Earlier in the afternoon, Katherine and Damien spent the whole time in the downtown area where he brought her to different beautiful spots. Knowing her love for pastries, he learned about the area"s best bakeshop. When they left the store, he carried two boxes in his hands as they walked down the path going back to the car.
They stopped in their tracks when his phone rang. "Hang on a second, I need to get this," he said just before he answered the phone call.
Katherine started to look around, wondering what other shops were around the area. As she scanned the place, she noticed a neon blinking sign a few feet away and before she knew it, she was outside the window of a shop looking at some interesting stuff.
"Hey, beautiful. Interested to get inked?" A skinny woman with tattoos all over her body appeared by her side. She was wearing leather hot pants and a cropped top and her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail. She smiled at Katherine and winked.
"Oh… um…" Katherine swallowed and looked at the designs posted on the gla.s.s window.
"Sorry… Are you ready to leave?" Damien walked towards her and saw her with the woman from the tattoo shop.
The woman turned and her eyes twinkled upon seeing Damien. "Your girlfriend seems interested to get a tattoo."
He raised a brow at Katherine who met his stare. "You do?"
"Well… Not really… I mean I did think that it was cool to have one but I haven"t really convinced myself to get one," she replied with a bashful smile. "Come on, let"s go… we have enough time to catch some waves while there"s still sun." She grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the parking lot.
Damien placed the pastry boxes at the backseat before he faced Katherine. She was wearing a powder blue sleeveless dress that had a ruffle skirt. He loved the way it looked on her - so fresh and s.e.xy, exposing just enough of her chest and her long legs. He was amused that she chose his s.h.i.+rt for him that afternoon and it was the same color as her dress.
Smiling as he held her hand, he told her, "Why don"t we get one?"
"Huh?" She raised a brow, unsure of what he meant.
"Let"s get a tattoo."
Katherine laughed as she inched herself closer to him. She was waiting for him to say he was kidding. "You"re not kidding," she said when she saw his serious face staring back at her. "Oh…"
Shrugging his shoulder, he placed his hands on her waist and brought her closer, his thumb running small circles on her side. "Why not? It would be nice…"
"Wow… you"re really serious. Why? I mean… do you even want to get one? I hope you"re not saying this just because I said something earlier."
Damien chuckled. "Just like you, I also wondered about getting one before. Now that we"re here… Why don"t we do it?"
Katherine did not know how to respond. She pursed her lips and thought about it. "What do we even get?"
The corner of his mouth lifted up into a crooked grin before he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the tattoo shop. "We"ll think of something. Come on, let"s go back and check it out."
"You know we"re going to have this forever, right? We can"t just…" Her voice trailed off when she thought of something. "Damien…" she called just when they arrived at the doorstep.
"Oh… you guys are back," said the woman from the tattoo shop.
Katherine tiptoed and whispered something to his ear. He turned to face her and a genuine smile formed on his face before he kissed her forehead. "I like that… but how about I choose where you"ll have yours?"
Returning his smile with her own bright one, she nodded, "As long as I get to choose yours."
"Deal," he agreed.
"Great. Please, come inside." The woman gestured her hand, inviting the pair inside her brightly lit shop.
The tattoo artist listened to what they wanted and after explaining some things to them, she asked, "Who wants to go first?"
"I don"t mind going first if you"re scared," Damien told Katherine. He wasn"t sure if she was really up for it because she had been quiet the entire time.
"No… I"ll go first." She stared at him and beamed, surprising him with her enthusiasm. "I want to go first."
Katherine was asked to lie down on the tattoo bed and just before the tattoo artist was about to start, she asked, "Will this hurt?"
"Generally, yes… But you"ll be fine."
Katherine reached her hand out and Damien held it as he sat next to her. An hour later, the two of them walked out of the tattoo shop with smiles on their faces.
"That wasn"t so bad, was it?" he asked.
"Not at all." Katherine hooked her arm in his as they happily strolled towards the car.
They spent the rest of their afternoon at the beach and stayed there for the sunset before they went back to the Onyx Mountain Hotel.
Later in the evening…
Since they were going back to the city in the afternoon the next day, they agreed to celebrate his birthday that evening. However, after their dinner, Damien received another phone call and he was forced to work on his laptop for a few hours, leaving Katherine spending the entire time watching a TV show in the bedroom.
They had bought a cake that they were going to eat after dinner but they decided to wait for midnight. It was already almost midnight when Katherine noticed the time and when she did, she hurriedly got up and rummaged through her luggage until she found a small dark blue box. She opened it and chewed on her bottom lip, wondering if he was going to like it at all.
She swallowed and from the corner of her eyes, she noticed a familiar set of lingerie that Alianna helped her pick out that one time they went shopping. She subconsciously bit her nail, trying to convince herself to just go for it. "Don"t be a sissy, Kath. It"s not like you haven"t done it with him, what are you being shy about?"
Breathing out a sigh, she s.n.a.t.c.hed the set and a cover-up dress and marched towards the bathroom. She first gave herself a pep talk before changing into her lingerie and stared at herself in the mirror. She couldn"t believe she was wearing the s.e.xy piece.
Raising her hands, she touched the fabric on her top and felt the combination of smooth and lacey material and she did the same on the bottom piece. The red lingerie top cupped her b.r.e.a.s.t.s in the right places and had a lace design under the bra that ended until her midriff.
She began to feel nervous which was why she frantically dialed Alianna"s number but to her dismay, the latter did not pick up.
"d.a.m.n it," she muttered. Just when she wanted to ask for her help, she was not there. Realizing that it was almost midnight, she figured that Alianna must have already gone to sleep.
Knocks on the door gave her a start.
"You okay, babe?"
"Ah. Yes. Just a second. I"ll be right out." Katherine managed to swiftly wear a white maxi wrap-up dress before she came out of the bathroom and b.u.mped into Damien. "Oops!"
"Woah!" He caught her arm. "You were inside for a long time. Is something wrong?"
Her heart raced, nervous that he would notice something off. She hurriedly got out of his hold and walked back to the bedroom. How could she possibly go through the night — and hopefully "go to bed" with him in her s.e.xy red lingerie?