The Man Who Saved Me

Chapter 3

Before Shonali could say anything more, Adam was whisked away by Luna. Shonali found herself being led off for the preparations – shaving and disinfecting, despite her assurances that she had already done both.

Soon, she found herself lying down and bracing herself for that first impact.

Not just lying down.

The way she wanted her tattoo done, there was no way to do it while wearing a top. Ricky had been very matter of fact about that. So just take off a shirt, he’d said, reminding her that he had tattooed a kitty face around a nip*le once.

Shonali, too, would’ve been of that bend of thought, usually. But Adam’s presence seemed to change things a bit.

She’d considered it for a while. On the one hand a few minutes ago, she’d wanted to get naked with Adam.

Now it looked like she would have to get half naked with him, and she was acting like a prude.

So she had shrugged, taken off her top and unhooked her bra, and slipped a towel around herself.

And so she found herself lying down on the table.

Nothing was visible. She knew that, of course. But that didn’t stop her from feeling just a bit too exposed.

Was it worse that what she wanted was to scoot over and rub herself all over him?

Of course it was. She was thinking and acting like a complete creep.

And now Shonali could think of nothing besides the fact that Adam was shirtless and walking towards her. Was there any way she could get a better look at him without flashing him?

Would she really mind flashing him?

She, unfortunately, spent precious seconds pondering that question and found herself losing that chance. Adam was soon settled down beside her, and she had no idea what his abs were like.

Damn, thought Shonali. Talk about missed opportunities.

Still, he would have to get up again, thought Shonali, cheering up a bit.

At least she had something to distract her from the pain that was promised and coming.

 “It’s happening,” said Adam.

Shonali nodded rather weakly.

“I wasn’t really sure this would happen until now,” he went on.

Shonali nodded again.

“How do you feel?” went on Adam.

Shonali shrugged, trying not to displace the towel too much.

How did she feel? She felt like she was feeling far too much. She was turned on, and a bundle of nerves. Each seemed to feed off the other.

She was feeling altogether far too much.

“Ready?” asked both Luna and Ricky.

They both nodded.

Shonali figured that pain might actually be something tangible on which she could focus. The muddled jumble that was her feelings were getting a bit too complicated.

“Hold hands, maybe. It helps for first timers, though I swear it really doesn’t hurt all that much,” encouraged Ricky.

Shonali hadn’t planned to hold anybody’s hand, but she found herself reaching for Adam’s.

It would’ve been mortifying if he hadn’t reached for hers at the same time, too.

She felt a little tingle of excitement running through her as she held his hand, and she smiled, slowly. She could’ve sworn that Adam hadn’t been unaffected, either. His hands were cold, but she had seen something in those gorgeous eyes of his.

The good doctor was scared, too, thought Shonali, and her own nerves eased a bit as she thought of that.

“How bad can it be?” she asked, trying to reassure him.

“Ready?” asked Ricky, and she had to bite her lip in shock to keep from yelping.

It wasn’t really the pain, she thought, her fingers tightening on Adam’s.

It was more the shock of it. No matter how much you told yourself you were expecting it, it’s still a shock to the system.

Adam’s fingers had gripped hers tightly, too. Obviously, he had felt it, as well.

“Okay, that’s not as bad as I thought it might be,” said Adam, finally.

Shonali stopped wincing.

He was right. It wasn’t.

“I guess I’ve felt worse,” said Shonali.

Adam chuckled, despite a stern warning from an all-business Luna to stay still.

“I guess you have. So, Shonali, we meet again.”

Shonali chuckled. That sounded positive sinister.

“I’ve wanted to meet you for so long. This isn’t exactly how I pictured it, though.”

“How did you picture it?”

It seemed as if Adam wanted her to distract him. She wouldn’t mind that.

“I wanted to thank you properly, so of course, I wanted to meet you somewhere a bit formal, where I could find all the right words and try to tell you how much you helped me.”

Adam smiled, and it seemed to go straight to Shonali’s heart.

And other parts of her body, too, if she was being completely honest.

She could hardly even feel the tattoo gun on her back. She knew he was wiping and the ink was slowly finding its hopefully permanent home under her skin, but all of her attention seemed to be focused on his hand, gripping hers, as hers gripped his.

“You don’t have to thank me. I was just doing my job.”

He was uncomfortable, realized Shonali, and found that incredibly endearing. He was uncomfortable with being thanked.

“I like to be thanked when I do something well, even if I’m just doing my job. Don’t you?”

Adam grinned.

His smile was really something else, thought Shonali.

“I suppose you have a point. Well then, I accept your thanks, and you’re very welcome. How’re you now?”

Shonali reminded herself not to shrug, though she almost didn’t remind herself in time. The firm pressure from Ricky’s hands kept her from doing something she truly would’ve regretted.

Like turning her dramatic stormy moment into a rainy spray.

“I’m good. Wonderful, really. There’s absolutely no lasting damage, and I have a built-in barometer in me now. I can tell you, it’s a lot more dependable than the weather report here. I always know when it’s going to rain.”

Adam chuckled, careful to stay very still.

“I can’t believe I’m laughing when I’m getting a tattoo. Christ, it does kind of hurt. It’s going to be completely sore for a while, isn’t it?”

Shonali grinned.

“I guess so. But it really isn’t nearly as bad as it might’ve been. Anyway, we didn’t choose giant tattoos. Imagine what it would be like to get an entire sleeve or something really elaborate done, with lots of color and filling and everything. It would take weeks and multiple sittings. We can just get it done now and go back home.”