Temporary (Indelibly Marked #2) Read Online Free

necessary,
the man sauntered to the front. No doubt the women would describe his walk as
gliding.
    “How are Shane and his wife?” Billy shoved his hands in his
pockets.
    “Lindsay.” Even the simple act of the man asking a question
grated on him. Shifty. The man was shifty. “Her name is Lindsay, and you have
two walk-ins.” Delegation was the key to any situation.
    “I don’t do flash,” he said and looked down at the floor.
“Or walk-ins.”
    Ivan let out a chuckle and leaned on the counter. “Here’s
the deal, we all do walk-ins, and if that requires flash then that’s how the
story goes.” Of course, he didn’t do flash or walk-ins, but he was in charge.
    “Shane and I discussed my rules.” Finally, the man looked at
him.
    Seriously? Done with being second guessed, he stomped toward
him. “I’m not Shane. And if you call and stress him or Lindsay out, then I have
the authority to tell you to get a job at another studio.”
    “I’ll make an exception because it’s your first day,” the
man said then strolled to the door.
    “I’m the one making the exception.” Ivan glared him down,
waiting to move until the jerk let the customers in the door. “Get to work.” He
went back to the autoclave and tested it. Indeed the machine would not turn on
and he crouched down to inspect the back, glancing again at the clock. Any
minute his customer would arrive and he needed to prepare.
    The phone rang.
    Once.
    Twice.
    A third time.
    “I know no one here is my secretary, but will anyone who is
not fixing something or inking something answer the damn thing?” He wanted to
ram his head into the wall. How did Shane ever find the time to tattoo
anything?
    “I got it!” The voice of an angel rang through the shop.
    “She came to her senses,” he whispered. As if the heavens
had opened up with Emily’s arrival, he noticed the autoclave was merely
unplugged. Shane specifically said they were to work together and she always
listened to her big brother. He remedied the situation with the autoclave and
pushed up, wanting to get a glimpse of her. Ivan vowed to only torture her for
a minute for starting his day alone.
    At last he spotted her, a light shining bright and pink with
the phone to her ear as she wrote on a scrap paper. She hung up and walked to
him.
    His arms hurt from wanting to hold her in the worst way.
There in the shop, he could give her a hug and no one would be the wiser or
suspect he’d robbed the cradle.
    “Hey.”
    She nodded in his direction and went directly to Tamsin. The
woman hugged her and Emily gave her the note.
    Okay. Torture went both ways. He crossed his arms and waited
for his appearance before the princess.
    After tending to Tamsin, she doled out attention to Alfred,
and Carl, and practically skipped over to Billy at the printer making stencils.
    All right. He didn’t hang around the Elliotts for over
fifteen years and not know the rules of their game. Though he did nothing
wrong, he needed to go to her. The entire family possessed the same annoying
trait. Maybe he shouldn’t go. Still, he found himself walking over to her.
“Saving the best for last?”
    She peeked at him with a soft smile, one that told him she
didn’t know what to say. “I was at the accounting office all morning, but I
wanted to say hi to everyone. Is everything okay?”
    “Yeah, fine, whatever.” Out of the corner of his eye he
watched Billy with the stencils. Something seemed off.
    “Did you see the story on Twisted Tattoo in the weekly
paper?” She shifted her focus to Billy then back to him.
    “Not yet, I haven’t had a chance to take a breath.” He
narrowed his eyes trying to give her a signal. All he needed was that rival
studio garnering publicity without Shane, the media star, available.
    “Maybe we can call Jake and get him to do a story here.”
With a slight nod she tapped Billy’s shoulder. “Can I see?”
    “It’s just some flash.” He handed her the stencils.
    Once Emily flipped