I'm broke and need a job fast.

The best tattoo artist in the Pacific Northwest is hiring a manager for his tattoo shop. So I don't have any experience... A few lies on my resume can fix that. Anyway, how hard can it be?

I get the job and quickly find out that running a tattoo shop is very hard. Especially dealing with my new wild, brooding boss. He's an orc. An orc with a fiery temper. He's not all bad, though, with a deep love for his three black cats. But for me? Not so much.

We fight on a daily basis (usually while I'm taking care of the cats). But it's not long before this huge, hard-working orc with a purring cat snuggled in his hulking green arms instantly softens my attitude.

He starts grabbing all my attention. Those tusks really do it for me, and I can't seem to take my eyes off them. But it would never work. He's much too old for me. And way too grumpy.

He fires me (twice), claiming it's too dangerous to keep me by his side because "orcs claim their brides in the dark of winter." Whatever that means. I find out on the first snowfall when he marks me with his name in a place I'll leave to your imagination.

As the snow falls, so do I... Deeper and deeper into the arms of this hot, wild orc.

Welcome to Heat & Ink, where hot possessive tattoo artists leave their mark in more ways than one. The Heat & Ink series mixes contemporary, paranormal, and sci-fi romance in standalone stories by bestselling steamy authors, Hope Ford, Michele Mills, and Olivia T. Turner.