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)
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
&nbs
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
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
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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.