Passionate Ink by Jan Springer Read Free Book Online Page B

the tattoo hadn’t suffered due to her fantasizing, and when she’d come out of whatever spell she’d been in, he hadn’t seemed to notice. So what did she have, a split personality?
    Yeah right. Suddenly she could breathe under water like the ocean creatures? As if maybe her tentacle fetish had manifested into something…fantastical? Gosh! Was that even a word? A fantasy world to escape reality? Too much stress? Or had she pricked her finger and gotten some ink into her veins and hallucinated. She’d seen a movie about that once.
    The shrill ring of her cell phone, echoing from the bathroom, made her scream as a jolt of surprise shot through her. She quickly padded down the hallway to get it.
    Gosh! Was she ever jumpy. She needed to chill because she normally wasn’t the nervous type. But who could blame her? Especially after today’s strange events.
    She noticed Misty’s number on her caller display and answered, knowing her friend was checking up on her, but it warmed her heart to know Misty really cared.
    “Hey, how’s the date going?” Cat asked quickly, hoping to deflect Misty’s worry.
    “Quit trying to change the subject. How are you?”
    Great.
    “I told you before you left that I was fine.”
    “I just want to make sure. You know me. Do you have a headache or dizziness or anything like that? Chuck wants to know.”
    Cat grinned. Yeah, Misty’s worrying irritated her sometimes, but not right now.
    “Chuck. The fireman boyfriend who is going to make you so hot tonight?” Cat teased.
    Misty didn’t take the bait, but plunged ahead with her concern. “He knows some first aid and I told him what happened to you in the ocean. He says you could have had some oxygen deprivation.”
    Oxygen deprivation. Lack of air. Hallucinations? It made sense.
    “No, none of that.” Thankfully it was the truth.
    “No, she doesn’t.” Misty said to her hunk. She came back on the line. “That’s a good sign, he says.”
    Oh thank God, Misty’s date was on her side. “I told you, you didn’t have to worry. Now go have fun.”
    “What are you doing now?”
    “Come on, already, miss worrywart.”
    “Cat, indulge me.”
    “Just had a shower, checked my equipment and now I’m heading off to bed.”
    “Good. Good. Sleep will be good for you.”
    “Go, will you? Have fun.”
    “All right. Stay safe. Kiss. Kiss.” And then she disconnected.
    “Thank you,” Catalina breathed and slapped her cell onto the bathroom counter, clutched her towel to her breasts and padded into her bedroom.
    Her room was her sanctuary and with her RV slide-out, she gained an extra three feet of walking space. The room was decorated in brown hues and she had a small, flat-screen TV up on the wall beside one of her two windows. Normally she would roll into bed and watch the news or a movie, but tonight she was too tired to do any of that.
    Flipping on the bedside light, she dropped her towel with the full intention of slipping beneath the covers, but froze as she glanced at herself in the full-length mirror on her closet door.
    “What in the world?”
    She moved closer to the mirror and gazed at the body art on her back. The octopus design and its tentacles stretching sexily up her spine looked the same, yet…they looked different too. The coloring seemed more vibrant than she remembered. And she swore the tentacles appeared…larger? More swollen? Longer than she remembered them and so unbelievably lifelike. If she stared hard enough, she could swear they even moved ever so slightly.
    Catalina swallowed back the round of anxiety threatening to pummel her. Why would her tattoos move? And why was her skin so pink and flushed? Yeah, she’d had a shower and it had been hot, but her skin appeared to be softer, as if it were new.
    Okay, Cat. Too much sun today and she was just tired. Yeah, that’s it. Tired. Maybe she’d gotten too much sun out on the beach and lack of oxygen when she’d gone under the water. Perfectly good