Adoring Ink: A Montgomery Ink Novella Read online

  Adoring Ink

  A Montgomery Ink Novella

  By Carrie Ann Ryan

  1001 Dark Nights

  Adoring Ink

  A Montgomery Ink Novella

  By Carrie Ann Ryan

  1001 Dark Nights

  Copyright 2017 Carrie Ann Ryan

  ISBN: 978-1-945920-06-6

  Foreword: Copyright 2014 M. J. Rose

  Published by Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

  Book Description

  Adoring Ink

  A Montgomery Ink Novella

  By Carrie Ann Ryan

  The Montgomery Ink series continues with the most unlikely of romances between the one that got away and the man who can show her the world.

  Holly Rose fell in love with a Montgomery, but left him when he couldn’t love her back. She might have been the one to break the ties and ensure her ex’s happy ending, but now Holly’s afraid she’s missed out on more than a chance at forever. Though she’s always been the dependable good girl, she’s ready to take a leap of faith and embark on the journey of a lifetime.

  Brody Deacon loves ink, women, fast cars, and living life like there’s no tomorrow. The thing is, he doesn’t know if he has a tomorrow at all. When he sees Holly, he’s not only intrigued, he also hears the warnings of danger in his head. She’s too sweet, too innocent, and way too special for him. But when Holly asks him to help her grab the bull by the horns, he can’t help but go all in.

  As they explore Holly’s bucket list and their own desires, Brody will have to make sure he doesn’t fall too hard and too fast. Sometimes, people think happily ever afters don’t happen for everyone, and Brody will have to face his demons and tell Holly the truth of what it means to truly live life to the fullest…even when they’re both running out of time.

  About Carrie Ann Ryan

  New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan never thought she’d be a writer. Not really. No, she loved math and science and even went on to graduate school in chemistry. Yes, she read as a kid and devoured teen fiction and Harry Potter, but it wasn’t until someone handed her a romance book in her late teens that she realized that there was something out there just for her. When another author suggested she use the voices in her head for good and not evil, The Redwood Pack and all her other stories were born.

  Carrie Ann is a bestselling author of over twenty novels and novellas and has so much more on her mind (and on her spreadsheets *grins*) that she isn’t planning on giving up her dream anytime soon.

  www.CarrieAnnRyan.com

  Also from Carrie Ann Ryan

  Click to purchase

  Redwood Pack Series

  Book 1: An Alpha’s Path

  Book 2: A Taste for a Mate

  Book 3: Trinity Bound

  Redwood Pack Box Set (Contains Books 1-3)

  Book 3.5: A Night Away

  Book 4: Enforcer’s Redemption

  Book 4.5: Blurred Expectations

  Book 4.7: Forgiveness

  Book 5: Shattered Emotions

  Book 6: Hidden Destiny

  Book 6.5: A Beta’s Haven

  Book 7: Fighting Fate

  Book 7.5: Loving the Omega

  Book 7.7: The Hunted Heart

  Book 8: Wicked Wolf

  The Complete Redwood Pack Box Set (Contains Books 1-7.7)

  The Talon Pack (Following the Redwood Pack)

  Book 1: Tattered Loyalties

  Book 2: An Alpha’s Choice

  Book 3: Mated in Mist

  Book 4: Wolf Betrayed

  Book 5: Fractured Silence (Coming April 2017)

  Book 6: Destiny Disgraced (Coming September 2017)

  Montgomery Ink

  Book 0.5: Ink Inspired

  Book 0.6: Ink Reunited

  Book 1: Delicate Ink

  The Montgomery Ink Box Set #1 (Contains Books 0.5, 0.6, 1)

  Book 1.5: Forever Ink

  Book 2: Tempting Boundaries

  Book 4: Harder than Words

  Book 4: Written in Ink

  Book 4.5: Hidden Ink

  Book 5: Ink Enduring

  Book 6: Ink Exposed

  Book 6.5: Adoring Ink (Coming January 2017)

  Book 6.6 Love, Honor, and Ink (Coming Feb 2017)

  Book 7: Inked Expressions (Coming June 2017)

  The Gallagher Brothers Series:

  A Montgomery Ink Spin Off Series

  Book 1: Love Restored

  Book 2: Passion Restored (Coming February 2017)

  Book 3: Hope Restored (Coming July 2017)

  Branded Packs (Written with Alexandra Ivy)

  Book 1: Stolen and Forgiven

  Book 2: Abandoned and Unseen

  Book 3: Buried and Shadowed (Coming July 2016)

  Dante’s Circle Series

  Book 1: Dust of My Wings

  Book 2: Her Warriors’ Three Wishes

  Book 3: An Unlucky Moon

  The Dante's Circle Box Set (Contains Books 1-3)

  Book 3.5: His Choice

  Book 4: Tangled Innocence

  Book 5: Fierce Enchantment

  Book 6: An Immortal's Song

  Book 7: Prowled Darkness

  The Complete Dante's Circle Series (Contains Books 1-7)

  Holiday, Montana Series

  Book 1: Charmed Spirits

  Book 2: Santa’s Executive

  Book 3: Finding Abigail

  The Holiday Montana Box Set (Contains Books 1-3)

  Book 4: Her Lucky Love

  Book 5: Dreams of Ivory

  The Complete Holiday, Montana Box Set (Contains Books 1-5)

  The Happy Ever After Series:

  Flame and Ink

  Ink Ever After (Coming December 2016)

  Single Title:

  Finally Found You

  Acknowledgments from the Author

  I’m so lucky to be able to write in the 1001 Dark Nights world again. I love working with this group so much!

  Thank you Liz, Jillian, my fellow authors, and everyone else within the 1001 Dark Nights crew for being so amazing!

  As always, thank you Team Carrie Ann—Charity, Chelle, and Tara—for making this Team ROCK. I still say we need shirts.

  Thank you dear readers for embracing the Montgomery Ink series and my writing. I adore each and every one of you.

  And thank you for ALL of the emails wanting that sexy guy in the tattoo shop to have this story as well as Jake’s ex girlfriend. You have no idea how much it means to me that you guys want EVERYONE to have an HEA.

  I love you guys!

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection One

  Click here to explore

  FOREVER WICKED by Shayla Black

  CRIMSON TWILIGHT by Heather Graham

  CAPTURED IN SURRENDER by Liliana Hart

  SILENT BITE: A SCANGUARDS WEDDING by Tina Folsom

  DUNGEON GAMES by Lexi Blake

  AZAGOTH by Larissa Ione

  NEED YOU NOW by Lisa Renee Jones

  SHOW ME, BABY by Cherise Sinclair

  ROPED IN by Lorelei James

  TEMPTED BY MIDNIGHT by Lara Adrian

  THE FLAME by Christopher Rice

  CARESS OF DARKNESS by Julie Kenner

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p; Also from 1001 Dark Nights

  TAME ME by J. Kenner

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Two

  Click here to explore

  WICKED WOLF by Carrie Ann Ryan

  WHEN IRISH EYES ARE HAUNTING by Heather Graham

  EASY WITH YOU by Kristen Proby

  MASTER OF FREEDOM by Cherise Sinclair

  CARESS OF PLEASURE by Julie Kenner

  ADORED by Lexi Blake

  HADES by Larissa Ione

  RAVAGED by Elisabeth Naughton

  DREAM OF YOU by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  STRIPPED DOWN by Lorelei James

  RAGE/KILLIAN by Alexandra Ivy/Laura Wright

  DRAGON KING by Donna Grant

  PURE WICKED by Shayla Black

  HARD AS STEEL by Laura Kaye

  STROKE OF MIDNIGHT by Lara Adrian

  ALL HALLOWS EVE by Heather Graham

  KISS THE FLAME by Christopher Rice

  DARING HER LOVE by Melissa Foster

  TEASED by Rebecca Zanetti

  THE PROMISE OF SURRENDER by Liliana Hart

  Also from 1001 Dark Nights

  THE SURRENDER GATE By Christopher Rice

  SERVICING THE TARGET By Cherise Sinclair

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Three

  Click here to explore

  HIDDEN INK by Carrie Ann Ryan

  BLOOD ON THE BAYOU by Heather Graham

  SEARCHING FOR MINE by Jennifer Probst

  DANCE OF DESIRE by Christopher Rice

  ROUGH RHYTHM by Tessa Bailey

  DEVOTED by Lexi Blake

  Z by Larissa Ione

  FALLING UNDER YOU by Laurelin Paige

  EASY FOR KEEPS by Kristen Proby

  UNCHAINED by Elisabeth Naughton

  HARD TO SERVE by Laura Kaye

  DRAGON FEVER by Donna Grant

  KAYDEN/SIMON by Alexandra Ivy/Laura Wright

  STRUNG UP by Lorelei James

  MIDNIGHT UNTAMED by Lara Adrian

  TRICKED by Rebecca Zanetti

  DIRTY WICKED by Shayla Black

  THE ONLY ONE by Lauren Blakely

  SWEET SURRENDER by Liliana Hart

  Sign up for the 1001 Dark Nights Newsletter

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  1001 Dark Nights story

  The First Night

  by Lexi Blake & M.J. Rose

  Table of Contents

  Book Description

  About Carrie Ann Ryan

  Also by Carrie Ann Ryan

  Acknowledgments from the Author

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection One

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Two

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Three

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Epilogue

  Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Four

  Discover the World of 1001 Dark Nights

  Discover More Carrie Ann Ryan

  Special Thanks

  One Thousand and One Dark Nights

  Once upon a time, in the future…

  I was a student fascinated with stories and learning.

  I studied philosophy, poetry, history, the occult, and

  the art and science of love and magic. I had a vast

  library at my father’s home and collected thousands

  of volumes of fantastic tales.

  I learned all about ancient races and bygone

  times. About myths and legends and dreams of all

  people through the millennium. And the more I read

  the stronger my imagination grew until I discovered

  that I was able to travel into the stories... to actually

  become part of them.

  I wish I could say that I listened to my teacher

  and respected my gift, as I ought to have. If I had, I

  would not be telling you this tale now.

  But I was foolhardy and confused, showing off

  with bravery.

  One afternoon, curious about the myth of the

  Arabian Nights, I traveled back to ancient Persia to

  see for myself if it was true that every day Shahryar

  (Persian: شهريار, “king”) married a new virgin, and then

  sent yesterday's wife to be beheaded. It was written

  and I had read, that by the time he met Scheherazade,

  the vizier's daughter, he’d killed one thousand

  women.

  Something went wrong with my efforts. I arrived

  in the midst of the story and somehow exchanged

  places with Scheherazade – a phenomena that had

  never occurred before and that still to this day, I

  cannot explain.

  Now I am trapped in that ancient past. I have

  taken on Scheherazade’s life and the only way I can

  protect myself and stay alive is to do what she did to

  protect herself and stay alive.

  Every night the King calls for me and listens as I spin tales.

  And when the evening ends and dawn breaks, I stop at a

  point that leaves him breathless and yearning for more.

  And so the King spares my life for one more day, so that

  he might hear the rest of my dark tale.

  As soon as I finish a story... I begin a new

  one... like the one that you, dear reader, have before

  you now.

  Chapter One

  Holly Rose needed to come.

  Badly.

  And hopefully she would. The man above her moved with such heat that she knew she was blushing, but she didn’t care. She just needed him to work his magic so she could finally crest that peak and end up a boneless pile of limbs.

  She clutched at his tattooed shoulders before sliding her hands down his chest, raking her nails over his thick muscles and the ink that covered his skin. He thrust deeply inside her, and she arched her back, taking more of him in.

  Her breath came in pants, and her body shook, sweat-slick from hours of lovemaking with no pause.

  Then she looked up and froze.

  Once again, her Dream Man was just a blur. A thickly muscled male with ink but no face, no features showing her who he was. No eyes giving her a glimpse of the man deep inside.

  She reached out to cup his face, hoping she was wrong.

  But she wasn’t.

  The alarm pulled her out of sleep in that instant, leaving her right on the edge once again, and confused as hell about the recurring dream that never made sense.

  Holly let out a sigh and rolled over to press the button on her phone. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to hit snooze and go back to sleep, so she forced herself to sit up. Hitting snooze was one of her favorite pastimes since she had the most comfortable bed ever, but she had to be an adult and forego that. She was the kind of person that, once she sat up, she was awake and slightly functional, but it was the sitting up part that was the hardest. She loved sleeping in but couldn’t do it most days because of her job. Heck, she couldn’t even slumber on weekends most times thanks to the piles of grading she had. She might only teach first grade, but her kids had books and binders full of state-mandated homework and classwork to complete.

  Holly’s head hurt just thinking about it.

  She let out a breath and rocked herself to a standing position. Her bed was a little tall for her, so getting out was actually a bit of a chore, but she wasn’t about to get a new bed or even one of those little stools to help her get in and out. She wasn’t that short… Sort of.

  As she zombie-walked toward the bathroom to take care of business,
she blew out a breath, thinking of the dream that had made her all sweaty with no resolution. This had been the fourth time this week she’d had virtual sex with Dream Man, and yet she still had no clue who he was. All she knew was that he was sexy and inked—her taste, apparently.

  The one thing she did know was that Dream Man was not her ex, Jake. The ink and body type were all wrong, and she was so freaking grateful her subconscious didn’t carry a torch for him. She’d be beyond embarrassed to see him and his husband and wife after dreaming of all the hot, sexy things she’d been doing in her dreams, things she hadn’t been able to do for real in so long.

  Yes, her last serious boyfriend was now in a committed triad with not only his former best friend, Border, but also his other best friend, Maya. And they even had the most adorable baby ever, Noah. She would have been jealous of that if she weren’t the one who’d broken it off because she knew they weren’t right for each other. They hadn’t been in the right kind of love, and she’d seen the spark between Maya and Jake. It might have hurt her a little—okay, a lot—to do what she did, but she’d made sure her heart was wrapped as tightly as it could be when she’d walked out the door that last time.

  Now, Jake wasn’t only a Gallagher, the family of big, bearded men he’d grown up with, he was also a Montgomery, the large family that had taken Holly into their fold.

  And Holly was once again on the outside looking in. She was fine with that, though. Things hadn’t been any different before her relationship with Jake.

  She was just nice and pleasant Holly Rose, and there was nothing wrong with that.

  With a sigh, she slipped into the shower and started her morning routine, her mind still a fog and her brain craving caffeine. She’d had to force herself to wait for coffee on weekends because if she didn’t shower first and drink second, she’d end up in her loungewear or leggings all day and not accomplish a single thing.