Page 113 of Shattered

“I’m not doing that. We’re in public!”

“Sam. Just walk up to him. I’m sure it will work itself out.”

Once again, Kristin was right.

Callum was standing, having finished his design, and was gathering some type of salve to cover it. As soon as his eyes found hers, he immediately froze. He discarded the container, nodded at Micah to take over with that and the bandage and met Sam halfway.

“Hey, baby.”

It was loud enough that she knew everyone in the immediate area could hear. She blushed.

“You don’t have to call me that.”

“What if I want to call you that?”

She pretended to mull it over. “I’ll accept it.”

“Any names you picked out for me?” His eyes rose in excitement.

“Asshole,” she deadpanned.

For just a second, his features went taut and then he saw the teasing in her eyes.

“But you'remyasshole, and that’s all that matters,” she quickly added.

His grin covered his whole face, and he pulled her in for a kiss.

******

It only took an hour for Sam to figure out his routine. By the time he finished the third guy, Sam had the salve ready with the correct sized bandage to cover it with. She also became rather adept at taking people’s payments.

It was their most lucrative day. Callum had done seven tattoos in all, and had scheduled half as many larger projects for later in the month. He may have also snuck in a kiss between each client, and Sam decided that was her most favorite part. By the time they had everything packed up in the trucks, she was no longer embarrassed that Drew or Micah, or everyone else for that matter, were witnesses.

Chapter 47 - Sam

Sam and Kristin had basically locked themselves in Sam’s original room as they readied themselves for dinner. It took almost half an hour, but Kristin convinced Sam that, instead of wearing regular underwear, she most definitely had to wear the new lingerie set under the black dress Kristin had bought for her.

“This is ridiculous.” Sam shifted the dress around her waist.

“No, it’s not.”

“We are all going to dinner. You want me to sit in this thing for the entire meal? He won’t even know I have it on. I can just put it on when we get back home.” For some reason, Sam was whisper-yelling which made no sense, because they were in a room by themselves.

“Sam. Go tease him with a peek of it, and I promise it will be enough to drive him nuts the entire night.”

“You want me to go flash him?”

“Yes!”

Sam groaned more in embarrassment than frustration. Never in her life had she worn anything other than cheap cotton underwear. Tonight, what she had on wasn’t cheap or cotton, nor did it, if she was being honest, even pass as real underwear. She should be in a panic. The only thing giving her an ounce of that needed confidence was that fact that she looked like a goddess in that dress.

She stared in the mirror for a moment. She was wearing a fitted black cocktail dress that barely covered her ass, was sleeveless, and had cut outs around her waist. The gold strappy heels Kristin paired with it were massively high. So high, in fact, that she knew her hand would be glued to Callum’s arm for assistance with balance alone.

She had worn dresses like this before. Her freshman year had seen its fill of scantily clad outfits, drunken parties, and cute boys. She wasn’t an idiot. She knew how beautiful she was, and there had been a time, a few years ago, when she’d tried to use that to her advantage. That was, until she’d made it almost halfway through freshman year and decided to make a major mindset adjustment.

It was shortly before Thanksgiving break of freshman year. She’d known she would be sent with a random family she didn’t know for the week while everyone else was spending time with those who truly mattered. She had just made a B on a stupid mathematical exam and she had seen Christian the previous night with his hand practically up another’s girls skirt at a party.

She’d realized then what she had been doing. She had been spending her measly income on buying things to impress a boy who didn’t want her.

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