Page 128 of So Wild

“He wasn’t a virgin, either. He was a gentleman, like you.”

Scott ducked his head. “Samantha, a true gentleman is someone who never refers to himself as such. Especially in permanent marker on his body.”

“But you won’t be referring to yourself as a gentleman, I will. And the writing will be as small as I can make it. I promise only we’ll know it’s there.”

Scott still didn’t look convinced and Sam decided she was going for the low blow. “If I’m going to tattoo you, it’s going to be this, Galahad, and I’ll be breaking a personal pact to do it, so meet me halfway, yeah?”

Scott frowned, then his handsome face relaxed. “Okay. Will it fit on my chest?”

Sam took a step back, studying his gorgeous body. “It’s doable, but it’ll hurt like hell over the ribs and collarbones.”

Scott stepped forward and kissed her hard and deep. “Whatever you need to do, do it. I don’t care how much it hurts, I just want your tattoo on my heart.”

With that, Sam had to stop talking. She knew if she did, she would cry and if she cried, she would never, ever stop.

Chapter 23

At one inthe morning, Sam decided to go look for Scott. She found him in her bedroom with his shirt off, examining his new tattoo in her mirror. The quirky eye-browed puppy was at his feet, chewing happily on his shoelaces. Sam leaned against the doorframe, watching them and wondering if life had ever felt so sweet. Looking at them made her chest so tight, she couldn’t breathe.

“No regrets, Galahad?” she said, when she couldn’t take the cuteness anymore.

Scott turned and beamed at her. “None whatsoever. For the first time in my life, I look halfway hard.”

He did, his pale gold skin and hard-earned rowing muscles was the perfect backdrop to the scene of painful celestial victory. He’d taken the needle like a champ, lying utterly still, even when she’d inked over his collarbone. Noah had shaken his hand afterward and Sam had felt such affection for the two men, it had almost brought her to tears.

The bittersweet memory must have showed on her face because Scott picked up the puppy and came toward her. “How are you feeling, my love?”

“Good,” she said with a smile. “A little punch-drunk.”

“That makes sense.”

It did and it didn’t. Before Sam had begun tattooing, she’d known she was going to win. It sounded arrogant, but she hadn’t told anyone, she’d just known it was true. There was a golden energy running around through her. It guided her hands, making her angel feathers sleek and the steel of the helmet gleam. She poured herself, effortlessly into cultivating the tattoo and when the final buzzer sounded, she stepped back and saw she’d completed the best work of her life.

She hadn’t cried when the bearded MC announced she’d won. Nicole and Tabby had—they’d screamed and wrapped their arms around her and jumped up and down, but Sam had just smiled and looked at Scott. They smiled at each other and she knew he understood that it didn’t matter. They were in love and everything was how it was meant to be.

Of course, when she was on the stage getting jizzed with champagne, she did get pretty damn excited. She lifted her trophy in the air and the crowd cheered and she felt like the luckiest person in the world. The only thing that could have made it better would have been her dad being there to see her, but something about that small sully made everything else sweeter.

She’d spent the next three hours being photographed and interviewed for her solo scenes in the Netflix movie. Edith had honed in on an unexpected selling point—her and Scott’s romance. She was fascinated by the fact that they were childhood enemies made good and wanted to know all about their history. Before Edith started filming, Sam had pulled Scott aside and told him he didn’t need to participate. “You’ve done enough, and I don’t want you to get in trouble with your work or anything.”

“It’s fine,” Scott had told her. “I want to help Silver Daughters get good press and if that means I have to tell people you once put literal ants in my pants, so be it.”

“What if they want you to take your shirt off again?”

Scott flushed at that. He hadn’t realised that part of being a tattoo model meant standing on stage showing off the merchandise while the MC pointed at your body. Scott was a polite posh boy at heart and standing around showing off his six-pack had made him extremely uncomfortable. He’d rubbed his shoulders and looked so adorably bemused by the people wolf-whistling at him that the audience cheered louder for him than anyone else. By the end of the presentation, he’d been catcalled by so many horny women, he said he was pretty sure how it felt to be Magic Mike.

“I don’t mind taking off my shirt again,” he told Sam. “But please tell me I don’t look like a twat.”

“You don’t look like a twat,” Sam promised. “You have always and will always be gorgeous, Galahad.”

And he’d kissed her before they went in for the interview.

When she and Scott were finally released from the grip of media appearances, she emerged to find Nicole and Tabby planning a party. Instantly, Sam’s exhaustion turned to excitement and she helped to call their friends and make a list of what they needed. Noah, Toby and Scott all agreed to help out. They went to the shops together to collect booze and food for a barbecue and Scott swung her into the cleaning product aisle to steal a kiss.

“My tattoo is burning,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers.

“We’ll put some of dad’s oil blend on it when we get home.”

“Oh, it’s not because of the ink, I’m just so incredibly in love with you and your talent.”

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