Ink Enduring (Montgomery Ink #5)

Ink Enduring (Montgomery Ink #5)

Carrie Ann Ryan





Dedication


To those who read the first chapter before I finished the book and begged for more.





Acknowledgements


Maya, Jake, and Border’s book was a blast to write. I don’t say that often anymore since sometimes characters break me along the way. Don’t get me wrong, these three bruised me a bit and made me weep, but I loved the way the three interacted. And because of that, I know I couldn’t have written this book alone.

Thank you Chelle for editing, helping me plot while sitting in a beach cabana, and for telling me I’m not crazy. Thank you Charity for the fantastic cover and KP and Tara for everything you’re doing behind the scenes.

Thank you Dr. Hubby for being patient with me while I try to describe issues with writing a contemporary ménage romances and for not walking out of the room when I started crying over them.

And of course, thank you readers for loving the Montgomery Ink series as much as I do. The Montgomerys aren’t going anywhere anytime soon and I have you to thank for that!

Happy Reading!

~Carrie Ann





Ink Enduring


The Montgomery Ink series continues with a forbidden love between three friends and a past that they can’t escape.

Jake Gallagher knew from the moment he saw Maya that she was the one for him—it had the same breath-taking intensity as when he’d first set eyes on Border. Only life never turns out the way one plans, and now he’s falling for someone else...or at least he thinks he is.

Maya Montgomery never should have looked past the friendship she already had. Now that she has, she can’t stop thinking about Jake and what he means to her. When a mysterious stranger from Jake’s past shows up at their door, she’s forced to admit that if she doesn’t take the risk of a lifetime, she’ll regret it for the rest of her days.

Border Gentry walked away without a second glance once because of what could happen if he let go, but now he’s back and ready to see what he’s missed. He’s been on the road a long time and has seen things no man should ever see, yet once he rediscovers the broody Jake and meets the inked and fierce Maya, they’re like a balm to his soul and he realizes what path his future should take.

It will take more than sizzling chemistry and a heat that never dies for the three of them to overcome their pasts. And when someone from the outside wants to stand in their way, it’s not only their hearts on the line…but also their lives.





Chapter One


That damn skirt was going to kill him. It rose up with every move of her hips, every dip, every sway, every goddamn bend. There was nothing better than a tight, leather skirt that hugged those kinds of curves in all the right places. Her hair touched her ass when she leaned back and brushed the small of her back every time she moved. She wore a tank thing with no bra, and the wavy, long black strands slid over her bare skin. It made him want to wrap her hair around his fist and bend her over the nearest barstool. He’d slide right into her, and they’d both come until they were panting and sated.

Jake Gallagher didn't even know who this chick was, yet he couldn't keep his eyes off her. He licked his lips and adjusted himself in his pants. The long swig of his beer did nothing to calm the urge. It didn't matter that she was with another man, dancing and grinding and having a hell of a good time, all he wanted to do was sink his teeth into her shoulder, his fingers into her hips, and his cock into that sweet *—because it would be sweet.

He'd figure out her name later.

Her ink glistened with perspiration, and he wanted to lick it off, taste each curve of her tattoos to see if they tasted differently than her bare skin. He loved ink, loved the way—if done correctly—it enhanced the art of a woman’s or man’s body. He was an artist at heart, though he couldn’t draw the way her artist did. Her body and ink were a masterpiece. One he wanted to have in his hands.

The light glinted off her eyebrow ring, and when she turned to the side, he could see her tongue flick out and the piercing there press against her upper lip.

He wanted that tongue on his dick, that tongue ring sliding up his shaft, and those f*cking sexy lips wrapped around his cock. He swallowed hard, a little disturbed at his reaction to this stranger. He didn’t normally respond like this in public when a girl—or guy, for that matter—was just dancing in front of him. Jake usually had a little more control.

A little.

“You done eye-f*cking that chick in leather?” Graham, his older brother asked as he ran his hand through his beard.

Jake rolled his eyes and took another drink of his beer. “I’m not eye-f*cking her.” He was totally eye-f*cking her, and he might have felt bad about it, but from the look on her face when she caught others doing it, she liked the attention. If she hadn’t, he’d have stopped. He wasn’t a complete *.

“You’re totally eye-f*cking her,” Owen, his younger brother said with a grin. Newly twenty-one, he seemed happy as hell that he hadn’t had to use his fake ID to get in that night. Their youngest brother, Murphy, didn’t look old enough to pass a fake yet, but that would come.

“Okay, fine,” Jake said as he shrugged. “She’s hot, and I’m single. Can’t blame me for looking.” He tilted his beer toward the very gorgeous woman dancing in the middle of the floor. There were other women in the bar and on the dance floor, but all eyes were on this one. There was just something about the way she moved, with a casual grace and a “f*ck off” attitude that made people want to know more about her.