Six months later…
Samantha finished up her afternoon shift at Adeline’s a bit early, excitement and nerves swarming inside her as she got into the cute MINI Cooper that Clay had bought for her. She headed over to Inked, planning to do something wild, crazy, and naughty. Something that would drive Clay mad, in a very good way.
She stepped into the tattoo shop and met Katrina at the front counter.
“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?” her friend asked before showing Samantha the design she’d created for her. “Once it’s done, it’s permanent, unless you want to go through painful laser removal treatments.”
As soon as she saw the small hand-drawn image, she felt giddy with excitement. “I’m absolutely sure. I’ve been wanting to do this for months.” Her very first tattoo, and it was a surprise for Clay.
“You have become such a bad girl,” Katrina teased.
“I know,” Samantha said with a carefree laugh. “I love being bad.”
Katrina grinned. “Come on, follow me back to Mason’s cubicle, and we’ll get you started.”
When Katrina reached the private area, she rapped on the partition to get his attention before stepping inside. “Your appointment is here.”
Mason glanced up, shock transforming his dark, gorgeous features when his gaze fell on Samantha. “What the hell?”
Samantha raised a brow at Katrina. “You didn’t tell him it was me?”
She shook her head and grinned. “He would have said no. The element of surprise is much better.”
Mason frowned at both of them before pinning Samantha with a severe look. “I’m not touching you. You’re a fucking virgin.”
Samantha unbuttoned her light pink pastry chef coat and hung it up on a nearby hook for jackets and sweaters, which left her just wearing a camisole. “Trust me, after being with your brother for six months, I’m no virgin, so no worries there,” she said playfully.
“Ugh.” Mason cringed. “I do not need to hear about my brother’s dirty, kinky sex life.”
“Why not?” Samantha replied in a lighthearted tone. “We’ve been exposed to yours often enough.”
“Whatever,” he muttered, though he didn’t deny the truth of his man-whoring ways. “Does Clay know?”
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 fucking 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.
Too soon, he ended the kiss and buried his face against her neck, inhaling her scent and licking the column of her throat with his tongue. “You come home every day from work smelling like a delicious cupcake,” he said as he slid his hands down to cup her ass and squeeze each cheek. “I just want to eat you up before fucking you senseless.”
She laughed, the sound husky and one hundred percent aroused. “Yes, please.”
In the next instant, she was swept up into his arms as he carried her into the bedroom, holding her as if she were as light as a feather, which she knew she wasn’t.
She smiled up at him. “I have a surprise for you.”
“Yeah?” He looked interested, but once Clay’s mind was on sex, it was hard to deter him. “Can it wait until after I’m done eating my cupcake?”
He dropped her on the bed and didn’t wait for an answer as he pulled off her camisole—which conveniently came with a built-in bra—then removed her shoes and socks and helped her shimmy out of her pants. When he reached for her panties, that’s when he finally saw the edge of the plastic wrap protecting her new ink.
His gaze flew up to hers. “Holy shit. You got a tattoo.”
“A real one,” she teased, just in case he thought it was one of those temporary deals.
With a worried frown, he inched down the waistband of her underwear until he could see the design.
“Surprise,” she said impishly. “A cupcake. Just for you.”
A huge grin spread across his face, which was exactly what she wanted to see. But it didn’t last long as his brows suddenly furrowed together. “Who did the tattoo?”
She bit her bottom lip. “Umm, Mason.”
“Here?” he said incredulously. “Right near your—”
Laughing, she covered his mouth with her palm before he could say the word pussy, but he pulled her hand away.
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” he growled.
She rolled her eyes. “Trust me, he didn’t want to do it, because he was afraid you were going to chop off his balls,” she said with a laugh. “Would you rather have had some strange guy do the work?”
“No,” he said sullenly, which gradually gave way to a lascivious look as he pulled her panties off the rest of the way and quickly stripped off his own clothes. “Let’s put you on top so I don’t crush your cupcake,” he said as he moved onto the bed beside her. He stretched out on his back, then pulled her on top of his body so that she was straddling his hips, his shaft poised right between her legs.
There was no need for a condom anymore. They were exclusive, she was on the pill, and they’d both been tested. He rubbed the tip of his cock through her already wet, slick folds, then pushed the head just inside of her. Grabbing her waist in his hands, he pulled her down the same time he thrust up inside her.
Samantha gasped, her body shuddering as he filled her. And then she looked down at him, ensnared in his heated gaze, and began to move. Bracing her hands on his abdomen, she rode him, slow and deep.
It didn’t take them long to find a mutual release, and when they were both spent, she collapsed on top of Clay until they could breath normally again. He stroked her hair and along her back, and she was too content to move off of him.
“I have a surprise for you, too,” he said after a while.
“Yeah?” She lifted her head so she could look at his face. “What is it? Did you get a tattoo, too? One that says Saint Clay?” she teased.
“Smartass.” He smacked her bare bottom, making her yelp, but they were both smiling and relaxed. “I contacted a Realtor. I think it’s time we looked for a real house to live in.”
She blinked in surprise. “I like living here.”
“I know you do,” he said softly as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “But I plan to marry you, and this place doesn’t give us much room to grow.”
Her heart sped up, and she swallowed hard. “Are you asking me to marry you?”
“Yeah, I guess I am,” he said, his voice gruff with emotion and his eyes flickering with anticipation as his hands gently framed her face. “Will you marry me, Cupcake? I don’t want to live a single day without you. You’ve changed my life and made me a better man. And most importantly, I love you, and I need to know you’re mine. Forever.”
Tears of pure joy filled her eyes. This amazing man had come so far since the night they’d met, but what he didn’t realize was that he’d changed her life, as well. They were good together, and good for each other.
She nodded much too eagerly and didn’t even care. “Yes, I’ll marry you. As soon as possible.”
He laughed, looking happy and pleased. “How do you feel about a small Vegas wedding?”
Her parents would want a formal ceremony and big reception, but she’d never subject Clay to that. She didn’t want or need the fanfare, either, so her decision was an easy one.
“I think a Vegas wedding sounds perfect,” she murmured.
He groaned in contentment, then rolled her off him and glanced at her new tattoo again, careful not to remove the wrapping. “I can’t wait to touch it and lick it and swirl my tongue over that frosting,” he murmured wickedly.
“I can’t wait, either,” she said, knowing she’d be his cupcake for the rest of their lives.
