Knockout by Tracey Ward Page B

had. Slowly. He was looking, really, honestly looking at each drawing. I felt exposed. I felt more vulnerable and naked with him passing his eyes over my drawings than I would if I was standing in front of him bare skinned from head to toe.
    “What do you think?” I asked quietly.
    He looked up, his face surprised. “What do I think about you becoming an artist?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I think it’s what you were meant to do. I’ve always said you’re talented, Jen. I’m glad you’re going to do something great with it.”
    “You think me becoming a tattoo artist is great?”
    “If that’s what you want, then hell yes. This,” he pointed to the compass on my chest, “is something you designed isn’t it?”
    “Yeah. Bryce, the guy at the shop, he helped me fix it but yeah, I designed it.”
    “It’s perfect.” He turned to face me, his dark eyes serious. He stepped close and pressed his hands on the side of my face so I was looking at him. So I couldn’t look away. “ You’re perfect, Nonpareil.”
    I smiled as my eyes filled with tears of relief. I pushed his hands away so I could wrap my arms around his neck and hug him tightly. He didn’t hesitate to hug me back. It felt so good to have him here again. I knew I’d missed him but standing here with him like this, having him around to tell my secret to, that was excruciatingly sublime.
    “I’ve missed you,” I whispered, pressing my face into his shoulder.
    He hugged me tighter. “Me too.”
    We stood there holding each other for a long time. Too long. Longer than propriety or my mom would allow. Longer than friendship considered acceptable. We held each other until the song on the sound system changed and the air around us shifted. Until the way his body felt against mine became different. It was warmer. Softer. Stronger. The rough stubble of his five o’clock shadow scraped against my cheek as he pulled his head back to look at me with serious eyes. But he didn’t let go.
    I felt like I was falling inside. Like the floor had dropped out and Kellen was the only thing holding me up anymore. I stared into his eyes as he searched mine and I saw what I was feeling written all over his face. It was utterly unlike the way we’d ever seen each other before. He looked different. He looked darker, more mysterious. Older.
    Before his head dipped down to close the short distance to mine, I knew. His hand had shifted slightly sending his fingertips up under the hem of my shirt and onto the skin of my lower back. I died a little then. With just that one touch I was done for. I was ruined the way his smile had ruined me four years ago. He had stolen my heart that day with that simple gesture and now the touch of his calloused fingers locked my body away as his forever. Other men would touch it. Other men would roam their hands over it and when I’d sigh they’d think that made it theirs, but it wasn’t. It never would be. They would be thieves stealing from a man who had laid claim to me on this night when my heart, my head and my body aligned to follow the same star. To guide me North.
    His mouth touched mine gently once.
    It was a test. Like asking permission.
    I rose up on the balls of my feet, easily closing the distance between us. This time he didn’t retreat. He kissed me soundly as his hands tightened on my back. His hips met mine hard until I was pinned against him from head to toe. Then his tongue swept across my lips and I sighed, letting him in. Letting him have all of me without a fight or thought. It didn’t matter. He could take it all, every last breath in my body. It wouldn’t change anything.
    I was already his.
    He gripped my hips and lifted me onto the island, his mouth never leaving mine. I opened my legs for him and he stepped into me, pulling me to the edge of the counter until my body was flush with his. Until I could feel him hard against me, the rough feel of his jeans grating through the thin material of my yoga pants. He slowed