I AM NOT YOUR MELODY
(steamy cowboy romance)
Stand-alone prequel to the upcoming Bunking with the Cowboys Series
a Bear Creek Saddle short novel
Title: I AM NOT YOUR MELODY!
Author: Shoshanna Evers
Release Date: January 6, 2015
Genre: Cowboy Contemporary Romance
“Big Bad Bill” Edwards, the biggest, baddest cowboy in Bear Creek Saddle, Idaho, has only gotten meaner in the years since his bride Melody died young…
Allie, a bartender from Miami, has no idea what she’s getting into when she buys half-ownership of the sexy, broken cowboy’s late uncle’s bar. She’d thought they’d built a friendship based on several months of emails back and forth. But in person, Big Bad Bill will do anything to keep her at arm’s length… only he can’t. The man is sinfully sexy trouble — big trouble. Especially since Allie is just one year out from when her cheating ex destroyed their marriage.
How can Bill and Allie be together if their hearts can’t handle the risk of breaking once more?
Bill has just three rules for dealing with Allie: Don’t kill her. Don’t kiss her. And above all, don’t fall in love…not ever again.
Preorder just 99c (then it goes up to $3.99!)
Excerpt
I AM NOT YOUR MELODY
Copyright 2015 Shoshanna Evers All Rights Reserved
“You told me that you had experience renovating, but you don’t,” he said. He didn’t sound as angry about it as she would have imagined he would be. “That part of the contract that says I’ll stay out of your way, it’s null an’ void now.”
“What?” she asked. “No. That’s not fair.”
“I don’t care if you think it’s fair. I’m investin’ a lot of money into this — into you. I’m gonna be here with you, every step of the way.”
“Aren’t you too busy with the ranch, anyway?” Allie asked, changing her tactic.
“My guys haven’t needed me at the ranch for a while now. I can take a couple weeks off. But that ain’t your concern. From now on, you’re gonna live and breathe and dream about this bar. Got it?”
“You’re an asshole,” she muttered under her breath. Taking over, acting like he owned her.
He leaned down until his face was close to hers, as if to hear her better. “Go on.”
“The pictures you emailed to me did not show this level of… neglect.”
“The pictures are from when my uncle was still alive, all right? But you showed up two weeks early,” Bill said. “I could’ve gotten the place cleaned up, at least, before you were supposed to be here. That’s on you.”
“It’s all my fault, huh?” She rolled her eyes. “Why didn’t you at least keep this place locked up? It was your responsibility! The whole time we were emailing, talking about the bar, about our future together as partners — the very future of your Uncle Freddy’s bar — you couldn’t bring yourself to mention even once that you’d let it all go to hell?”
Bill shook his head, and turned his back on her, walking right toward the door.
What on earth?! He couldn’t just leave. Not when she had a bone to pick with him, a serious bone.
She ran to the door, crossing in front of him, and pressed her back against it, her arms splayed to keep him from leaving.
He stopped directly in front of her and crossed his arms, looking merely annoyed by her antics.
“Are you kidnappin’ me?” he asked. “Holdin’ me hostage?”
“I think I have a few more hours before this could count as a kidnapping,” she said. “But I’m willing to risk it. We can call the Sheriff and ask him later, after we figure out what we’re going to do about this.”
Bill sighed. “Have ya ever pretended somethin’ doesn’t exist, ‘cause maybe then it’ll go away?”
“I’m not going away, Bill Edwards.”
At that, he shook his head. “I couldn’t pretend you didn’t exist if I tried. But I did ignore my responsibility. I sold you the job of takin’ care of renovations and day-to-day operations. It was the best I could do.”
She paused, thinking of the disgusting toilet upstairs, and the rats. “We need a plumber, and an exterminator. And you need to figure out what was stolen or damaged, write it down, and give me back my share of whatever it was. Cash.”
“All right,” he said slowly. “That’s fair.”
The expression on his face had gone from annoyed to… respectful? Did he respect her for sticking up for herself?
Well, good. It was something she’d have to do more of. Just like Ginger had said, she had to keep her chin up and not be scared of Big Bad Bill.
“Just so ya know,” he added, “any damage or theft — that was done by people I don’t know. Guys outside of town. The folks in Bear Creek Saddle would never disrespect Fred like that.”
Allie pointed to the graffiti that said RIP Fred In Heaven!!! and raised her eyebrow.
Bill nodded. “That’s not really vandalism… more of a… you know what I mean.”
Let him think what he wanted about how the bar got to the state it was in. That didn’t matter as much as the fact that she’d spent her life savings on a building she couldn’t live in, and needed far more work to renovate than he’d represented to her.
At least she’d get some cash back because of this, something she needed even more than she’d realized she would.
Allie shook her head. “And just so you know, I already do live, breathe and dream about this bar. I have ever since I contacted you on Craigslist.”
Her words must have softened him. He fingered the chain on the door, touching the cold metal with two long, calloused fingers.
“I should’ve taken better care of this place,” he admitted, his voice low. “But we’re gonna get everythin’ back to the way it was. It’s what we gotta do. What the town needs.”
If their previous emails meant anything, then getting the bar back to the way it was sounded like something that Bill needed, whether the town needed it too, or not.
Allie didn’t want everything to go back the way it was… She wanted her own vision, her own dream. Could they make it happen without killing each other first?
*****
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Shoshanna Evers has written dozens of sexy stories, including The Man Who Holds the Whip (part of the bestselling MAKE ME anthology), Overheated, The Enslaved Trilogy, and The Pulse Trilogy (from Simon & Schuster Pocket Star).
Her work has been featured in many anthologies such as Cowboy Heat and Smokin' Hot Firemen, the Penguin/Berkley Heat anthology Agony/Ecstasy, and numerous erotic romance novellas including Bedhead and Ginger Snap from Ellora’s Cave Publishing.
Her two bestselling non-fiction writing anthologies include How To Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors, and Successful Self-Publishing: How We Do It (And How You Can Too).
Shoshanna is also the cofounder of SelfPubBookCovers.com, the largest selection of instantly customizable, one-of-a-kind, premade book covers in the world.
Shoshanna Evers has been listed on Amazon as one of the "Most Popular Authors in Romance," as well as on the Contemporary Romance, and Erotica "Most Popular Authors" lists.
Reviewers have called Shoshanna’s writing “sensuous, delightful, and sizzling” with stories where “the plot is fresh and the pacing excellent, the emotions...real and poignant.”
Shoshanna used to work as a syndicated advice columnist and a registered nurse, but now she’s a full-time romance writer and a home-schooling mom. She lives with her family and three big dogs in Northern Idaho, and loves to connect with readers on Twitter @ShoshannaEvers, and Facebook at Shoshanna.Evers.
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1 comments:
Thank you for featuring I Am Not Your Melody! You rock! :)
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