Trey Turner may be topping the
country music charts, but his life has been going downhill since his wife left
him five years ago. He's desperate to make amends for the mistakes he's made and
convince Sierra their love deserves a second chance.
Sierra Brooks is happy for the first
time since her divorce. She has a career she loves, and a man who loves her.
Unfortunately, the man she intends to marry isn't the only one professing his
love for her. He may be able to offer her safety and security, but will she
decide to risk everything for another chance with the man who broke her
heart?
Buy links: Amazon \ Barnes & Noble \ All Romance
(Currently FREE on the sites)
********* EXCERPT *********
Prologue
Five Years Earlier
The sexy little waitress stretched
to offer her neck as Trey Turner prepared to do another body shot at the urging
of his inebriated friends. He licked the salt off her neck as he felt a small
hand grip his shoulder.
“What the hell do you think you’re
doing?”
He turned to see his wife, Sierra,
staring up at him, disgust darkening her bright blue eyes. He heard a few of his
friends mutter curses as the crowd broke up and went back to drinking and
dancing.
“Baby, I was just havin’ a little
fun.” His words slurred and he wondered how many body shots he’d had before
Sierra intervened.
The waitress slid her hand down his
chest, hooking a finger through his belt loop. “That was fun. How ‘bout we pick
up where we left off later?”
Sierra turned away, not waiting for
his answer as she began weaving her way through the crowd.
“Sierra, baby, wait,” he called,
trying to push his way through the throngs of people before she reached the
door. He grabbed her wrist just as she was about to cross the threshold. “Wait.
Please, don’t go.”
“It’s over, I’m done with this
shit,” she said, trying to shake loose of his grip.
He had more than a foot and a
hundred pounds on her. She wasn’t going anywhere until he decided he was ready
to let her go, which wouldn’t happen in this lifetime. “What’s that supposed to
mean? Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“Home to pack.”
He felt the room begin to spin out
of control. “What did you say?”
“I’m leaving you. Our marriage is
over.”
His grip on her wrist tightened.
“No, you can’t leave me.”
She pressed a hand to his chest.
“It’s been over for a long time. I’m just making it official.”
“We’re not having this conversation
out here in front of a hundred people,” he said, pulling her through the horde
of friends he’d invited to his private party. He opened the door to the small
dressing room usually occupied by the nightly entertainment that performed at
Jimmy’s bar. “We’ll have some privacy in here.”
She was finally able to shake free
of his tight grip. “I’ve already said everything I have to say to
you.”
He gripped her waist. “Don’t do
this, Sierra.” He bent to kiss her neck. “I love you, baby. God, I love you so
much. I can’t live without you.” He backed her toward the couch as he lowered
himself down on top of her.
“You’ve been living without me for
the past year, Trey. You’ve spent your days on a tour bus and your nights in a
stadium or bar.” Her voice broke. “We lost our baby girl and you don’t seem to
care.”
“Don’t say that,” he whispered
furiously. “Don’t ever say that I didn’t care about Callie. I loved her, Sierra.
It damn near killed me when we lost her.”
She glared at him. “Really? Is that
why you boarded that goddamn tour bus a week after her
funeral?”
“I’m a musician; it’s what I do.” He
knew the excuse was weak. Sierra was right. He’d been trying to run away from
his grief and sadness instead of staying at home where he belonged, supporting
his wife.
She shook her head, looking
defeated. “It’s what you do—it’s who you are. Trey Turner, country music’s
award-winning, platinum-selling mega-star. What about my husband? Callie’s
father? Where is he?”
He closed his eyes, feeling
disgusted with himself for letting her down again. “Baby, I’m sorry. Look, I
know I’ve made mistakes, but let me make it up to you, okay?” His hand eased up
her shirt to cup her breast.
Her head rolled back and she closed
her eyes. “No, we can’t do this. It won’t fix the problem.” Making love to her
may not solve all of their problems, but it would buy him some time to figure
out a way to convince her to give him and their marriage another chance. “Just
relax,” he whispered, licking her neck.
“Hmm, that feels so good.” She
wrapped her denim-clad leg around his. “But then you had lots of practice with
your girlfriend right before I got here, didn’t you?”
He cursed himself for indulging in
the adolescent drinking game and giving his wife reason to question his fidelity
yet again. “Sweetheart,” he whispered, flipping the button on her jeans. “You’re
the only one I want; you know that.”
She squeezed her eyes shut as she
shook her head. “No, I don’t.”
He hated that he had given her
reason to doubt herself, to doubt them. “Let me prove it to you,
then.”
His tongue traced the soft fullness
of her lips until she finally parted for him. He groaned, taking her mouth with
a savage intensity. His mind raced; fear warring with panic as he realized this
may be the last time they made love, the last time he had the right to touch
her.
Cheryl began her professional career
as a nutritionist, but her love of books started at an early age. She studied
writing for many years before she decided to pursue her passion as a full-time
career. After receiving constructive criticism from several well-known authors,
Cheryl finally had the confidence to write her first romance
novel.
The first book in the Nashville
Nights series, Shameless, was a book that had been dwelling in Cheryl’s
subconscious for years. For her, the surprise came when the manuscript began
taking on a life of it’s own. Characters came to life, secondary characters
became more prominent, outlines were forgotten, and a single title evolved into
an eight book series, and another eight book spin-off series entitled Nashville
Nights, Next Generation.
One word would aptly describe
Cheryl: workaholic. She lives and breathes her writing, when she’s sleeping,
watching TV, driving, reading… it’s always in the periphery of her mind. Her
imagination rarely takes a holiday, even when she escapes to a sandy beach with
her husband and son, she’s planning, plotting, outlining, and
daydreaming.
Cheryl feels blessed to be able to
get up every day and do something she loves. The thousands of fans who have
embraced the Nashville Nights have made that possible. She writes for the
readers who ask for more, she writes to satisfy the muse residing inside of her,
but most of all, she writes because she couldn’t imagine doing anything else
with her life. It took her thirty-seven years to decide what she wanted to be
when she grew up, but now that she knows, she’s convinced she’s found her
purpose.
********* GIVEAWAY **********
Cheryl
will be awarding: two(2) - $20 Amazon Gift Cards to randomly drawn commenters
during the tour, and one(1) - $20 Gift Card to a randomly drawn host. Also,
Cheryl will be awarding ten(10) trading card/cover flat packs to randomly drawn
commenters during the tour (US/Canada), ten (10)digital books from the
Nashville Nights series (winner's choice) to randomly drawn commenters during
the tour and two(2) Swarovski crystal necklaces to randomly drawn commenters
during the tour (US/Canada). So please make sure you leave an email address to get a hold of you if you win. To comment more for more chances to win you can follow the tour HERE
11 comments:
I love a good love story :)
shadowrunner1987 AT gmail DOT com
Thanks so much having me today!
I love to chat about Shameless and the Nashville Nights series, so if you have any questions, ask away...
This story sounds rather sad. I hope it has a HEA. I guess this situation is common among people in the music industry.4562
Sounds like a fantastic book.
emiliana25 at web dot de
Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
There is definitely some sadness and heartache in this book, but there's also alot of hope and happiness to balance it out!
Lovely excerpt, now that you are a published author, is it as you thought it would be?
galaschick78 AT gmail DOT com
Great excerpt, I can't wait to read the book.
Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com
This has been the craziest and best couple of years of my life, Gala. It's everything I thought it would be and so much more. This series literally took on a life of it's own and I am so grateful to each and every one of the readers who got behind me and this series, asking for more.
It really is a blessing to be able to do what I love for living!
Nice prologue.
bn100candg(at)Hotmail(dot)com
I am looking forward to reading SHAMELESS and all the books in the NASHVILLE NIGHTS series.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Nashville Nights series is new to me but sounds like a great series to read.
strive4bst(At) yahoo(Dot) com
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