Temporary (Indelibly Marked #2) Read online

  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

  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 recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Published by Breathless Books, an imprint of Assent Publishing

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  BONUS SNEAK PEEK: Apprentice

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  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.

  Chapter One

  “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 b
ike.

  “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.

  “Are there any more questions?” Shane stood and so did Carson.

/>   Ivan tossed his apple in the air and caught it. “What’s with the fruit?”

  “Lindsay needs to eat healthy, so we all eat healthy,” Shane explained. “We’re in this together.”

  Ivan shrugged and took a bite of the apple. “I’m in.”

  “I need you, Em. No stress.” Shane lifted his chin toward her. “We will all work together. You and Ivan need to team up.”

  “Of course.” Emily wasn’t sure if her new job would prove to be baptism by fire, or maybe she would end up burning everyone. She forced a smile and glanced at Ivan. They weren’t playing for the same team anymore.

  ~~*~~

  “Do you want to take a ride?” Ivan held her motorcycle helmet out.

  Emily stopped her trek across Shane’s driveway. Since the day she broke up with her boyfriend in her sophomore year, Ivan took her for rides whenever they needed a break from reality. Complications with babies, sleeping with her brother’s best friend, and taking over businesses weighed her down. Before she made any change she needed to clear her mind.

  “Let’s do it.” She put on the helmet and took her place behind him.

  Once more she held on to him as they wound through the familiar canyon. With no question as to their destination, she closed her eyes, tuned in to the rumble of the bike, and allowed the air to caress her.

  At last, the motorcycle came to a stop and she didn’t need to look to know they were at their favorite alcove in Beachwood Canyon.

  Unlike the turnoffs meant for tourists with parking and fences for safety, their little hideaway was nothing more than a clearing between two large homes. Uneven and steep, the piece of land couldn’t be built on, and it remained a little secret among the trees and next to the famous Hollywood sign.

  She slid off and took a breath, while Ivan pulled a blanket from the bike’s storage compartment.

  “Come on.” He took her arm and they made their way to the edge of the hillside.

  Ivan spread out the blanket and they sat in silence, taking in the sights of the city.

  Why were there certain people with whom silence wasn’t torture, but normal? She and Ivan possessed the ability to simply be together without words. Though technically his title was Shane’s best friend, she felt the title truly belonged to her. She turned to him.