mentioned was that there was also an unexpected elegance to it. Sighing, she pulled her wallet out of her purse to tuck it safely away. She’d already programmed the number into her phone, even though she was sure it would never be used, no matter how much Sam begged.
Macy stirred her shake with a straw, pulled it out and licked off the ice cream. “Forget the writing. I’m more interested in their hands .”
“I bet Brian has great hands,” Samantha said enthusiastically. “Artists usually do. So what are his hands like, Daisy?” Sam sometimes called her “Daisy” as a play on the last syllable of her name. She knew Candace hated “Candy” with a passion. It was what her mother called her. What the hell was up with her nicknames anyway? Sunshine. Daisy. Candy. All bright, sweet things. She should insist on being called Spider or something. Darken her image a bit. Sam snapped her fingers in front of her face. “Hey, over here. Are they that good?”
“His hands? They’re—” Beautiful . “Heck, I don’t know. They’re hands.”
Cherrie Lynn
Sam wiggled her eyebrows. “Big?”
Candace felt a flush beginning to creep up her neck. “Yes.”
“Stop it already,” Macy said. “You’re going to drive the girl crazy, and she needs to forget all about that guy.”
“But why?” Sam asked, sounding like a petulant three-year-old.
“Because he isn’t right for her!”
“For her, or for you?”
“What have I got to do with it?”
“ You seem to be the only one who has a problem with him.”
“Her parents would have a hell of a problem with him.”
“Oh, to hell with her parents.”
Candace sighed and sat back as her friends went at it as if she wasn’t even sitting there. “Stop, stop,”
she said wearily, making the time out gesture with her hands when it appeared either girl was preparing to draw blood. “I’m afraid Macy wins, Sam. I can’t just call him. I mean… I can’t. He gave me his number in case I had any trouble. I’ll be bugging him.”
“When a guy slips you his cell number, honey, he wants you to call it. Trust me. Do you think he does that to all of his clientele?”
“Probably not, but we know each other already. He did it being friendly.”
“Then call him being friendly . Be friendly as you mention that it was great seeing him and you’d like to hang out with him more.”
“We’re not that friendly. It would be totally weird if I did that.”
Sam looked at Macy and sighed. “We’ve got to teach this girl how to land a man. She’s hopeless.”
“Hopeless is good right now.”
“No, it’s not.”
“The guy allows a picture of his junk to be on display in his tattoo parlor. Hopeless is damn good in this case.”
Sam burst out laughing as Candace gave Macy’s shoulder a shove. “He was messing with you, Mace. I’m telling you.”
“And lighten up. Jesus,” Sam interjected. “I think it’s hot that he’s pierced downstairs. I’ve always wondered what it would be like.”
“To get pierced down there?” Macy asked.
“No. Well, yeah, that too. But mainly to have sex with someone who is. I’ve heard it’s amazing. You know Candace is wondering too.” Sam winked at her.
32
www.samhainpublishing.com
Rock Me
“She’s wondering what it’s like to have sex at all.” The two of them burst into another fit of giggles as Candace’s mouth dropped open and she swept a glance around the coffee shop, wanting to melt through the floor.
“Could you maybe, um, not announce it to the whole room?”
“Aw, she’s blushing. Stop it, Sam, you’re embarrassing her.”
“Me? You’re the one who trumpeted it. Poor girl is going to give it up just so we’ll stop harassing her about it.”
It had occurred to her once or twice. But their ribbing was good-natured, so she tolerated it fairly well, even if she thought her friends—Macy especially, although Sam had her moments—were a little too overprotective of her whenever a guy came