Chapter 1

1

AMBER

R osewood Ridge Tattoo and Tanning was as cold as a meat locker. The boss liked to keep it that way for some reason. I, on the other hand, spent most of my time at home under blankets, even in the summer.

It was mid-September, and I’d been working here for two whole weeks. My boss, who did all the tattoos, was on vacation with his family, and the other tattoo artist had left without explanation. I’d been a good little soldier, though, standing behind this desk until nine p.m., when I could turn the sign to Closed and get the heck out of here.

But the more I sat there, shivering, the more I wanted to warm up. So a couple of minutes before nine, I locked the front door and headed to one of the three tanning beds that mostly sat ignored. Did anybody use tanning beds anymore?

I slid in my earbuds, pulled up my favorite music app, and flipped on the timer. I’d had to learn how to do that so I could show customers. Once the bulbs were humming along, I stripped off all my clothes but my panties and climbed in, shivering until I could pull down the top part and let the heat wash over me.

That felt good. Relaxing. Like sinking into a warm bath after hours of playing in the snow.

As I lay there, eyes closed, I tried to visualize my future in Rosewood Ridge. Yes, I was working as a receptionist at a tattoo parlor, but eventually my graphic design skills would pay the bills. I’d done enough projects in college to build a portfolio online, and now that I’d graduated, I had paying customers. Sure, they were paying well below what a professional designer with a college degree should make, but I was gradually increasing my prices so that eventually I’d be able to do it full time.

A strange buzzing sound was coming from the tanning bed. It was faint, but I could hear it through the music blasting into my ears. It was different from the hum I’d heard when I first powered up the bed.

Hell if I knew what was going on with this piece of equipment. It was my first time. But I probably should get out and head back to the cabin I shared with my childhood best friend. I had some work to do before bedtime.

I frowned when suddenly, the light on the other side of my closed eyelids changed. I opened my eyes, cursing myself for forgetting goggles. But I didn’t need them because the lid that had all the tanning bulbs was no longer in front of me. Instead…

“What the?—?”

The words blasted out of my mouth as I jolted to a seated position. A man was standing next to the tanning bed. A tall, muscular, scary-looking dude with the most handsome face I’d ever seen.

He uncrossed his arms and pointed to his right ear. Was that some sort of signal I was supposed to know?

I shook my head, making it clear I didn’t get it. He pointed to me, then back toward his ear.

Finally, I figured it out. My earbuds. I’d forgotten all about the music blasting through them. I ripped them out of my ears, then, holding them tight, glared up at him.

“What are you doing here? Who are you? How’d you get in?”

I blurted all those questions without giving him a chance to answer. My mind was spinning. Had I forgotten to lock the front door?

“Your alarm’s going off,” he said.

Yeah, I’d been made aware of that the second I removed the earbuds. The sound had been almost overwhelming. That was the weird buzz I’d heard under the hum of the tanning bed. I probably would have homed in on the noise, but having a gigantic dude in the room with you while you were mostly naked?—

I was mostly naked.

That thought slammed into me, once again shoving worries about the obnoxious sound to the back of my mind. I immediately lifted my arms to cover my chest, and one of the earbuds slipped from my hand. I’d worry about that when this guy was out of my face.

“I was coming out of the restaurant across the street, and I heard it,” the guy said. “I’m a volunteer firefighter. We need to unplug this gizmo.”

Gizmo? Was he referring to the tanning bed as a gizmo? I had a more pressing question, though.

“Is something on fire?” I asked, looking around.

As if all of this weren’t enough, my life might be in danger. Maybe that would be a relief, though. If a fire killed us both, I wouldn’t have to deal with the mortification of being seen naked by a man for the first time and that man being drop-dead gorgeous.

“I’ll check it out,” he said, walking over to the outlet and pulling the plug. “Meanwhile, why don’t you get dressed and get out of here?”

I watched, frozen, as he stalked from the room, leaving me sitting mostly naked on a still-warm tanning bed, wondering what the hell just happened.