He walked into my studio wanting me to cover a broken bond scar.
I told him no… and then I told him to sit in my chair anyway.
I’m Dani. I run Black Spruce Tattoo above Juniper & Rye, and every piece I put on someone’s skin has to mean something. Cause ink is forever, and I won’t bury someone’s grief under pretty linework just as a band-aid.
So when this giant, guarded alpha drops into my studio demanding I hide a broken bond mark, I say no. Pick a real piece. A sleeve. Something you actually want. If he still wants the cover-up after we’re done, we’ll talk.
He comes back. He sits. He lets me touch him for hours.
And his scent, leather and smoked cedar… it gets past my suppressants like they aren’t even there:
Nash — the Rinkrats’ enforcer. Hands like steel, a voice he barely uses, and a scar he keeps touching like it’s vital.
Reid — the charmer who walks in wanting his own ink and turns my studio into a bright spot I didn’t ask for, but want anyway.
Corbin — the quiet defenseman who sits in my armchair with a book and somehow knows what my sketchbook means to me.
Pax — the beta with a camera, the one who sees exactly how my hands move when I’m working.
Then the team’s PR coordinator wants me to fake-date Nash for the charity calendar. Ink artist, on-ice enforcer, beauty-and-the-beast. The money will fund the studio additions I’ve been dreaming about. I say yes.
It’s supposed to be performance. Posed. Staged. Safe.
Except Nash’s arm is around my waist in front of Pax’s lens, and I’m leaning into him without thinking, and my one rule — don’t want what you can’t choose — is cracking one session at a time.
My suppressants are losing. My apartment already smells like all four of them.
And I’m starting to wonder if the most meaningful thing isn’t the ink I put on their skin… but the mark I choose.
Knot Under My Skin is a cozy, steamy omegaverse why choose romance featuring soft enemies-to-lovers, a tattoo artist heroine, fake dating for a charity calendar, forced proximity in the tattoo chair, scar-to-art healing, nesting as a love language, generous knotting, and a guaranteed happily ever after.
Perfect for readers who love:
• Enemies-to-lovers where she tells him no and he keeps coming back
• A tattoo artist FMC with steady hands and sharper integrity
• A broken-bond alpha learning how to be touched again
• Fake dating that stops being fake
• Forced proximity in a tattoo chair, session after session
• Hockey alphas, a creative beta, and a small town rooting for you
• Nesting, knotting, and scent recognition under cracking suppressants
• Reverse harem HEA with all four — no choosing required
