Free Blackbird by Nicole Salmond Page A

Nate
questioned.
    Claire looked at Layla smiling. “It was part of a bet-”
    “Which you lost!” Layla interrupted.
    “Which I lost,” Claire agreed.
    “What was the bet ?”
Claire heard Nate ask while he continued to tattoo her.
    Claire sighed softly, trying not to move too
much. “My friends bet I couldn’t eat a tub of ice cream in half an hour. If I
won I got a year’s supply of ice cream. If I lost I had to get a tattoo of
their choosing, which of course had to be the most ridiculous one they could
think of.” Claire said, rolling her eyes.
    “That wouldn’t be too hard though?” Nate asked.
    Claire laughed. “That’s what I thought. You
see, I’m a huge ice cream fan. I’ve done this before so I thought I had it in
the bag. However, they found a loophole in the bet- because I didn’t stipulate
what size ice cream tub I had to eat they had me try and eat a five litre tub.
Suffice to say I didn’t win the bet- just suffered a whole lot of heart burn
and brain freeze.”
    “I’m impressed. You seem a woman of your word,
even when that means getting a pretty weird tattoo,” Nate commented.
    “I never back down from a bet.”
    Nate continued to tattoo her in silence until
he was finished. “Ok, you’re all done. You can jump up now and go have a look
in the mirror if you’d like.”
    Claire got to her feet and walked over to the
nearby wall mounted, floor length mirror.
    She looked into the mirror and saw the
reflection of the small, black moustache tattoo on her lower hip. This would be
by far the craziest thing she had ever done, and the most stupid, yet she could
only laugh. Claire wasn’t the type of person to get caught up in the
seriousness of the situation- the fact she would have the tattoo for life-
she’d rather laugh at the moment and move on.
    Claire had made sure she got the tattoo low
enough so that her underwear would always cover it. This way she could avoid
her parents ever finding out. Her parents hated tattoos so much they would
probably disown her if they ever found out she had one.
    Nate came up behind her. He was easily a good
head height taller than her. His muscular frame made Claire look tiny in
comparison.
    His dark eyes looked at her in the reflection.
“So what you think?”
    “It’s great,” she said softly, smiling.
    Nate kinked his head to the side. “Just great?”
    “It’s a tattoo of a moustache, how much greater
can it be ?” She laughed.
    Nate smiled. “I suppose you’re right.”
    Claire smiled back, not able
to take her eyes from his.
    The more she looked at him, the more she felt the
urge to turn around and kiss him till she couldn’t breathe. He was
breathtakingly handsome.
    She watched his eyes move over hers
seductively, and although she was fully clothed she felt naked to his gaze. He
was taking her in inch by inch.
    He casually placed the tips of his fingers on
her shoulder. She drew in a deep breath. His touch might have been soft but it
sent an electric current through her.
    She watched him in the reflection, his eyes
focused on her chest which was pounding up and down, his fingers now tracing a
path down her arm. She was vaguely aware that they were still in the tattoo
parlour but it wasn’t until she heard Layla clear her
throat that she returned to the moment.  
    Claire quickly turned to Layla .
 A smug grin was plastered on her best friend’s face. “Finished?”
    “Yeah, let’s go,” Claire said quickly walking
to the front counter.
    Nate followed close behind her. When they
reached the counter he bent down and picked up a piece of paper from underneath
the counter and handed it to her.
    “Here’s some information about the aftercare of
your tattoo, please read it carefully and don’t go swimming for at least two
weeks.”
    Claire took the piece of paper and skimmed
through it. “So how much do I owe you?”
    Nate shook his head. “It’s on the house.”
    Claire looked at him confused. “Why?”
    “Consider it a