Alluring Ink Read online

  Alluring Ink

  Inked in the Steel City Book 7

  Ranae Rose

  eBooks are not transferable. This book may not be sold or given away. Doing so would be an infringement of the copyright.

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are products of the author’s imagination and are in no way real. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Alluring Ink

  Copyright © 2015 Ranae Rose

  Cover photo by: Shauna Kruse

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Alluring Ink

  Love is risk. Love is heartbreak. Love is an addiction a single mom like Crystal can’t afford. And accomplished tattoo artist Dylan is a temptation she can’t resist. He’s only in town for a few weeks as a guest artist, but the attraction is instant. With her past shadowing everything she does, it feels good to have someone who doesn’t judge … and doesn’t know.

  Love is just the spark before the crash and burn, especially when your demons are something more than standard-issue. Dylan craves Crystal with everything he has, but their days together are supposed to be numbered.

  Book 7 in the Inked in the Steel City Series

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT THE SERIES

  BATTERED NOT BROKEN EXCERPT

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  OTHER SERIES BY RANAE ROSE

  CHAPTER 1

  Crystal sat on the edge of her seat in the café across from the Hot Ink Tattoo Studio, clutching her purse. As she stared through the glass panel windows, she scanned the foot traffic streaming by for any sign of her brother’s blond hair. When he finally appeared, she stopped holding her breath.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so giddy. She tapped her toe against the tile as he caught her eye, nodded and entered the café.

  “I already ordered for us,” she said when he approached the little table she’d claimed. “Your usual. I know your schedule is tight lately.”

  “Thanks. How much was it?”

  She shook her head as he pulled out his wallet.

  “It’s my treat.” She waved a hand as a pang of guilt sailed through her. “Just sit down.”

  He tried to give her money but she refused. Their mini-argument was cut short when a barista called out the number on her receipt, and she went to get their food.

  James seemed happy with his lunch, but Crystal had to force herself to take a bite of her turkey and pesto sandwich. She’d been waiting so long to have this conversation with her brother – she’d dreamed of it ever since she’d returned to Pittsburgh a year ago, straight out of rehab and deeply in his debt. Now, it was finally real.

  It was the biggest step in the right direction she’d taken since making the decision to do rehab.

  “I asked you to meet me because there’s something I need to talk to you about,” she said.

  His expression changed just a little, his green eyes darkening and the muscles around his mouth tensing.

  “It’s good news,” she hurried to say. “I’m moving out.”

  “You are?” He set down his sandwich and locked her in eye contact, as if looking for some sign of a joke.

  “Yes. I signed the lease on an apartment yesterday.”

  “Where at?” He launched into a series of questions, grilling her on the neighborhood and amenities, the cost of rent and a dozen other things.

  She waved a hand. “It’s only a few blocks from your place.” She described the complex she’d be moving into.

  Slowly, he nodded. “Neighborhood’s okay, and you’ll have me nearby, but… Can you afford it?”

  His gaze was deep and searching, almost sad. “I know they don’t pay you a lot.”

  She couldn’t hold back a smile, even though he was right – she wasn’t exactly raking in the big bucks working in cosmetics at a department store. “You’re right about that. But I have a secondary source of income.”

  Actually, her job at the make-up counter had more or less become her secondary source of income. She was making more money from her other work – a fact that had had butterflies whirling through her stomach for months now.

  James raised his eyebrows. “You do?”

  “Yes…” She took a deep breath and tried not to give away how excited she was about revealing her big secret. “You know how much I love make-up artistry.”

  He nodded, his gaze lingering on her face. She actually wasn’t wearing much make-up today.

  Okay … so she’d gone a little buck wild with some new eye make-up samples she’d received from a start-up cosmetics company, but she’d taken it easy with everything else, brushing on just a hint of blush and gloss.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Judging by the number of boxes that’ve been delivered to our apartment over the past few months, I figured you’d invested most of your paychecks in lipstick.”

  She frowned. Had he really thought she’d been squandering her money in the name of vanity?

  Maybe she should’ve told him what she’d been up to sooner. It was just that her success had seemed so unreal at first – still did, really – that she hadn’t wanted to jinx it.

  “I didn’t pay a dime for most of that stuff,” she said. “The manufacturers sent me the products to review. I’ve been making my own make-up how-to videos for the better part of a year now. I started just a couple months after I moved in, and I’ve built up quite a following. I even have my own website.”

  His brow creased. “How’ve you been making money from that?”

  She grinned. “Advertisements. They play before my videos start and I run them on my site, too. It may not sound like much, but my web traffic and viewers have increased so much over the past few months that I’m earning pretty good money.”

  At least, the amount she was earning seemed phenomenal to her – all the jobs she’d ever held had been in food service and retail. Being able to make more than a pittance above minimum wage doing something she loved was a dream come true.

  James sat frozen, his coffee cup in hand. “I had no idea you were doing any of that.”

  She brushed her long blonde hair away from her face. “I didn’t want to tell you at first – I thought you might think it was a waste of time. I started out doing it for fun – to get back in touch with something I love. It’d been forever since I’d felt useful, or good at anything…”

  He frowned.

  “It was just my little hobby,” she said, “but it’s really taken off.”

  “I’m happy for you. But will it last?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve been working hard at educating myself on how to make the most of it. Anyway, I’ve been saving my earnings. After getting my most recent check, I had enough to pay the deposit and first month’s rent on my apartment, and to pay you back.”

  “Pay me back?”

  “For all the money you spent on Emily while I was away. I have enough to reimburse you for what I figure you spent on daycare, formula, diapers and
all that. If my math is wrong just—”

  “No,” he said. “Keep your money. You’re probably going to need it.”

  She froze. Keep the money? There was no way she could do that.

  She’d been living with James for about a year now and she’d spent every single day of it riddled with guilt over the burdens she’d imposed on him, financial and otherwise. She couldn’t make up for the fact that she’d stuck him with caring for a newborn for several months, but she could at least compensate for the money she’d cost him.

  It was the least she could do, and he wasn’t going to talk her out of doing it.

  “No way,” she said. “When I moved in with you, I said I’d pay you back as soon as I could, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  “I don’t need your money. I have more clients than ever, and Arianna and I have been planning to move in together whenever you move out. So my cost of living will almost be cut in half.”

  Another twinge of guilt fired through her. She knew very well that her and Emily living with James had been holding him back from moving in with his girlfriend, Arianna. Getting the hell out of their way was probably the nicest thing she could do for them.

  “Even so,” she said. “I want to pay you back. I won’t feel right until I do.”

  “Keep the money to fall back on. Or use it to start a college fund for Emily. I won’t take it.”

  College. While Crystal was determined to give Emily a better life and the shot at success that she and James had never been provided, she wouldn’t use the money she owed him to do it.

  “C’mon,” he said when she opened her mouth to protest. “I don’t want your money. I don’t want Emily to have to scrape and claw her way toward being able to support herself someday, either. Save it for her education.”

  Crystal frowned. The news she’d been so eager to share with James had turned into a battle of wills. She and James shared more than just their blond hair and green eyes – they were both equally stubborn.

  “I appreciate your generosity,” she eventually said, “but… The truth is, I need you to take the money so that I don’t feel like such a loser. I’ve been looking forward to the day I’d finally be able to pay you back for an entire year. Until I do that, the weight of the world is going to stay on my shoulders.”

  He looked genuinely surprised. Putting down his sandwich, he met her eyes and pressed his hands against the table. “You’re not a loser. You’ve turned your whole life around, and that’s a hell of a lot more than most people could ever do.”

  Heat crept into her cheeks, and she stared into the depths of her coffee, embarrassed. Didn’t he think of her as an annoyance sponging off of his generosity?

  That was what she felt like.

  He grabbed her hand and wouldn’t let her pull away. “I’m proud of you. Don’t ever think that I’m not.”

  She mumbled something about all that he and Arianna had done for her, her emotions swirling in a haze of reluctant pride and mortification.

  She wished so badly that she’d never messed up her life in the first place, that she’d never had to put James in the position she had. Though she was proud of the progress she’d made, she was still deeply embarrassed by her past.

  The idiotic things she’d done would shadow her forever, and she knew it. Knew people thought of them whenever they looked at her, and probably wondered if she’d slip up again.

  She wouldn’t. No matter what. But they didn’t know that.

  James eventually let go of her hand, and they ate in silence. She used the quiet time to scheme on ways to give him the money. If he wouldn’t take it directly, what could she do?

  Buy him lunch every day for a year? Get him the best birthday present of all time?

  None of the ideas she came up with seemed good enough.

  “So,” he said when they finished their meals, “I’ve got a surprise for you too.”

  “What is it?” She stacked their trays, gathering up their empty plates and coffee cups.

  “I finally came up with a design for your tattoo. You’ll have to take a look, but I think you’re going to like it.”

  She moved to the edge of her seat as a jolt of excitement hit her. “Really?”

  She’d asked him to design a tattoo for her last month, and he’d agreed.

  She wanted something to celebrate the transformation she’d been through during the past year – permanent ink to mark a permanent change. Who better to tattoo her than her brother, who she couldn’t have done it without?

  He nodded toward the window and the street beyond, where the Hot Ink Tattoo Studio’s blue neon sign glowed softly in the August sunlight. “Come on over and take a look.”

  * * * * *

  “Here’s where you’ll be working,” Jed said, laying a hand on the half-wall that surrounded one of six booths in the Hot Ink Tattoo Studio.

  The rest of the studio included a spacious waiting area, a reception counter and walls plastered with unique tattoo designs drawn by Hot Ink’s artists.

  “Nice,” Dylan said, because it was. Well-lit, equipped with quality artist and client chairs, and impeccably clean, it was one of the nicer work spaces he’d been allotted while guest tattooing. He could easily imagine settling into the workspace for the next three weeks.

  Jed nodded, crossing tattooed arms over a broad chest.

  “Believe me, we’re glad to have you here. When Abby told me she was taking a break to spend time with her family, I was anxious to bring a guest artist in. We’ve had a huge increase in business over the past year, and we’re all booked so far out we’ve had to turn new clients away. I didn’t want to have an empty booth.”

  “Good problem to have,” Dylan said, envisioning himself tattooing in Pittsburgh for the next three weeks … maybe longer.

  Jed clapped a hand down on Dylan’s shoulder. “Yeah. I’ll try to wait at least a week before I start asking if you want to stay on board long-term.”

  “Appreciate it.” Dylan thought of the shop where he’d been tattooing off and on back in Newark for the past four years. He liked it there, but still wasn’t sure whether he wanted to settle back down there for good.

  He wasn’t sure he wanted to do much more guest tattooing, either, though. The travel and lack of routine took a toll on him. Any way he looked at it, he was ready for a change. Just how long he wanted it to last, he wasn’t sure yet.

  “You’ve got the day to settle in.” Jed handed Dylan a key. “Feel free to set up here, and make yourself at home upstairs.”

  “Thanks.”

  It was hard to believe Jed was letting him stay in the empty apartment above the studio for three weeks. It wasn’t like they were very close – Dylan was a friend of a friend, and he and Jed had only met a couple times before, at tattoo conventions.

  Dylan had lucked out with the accommodations Jed had generously offered along with the guest artist opportunity. Maybe he was downright desperate for some new blood to take on Hot Ink clients.

  “The apartment’s ready to be lived in, but there’s nothing in the fridge,” Jed said, and rattled off the name of a nearby grocery store.

  Dylan was barely listening. The studio’s front door had just opened, admitting two people – a man and a woman.

  A man and a stunningly beautiful woman.

  He couldn’t help staring. She had a lithe build and long blonde hair that went so well with her fair skin that it had to be natural. Even from across the shop, her eyes seemed large, and he was pretty sure they were green.

  Jed nodded toward the man and woman, who were headed their way. When they stopped, Jed introduced the guy as James, one of Hot Ink’s artists.

  It took a moment for the name to register, but Dylan knew who he was. He was familiar with his work, though they’d never met in person. He held out a hand and introduced himself, but his focus remained on the woman who stood by James’ side. Was she his girlfriend?

  The thought brought serious disappointment.
/>   “This is my sister, Crystal,” James said.

  “Nice to meet you,” Dylan replied, his disappointment dissolving on a dime.

  When she smiled in response, the sight of her glossy lips curling at the corners lit him up inside. Up close, she was even more gorgeous than she’d looked from across the shop. Her hair appeared silky, and her skin soft – everything about her begged to be touched. He couldn’t help but imagine what it’d be like to run his hands over the curves that swelled beneath her jean shorts and pink tank top, adding dimension to her slender body.

  He tried to keep his eyes on her face so he wouldn’t seem like a creep.

  “Dylan’s based in Newark, but he’s guest tattooing here for a few weeks,” Jed said.

  “Newark?” Crystal asked. “I lived in Philly for years.”

  When he heard her voice, something clicked, and realization dawned on him. “Hey – are you that make-up girl?”

  He was ninety percent sure she was, which left him with a ten percent chance of looking like a complete ass, but he took the gamble.

  Her eyes went wide. “You know who I am?”

  “You post those make-up videos on the internet, right?”

  “Yes. How in the world did you know?”

  “One of the other artists I work with back in Jersey – her name’s Delilah – is really into make-up. She watches your videos any time she gets a spare minute, and I work right beside her.”

  There were no booths or dividers in his home studio, so he’d heard Crystal’s voice and seen her face quite a few times. She was even prettier in person.

  Now, her face was pink. “I can’t believe you know who I am.”