Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 45319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Brian Pearson was my secret heartthrob for years. He’s retired from the Marines finally, and now he wants me to tattoo him. Can I handle being in his presence and putting my hands on his body?
My crush on him started way before I even got my braces. I’m nineteen now, but I know it doesn’t make any difference. I’m a curvy, inexperienced virgin.
Brian is a forty-two-year-old fox who could have any woman he wants, and he just so happens to be my dad’s best friend. When Brian looks at me, I’m familiar with the feeling. I’m invisible to him. Nothing new there, but then one evening, things get steamy. My craziest dreams come true.
It’s more than a kiss. It’s a betrayal.
Can we fight these growing feelings? Real relationships are so much trickier than a crush and sweeter, too.
Will this crush, crush us? What about my dad? What will he say when he finds out?
* Inking My Crush is an insta-everything standalone insta-love romance with a HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
CHAPTER
ONE
Brian
“You’ve never done things by half measures,” Roger says, smiling as he places his hands on his hips and looks around at the large room, the sunlight shafting in through the windows, the workmen shuffling about as they clear debris.
There’s a loud crash as they level a wall.
Roger adjusts his hard hat, my oldest friend, the kid who was there for me when nobody else was. He’s not a kid anymore. At my age, forty-two, he’s tall and lean and has the sharp eyes of an accountant. When I look at him, it’s easy to see the boy grinning at me, offering his hand to pull me out of the dirt.
“It made more sense to purchase a space of my own and repurpose it,” I say.
He claps me on the shoulder. “I was proud of you when you joined the Marines, and I’m proud now. You’ve always followed your dreams.”
I laugh a little awkwardly. My fellow Marines have also expressed their support for my new tattoo studio, especially since I inked so many of them while in the Corp, but Roger does it without putting up a macho shield.
“When will you start looking for hires?” he asks.
“Soon. I need people with good work ethics who will be as dedicated as me. Why, got somebody in mind?”
He’s about to reply when there’s another crash. Gesturing outside, he walks toward the door. I follow him into the small courtyard that separates the building from the street, with a few potted plants and weeds twisting through the space in the cobblestones.
In my mind, this area is alive with color, the stones pristine, everything inviting and upscale. Soon, it’ll be like that. It’s early days. Roger sits on the small bench, picking at the arm with a fingernail.
“What’s up?” I ask, sitting next to him.
“Favoritism, it’s an ugly thing, isn’t it?”
“If you’ve got somebody in mind, don’t be shy. I trust your opinion.”
“What if she’s never tattooed anybody before?”
I frown. “Then I’m not sure how that would work. This business will be fast-paced from the start if I have anything to do with it. I’ve put a lot of my money into this, Roger. Hell, you know that.”
My friend, and accountant, nods. “Of course, but I trust this person. I know they’ll do their best.”
I wait for him to go on.
“It’s Evie,” he says.
His daughter. The last time I saw her, she was fifteen, hunched over a large piece of paper as she focused on her latest artwork. It was just before I left for another deployment, this time as a trainer.
“She’s in between jobs,” Roger goes on. “Some trouble at the last place, a startup. Her boss… Well, it doesn’t matter.”
“It clearly does.”
“He started bullying her—little comments at first. By the end of it, he was berating her every chance he got. She had no choice but to quit. This… It’s related to art, isn’t it?”
“Related to art,” I say, chuckling. “How dare you, bro. It is art.”
He grins, holding up his hands. “My mistake. We don’t need these anymore, do we?”
He gestures to his hard hat, and I laugh, taking mine off. “No, thanks for the tip.”
He removes his, too, showing his neat brown-gray hair combed to the side. “She’ll do whatever it takes to learn the business. At the startup, it was a digital-art thing. She routinely put in twelve-hour days. With some direction, I know she could excel at whatever she chose.”
“I’d need her to learn fast,” I say, “for me to be confident enough to take her on and train her.”
I trail off as the idea occurs to me. I can’t help but smirk.
“I know that look,” Roger says. “What is it?”
“To be comfortable hiring her, I’d have to be confident enough to let her tattoo me, and I was thinking of getting a new piece. Nothing extravagant. One of my buddy’s nicknames was Starman, so I’m going to get a throwing star on the back of my shoulder. A simple outline filled in.”
Roger is already nodding before I finish. “She can do that. Just give her a week to practice and learn what she needs to. Her artist’s skills will be transferable, surely.”
“Of course, they will if she’s willing to learn.”
“She is.”
“How’s she doing, anyway?” I ask. “Apart from the work trouble.”
“Oh, great, great. She’s growing up fast. She was just a kid the last time you saw her. She’s nineteen now, almost twenty, already talking about having kids of her own one day.”
“She’s got a boyfriend?”
“Not yet.” Roger sighs. “She wants a family, kids, the whole deal, but I’ve never seen her date. Hell, she’s got plenty of time.”
“Amen. It’s not something she wants to rush into.”
“Do you want to see a photo?”
I remember when Roger and Janine were trying for their baby, the ups and downs, the stress of it all. I remember Roger breaking down one night with his head bowed. His heartache was plain as he drunkenly told me in between sobs that they might not be able to conceive, but their miracle arrived.