Permanent
By Kim Carmichael
Blurb
An accountant's calculated attempt to
fit in entangles her with Hollywood's hottest tattoo artist who thrives on
standing out. Worlds collide as the two decide what is truly permanent.
What is
Permanent?
Always on the outside looking in, accountant,
Lindsay Stevens, has calculated her transformation from a small town, nerdy
bookkeeper to a sleek, high-powered accountant down to the last penny.
With all her checks finally in balance, she moves to California to start a new
life free of her embarrassing past she never wants revealed.
As Hollywood's hottest tattoo artist, Shane
Elliott thrives on standing out. Charismatic and free of commitments, he
travels through life with a wink and a smile, hiding the letters he receives
from the IRS as if they don't exist. Now with bills to pay and tax
collectors breathing down his back, for the first time in his life Shane can't
charm his way out of his situation. However, when his new neighbor
literally falls into his life, he knows he has struck gold once again.
Though Lindsay tries to keep her distance, she
suddenly finds herself trying to hide her true self as she thrust into a world
she doesn't think she belongs, but can't resist. In his good-time life,
Shane must discover there is more to life than a party if he wants something
more.
With their lives intertwined, the two must
learn accept each other, themselves and their love.
Worlds collide as they decide what is
truly permanent.
Permanent is the first book in the Indelibly Marked Series
that follows the lives and loves of those surrounding Permanent Tattoo.
Excerpts
Unable to stop herself, she opened what he called accounts
receivable, jumping back when more papers poured out onto the floor. “You never
thought of using a file folder?”
“I thought about it.” He picked up the papers, forced them back
inside the cabinet and kicked the drawer closed as if trapping an animal.
“Out of curiosity, what happened to that thought?”
“I knew I wouldn’t do it, so I just kept this system.”
“At least you didn’t set yourself up for failure.”
“Exactly.” He furrowed his brow and turned away from the
cabinet.
“What have you done in the past to file your tax returns?” If he said
he guessed, no doubt a vein in her brain would blow.
“I estimated with my old accountant.”
She moved her hand to her temple, pushing her vein back in. “You had
an accountant?”
“Yep, he’s out of business now and relocated.”
Speechless, she paced for a moment. Part of her wanted to dig into
the cabinet, tear it apart and take over. Another part of her wanted to run and
tell him she didn’t sign up for this. This wasn’t her, not anymore. She was a
corporate accountant who didn’t take on homespun businesses. And she didn’t
play with bad boys because they were bad. She shoved her pencil in her mouth
and spun back to face her new nemesis, the filing cabinet of horrors.
His phone rang. “Is the car fixed? Yeah, I know it’s only been a few
minutes.”
All she needed was a strategy. When she observed his bill paying
attempts, she knew this wouldn’t be an outpatient job. But this wasn’t her, she
shouldn’t be there, and she stomped her foot.
While Shane talked about her car, she crept over to the cabinet and
opened the top drawer.
More papers and a shoebox greeted her. She chewed her lip, and unable
to stand the suspense she knocked the lid off the box.
For at least a full minute she stared at the contents while the
shudder running down her backbone subsided. She bit the end of her pencil
hard and the eraser came off in her mouth.
“If you’re hungry, we can go down to Pete’s and get some rations.”
Shane returned and took the pencil. With a fast examination of the writing tool
he held his hand out.
She spit the eraser into his palm and covered her eyes. Was there
nothing she wouldn’t do in front of the man to embarrass herself? She sucked in
a breath when he glanced down at the eraser, tilted his head and popped it in
his own mouth.
He chewed a moment, nodded and swallowed. “I think I would rather
have some sushi.”
***
An entire entourage, including a few people she didn’t know had
joined in her search party, but she could only focus on Shane as he guided her
into the driveway and sprinted to her car.
She barely threw the transmission in park before Shane opened the
door and practically got inside with her. Though she wanted to protest, or tell
him he was making too big of a thing out of it, her body disobeyed and she
wrapped her arms around his neck. This time she denied herself nothing and
purposely leaned in and took a big long whiff of his soap. She was done for.
“Oh God.”
“We’re never going to do that to Shane again, are we?” He leaned in
and kissed her lightly on the cheek, grazing the corner of her mouth.
She didn’t realize she’d held her breath until her lungs demanded air
and she gasped and grabbed Shane’s leg. When her hand grazed across his jeans,
she swore she’d never felt anything quite so supple and pliable, a well-worn
fine nap not unlike the most expensive velvet beneath her fingertips. Beneath
his jeans she could clearly make out the definition of his toned thigh. The
contrast of textures overloaded her senses. “Did you know the 5
freeway and the Golden State freeway are the same?”
He chuckled but didn’t move away from her. In fact, his dark
blue eyes stared so intently that she studied his arm tattoos. One thing about
Shane was that every part of him was interesting to look at.
“Why were you on the 5?”
“I was trying to get back from Orange County.” She admitted it like
she’d committed a felony, and stared at his forearm. His smooth skin gave
him the perfect showcase to display his personal artwork. Without really
thinking, she touched his arm and used her nail to trace one of the leafy vines
that trailed and curled around his forearm. “I’m sorry, it was for work.”
“What did you think of it?”
“I thought it was very repetitive.” She took in a black panther’s
paw. The tattoos were all part of him and her mouth dried, causing her voice to
sound strained. “Why was Orange County off limits?” Her finger made it around
the back of the panther, and then almost as if she awakened from her trance,
she stopped.
Shane put his hand over hers. “Finish.”
“Why didn’t you want me to go to Orange County?” She looked up at his
face, his focus clearly on her hand and she allowed her finger to resume its
trek.
“I didn’t want you to like it there.”
Her hand made it back to where it started and she shook her head.
“Everything there was too much the same.”
“It’s good to like things that are a little less conventional.” His
voice lowered.
She licked her lips to impart any moisture she could into her arid
mouth. With Shane in her car in front of a tattoo shop in downtown Los Angeles,
she doubted her problem was being conventional. Her problem was that she didn’t
have the data to deal with the unconventional.
***
“What does a good girl like little Lindsay prepare big bad Shane for
lunch?” Ivan picked up the cooler.
“Hey.” He reached for it, but Ivan held it out of his reach.
“This is pretty heavy. She must think you’re a pig.”
“Give it.” He set his jaw.
“Either you open it, or I do.” Ivan put his finger on the button
latch.
“You’re an ass.” He reclaimed his cooler and opened it himself.
They peered inside.
“I think that’s Tupperware.” Ivan pointed.
Everything in the cooler was neatly packaged and Shane hated to
disturb it.
“You can’t lose that stuff. Women hate it if you lose their
Tupperware, and if it’s Lindsay’s it’s all brand new.”
“I know. I’m not going to lose it.” He prayed he wouldn’t lose the
Tupperware and pulled out the first plastic square.
Ivan leaned in as Shane lifted the lid. “Wow.”
“It’s a salad.” Her precision cutting technique had all the
vegetables uniformly sliced and diced.
“And not just lettuce, there’s a good representation of different
vegetables in there.” Ivan nodded. “She even put the dressing off to the side
so it wouldn’t get soggy.”
Shane took a breath. Lindsay was all about the details and watching
her work was fast becoming one of his favorite spectator sports. One second she
was quiet and going through her papers, the next she was sternly giving him a
lecture on finances. Half the time he didn’t understand what she said, but he
loved watching her get all riled up. However with his money situation slowly
being wrangled, she seemed to soften. Maybe it was time to plan an outing with
her that didn’t involve business talk. With Lindsay, timing was crucial.
“What’s your second course?”
He blinked as Ivan interrupted his thoughts and retrieved a round
container from the cooler, opening it to reveal a sandwich on a circular piece
of bread that fit the Tupperware perfectly.
“That’s cool how she did that.” Ivan pointed. “What kind is
it?”
He lifted the bread. “Turkey.”
“Healthy. She must not want you to die.” Ivan rubbed his hands
together. “Keep going.”
He dug through the rest of lunch. A rectangular tub contained fruit
salad, and a smaller square had cookies. Finally he pulled out a triangle one
with a piece of cheese and some crackers.
“How does she do that?”
The lunch was as amazing as the woman who made it. His mouth watered.
“What?”
“How does she make all those shapes fit together?” Ivan motioned
toward all the containers.
“It’s so the food doesn’t get wrecked.”
“Only girls know how to do that.”
Shane pursed his lips. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool.”
About the author
Kim Carmichael
Kim Carmichael began writing eight years ago when her love
of happy endings inspired her to create her own.
A Southern California native, Kim's contemporary romance
combines Hollywood magic with pop culture to create quirky characters set
against some of most unique and colorful settings in the world.
With a weakness for designer purses, bad boys and techno
geeks, Kim married her own computer whiz after he proved he could keep her all
her gadgets running and finally admitted handbags were an investment.
Kim is a member of the Romance Writers of America, as well
as some small specialty chapters. A multi-published author, Kim's books
can be found on Amazon as well as Barnes & Nobel. From alcohol to
makeup to infrared cameras and even scientific lasers studying the atmosphere,
Kim has worked in some aspect of sales and marketing for over twenty years.
When not writing, she can usually be found slathered in
sunscreen trolling Los Angeles and helping top doctors build their practices.
·
Hands On Me – Keith Publications – 9/12 – Part of
the Tramp Stamp Line
·
Closure – Hot Ink Press – 11/12 - Explores a second
chance at a first love.
·
Eternity – Keith Publications – 1/13 - My fallen
cupid story.
·
The Promise – Hot Ink Press – 2/13 - My sexy demon
story.
·
Trifecta – Hot Ink Press – 7/13 - A typical Romance
that just happens to have three people.
·
Interchangeable – Decadent Publications – 7/13 - Part
of Decadent's 1Night Stand Line. Explores a M/F/M love story.
·
Permanent – Book One of the Indelibly Marked Series
– 10/13. Permanent was chosen as a
finalist in the Assent Publishing Great Romance Contest.
@kimcarmichael4
