by Opal Carew
“Julia…”
Of course Alex had come after me and now leaned up against the door blocking my exit.
“Go away, Alex. Just because I said that you were right doesn’t mean I like you or your methods of getting what you want.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Oh dear God, do people actually say that in real life? I get what happened. You wanted to prove a point to your brother, and you used me to do it.”
“No.” His expression cooled. “That’s not how it went at all.”
“Well, it sure looks like it.” I smiled into his cold blue eyes. “But it’s okay. I got what I wanted and so did you. We’re even. We’re done.” I gathered up my purse. “Now get out of my way.”
“We’re not done.”
I heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Oh please…let’s try and keep this civil. You have no right to detain me. If you keep it up I’m going to call 911 and scream blue murder until someone busts your ass and hopefully deports you.”
“If we’re done and we can both move on, why are you so angry, Julia?”
“No one likes being used.”
He raised that infuriating eyebrow again. “Liar.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I didn’t do anything you didn’t want.”
“Apart from lie to me about why you were so keen to go along with what I wanted in the first place?”
A muscle twitched in his cheek. “I didn’t lie. I also didn’t ask my interfering brother to come into my suite and watch something he wasn’t supposed to see.”
“It’s his club, Alex. He probably watched the live version last night.”
“Kyle wasn’t here. That’s why I arranged it for last night. He probably heard about what happened from the staff. I made damned sure I was the only one in that control room, and I removed the images and kept this copy for myself.”
I stared at him for a long moment and my cell buzzed. I checked the screen and fake sighed.
“I’d love to continue this conversation, but I have to get back. Three of my staff are out sick. I need to go in for an extra shift.”
He moved away from the door. “We’re not done, Julia. I’m sorry that my brother stuck his enormous foot in our relationship, but you don’t have to let that change anything.”
I reached the door and made myself look at him. “What relationship? As I already mentioned, I got what I wanted, and so did you.”
“Not in the way you’re determined to think,” His hand closed around my elbow. “I want you to tell me your next fantasy so I can fulfill that one too.”
“And keep me on retainer for your brother’s club?”
His eyes flashed ice. “Don’t do this.”
“What?”
“Run away from me. Hide from what we have together.”
“We had a good time, Alex. That’s it.”
He released me and took a step backward. “And what if I want more?” he asked softly. “What if I told you that you are the only woman I’ve ever met who’s made me want her? And who else is going to fulfill your needs and fucking love doing so?” He shook his head. “Don’t throw away all the amazing possibilities between us because of my brother.”
For the first time my gaze faltered. “So you’re saying you didn’t use me as an example to change your brother’s business model?”
“I did not.”
“And I’m supposed to believe you?”
He sighed. “Julia, you trusted me with your deepest sexual fantasies. Why the fuck would I ruin that?”
My cell buzzed again. “I have to go. Don’t come down with me.”
He nodded, his expression for the first time defeated. “I’ll call for my car.”
“Thank you.” I wrenched open the door and headed for the exit. There was no sign of Kyle in the apartment and the T.V. screen was mercifully blank. For the first time in our acquaintance, Alex didn’t walk me to the car. I assumed he realized I needed my space, but part of me wished he’d insisted. That he’d shoved me up against the wall and demanded I listen to him or…
God, now I sounded like some kind of dithering idiot…
I held it together until I was in the car and had texted the hospital and Holly. Then overcome with emotion and exhaustion, I fell asleep and only woke up when we arrived at my apartment block.
I struggled through the next few days, which were busy as hell due to lack of staff. Keeping busy stopped me from thinking about Alex and what I wanted to do about him. Because I wanted to do something. I’d never met a man who was willing to fulfill my fantasies before. If he hadn’t been involved in the entertainment business with his family, would he have understood me so well? The fact that he was trying to make his brother adapt his twentieth century morals to include what women really wanted at their private clubs was surely a good thing? I just didn’t want to be anyone’s guinea pig.
I wanted to be appreciated for myself kink and all. I’d stupidly begun to believe that Alex Logan was the one man who understood me and would be willing to give me what I wanted. I groaned into my coffee and slowly banged my head against the tabletop. I was tired of the ceaseless argument going around and around in my mind. I was also tired of my slightly self-righteous rage.
“Doc?”
I looked up to see Jose staring apprehensively at me from the other side of the table where he was eating a salad, his fork halfway to his mouth.
“What?”
“You should go home. Your shift finished twenty minutes ago. McFarland’s taking over for the next seventy-two hours.”
I pushed myself up from the table. “You’re right. I’ll go.”
Not bothering to change out of my scrubs, I washed my hands and face, grabbed my purse, and trudged out into the sun-drenched staff parking lot behind the ER. I automatically put my hand to my head and then realized I’d forgotten to bring my sunglasses. Cursing a mumbled blue streak, I tried to remember where I’d parked my car.
My heart gave a little bump when I spotted a tall man leaning up against my vehicle, one hand shading his eyes, his blue gaze focused on me.
“Mr. Logan.” I pushed past him to unlock the door.
“Dr. Reed.” He took the car keys out of my hand and put them in his pocket. “There’s something I forgot to say.”
His mouth descended over mine, blotting out the sun. There was no hint of apology in his kiss, just a strength of purpose and pure wet-panty inducing lust that made it impossible to resist.
“I want to fuck you right here,” he muttered between kisses, “Right where you work, you naked from the waist down, my cock driving you wild and a huge fucking audience watching you come apart and scream my name. I can’t stop thinking about you. I don’t want to stop thinking about you.” His hand shifted down to my ass and drew me hard against him. “I want you down on your knees while I fuck your mouth until I come. I want you to tell me every dirty, filthy fantasy you’ve ever had so that I can spend my life making them a reality.”
“Oh,” I managed to breathe.
“That’s all you have to say?” he demanded. “Aren’t you going to forgive me?”
His normally calm expression was long gone. He looked as wild and desperate as I felt. I bit down hard on his lip and he shuddered.
“I really like my job, Alex, so would you take me home so we can discuss my fantasies there?” I bit him again as a wave of thankfulness crashed over me. “I have an amazing desire to be fucked naked in front of a window…”
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INK REUNITED
INK REUNITED
A Midnight Ink and Montgomery Ink Novella
By Carrie Ann Ryan
Ink Reunited
A Midnight Ink and Montgomery Ink Novella
By: Carrie Ann Ryan
Published by Fated Desires Publishing, LLC.
© 2014 Carrie Ann Ryan
ISBN: 978-1-62322-116-4
Cover Art by Scott Carpenter
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the publisher at [email protected].
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.
Ink Reunited
From the streets of New Orleans and the heat of Midnight Ink, comes the happy ever after for a character whose story was begged to be told.
Sassy Bordeaux is the Midnight Ink receptionist, honorary godmother, best friend to many, and matchmaker expert. In the past two months, she's watched eight couples fall in love, make mistakes, and find their happy endings. Though she might have had hand in each of those, she's yet to find the peace she's desired. When the men from her past come into Midnight Ink, she's forced to face what she left behind and what could happen if she lets go of her pain and finds a future she deserves.
Rafe Chavez and Ian Steele remember their time with Sassy like it was yesterday, yet have worked hard to move on. Or at least try to. Now they're both back in New Orleans for the woman they loved and for the connection they shared with each other. It will take more than the usual groveling, pleading and begging for these three to overcome their history, but once they take that step, the streets of New Orleans will never be the same.
.
Dedication
To the readers of Midnight Ink: You asked for Sassy so you get her. Scars and all.
Acknowledgements
This book had never been planned. Sassy was always the backbone of Midnight Ink for us authors, but only few knew who she really was. When I first decided to make her up and she found her way into each and every Midnight Ink novella, I had no idea of the response she would receive.
Sassy is one of a kind and to write her story was a journey in itself. I had always known where Sassy had come from but I never knew I would grow so close to her.
Thank you to the ladies of Midnight Ink and the readers who fell in love with Sassy…
You made her dreams come true…as well as my own.
Chapter One
“So, should I get a butterfly on my butt or a cobra on my hip?”
Sassy Bordeaux grinned at the just-turned-eighteen years old high school senior, and tapped her finger with a deliciously apple-red colored nail on her chin. The numerous bangles that adorned her wrists, covering yet still showing peeks of some of the tattoos she had on her forearms, jingled together with the movement. The sound mixed in with the echoes of motorized needles, laughter, music, and chatting within the shop.
The girl in front of her might have been eighteen, but she still had the baby face of a girl still growing. Normally, Sassy wouldn’t have stepped in and told anyone that they weren’t ready for a tattoo, but today she needed to step in.
Oh, who the hell was she kidding?
Sassy always stepped in and told it like it was. There was no use lying only to make a few bucks for the shop while the client ended up leaving with ink they really didn’t want—or ink that didn’t fit who they were—merely who they thought they should be.
She might have been the Midnight Ink receptionist and while most people on the outside thought her job was to make coffee and appointments, she and the crew knew better. She was the first line of defense for the artists’ work and the clients’ canvas.
It was a job she took seriously.
Even if she seemed like the crazy lady from the streets of New Orleans most days. That misperception by others led her to freedom.
Everyone underestimated Sassy.
Even Sassy underestimated herself sometimes.
Okay, totally the wrong direction for her thoughts.
Pushing away memories she’d rather not think about ever again, she placed her hand on top of the girl’s hand and shook her head.
“Honey, is this really what you want?” she asked, lowering her voice, already smooth as honey, to a near-whisper.
The girl blinked up at her. “Uh yeah? I mean. I’m here aren’t I?”
Sassy flipped her hair over her shoulder, the long brown waves tumbled down her back. Today, she had bright blue streaks in it thanks to the colored hair chalk she used. She liked changing it up daily and sometimes would change the color in the middle of the work day just to make people think twice.
The customers who didn’t know her—and some who did—thought she was a little too crazy for them so she fed the fantasy and did nothing to change their minds.
Plus, the colors freaking rocked.
“What’s your name, sugar?” she asked as she led the girl to one of the small couches they had in the guest area of Midnight Ink.
“Hannah. And you’re Sassy. I’ve heard about you.”
From the odd look on Hannah’s face, Sassy wasn’t sure she wanted to know exactly what the girl had heard. There were a lot of stories as to how she’d come to work at Midnight Ink. Between being a spy, a lost princess, and a former model who lost her way due to drugs, Sassy had heard just about everything.
It wasn’t her fault the stories kept circulating. Okay, maybe it was considering she hadn’t discredited any of them, nor had she told the truth as to where she’d come from.
No one needed to know that, and the fiction was more exciting than fact anyway.
Sassy sank into the cushions of the couch she’d picked out for the shop and held back a sigh. Damn, she loved this couch. It was so plush yet didn’t look it. It fit the look of Midnight Ink with its cream softness yet strong angles. The rest of the place had wood floors and dark black chairs, tables, and stools that gleamed under the warm lighting. The little reception area where Sassy could speak with clients, as well as have the artists relax was her zone and where her own magic happened.
At least that’s what she hoped would happen in this case.
“So, Hannah, you’ve heard a lot about me?” Sassy asked, her tone casual. She needed to get out of her head and into this girl’s. What the hell was wrong with her today?
Hannah rolled her eyes then bit her lip, as if she’d thought better of the action. “Well, you’re…The Sassy. Everyone knows about you and your connection to Midnight Ink.”
Sassy held back a snort at “The Sassy”. Apparently her
name was a title as well as who she was. She was special like that.
“Well, I am The Sassy, but that’s not the important thing, is it, honey?” At Hannah’s blank stare Sassy had to hold herself back from using small words. Damn, this girl was young. “Why do you want that tattoo?”
“Because I’m eighteen and it’s my right as an adult.” Hannah stuck out her lip in a pout that clearly said her words were a lie—at least the latter half.
An adult? Jesus, they made them younger and younger these days. Okay, so Sassy was only thirty-two, a baby in some respects but she’d seen enough to qualify her as more of an adult than this squeaky-clean teen.
“Okay, yes, ink is your right now that you’re eighteen, honey. You need to remember, though, that ink is for life. It’s not something to take for granted. Yes, a cobra on your hip would look kick-ass, in fact, I’ve seen a few that wrap around so beautifully, it’s a work of art onto itself. Hannah, baby, if you get that though, it needs to mean something beyond wanting to prove you’re older than what others think of you.”
From the guilty look on Hannah’s face, Sassy had hit the true reason for the girl’s bout of rebellion.
No use stopping now since there wasn’t a chance in hell any of the artists would lay ink on this virgin skin today. Hannah clearly wasn’t ready and Midnight Ink cared about things like that. It’s what made them who they were.
“Honey, go home and think about if this is truly what you want.”
“But I want a tattoo,” Hannah mumbled.
Sassy nodded. “Yes, I believe that you do, and I think that anything we put on you will look brilliant. Our artists rock, sugar, and they’ll make sure you look fantastic, but right now? No, honey, that’s not something you need. Wait until you’re ready to get one for you and not what you think you need for them.”
