Blurb
A biker. A tattoo artist. A love to last a lifetime.Maddox Cross has always had to be tough. When his father went to jail for murder, the teenager took care of his sister and mother. Now on his own and working security at a night club, Maddox wants to become a tattoo artist-a dream that comes closer to reality when he falls for the hottest, most tatted woman he's ever seen. She's wild and beautiful, and Maddox will do anything to be with her.
Bee Malone came to town to open up her new tattoo parlor, Masquerade. Since being kidnapped as a young girl, Bee has had trouble getting close to anyone. But when she meets Maddox, she sees that under his hard biker's body is the sensitive soul of an artist. What starts out as a sizzling one-night stand soon becomes so much more.
Bee wants Maddox to join her tattoo business, but letting him into her life means revealing all her most intimate secrets. And as the past begins to intertwine with her present, Bee fears their love may not be as permanent as their ink . . .
Excerpt
“Did you bring any drawings?” Bee sits at the chair behind a
desk.
I hand her a book, but the second I do, I want to snatch it
back. It’s always like that showing someone my work, even though I know it’s
good. “That’s just one I had with me. I have more at home.”
She doesn’t answer as she starts flipping through the pages.
After a couple minutes of watching her study each page, I start to get jittery.
Feel like she’s looking inside me instead of at some pages, so to distract
myself, I move around the room, taking in pictures of her work and other
tattoos on the walls.
She looks at the book for what seems like an hour before
speaking. “These are good. They’re different. Your artwork has a unique style
that I haven’t seen before.”
I nod.
“Why do you want to be a tattoo artist?” she asks. The
question shows me how serious she is about what she does because no one has
brought it up before.
The urge to tell her it’s none of her business surges
through me, but I want this badly enough to answer. “Because when I’m around
it, I feel more like myself than I probably ever have.”
A brief flash of shock shows on her face, but she covers it
quickly. “Good. I won’t screw around with someone who’s playing a game. This
isn’t something you do to make a quick buck. Not if you’re working with me, at
least. Did you get a chance to actually give anyone ink?”
“No. The apprenticeship only lasted three months before he
bailed.”
Bee nods. “That’s good. I actually rather you have hardly
any experience—that way I don’t have to train bad habits out of you.”
“I’m not a dog.”
“No one said you were. Chill out, Scratch.”
I tense at the name, but before I can really say anything,
she starts asking questions again. “Do you lean toward liking only black work
or are you into color too?”
Everything I have so far is only black, but as I look at her
again, I see a variety of black and colorful work. “Depends. I don’t want to do
only one or the other. I love work with shading too. I’ve seen some pieces that
are really incredible just because of the shading.”
She nods and I wonder if that was the right answer.
“I’m not saying you don’t, but this is something you have to
take seriously. There are a lot of dumb-asses out there who think it’s all fun,
but it’s not. Stuff like being clean and safe is even more important than the
picture you put into someone’s skin.”
“That’s a given, isn’t it?”
She grins. “You’d think, but it’s not always like that.”
We’re both quiet after that. Bee glances down at my artwork
again. “I’m surprised I even let you in here tonight. It’s important that you
know that. I don’t take shit from people.”
One look at her and that’s obvious. Part of me didn’t expect
her to open the door for me either. “I’m surprised I came, so that makes two of
us.” When she looks up at me, I’m not sure how I feel about the way her eyes
take me in. Don’t know what I think about the fact that we have shit in common
or that her look is familiar to me. I give it myself.
Bee stands, walks around to the front of the desk, and then
leans on it. “If we do this, can we keep things from getting awkward?”
My answer comes automatically. “I can if you can. It was one
night. We don’t know each other and I’m never with someone more than once
anyway.” I’ve shared this strange sort of honesty with her tonight that makes my
body overheat. I want all the words back because they’re a part of me and I
don’t want anyone to see who I am, but this is it. Saying these things to her
is the only way to get what I want.
“Now that you’ve asked your questions and realize this isn’t
a game to me, I need to know if we’re doing this or not.”
Silently she walks toward the door and opens it. I hold in
the groan, pissed at myself for fucking this up again and even more pissed that
she’s in control.
Bee turns toward me, her blond hair messy from sleep, but
it’s another thing she doesn’t care about. It doesn’t take away from how sexy
she is either.
“We’re doing this. Don’t make me regret it. Now I need to
get some sleep and then we’ll talk tomorrow about a schedule.”
I let out the breath trapped in my lungs. Thanks, echoes
through my mind, but all that comes out is, “Cool. We’ll talk later.” Then I
walk out the door.
Instead of going home, I head to the high school. It’s such
a dumb fucking thing to do, but like I’ve done other nights, I jump the fence
and head to the football field. Sitting in the middle of it, I let my eyes
trace over the whole thing, trying to remember the time this used to be
important to me. And trying not to concentrate on the fact that even though I
got something I want, something I need, I still want to take out the fucking
world because of everything I’ve lost.
My Review
Wow! This is my favorite book in the series. Hands down.
Let me tell you, I wasn't quite sure about this one since it started off slow and I didn't feel any connection between the two MCs. And then bam! It hit me like a ton of bricks; the feels, the dialogue, the character development--everything just became better and better as the book progressed.
The Story
Masquerade is Maddox's story. We met Maddox in Facade. He was Laney's big sister and he's the most conflicted hero in this series and the HOTTEST, in my opinion. Maybe because he's older than Colt or Adrian or whatever, but this guy is HOT.
Bee is the new girl in town and the owner of Masquerade, a tattoo parlor. They met at a bar one night and they had a one night stand. It was only later that Maddox found out that Bee was actually the owner of the tattoo parlor he wanted to apprenticeship in.
It took me a while to warm up to this book. As I have said, the first 15% or so were a little slow. In fact, I wasn't quite sure about Maddox and Bee as a couple. I didn't feel any chemistry during their first time together. But slowly but surely it changed and the build-up of the romance between Maddox and Bee was pretty awesome after that.
Bee is another awesome character. She is, by far, the most complex. Her backstory will give you chills and will break your heart. Like Maddox, I wasn't feeling her at first, but then as I get to know her character, I was rooting for her.
Nyrae Dawn did a magnificent job with this book. This is more character driven compared to the other two and Maddox and Bee are both complex characters. For me, this is her best work yet.
Rating: 4.5 Stars!
ARC provided by GCP via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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