Dirty Sexy Saint (Dirty Sexy #1)(61)
Samantha shook her head. “It’s a surprise.”
Mason muttered a curse. “He is going to kick my ass.”
“Not my problem,” she said sweetly, waiting for someone to tell her what she needed to do to get this party started. But Mason was sitting on his little stool, still not looking at all pleased with the situation.
Katrina sighed impatiently at Mason. “Since you suddenly seem to have an issue with virgins, would you rather Cain do her? This tattoo is going right below the bikini line.”
“Hell no. No one else is going to do her but me,” Mason growled irritably as he grabbed the small transfer paper with the design Katrina had come up with. “Lie down before I change my mind.”
Samantha reclined on the padded leather table while Mason prepared his station. Since she wanted the image near her hipbone but below the waistband of her panties, she had to lift her camisole up a few inches, unbutton her pants, and pull them down a bit, too.
Mason helped her, his touch professional while keeping her decent at all times. After washing his hands and putting on sterile gloves, he cleaned the area with a spray of alcohol, then rubbed on a smear of gel that allowed the transfer to adhere to her skin. He applied the image, gave her a mirror to confirm the placement, then uncapped a few colors of bright ink.
“My brother is going to f*cking chop off my balls for touching you, let alone putting ink on your body,” Mason muttered.
“You let me handle Clay,” she said, knowing that he was going to love the tattoo once he saw it.
Mason glanced at her as he picked up his tattoo machine, his gaze meeting hers. “He’s really happy, you know,” he said, suddenly serious, a hint of gratitude in his eyes. “Happier than I’ve ever seen him. Because of you.”
She smiled. “I’m glad. He makes me happy, too.” That was an understatement. Clay made her feel whole and complete. He enriched her life in so many ways, making her feel loved and protected and sexy—every single day.
Mason frowned as he returned his focus to the design, clearly hesitant to mar her virgin skin. After a moment, he settled his hands across her abdomen and positioned the needle right above the design. “Okay, close your eyes, try to relax, and just breathe through the pain. This is small, so it shouldn’t take long.”
The sudden buzz of the tattoo gun startled her, and when the needle touched her skin, she wanted to scream at the intense scraping sensation making her flesh burn like fire. Holy shit, how in the world did people get more than one tattoo? Let alone cover their bodies, like Katrina with her full sleeve of colorful butterflies? Samantha prayed she survived her first one!
Mason chuckled. “No turning back now, sweetheart. Keep breathing and go to your happy place.”
And that’s what Samantha did. She inhaled and exhaled, slow and deep, and let her mind wander, which usually took her one of two places—to thoughts of Clay or thoughts of some kind of new pastry she wanted to bake. Those were the two most important things in her life, and she never wanted one without the other.
Since the day Clay had come to her parents’ house and whisked her away, her life had become fun, exciting, and everything she’d dreamed it could be. Adeline had hired her right after her interview, and while she’d initially started out as just a baker, over the past few months, she’d proven herself and had been promoted to pastry chef. She baked all sorts of desserts for businesses and catering halls while also handling the front-end bakery that sold to the public.
Her career, along with her life with Clay, and being with him every day and night, was pretty damn perfect.
She was still working on mending her relationship with her parents. Even though they’d reluctantly accepted her decision to be with Clay, it had taken a while for the tension between them to ebb to the point that they were finally comfortable around each other again.
She and Clay had gone to the house for a few Sunday brunches, and she could tell that her father was gradually warming up to Clay. The last time they’d visited, her dad had jokingly asked Clay how he felt about working in the corporate world, to which Clay had replied with an honest hell no, making it very clear that he had no interest whatsoever in the investment firm.
She’d just gotten used to the pain of the needle—either that or her skin had gone numb—when Mason turned off his machine and announced that they were done. He gave her the hand mirror to check out her new ink.
She grinned when she saw what a great job Mason had done on the tattoo. It looked exactly like a cupcake, with a swirl of fluffy pink frosting and multicolored heart sprinkles on top. Across the bottom was a small banner that said Life is Sweet in a pretty cursive font.
She couldn’t wait to show Clay and knew what that peek of her tattoo would lead to—getting naked and a whole lot of other sexy fun. She was counting on it.
Mason wiped a small amount of ointment on her skin and covered the new ink with a patch of saran wrap to protect it for the first twenty-four hours. He gave her a sheet of aftercare instructions, and after showing off her new ink to Katrina, she headed home.
When she arrived in the apartment, Clay was in the kitchen getting something to drink, waiting for her to get home from work as he did every day—instead of spending all his time down at the bar. Bursting with enthusiasm and her little secret, she approached him, and without hesitating, she kissed him, hot and deep.
She moaned in pure contentment when he took over, tangling his tongue with hers, his mouth so hungry, so greedy. She couldn’t get enough of him. Never would. She moved against him, and with a deep growl, he wrapped a strong arm around her back and pulled her so tight against him she could feel every hard muscle, including the one thickening in his pants. Umm, yeah.