She's
an award-winning winning actress and he's an average guy just trying to get
by...
Fresh
out of police officer training, newbie cop, Hunter Wilde, takes an off-duty gig
working special events at the Tawnee Mountain Resort to earn a little extra
cash to supplement his public servant's salary.
Katie
Lawrence is Hollywood's hottest sweetheart. With her second Oscar win before
the age of twenty-five she's all Tinseltown is talking about.
When
Katie attends a wedding at the Tawnee Mountain Resort with the notorious
bad-boy Olympic gold snowboarder, Devon Black, he's more interested in bedding
the bridesmaids than he is in being with Katie.
So
Katie tries to find solace in the personal security guard assigned to her by
the resort...the reluctant Hunter Wilde. He's not impressed with Katie's
stardom and he definitely doesn't want to get involved with a drama queen...but
Katie manages to steal his heart when he least expects it.
Purchase Links can be found below!
Excerpt:
One
Hunter
“What’s going on
over there?” I point to a dark-haired girl being mobbed by a small crowd.
They’re shoving pieces of paper and pens at her.
Autographs, maybe?
Teko laughs. “What
are you blind? That’s Katie Lawrence.”
Am I supposed to
know who Katie Lawrence is?
“So?”
Teko’s eyes narrow
with suspicion. “She’s America’s Sweet-heart. Don’t tell me you’ve never seen Sky Blues?”
“Okay, I won’t tell
you I’ve never seen it,” I fire back.
“Or Chasing Summer?”
“I won’t tell you I
haven’t seen that either.”
“Dude, have you been
living under a rock? They’re Academy Award winning movies. She’s won two
Oscars. Just won best-supporting actress and she was only in the movie like
fifteen minutes. Her character died of a drug overdose. It was epic.”
Now I’m the one
who’s eying Teko. “And how do you know about these movies? They sound like
chick flicks.”
“My girl likes
movies. I like to make out in the back of the theater. It’s a win-win deal.”
I watch as Katie
Lawrence greets all of her adoring fans. And they are all adoring her. They’re
practically falling over each other just to get her to glance in their
direction. It actually makes me kind of sick.
It’s not that Katie
Lawrence isn’t attractive. She’s cute. But not the kind of girl I’d put on a
pedestal or anything. If she wasn’t a big star, and she walked into Haymakers,
my family’s bar, on a Friday night, she probably wouldn’t be one of the first
girls to get picked up. Don’t get me wrong, she’d be in the top five or six,
but she’s definitely not top-spot hot. Katie Lawrence is not drop-dead Sports
Illustrated Cover Girl gorgeous. She looks more like the girl-next-door.
Not that the girl
who lived next door to us all of our lives, Harley Davis, isn’t Sports
Illustrated Cover Girl gorgeous. She most definitely is. But she’s also in love
with my oldest brother, so that means she’s off-limits.
I can tell by
looking at Katie that she thinks pretty highly of herself. It’s her demeanor,
and the way she carries herself. The girl is starting to believe her own
publicity.
“Why do you think
the resort hired so many of us this week-end?” Teko asks.
Tawnee Mountain
Resort has been in business less than a year and it’s already garnered quit a
reputation as a hot spot for all the rich and famous from New York. Lucky for
me and my buddy, Teko, they like to hire off-duty cops to work security for
special events.
I shrug. “I heard
there’s some kind of big wedding going on.”
Teko gives me a look
like I’m stupid. “Devon Black’s twin brother is getting married. I know you
know who Devon Black is.”
“He’s that
snowboarder,” I reply off-handedly.
“He’s a four-time
Olympic gold medal winner. His twin brother was set to compete against him this
past winter, but he injured his knee in the finals. Talk about sibling
rivalry.”
Sibling rivalry is
something I know a lot about. With three older brothers, it wasn’t something I
could easily escape.
“Katie Lawrence is
dating Devon Black,” Teko adds, as if I should care about either of these
people. “It’s an on-again, off-again saga with those two.”
My gaze narrows.
“And just how do you know so much about Katie Lawrence and Devon Black’s
romantic life?”
He shrugs. “My girl
has a bunch of those celebrity magazines lying all over the apartment.”
“And you just
happened to open them up and read them,” I tease.
“I may take them
with me into the bathroom when I’ve got a few minutes to kill.”
I shake my head in
disbelief. Teko is a six-foot five-inch brick house. He’s part Polynesian, part
African American and all muscle. He’s not the kind of guy you’d expect to be
reading some girlie celebrity rag.
As Katie Lawrence
and her entourage pass by us, I can’t help but notice her sexy little body.
She’s wearing a skirt so short and tight it should be illegal. And she’s got on
a little crop top that shows off the smallest bit of her milky white
midsection.
Maybe she’s a little
hotter than I initially gave her credit for.
When I feel my dick
twitch in response I remind myself that I’m a cop working security and she’s
apparently some superstar.
But that’s just it.
When you take away all of the hubbub surrounding her, she doesn’t seem like a
movie star to me. She seems more like a slightly sexed up version of the girls
I went to high school with.
As I watch her walk
by, she actually glances in my direction. Our eyes meet for just a second, but
it’s just long enough for me to see right inside her. And when I do, I actually
see her gasp. It’s almost as if no one has ever looked that deeply at her and
it surprises her. I seem to have made her so uncomfortable, she quickly turns
away.
But I know she’ll
look back again. I’m willing to bet a week’s salary on it, and for a rookie
cop, that’s some hard-earned money. When someone takes your breath away, you
can’t help but look back again. It’s a necessity.
Bingo.
Just as I predicted
she sneaks another quick glance back at me before she turns the corner. She’s
got such a sad expression on her face. It’s almost like she’s living a life
that’s not of her own making. Like part of her would rather be in old jeans and
a sweatshirt than the designer clothes she’s wearing. It tugs on my
heartstrings a bit. Then I remind myself that she’s a superstar, and certainly
doesn’t need someone like me to feel sorry for her.
***
“You’ve got
bodyguard duty,” Mr. Wilson, the head of security, says to me.
The guy is a real
piece of work. He’s an older guy, probably in his mid-fifties, and I swear he
dyes his hair because it’s just too black for a guy his age. He’s always
chomping on gum like a teen-age girl. And he’s slick. If he wasn’t the head of
security at a posh resort, he’d probably be a used car salesman.
“I wasn’t hired for
personal security,” I protest. “General guard duty.”
In my mind I was
hired to stand around and look intimidating, something I’ve been working hard
to perfect. I’ve almost got it down to an exact science. I cross my arms over
my chest while giving a cold, uncompromising stare. Between that pose and my
uniform, I can usually make some of the biggest, baddest-looking dudes tremble
in a matter of seconds. At least my police training was good for something.
Getting anywhere
close to that actress sounds like too much work. Actresses are too high
maintenance for a country boy like me.
I point over to two
other rookie cops also moonlighting as security guards at Tawnee Mountain. We
all attended the police academy together.
“Why don’t you get
Paulson and Rodriguez to do it?” I suggest.
Wilson snaps his gum
in my face then shakes his head. “No, I want you to do it.”
I want to ask why me, but I can tell by the look on
Mr. Wilson’s face that it’s pointless to protest. He’s already got his mind
made up. He’s got a team of a dozen security guards, and for some reason he
picked me to babysit the drama queen.
“Anyone ever told
you that you kind of look like Opie?”
I shake my head.
“Who’s Opie?”
He chomps down on
his gum a few times before he responds. “Opie. You know. The kid from The Andy Griffith Show. Ron Howard’s
character.”
“You mean the
director?” Teko pipes in.
More gum chewing.
“Yeah, he’s a director now but he was an actor first. When he was young. He had
a real sweet look to him. Kind of innocent. Like you.” Wilson points a finger
in my direction. “You’re a sweet looking kid. That’s why you need to do it.”
I heave a sigh. The
last thing you want to be called when you’re a new cop is sweet looking.
Doesn’t exactly fit the persona. I’ve worked really hard to gain body mass and
I’m now all muscle. But there’s nothing I can do about having a sweet looking
face apparently.
Mr. Wilson is eyeing
me like I’ve got the plague or something. “What have you got against Katie
Lawrence? She’s America’s Sweetheart.”
“Nothing,” I grunt.
He’s still eyeing me
like he doesn’t believe me. “She’s a sweet kid.”
“I’m sure she is,” I
say half-heartedly. I still want nothing to do with being her personal security
guard. I’d rather be in the background where I feel comfortable.
“I think you’ll like
her when you get to know her.”
I don’t know how to
make it any more obvious that I don’t want to get to know her. I could care
less about her being America’s Sweetheart. And I definitely don’t care about
her movies. I’d rather watch paint dry then watch any movie with the words Academy Award winner on it. If I have to
watch a movie, which I rarely do, it better have car chases, explosions and
guns—and lots of them.
Mr. Wilson crosses
his fat arms over his protruding belly. It’s a good thing the guy carries a gun
and a Taser because he’d never be able to take anyone down without a weapon.
“Tell me why you don’t like Katie Lawrence.”
Why does everyone
love this girl so much? It’s like a national crime that I don’t adore her. I
shrug. “I don’t even know her.”
He’s still eyeing me
suspiciously.
“All right.” I heave
a sigh. “She seems very high maintenance. I don’t want to deal with it. Happy?”
Mr. Wilson actually
laughs at me. Should I be insulted?
“Every female on the
planet is high maintenance, Kid. Get used to it.”
Before I can say
another word he turns and walks away.
Wild Riders (Old Town Country Romance Book 1)
The Wilde One (Old Town Country Romance Book 2)
A Wilde Night (Old Town Country Romance Book 3)
Wilde Times (Old Town Country Romance Book 4)
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#MeetTheAuthor:
Romance
novelist Savannah Young grew up in rural northwest New Jersey in a place very
similar to the fictional Old Town, which is featured in her books. When she's
not at her computer creating spicy stories, Savannah is traveling to exotic
locales or spending time with her husband and their bloodhounds. Savannah also
writes under the pen names Dakota Madison, Sierra Avalon and Ren Monterrey.
#SocialLinks:
http://www.ahorsewithnoname.com
My Thoughts:
I like this book but I much preferred the other two. I just did not connect with Katie as much of the heroines from the other books.
For me that is what it boils down to. This one is decent but if you want to read a great book, pick up the first or second book in this series.
There is the same types of vibe as the previous which I loved. The pace was decent, the length was so-so, and the characters were on the Wilde side. ;-)
I received an ecopy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. If I had connected to katie, I would have loved this one too.
Don't forget to enter the Comment Incentive Giveaway. It is a great chance to win a book you'd like to have! The link can be found at the top of the page.
it's sad when the series does not keep teh quality.... but at least i know i can read book 1 or two if i want to be fully in the story ( and this one only if i have time to loose or want a simple read)
ReplyDeletethe blurb did not call to me really either
The quality was good. It was just the character that I had a hard time connecting with. That is what threw me off.
DeleteThanks for the post
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read and review my book. I appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteSavannah Young
I'm looking forward to the next one. I'm sorry that I couldn't connect with Katie. I've loved all of your other characters so far!
DeleteI have the first and maybe the second? There on my list to get to! LOL
ReplyDeleteThose two had great characters and I really liked them. This one was good but I didn't connect with the female lead. She was too much of a poser. If you don't want to be a certain way, then why would you let people shape you into it? You know? Don't get me wrong, by the end she was better but I just didn't connect with her.
Delete