While plotting my new Indulgence, THE BACHELOR’S PROMISE, Book 3 in the Bachelor Auction series, I immediately knew who my hero would be. Aiden Kent had been Lucas Oliver’s—the hero in Book 1, Beauty and the Bachelor—best friend. And I wanted him to have his own happily ever after. The dilemma was coming up with a heroine who would challenge him, even lock horns with him. And seeing as how I love a good “Opposites Attract” book as much as the next person, I wanted a heroine who seemed his opposite but was the same in all the ways that counted. And that’s how Noelle Rana was born.
The most obvious difference between Aiden and Noelle is their appearance—well, you know besides being a man and a woman. He’s clean cut, maybe even a little conservative, and looks born to wear a suit. Noelle on the other hand, has black hair, wears leather and denim. And of course, there’re the tattoos.
This part was fun for me, because honestly…wait for it…I have a tattoo fetish. Actually, it was while getting a tattoo that the thought came to me. How beautiful—and different—would that make her? She would have the same love for them that I do.
I have seven tattoos. I got my first one when I was twenty. A rose on the ankle with the Greek letters of my sorority through the stem. My cousin, who was always a fabulous artist, decided that he could make more money by inking his art on people. So I ended up being a guinea pig worked on with homemade tattoo gun held together by electrical tape. Hey, I was in college and things like infection and pus really didn’t occur to me as something I should be concerned with.
My second tattoo came a few months later in the form of an armband with my sorority and brother fraternity Greek letters. By the time my third and fourth were tatted onto my back and shoulder my cousin had evolved into colors and my imagination had stretched past college organizations. When I left his chair a mermaid on a moon and a phoenix were inked into my body. Even when my sister and I travelled to Ireland about three years ago, we got a tattoo together to commemorate the occasion. Some people buy postcards, we got inked. LOL!
Tattoos.
They express who a person is, they’re personality and experiences. My first two are symbols of my youth but the rest of them illustrate my heart. I love fiction and the beauty of fantasy. It’s why I write. To create those dreams.
Some of my favorite heroes are tatted. They tell a story. In Jo Raven’s Inked Brotherhood series, each hero bears the same tattoo as a symbol of surviving the horrors that life can throw at a person. One of my favorites—and oh so sexiest—is Gena Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld. Every lord represents a demon from Pandora’s box and they carry a huge demonic butterfly on various parts of their bodies. Whether it’s on a shoulder, stomach, chest…*sigh* What should be feminine is dangerous and erotic. Delicious. Tattoos can help create a hero or heroine’s history or even foretell their future. Or, in the case of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Acheron, they can become characters in the story. Who doesn’t know the Atlantean god’s dragon tattoo that morphs into the ever-hungry demon, Simi?
But those are all heroes. What about a heroine who, like me, loves ink? It was fun going online and finding tattoos that fit her, told her story. Aaaand, not gonna lie… It also had me eager to get my next one. LOL! What can I say? I’m an addict. A tattoo junkie! Now…what’s next…
About the book:
Aiden Kent never expected to see Noelle Rana again. He’s determined to keep his distance from the beautiful enigma wrapped in denim and leather. He can’t trust anyone with the last name Rana. But he made a promise to his dying mother, and it isn’t long before Noelle invades his personal space. He can’t stop thinking about the exotic beauty’s alluring curves.
He wants the daughter of his enemy, and he’s determined to have her…if only for one night.
If Noelle wants to move forward with her life, she must make a deal with the devastatingly gorgeous, broody millionaire Aiden. He made a promise years ago, and she’s come to collect—even if it means facing down the only man who ever broke her heart. And there’s a really good chance he’ll do it again.
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About the author:
Naima Simone’s love of romance was first stirred by Johanna Lindsey, Sandra Brown and Linda Howard many years ago. Well not that many. She is only eighteen…ish. Though her first attempt at a romance novel starring Ralph Tresvant from New Edition never saw the light of day, her love of romance, reading and writing has endured. Published since 2009, she spends her days—and nights— creating stories of unique men and women who experience the first bites of desire, the dizzying heights of passion, and the tender, healing heat of love.
She is wife to Superman, or his non-Kryptonian, less bullet proof equivalent, and mother to the most awesome kids ever. They all live in perfect, sometimes domestically-challenged bliss in the southern United States.
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