Dedicated Ink (16 page)
Glancing at her mother, she had a change of heart. “I’ll save it for later and eat with mom – she’s been surviving mostly off of vending machine food and the occasional cafeteria meal. I’ve tried to talk her into going out and getting herself something good to eat, but she won’t leave the hospital.”
“I can bring some lunch for you both – Rob is at home with the kids, and I’m too excited to hang around the apartment all day anyway.”
“Thanks. You’ll get to see Sam, too. We’re both being discharged today, and he’s going to come up here after lunch, before we leave together.”
Natalie smiled. “That’s great. Mom said his surgery went well yesterday.”
Abby nodded. “The doctor says he should regain full use of his arm.”
It could’ve been so much worse. She kept telling herself that, using her gratitude to keep her anger at bay. The man who’d attacked Sam was incarcerated, where he belonged – there was nothing else that could be done.
“Glad to hear it,” Natalie said. “Do you want me to keep you company for now? We can let mom sleep – I’ll take care of the twins if they wake up.”
“That’d be great. And besides, I want to hear more about the book deal.”
Natalie grinned. “Well, there’s going to be an advance – money they’ll pay us up front, partially upon the contract signing and then the rest upon publication.”
“Really?” Abby sat up a little straighter. An advance of any amount would certainly help her contribute toward the costs of two newborns during her maternity leave. She’d need to be home for a while, especially since Sam would need her help now too.
Plus, receiving her first paycheck for illustrating … well, it would finally allow her to feel completely at home in the office Sam had set up for her. Tension she’d been carrying inside for months dissipated as Natalie’s good news – and what it meant – sank in.
“Yeah.” Natalie’s smile stretched even wider.
“Natalie, you’re here already?” Their mother rose, blinking. “How late did I sleep?”
“Not too late mom – you need the rest,” Abby said. “And Natalie came early to bring us some good news.” A small stab of betrayal pierced her heart as she told her mother about the book deal. As glad as she was to share the news with her mom, she would’ve liked to have told Sam first. She was still thinking of the office he’d set up for her when he walked through the door.
He’d traded his hospital gown for jeans and a t-shirt he must’ve sent Cohen or another friend to pick up from the house. “Hey. Managed to get some clothes and make an early escape.”
Abby climbed out of bed as quickly as she could – which wasn’t very quickly – and wrapped him in the most careful half-hug she could manage, kissing his jaw. He bowed his head, surprising her by pressing his lips to hers.
For a moment, she forgot about everyone and everything around them. Then one of the babies began to cry.
“I’ve got him,” she said, hurrying to Ethan’s bassinette before Natalie or her mother could reach for him.
Ethan quieted down in her arms as she held him close, standing beside Sam so that when one of Ethan’s tiny feet popped free from his blanket, it struck Sam’s left arm.
Sam grinned. “Let me hold him.”
“But your arm—”
“I have one good arm, and that’s plenty. Here.” He held his left arm like he was cradling a baby, and Abby couldn’t deny him.
Ethan wriggled and blinked up at his dad. Abby hovered close, just in case.
For a few more seconds, their surroundings and circumstances faded away again. Sam looked so happy – he held Ethan like the treasure he was, not the burden Abby had once feared he might see him as. Watching him hold their child for the first time made Abby’s past worries seem absurd. The timing had been crazy and nothing had gone as planned, but the end results were perfect.
When Ethan began to fuss, Abby lifted him from Sam’s arm. “Natalie, do you mind taking care of him for a few minutes while I get Kylie?”
Moments later, Sam was holding Kylie just like he’d held Ethan, the same look of pride and amusement on his face. Watching him cradle their little girl was so absorbing that for a couple minutes, Abby forgot all about Amethyst Fox and the contract from Red Harbor.
When she lifted Kylie from Sam’s hold so she could give her a bottle, remembrance struck her like a bolt of lightning. “I almost forgot – I have some good news to tell you.”
He broke into another smile. “Am I supposed to guess what it is?”
“I wasn’t going to make you guess.” She was too anxious – too excited – for guessing games.
“All right, then. Congratulations.” He grinned.
“Congratulations?” She arched a brow. He hadn’t somehow spoken to Natalie before she had, had he?
He nodded toward the stand where Natalie had set her clear plastic Tupperware container. “The cake with the purple fox on it was a dead giveaway, and I knew it was only a matter of time.”
Abby cleansed Sam’s upper arm with alcohol, the acrid liquid shining and making his muscle gleam before it evaporated. A scar stood out pink against the rest of his skin, though it had begun to lighten. “Finally ready?”
He nodded in response to her teasing. An entire year had passed since he’d walked into Hot Ink and she’d had to cancel his original tattoo appointment. Now, with her mother watching the five month old twins, he was in Abby’s tattoo chair for the first time.
“You know this counts as a date, right?” He waited in the chair while she prepared her equipment.
He had a point; she could count the number of times they’d been alone together since the twins’ birth on one hand. “And I didn’t even get a meal out of this. Dating really goes downhill after you become a parent, huh?”
“We can grab something to eat afterward.”
“I told my mom that this would only take two hours, at most. And I hope you ate something before meeting me here – being tattooed on an empty stomach can make you pass out.”
He made a wordless sound that was half-groan, half-laugh. “I’m not going to pass out. I’ve felt worse – promise.” A teasing light flashed in his eyes as he dropped his gaze to the scar on his arm.
Abby winced. Even after recovery from the initial wound and surgery, then months of physical therapy, she hated to think of what he’d gone through. “We’ll see.”
He didn’t flinch as she began the tattoo. Most people didn’t consider the biceps a particularly painful area, and the bones in his arm were buried deep under plenty of muscle. And he was right – he’d felt much, much worse. He was a perfect client, quiet and still.
The buzz of tattoo machines and subdued conversation created pleasant background noise; she’d missed Hot Ink’s atmosphere during the time she’d stayed home full-time to care for the twins and Sam.
Now, Sam was back at work and she’d begun seeing clients again on a part-time basis. The twins came first, and illustrating demanded large chunks of her time, too – she and Natalie were nearly done with the third Amethyst Fox book. They were under contract for three, but depending on how the first book did when released in the fall, there could be more.
If not, they could move on to a different project. She’d keep illustrating, no matter what.
“So, did you find a dress today?”
Abby smiled. Her mom had watched the twins that morning, too, while Abby had gone shopping with Natalie. “Yes, but you can’t see it until the big day.”
“It’s not that far away.”
They’d decided on a late summer wedding. Waddling down the aisle had been the last thing on Abby’s mind when she’d been pregnant, but Sam had proposed shortly after she’d given birth and she’d happily agreed.
“Which reminds me – we need to order your tux.”
They continued talking about the wedding while Abby worked on the tattoo – the relative privacy of her half-booth offered a conversation-friendly environment that they just didn’t have at the house anymore, except for the rare occasions when Ethan and Kylie went down for a nap at the same time.
“Ready to see?” Abby asked after blotting ink from Sam’s arm one final time.
He nodded as she set the stained cloth aside.
“What do you think?”
He examined his new tattoo in the mirror that took up most of her booth’s back wall. “It’s perfect.”
She couldn’t help but smile. The names Abigail, Ethan and Kylie were permanently inked across his arm, done in script and complemented by a simple black design she’d come up with. “Still glad you changed your mind?”
“Yeah.”
During her pregnancy, he’d refused to come in to be tattooed, insisting that he didn’t want to burden her with another appointment when she’d already been stressing about her schedule. And then there’d been his injury. By the time she’d finally been able to talk him into coming in, months after the twins had arrived, he’d surprised her by insisting on a design far removed from the tattoo he’d originally e-mailed her about.
“I think it turned out great,” she said, peeling off her ink-stained gloves, “but I’m highly biased.”
She bandaged him up, temporarily hiding his new ink from view and trying not to think about how much the gauze looked like his hospital bandages had.
“Come on,” he said when she was done, “we at least have time to get a cup of coffee across the street.”
Her heart skipped a beat as he took one of her hands in his. “All right.”
Together, they walked the same aisle she’d hurried down months ago, when she’d been newly-pregnant, sick and panicked. Her step was steady this time, and an evening breeze blew in when Sam opened the door for her. The air was warm and fresh, and for half a second, she could almost imagine that they were walking down a very different aisle, with brand new rings gleaming on their fingers.
Soon, that would be the case. For now, coffee sounded perfect. They’d rushed so much; it was nice to take things slow, nice to share an equally unhurried kiss that had a few people staring.
Her cheeks were a little too warm when they pulled apart, but she grinned. Having a cup of coffee in peace together might be a rarity, but his kisses weren’t – some things never changed, no matter how much everything else did.
Ink is forever. So is love.
Thank you for reading
Dedicated Ink
.
Stay up to date with the entire Inked in the Steel City Series by visiting the
Inked in the Steel City page
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Previous titles in the series…
Hot Ink
(Inked in the Steel City, #1)
Innocent Ink
(Inked in the Steel City, #2)
(Click title to see in Kindle Store.)
Ranae Rose is the best-selling author of over a dozen adult romances and counting. She calls the US East Coast home and resides there with her family, German Shepherd dogs and overflowing bookshelves. Writing and reading are lifelong passions that consume most of her time, and she’s always working on bringing her latest love story idea to life for readers.
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Read on for an excerpt from Ranae’s best-selling MMA romance,
Battered Not Broken.
