Temporary (Indelibly Marked #2)
Read Temporary (Indelibly Marked #2) Online
Authors: Kim Carmichael
Temporary
Book Two: The Indelibly Marked Series
by
Kim Carmichael
Copyright 2014 Kim Carmichael
Kindle Edition
ISBN-10: 1-62827-952-4
ISBN-13: 978-1-62827-952-8
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Published by
Breathless Books
, an
imprint of
Assent Publishing
Table of
Contents
Dedication
To the guy you loved your whole life,
the fantasy, and the reality, and making it happen.
Nothing is ever temporary if it lives in your heart.
“I’m breaking up with you.” Emily Elliott rushed into the
storage room of Permanent Tattoo.
The crash of the door slamming jolted Ivan Harlow, but he
continued to put away the last three bottles of red ink before joining her.
“You can’t.”
“Oh, Ivan.” Her eyes glossed over and she approached,
pressing her palm to his face. “I know it’s hard, but in the end I think we’ll
both realize we can’t be together.”
He took her all in. The seven-year-old girl with brown hair,
buck teeth, and combat boots who wanted to be a boy had changed into a sexy,
sultry woman anyone would want. Now she owned her feminine side like other
women owned handbags, boasting endless curves, petite features, a perfect set
of teeth and huge baby doll green eyes.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Her cheeks turned as pink as her hair and she yanked
her hand away from him. “We’re breaking up and all you have to say is, ‘okay?’”
He bent down, his nose less than an inch from hers. “Since
we weren’t a couple, it will have to be okay.” How they ended up in the
conversation was beyond him.
Her jaw tightened and she stepped back. “Well then it will
make it all the easier.”
Since they started sleeping together, he’d carefully kept
their relationship where it needed to be, behind closed doors. His best friend
wouldn’t take kindly to him sleeping with his baby sister. Any formal
arrangement would end in disaster with him as the bad guy and losing everything
he fought for, including his makeshift family made up of Elliotts. He and Emily
were simply there for each other when needed.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
She closed her eyes.
“Em?” He forced his arms to his side, refusing to reach for
her.
“I need a change. I want more.”
More as in a date? A relationship? He narrowed his eyes. Of
course she did, all girls wanted the relationship. The image of her big-brother
Shane finding out flashed through his mind as he rubbed his jaw. No doubt
divulging their secret would end up with him in the hospital and losing the
benefits of all the satisfying friend sex. “Emily?”
“Not more with you…just more.” She held up her hand,
stopping him from speaking.
The sting of her words hit him like a slap. “Then I say you
should go ahead and get whatever you think is more. Maybe you’re growing up.”
She glanced up at him through her eyelashes. “We’ve been
playing this game for over a year.” Her tone softened.
“Then I guess we’ve reached the finish line.” He inched
toward the exit. “I say let’s remain friends.”
“You said that was all we were anyway.” Her voice sounded
different, breathy and far away.
The walls of the small storage room closed in and the need
to escape overtook him. Maybe he could make her leave first. “I suppose goodbye
sex is out of the question.”
“You bastard.” She clenched her fist.
As she took a breath to shoot more words at him, their cell
phones went off in unison alerting them to a text message. Shane was the only
one person of their inner circle who would text them both at the same time.
They lifted their phones.
Just back from the doc. Lindsay’s on bed rest until the
baby comes. Need u guys now. Help!
Ivan scanned the message twice. The words
baby
and
help
may as well have been in bold with flashing yellow neon. He looked up at
Shane’s sister.
With her lower lip quivering, Emily shook her head. “I need
to go.”
He reached a hand out to her. His chest tightened and he
struggled to get a full breath. “Come on.”
Emily paused.
“Together or not, we’re still what we are.” He wiggled his
fingers.
At last she put her hand in his. “What are we?”
He fished his keys out of his pocket. “Don’t you mean what
were we?”
“What were we?” She let him guide her out of the tattoo shop.
He opened the door for her. “Hell if I know.”
~~*~~
The ten-minute ride through the Hollywood hills to her
brother’s home on the back of Ivan’s motorcycle lacked the usual excitement.
The last time they made the ride to Shane’s, Emily had scooted up behind Ivan,
pressing her breasts to his back while her hands traveled down his sides and
over his thighs, teasing him until he turned off on a side street where they
made out for over an hour then hurried back to his place.
A bump in the road jostled her out of her memories. She kept
her hands in a G-rated position on his waist and rested her forehead against
him while the winding road of the canyon matched the twists and turns in her
stomach. She willed Ivan to rush to her brother, his wife, and her incubating
niece or nephew.
Without question she’d made the right choice to break up
with Ivan. She needed a career other than the makeup gigs for friends and
family, and she wanted to be more than simply someone’s bedmate. Her brother’s
text only served to illuminate what she lacked.
Still, she gave in to the urge to lean closer and breathe in
the mixture of leather and spice that followed Ivan everywhere. She’d spent
over a decade and a half wanting him, and over a year sleeping with him.
Somehow she needed to find out what life held when Ivan Harlow didn’t consume
her every thought and action.
The bike turned, tilting to one side, and she forced her
head up as they pulled into the driveway. Shane and Lindsay bought the 1950s
ranch-style home when Lindsay dubbed it an excellent investment and Shane
decreed he wouldn’t bring his baby home to an apartment. Apparently the prior
owners never decorated past the decade when the home was built, and their
entire crew had worked together to fix it up, keeping the retro cool elements
and updating the rest.
Ivan stopped the bike, but Emily’s stomach continued to
lurch forward. Unable to wait, she slid off the back. With unsteady legs she
tripped, landing with a thud onto the concrete.
“Em!” Ivan shut off the bike.
“Emily!” Her brother’s voice filled the air.
Both men raced to her.
“Hey.” Shane yanked her up and she fell into his arms.
Better than hot chocolate, macaroni and cheese, and the
blanket their mom saved for those in need of healing, was Shane. Anything
dealing with his coming baby turned her to a pile of mush. The baby served as
her weakness and she pushed Ivan away and threw her arms around her brother.
“What’s this?” He patted her head. “What’s wrong with you?”
She shrugged, wanting to cuddle up with him and the blanket
like they had any time someone teased her or a boyfriend broke her heart. If
she couldn’t beat whoever wronged her, one of her big brothers would do the
job. “Maybe Lindsay needs the blanket.”
“What?” He held her at arms’ length.
“You okay?” Ivan asked and reached out for her.
At the thought of his touch, her stomach twisted. Part of
her problem was that she needed to focus on the important things. “I want to
see Lindsay.”
“That’s why you’re here.” Shane tilted his head, his black
Mohawk pointing the way to the front door.
Without waiting, she bolted inside the house and made a
beeline for the bedroom, right past Lindsay in the family room.
She skidded to a stop and backed up. Surrounded by tons of
pillows and blankets, her sister-in-law and best friend lay on the sofa bed.
“Shane said bed rest.”
“He decided being out here would be better.” With a huge
smile, Lindsay held out her hand. “You okay?”
She practically dove for Lindsay’s offering, dashing across
the room to take her hand, and waiting for the invitation to join her.
“Come on.” Lindsay lifted the blanket.
“Are you okay?” She kicked off her boots and sunk into the
bed.
“I have high blood pressure and the doctor wants me to stay
here until the baby comes. My mom had it too.” Lindsay squeezed her hand. “I’ll
be okay. I’m not sure about Shane.” She let out a little laugh.
For the first time she took a full breath. “Can I still say
hi to the baby?”
“Of course.” Lindsay moved the sheets aside. “I want the
baby to know your voice.”
At the sight of the huge stomach that represented her niece
or nephew, Emily smiled. Everything was where she left it last. She kissed her
palm and pressed it to Lindsay’s belly. “I love you little one.”
“We love you.” Lindsay put her hand over hers.
“I can hardly wait until I’m not the baby.” She leaned back,
sharing the pillow with her sister-in-law. “I’ll do bed rest with you.”
“That’s what I need you all for.” Shane interrupted as he
entered the room with Ivan. Her youngest big brother Carson followed carrying
two bags of groceries. He lifted his chin in greeting.
The three men sprawled on the couch and Carson dug through
the bags.
“Are you filled in?” Shane glanced at Emily.
She nodded, and waited to hear her assignment though she
already guessed what her job would be. The epiphany about changing her life
needed to be put on hold while she helped her brother and sister. Only last
night she’d sent an email off to several local fashion designers requesting a
meeting to show her makeup portfolio. She hit send and made a pact with herself
about Ivan.
Carson took a banana out of the bag and thrust it at Shane.
“I got snacks for everyone.”
“Here’s the deal.” Shane swiped the fruit from Carson and
used it as a pointing device. “We have about ten weeks until the bambino is due
and then we have maternity leave.”
Emily exhaled.
Goodbye LA Fashion week.
“Carson will be assisting me,” Shane continued.
As if he timed his actions, Carson reached into the bag
again, stood, and presented Lindsay with a plastic cup of strawberries. “Vitamin
C.” They high-fived and he returned to the couch, retrieving a piece of
crumpled paper and pencil out of his pocket. “I’m writing everything down.”
Great
, Emily thought. She wouldn’t even have Carson.
His tattoo apprenticeship with Shane would never end. She and Lindsay would be
prisoners in the Hollywood Hills.
“As you can see, he is doing a bang up job.” Shane tapped
the banana on his knee.
Carson counted something off on his fingers, made a notation
on the paper then lifted one of the bags on his lap.
Shane gave him a thumbs up and shifted his focus. “Ivan will
take over the day to day running of Permanent.”
With the next person on the totem pole assigned their lot in
life, Carson threw an apple. The fruit took flight and Ivan lifted his head with
just enough time to catch it. His blond hair floated down around his face
exactly like the first time Emily met him.
Fifteen years ago when Shane brought him home, they went
into his room to discuss whatever boys talked about and she walked by, enjoying
the throb of heavy metal music vibrating through Shane’s door. Eager to see the
new arrival, she grabbed some sodas and entered her brother’s domain, tossing
each teen a can. When Ivan flipped back his hair she got a glimpse of his
angular features and amber eyes. Her first little kid crush was born.
Dangerous, older, and gorgeous, it was as if one of the singers from her
favorite band had stepped directly off the jewel case. All these years later he
looked the same, but time had refined him and gave him even more of an edge.
The addition of his ink only added to his allure. If she didn’t know him, she
would fumble her words when she talked to him.
Through the years her emotions waxed and waned for her
brother’s best friend, until a year ago when they hooked up like a common one
night stand.
The only problem was that their temporary fling lasted much
longer than one night.
“If I’m running Permanent, where will you be?” Ivan asked
“Taking care of my wife and baby, Einstein.” Shane peeled
the banana. “You have always been my deputy. While I am on bed rest and
maternity leave you will need to be the sheriff.”
Emily focused on Ivan; sure he would say something, anything
to protest. His role as Shane’s second-in-command was as permanent as if
someone carved it in stone or tattooed it on their skin.
For a moment he seemed to be listening to an internal
monologue arguing inside his head. Finally Ivan nodded and sat back. “There’s a
new sheriff in town.”
Emily ran the family tally. If Ivan was in charge of
Permanent, Shane was going to be home with Lindsay, and Carson would be with
Shane, where did that leave her? She raised her hand.
Flipping his hair out of his eyes, Carson stood and pressed
an orange into her palm.
“I’m not taking questions from the floor yet.” Shane bit
into the banana and shuddered.
She put the orange down wishing for chips or cookies or
anything else. “What am I going to be doing?”
“You, my dear sister, will not only help Lindsay with the
accounting business, but will assist Ivan.” With two fingers he handed the
partially eaten banana back to Carson.
One second after breaking up with Ivan, Shane dubbed her his
assistant. She didn’t have the brains to do anything for the accounting office.
Of course, her brother didn’t think she had what it took to be fully in charge
of anything. She twisted the blanket in her fist. “Lindsay?” She turned to her
over-the-top smart sister for answers.
“You’ll do great. You’re the only one I trust.” Lindsay
hugged her.
“Yes, trust.” Shane cleared his throat. “We trust only the
three of you with our lives and our livelihood. The doctor stressed we had to
remain calm until the baby is ready to see the world. I need to be here with
Lindsay. It’s both of us. I know you guys understand.”
In an instant she witnessed her brother become a true adult.
The easier path for him would be to go to the shop, take a break from his own
anxiety, and do what he loved. Instead, he chose to be with his wife. She
wanted someone like her brother one day, and that someone couldn’t be Ivan.