one event. It isn’t going to kill you.”
“Being tied to you just might,” she replied as the woman began tying their legs together.
It wouldn’t take a genius to realize this was never going to work. He had to be at least a foot taller than her, if not more. When the girl finished securing their legs and walked away, Sam looked directly up to find Callum about to burst into a fit of laughter.
“I may actually die. You know that, right? We are going to trip, and you are going to fall on me, and then I’ll have brain damage.”
“Jesus. Way to go off into left field on that one. I was just going to suggest a few broken bones.” He smiled, then burst out laughing again at her reaction.
“Ahh, that’s so much better,” she said with as much sarcasm as she could muster.
“Ready. Set. Go!” one of the hostesses shouted, and they took off.
Not even two steps in, they were on the ground. Callum rolled on top of her as they burst into an all-out fit of laughter.
“Dammit, Sam! Why do you have to be so short?” he said in jest while his short bursts of air flowed through her hair.
“I can’t help my genetics! Now get off of me!” She playfully pushed him away.
“Come on. We arenotgoing to be left at the starting line.” He jumped to his feet, ripping the tie and picking her up in the process.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he threw her over his shoulder and started to run toward the finish line.
When he put her down, they were both still bursting with laughter.
Laughter which she used to hide the fact that she was about to burst at the seams. Callum Barker had just had his hands all over her. Her skin was on fire and her mouth suddenly became dry.
“Never again. I amneverdoing one of these again,” she said while trying to catch her breath.
*******
Sam and Callum humbly accepted their last-place finish and walked back toward their abandoned seats. It was then that she noticed his scent firmly planted in her hair. She tried not to be too obvious when she looped a strand in her fingers and brought it closer to her face.
“Sam? Hello? Are you listening to me?” He tapped her nose.
“What?” She quickly dropped the strand of hair and silently prayed he didn’t clue in on what she was doing.
“I asked you a question and you completely zoned out.”
“Sorry. What were you saying?”
“You had been wanting to ask a question right before Mason interrupted us?”
“Oh, right!” She had to take a moment to remember what that exact question was. Her brain was currently just trying to function following what had just occurred. “What was your first tattoo?” she finally blurted out as the thought came to her.
He turned away from her, but didn’t say a word. He scooted his chair out and pulled down the neck of his shirt to show the top of his right shoulder blade. It took her a second to make out the design, but once she did, she had to forcefully hold in the gasp threatening to escape her lips.
It was beautiful. It looked like a geometric compass intertwined with a navigational compass, except it wasn’t pointing North, and the glass was shattered.
Before she was even aware of the movement, she felt her finger tips brush along the outer edges of the design. Her hand jerked back as he tensed and she cleared her throat.
“I’m going to assume there is some significance to that?”
He wasn’t looking at her and yet she could still tell he was wound far too tight by his tone alone.
“You would assume correctly.” He turned back but didn’t look at her.
She wanted to scream at her stupid idiotic brain.