“Fuck,” I hear Ian shutter behind me, making eye contact with him in the mirror.
“You okay there, Ian?” Vivi asks with a smile in her voice. I forgot she was still in the room with us.
Not answering he just gives her a look that could kill, then turns back to meet my eyes in the mirror.
“Look at all that virgin skin! This is so exciting!” Clara almost screams, breaking the spell and making me turn around with my T-shirt held in front of me.
“Turn back around, let me get a look to see where it would look best. We said around here, right?” she asks, placing her fingers on my back between my upper shoulder blades. “Do you mind if I unhook your bra, it’ll be in the way, and I don’t want to get ink on it.”
“Yeah, around there, and yes you can,” I answer, feeling the nerves get back into my body.
“The mid-sized one I printed out will be perfect I think. Let me get it on you and see if you like the placement and size,” she says as she grabs some gloves.
“Bend your head down a little. Perfect,” she says as I feel her place the stencil and then peel it away. “Let me know what you think.” She hands me a mirror so I can see the reflection in the mirror behind me. Still clutching my t-shirt to my chest with one hand, I grab the mirror and turn to look.
Unable to stop myself, tears well up in my eyes. “It’s gorgeous,” I say, hoping the tears don’t start falling. “It’s exactly what I wanted.”
“Awesome, let's get you situated on the chair, and we can get started then,” Clara answers with a big smile on her face. “I’m just gonna pop the back of this bed down and this side up. You can straddle the chair and we’ll get started.”
Making my way to sit as she instructed, I’m still clutching my t-shirt to the front of my body. Ian pulls a chair from against the wall so he’s seated right in front of me.
“Ready?” he asks as I hear Clara get her work station ready behind me.
“As I’ll ever be,” I answer shakily.
Grabbing my hands, he says, “Nothing to worry about. Clara has the magic touch.”
I hear the tattoo gun start up, yet as soon as his fingers wrap around mine everything else fades into the background and goose bumps erupt up my arms.
“Okay, I’m ready to go. Just keep taking deep breaths, we can take a break whenever you want, but it shouldn’t take more than forty-five minutes. I trust this guy can keep you distracted for that long, if not, find someone who can. If you know what I mean?” Clara says in the most serious tone I’ve heard coming from her yet. “I’m gonna do the first pass, ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” I answer as I feel the sweat start on my forehead.
Clara does her first pass and it doesn’t hurt as much as I was expecting. I think the buzzing of the gun is more intimidating than anything.
“Not bad, eh?” Ian asks, still holding my hands. How I forgot he was touching me I’ll never know.
“Not yet, but I’m assuming it’s all downhill from here,” I say as my face squints in pain while Clara passes over a sensitive area.
“You got that right, but you get used to it.”
We keep chatting about nothing important as Clara concentrates on the task at hand without saying a word. Most ofmy concentration is spent on not embarrassing myself or getting lost in the goose bumps and swirls that won't stop in my lower stomach at Ian’s constant rubbing of my wrists and forearms. I’m sure he can feel the quickening of my pulse, and I hope he thinks it’s the tattoo that’s wreaking havoc on my heart.
Next thing I know, Clara says “All right, I’m about done here. I’m just gonna give it one last wipe, double check everything, and then you can get up to check it out in the mirror.”
Ian pats the outside of my thigh and says, “Well, safe to say you did great for your first tattoo. Definitely better than I did.”
“You can get up now,” Clara says as she hands me the handheld mirror. Forgetting all about my semi-see-through-untied situation, I get up and make my way to the mirror so I can get a closer look.
It’s gorgeous. She did such an amazing job! I can’t wait to show Summer next time we FaceTime. She didn’t think I would go through with it when I told her I was getting a tattoo when I last spoke to her a few days ago.
I look up from the mirror to ask Ian what he thinks, but he’s not looking at the tattoo. His eyes are laser focused on my chest as I catch a glimpse of his nervous swallow. “What do you think, Ian?” I ask him, making him clear his throat and blush knowing he just got caught staring at my tits.
My goal was to make him blush, but now I can feel myself turning red as my nipples tighten at the thought of him staring.
Clearing his throat, a second time, it fails, and in a raspy voice he says, “It’s gorgeous; the placement is perfect.”
Chapter 16
