2017 Red Ribbon winner, The Wishing Shelf international book awards (Adult-Fiction).
A tattoo artist is pursued by the man of her dreams, but her biker-gang friends mistake him for a hit man out to get her.
It's 1995, and Galen Randall, the world's greatest nature photographer, is a recluse who, ironically, has never been photographed.
Lourdes O'Malley idolizes the faceless Galen Randall and dreams of taking pictures like he does someday. Meanwhile, she works in her pop's tattoo parlor in Miami.
Buddy the Blade is a hitman who claims he was in Las Vegas at the time a certain murder went down in Miami. Only Lou O'Malley knows that Buddy was in her chair, getting inked, that day. His alibi is blown if she ever testifies against him. Buddy needs to silence Lou.
Lou is beloved by hundreds of motorcycle gang members, who wear her inked art proudly. So, when the bikers hear that Buddy the Blade wants to get rid of Lou, the gangs rally to protect her.
Then, by chance (if you believe in "chance"), Randall meets Lou. He is smitten. He follows her when she takes a trip Out West to photograph the national parks there. Neither Lou nor her biker friends know who Randall is and, as it happens, her friends will only recognize Buddy the Blade if they can see the ornate tattoo Lou inked on his back.
As a result, Randall is searching for Lou all over Moab, Utah, while motorcycle goons follow Randall, thinking he is Buddy the Blade. Other motorcycle thugs follow Lou, thinking to keep her safe.
The bikers try scaring Randall, misdirecting Randall, ambushing Randall, having him arrested on trumped up charges, anything to keep him from finding Lou. The bikers following Lou try many gambits to keep her from seeing them, but Lou outsmarts them again and again.
It's a muddle of murder, motorcyclists, and mistaken identities, culminating in a life-and-death contest between Galen Randall and Buddy the Blade, with Lou O'Malley's life as the prize.
Hawk- The Vice President of the Rebel Souls MC has a secret. He's his President's right hand man, a bad boy with a bad attitude and rockin' body to match it. But deep down, all he's looking for is love. He thought he had it, but Sammie broke his heart. After that he bounced from bed to bed until a pregnancy scare straightened him out. Now there's no other woman for him but his old lady and when he finds her, he'll know.
Charlotte- known to her friends and family as CJ is the Mayor's daughter. She's all long blonde hair and soft curves. She knows her Dad is in the MC's pocket, just like the Governor, just like local and state law enforcement. She's looking for trouble when she walks into the MC bar with her best friend and she knows it. What she doesn't expect to find is love, in the form of a tall, tattooed, bearded biker with a bad attitude. But she does and she lets him claim her right there in the middle of the club. In front of her ex and club prospect, Joey.
But when Sammie returns and Joey will stop at nothing to win his high school girlfriend back, will they come out stronger or will they crash and burn?
Because just because some flames are invisible, doesn't mean they don't still burn hot.
Cover art is per usual by the amazing @m_rainberry