and fall all over you.” She smiles a lazy smile. “As disappointing as that may be for your huge…ego.”
Did I just imagine her eyes dropping to my crotch?
“I came to see my cousin, who I haven’t seen in years. The rest of this”—her hand circles the air—“is just unfortunate.”
She stalks back into the house, leaving me to scrape my jaw up from the floor. Something about that sassy mouth of hers only makes me want her more.
I spend the rest of the evening lurking in the shadows of my own home, stalking a girl who wants nothing to do with me. It doesn’t take her long to befriend all of the girls who were making fun of her earlier tonight, including Monica. It would seem we’re all under her spell. But for some reason she’s decided to give them another chance. Me? Well, I think she’d written me off before walking through the door.
I’m green with envy. I don’t know what it is about this particular girl that has me feeling things I haven’t felt in years… but it makes me realize just how numb I’ve allowed myself to become.
For the first time since I can’t remember when, I’m feeling, and even jealousy feels a hell of a lot better than indifference.
CHAPTER 1
Rhett
“You’re serious right now?” Anika, my manager, paces the studio in four-inch stilettos while gnawing on the back of a pen. “You want to cancel studio time to go to…to camp?”
She’s kinda cute when she’s all riled up like this, her pale cheeks flaming red and daggers shooting from her amber eyes. I sink down further into the plush couch, crossing my arms on my chest. “It’ll be fun. I’m in need of some fun. You said so yourself. A few days on the coast with other single, college-aged adults. Real people, Anika. A break from Hollywood.”
“I said after we finish the album. Not right in the middle of recording it.” Her heels clack on the wood floors as she moves to crouch before me, resting her manicured nails on the arms of my chair. Her frustration is evident in the heaviness of her breaths. She shakes her head, tossing her long chestnut braid over her left shoulder. “It’s her, isn’t it? She’s going to be there?”
“Yes,” I answer, trying to cover a smirk. “Yeah…So, there’s no way I can put this off.” I realize the timing isn’t ideal, but it’s the perfect chance to work my magic on this girl, whom I can’t seem to get out of my head.
Pushing up from my knees, she’s again wearing a hole into the floor. “She hates you, Rhett. This is a terrible idea. Not only for your career, but because you’re going to end up disappointed.”
What she means is depressed. My first Hollywood girlfriend did a number on me, but that was before I knew how industry relationships worked. I keep my heart guarded now—locked up tight in a suit of armor. I just want the chance to play with my sword.
“I’m curious about her,” I say with a shrug, my mind wandering to my drummer Nick’s birthday party, about three weeks ago. To his cousin, Korie Potter. Her long, wavy blonde ponytail, faded jeans, and Rolling Stones tee. She stood out among the sequins and glitz. Her attempt to fade into the background had the complete opposite effect. Only adding to her appeal was the easy manner with which she carried herself. She had a confidence—an honesty—about her that I don’t see much in the circles I run. I can’t help but smile, remembering how unimpressed she was with everything Rhett Taylor. What did she call me again? Oh, yeah. The bad boy of country music. Someone’s been paying a little too much attention to TMZ.
At any rate, life gets rather boring when you can literally have anything you want. Anyone you want. I hadn’t realized how willing I’d become to settle until life dangled temptation, in the form of a sassy-mouthed, blonde-haired, green-eyed, fiery little vixen, right under my nose and shook things up a bit—shook me up a bit.
Yeah, Korie is just the challenge I need.
“The label won’t like it.”
Having had about enough of her negativity, I rise to my feet, towering over her five-foot frame. It’s not often I ignore her advice. We’ve been best friends since elementary school; she’s one of the few people in my life I actually trust. “I don’t give a damn what they like or don’t like, Anika. I’m tired. I need to rest. The boys and I are taking this trip.”
Her pointed jaw ticks as she stares me down, arms crossed on her chest in a stance that I’m assuming she means to be intimidating. “Does she know you’ll be there?”
I snort. “Of course not.”
She gives one final resigned shake of her head, blowing out a laugh. “You’re gonna regret this.”
“Or,” I say, thumping her nose because I know how much it pisses her off, “I could enjoy it very, very much.”
“And Nick is okay with this?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” the hulking, six-foot-three, tatted oaf himself announces, entering through the back door. “A week of tits, booze, and fun in the sun? And I get to watch him follow Korie around like a lovesick puppy while she hands him his balls in a sling? Sign me up for that shit.”
Get Pour Judgment now!
Romantic Comedy
Cajun Girls Series of Standalones
Boomerangers (Single mom/Second chance)
Doppelbanger (Single dad/enemies to lovers)
Pour Judgment (Fake relationship)
Take Two (Vegas wedding/second chance)
Contemporary Romance
Breakaway (Sports romance)
Heartbreak Warfare (Military romance)
Women’s Fiction
Vivienne’s Guilt
First and foremost, thank you to my hubby and kids for your many sacrifices so that I could write this novel.
Thank you, Momma, for showing up to clean, to cook, to tend to your grandkids. Being able to count on you still today as an adult, means more than you will ever know.
A huge thank you to my girls, Kate Farlow, Harloe Rae, Lauren Brynolf, Shain Rose, Hollis Wynn, Renee Mccleary, Sammi Hyatt, and Nicole Davis for helping dig me out when I got stuck! For your endless support and coddling. For loving me. Encouraging me. And let’s be honest here… tolerating me.
Keri Roth, Katherine Caron, Sara Koelsch, and Marie Saunders; thank you for taking the time to beta read and provide your excellent suggestions and words of encouragement. It takes a village and I’m so lucky to have you in mine!
Thank you, Michelle Lancaster, for shooting the cover shot. I have been obsessed with this image from the moment you shared it on FB and knew it had to be mine!
Mason Kreidt, thank you for giving such a beautiful face to my novel.
Kate Farlow with Y’all That Graphic, I can’t thank you enough for creating such a beautiful cover. You believed in my vision and brought it to life. Your talent is endless and your friendship invaluable.
Thank you Kiezha Ferrell for once again polishing my words and cleaning up my manuscript. Even if you did take out half of my ellipses… ;)
Misty Boggs Punch, Abby Thomas, Kathy Webber, and Katiria Rosario, thank you for proof-reading and catching those last-minute misses!
To my girls at Give Me Books… THANK YOU! Thank you for always fitting me in and being so quick to respond and accommodate me!
Candi Kane, thank you for taking me on and all that you’ve done and are doing to get Mourning Wood into the right hands.
Thanks to Stacey with Champagne Book Design for adding all the little details in formatting.
Thanks to my reader group, Heather’s Hunnies. Friends tell me all the time how amazing you ladies are, and I couldn’t agree more. You never cease to amaze me with your endless love, support, and well-timed dick jokes. You get me. You really get me!
Thank you to anyone else who helped along the way. It is one of my greatest fears to leave someone out. I’m sure I do every time but know that it is not intentional. I’m so grateful for my tribe.
Heather M. Orgeron is a Cajun girl with a big heart and a passion for romance. She married her high school sweetheart two months after graduation and her life has been a fairytale ever since. She’s the queen of her castle, reigning over five sons and one bossy little princess who has made it her mission in life to steal her Momma’s throne. When she’s not writing, you will find her hidden beneath mounds of laundry and piles of dirty dishes or locked in her tower(aka the bathroom) soaking in the tub with a good book. She’s always been an avid reader and has recently discovered a love for cultivating romantic stories of her own.
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