Page 15 of Breaking the Ice

She arched her back as she reached into her back jeans pocket for her phone which thrust her breasts out and caused a little hiccup in his pulse. Her face lit a little as the screen illuminated and she stared at it as if willing the numbers to be different.

“Problem?”

“Oh… no… not really.” She returned her phone to her back pocket, her chest thrusting again. “There’s just something I have to do, well, nothaveto… want to… at least I did…”

“Oookay. Not making much sense there, Sam.”

He liked the shortened version of her name. It suited her in that sassy, unisex way. Although God knew there was nothing unisex about her. She wasallwoman.

“I’m getting a tattoo.”

Nick blinked. “You?You’re getting a tattoo?”

It had only taken a full day in her company to work out Samantha was verystraight. Great but straight. In a few days the shop was littered with yellow Post-it notes boasting neatly written reminders and lists and the enjoyment she got from crossing a line through every item on a list and then tossing it in the trash didn’t exactly speak to an impulsive nature.

A pity really because he couldn’t think of a better way to spend his time in Tetworth than messing up Samantha’s tidy, Post-it-note world.

“Yes,” she said, clearly annoyed. “You got a problem with that?”

Nick held his hands up in surrender. “Absolutely not. I just didn’t take you as the type. You seem a little… conservative for a tat.”

Obviously the wrong – or possibly the right – thing to say, as her spine literally straightened before his eyes. “Not anymore.”

Okay,thatwas conviction and yet… “So, why do you look so scared?”

She sighed as she deflated a little, her bottom teeth worrying her lip. “Needle phobia.”

“Ah.” The fact she was even considering a tattoo with that background spoke even more to her level of conviction. “Want me to come and hold your hand?”

“Would you?” Her face lit up like New Year’s Eve as he nodded and she did that delightful little clapping thing again. “Oh Nick, thank you.” Then, as if she’d been suddenly beset with excess energy, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before dashing to get her bag.

Nick stood for a moment and forgot to breathe. He shut his eyes and waited for the roar of a hockey crowd to fill his head and envelop him in the usual gut-clenching thrill. The way it always did whenever he closed his eyes.

It was strangely absent.

Great. It chosenowto desert him? Now with straight Samantha going crooked? Straight he could handle. They laughed and bantered and ate orange and poppy-seed friands. They were friends. But crooked Samantha?

Samantha going off the rails and getting a tattoo was an entirely different prospect.

7

I willnotbe scared. I willnotbe a wuss. Iwillbe brave. Iwillget a tattoo.

Today my straight-girl transformation begins.

“So where and what?”

Nick’s voice broke into her galloping thoughts. It was strangely soothing and Samantha shot him another grateful smile. They were standing close, crowded together by the peak hour cram of passengers on the downtown bus.

“The small of my back. I don’t know what yet. Nothing too big.”

“You prefer dainty?”

“I prefer fewer needles.”

He laughed. “Okay… how about a dolphin?”

“Too big.”

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