Love Restored (Gallagher Brothers #1)

Love Restored (Gallagher Brothers #1)

Carrie Ann Ryan




Dedication


For him.



Acknowledgements


I loved writing Love Restored! It was great to see the other side of Denver and the Montgomerys without actually writing their series. The Gallagher Brothers are bearded, broody, and filled with gruff angst. Graham is one of my favorite heroes ever…and Blake might be one of my favorite characters. Ever.

I couldn’t write this book without a so many people. Thank you Chelle, Charity, KP, and Tara for all of your help with this book. You guys make sure each book is perfect.

Thank you Sasha Devlin for daring me to write a certain scene on Twitter. Yes, apparently if you dare me on Twitter, it can end up in a book.

Thank you Rebecca Royce for reading each chapter as I wrote it, giving me what I needed to finish the book.

And thank you to my husband for understanding that long nights and weekends come with the job. But also thank you for teaching me what down time is. I love you.

As always, I couldn’t be here without my readers, so thank you for reading each of my books and thank you once more for taking a chance with the Gallagher Brothers.

Happy reading!

~Carrie Ann





Love Restored


In the first of a Montgomery Ink spin-off series from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan, a broken man uncovers the truth of what it means to take a second chance with the most unexpected woman…

Graham Gallagher has seen it all. And when tragedy struck, lost it all. He’s been the backbone of his brothers, the one they all rely on in their lives and business. And when it comes to falling in love and creating a life, he knows what it’s like to have it all and watch it crumble. He’s done with looking for another person to warm his bed, but apparently he didn’t learn his lesson because the new piercer at Montgomery Ink tempts him like no other.

Blake Brennen may have been born a trust fund baby, but she’s created a whole new life for herself in the world of ink, piercings, and freedom. Only the ties she’d thought she’d cut long ago aren’t as severed as she’d believed. When she finds Graham constantly in her path, she knows from first glance that he’s the wrong kind of guy for her. Except that Blake excels at making the wrong choice and Graham might be the ultimate temptation for the bad girl she’d thought long buried.





1


Graham Gallagher had never craved a cigarette as much as he did right then. It didn’t matter that he’d quit smoking over fifteen years ago cold turkey and hadn’t picked one up since then. He just wanted a damn smoke.

Scratch that.

He wanted a f*cking cigarette, a beer, and a willing woman underneath him as he f*cked her until they were both spent.

And not necessarily in that order.

Not that he’d get any of that anytime soon. Between this new job, the old one they hadn’t fully completed yet, and the rest of the crap in his life, he wasn’t sure he’d even have time for a beer.

And considering it had been a long six months since he’d had a woman, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be getting laid anytime soon. He and his right hand had a perfectly nice relationship for now, and when things got downright dangerous, he got to know his left.

Jesus, he needed coffee or something if he was thinking about how his left hand would be something different in his life.

He pulled his dark hair out of the rubber band and grimaced as he caught some tangles when he ran a hand through it. He wasn’t sure he’d brushed it that morning; instead, he’d just thrown it up in a tie at the back of his head as soon as he’d gotten out of the shower. At least I showered, he thought. Considering he’d slept for shit the night before, a shower after sweat-slick dreams had been the only recourse. He quickly ran his hand through his hair a few more times, getting out most of the rat’s nest, and then pulled it back again before the owner of their new project showed up and called him a heathen.

Graham sighed, sliding his hand over his beard to straighten it out. Since it had grown past his chin and almost touched his chest if he lowered his head just right, he already looked the part of a criminal to some. Add in the ink covering his body, and the piercings only those in his bed could see, and he didn’t fit the ideal image of a businessman that the caliber of people who wanted to work with their business expected.

Not that he was only a business owner. He and two of his brothers owned, operated, and sweated for Gallagher Brothers Restoration. They cleaned up and restored old homes and buildings that were either already historical landmarks or well on their way to becoming them. It wasn’t the easiest work in the world in Colorado since it was a relatively new state compared to those out east. To put it more simply, the buildings weren’t as old in Denver as they were where the first colonies had settled, like Delaware, Pennsylvania, or the Carolinas. But in the past decade, he, Owen, and Murphy had never lacked for work. Their other brother Jake worked with them at times as well, though he had his own life with this artwork and never seemed to want to butt in.

Graham always tried to change that, always tried to make sure everyone was included.

He sighed. One of the perks of being the oldest brother was apparently an ulcer, since he worried over his family so freaking much. And now he was standing in the middle of a monstrosity of a mansion and not in the mood to deal with the legalities and politics that came with this particular job.