist could give them, but by the time noon rolled over quite a few people had passed over his chair and only the sudden commotion at the front of the parlor made him look up from the cute little belly button and through the uncovered window. The curtains were drawn on a couple of stations, enough to block his view so Zach turned back to the job at hand.
    "Noah!" He heard Adam scream but Zach was a professional and managed to finish and clean the piercing before looking back up again and noticing the exchange of handshakes and hugs with the tall man standing in the middle of Adam's employees.
    Suddenly the girl in his chair screamed and Zach turned back to her, fear gripping his insides. He had moved all the sharp objects from her vicinity. But the girl wasn't looking at him, she was staring through the window, red in the face and fanning herself.
    It seemed so ridiculous in that particular moment that Zach lost it.
    He laughed all the way down from his belly like he hadn't done in months and even though he knew the girl was embarrassed and people were starting to look, he just couldn't stop. Through his laugh he reached for the aftercare pamphlet and somehow gasped out to the now grinning girl to talk to Jill up the front. Jill always repeated the care instructions after the artist was done with the client.
    The girl stopped once she reached the crowd and thrust the pamphlet to the man in the middle who procured a pen from what seemed like thin air and signed an autograph. Oh, well, at least that meant she would keep the pamphlet at hand.
    As the man grinned, giving the girl her autograph he looked up and suddenly held Zach's gaze.
    Saying lightning struck would be excessive, but Zach couldn't look away and his laughter was a thing of the past. He was close to smitten as those make-up covered eyes intensified past a simple gaze and twisted something in Zach's gut that he'd thought was long dead.
    His belly butterflies had lost their wings somewhere along the way, but as he shared that single moment in time with a complete stranger, he felt them stir and attempt that one last wingless flight.
    "Hey Zach!" Adam yelled, knocking him out of his daydream, "This is Noah, come meet him."
    So Zach did. He removed the one glove that was still on his hand, throwing it in the trash and composed himself enough to cross the distance to the tall stranger.
    And the motherfucker was tall. Zach gulped, the curse word tasting strange on his tongue as he swallowed it back. He'd forgotten what it meant to curse, he was a father now. He needed to get a better handle on himself and screw his lust dazed head back on.
    "Hi. I'm Zach, nice to meet you," he held out his hand as he croaked, his throat suddenly dry.
    People had somehow moved out of the way, leaving all this empty space between him and Noah and Zach was terrified. It wasn't natural to have the ground just slip from under his feet because he saw a good looking man. And boy was he good looking, tall and dark with a wide face and spell-casting green eyes. He wore more make up than some girls Zach knew but he also carried it way better, and when he smiled Zach all but whimpered.
    "Noah, and the pleasure is all mine, sweetcheeks."
    Zach blushed crimson, pulling his hand out of that electrifying grip and stepping away. "Hope you're happy with the tattoo, it was nice meeting you," he said and just about ran back to his work place, pushing his head closer to the desk so that he could ignore the sight of the gorgeous rock star on the other side of the window.
    "Don't know what's up with him today, sorry," Adam said as he sat Noah down. Zach could hear them but hoped they would move to another topic, just as he'd hoped his cock would have enough courtesy to deflate before another client came Zach's way.
    "Nothing to worry about, I'm sure he's just busy. How have you been you old dog? I haven't seen you in ages. I figured the only way to get to you was to set up an appointment where you could stick your tools in me." Adam laughed, but Zach only blushed more despite not being a part of the conversation. He had very different tools in mind and that sweet voice did just about everything but help.
    "So you decided on the biggest tattoo you could find?" Adam joked.
    "Sure, if it means you would work on it