Title- Wilde Riders
Series- Old Town Country Romance Series Book #1
By- Savannah Young
Genre- Contemporary Romance
FOUR WILDE BROTHERS...ONE WILDE COUNTRY BAND
WILDE RIDERS is the first novel in a spicy new contemporary
romance series about four sexy brothers, their small-town bar and their local
country band. WILDE RIDERS can be read as a STAND ALONE NOVEL or as part of the
SERIES.
Cooper Wilde spent his entire adolescence counting the days
until he could escape rural northwest New Jersey. Now at 26, he can't believe
he's coming back. But his late father's bar, Haymakers, is in financial trouble
and his older brother, Jake, has asked for Cooper's help.
Riley Smith, 25, is fresh out of her Ivy League MBA program
and wants to make an impression on her employer, H & C Bank. Her first solo
assignment is a fraud investigation on a business loan they made to Haymakers.
Even though Old Town is less than 90 minutes from New York
City, Riley feels like she's stepped into another world in this remote, one-bar
town. Riley can't wait to do her business and get back to the city as quickly
as her sports car will take her...until she meets Cooper Wilde. He's not like
the other guys in this rural town and Riley feels inexplicably attracted to
him.
If you like your trucks loud, your beer cold and your men
hot...you'll love WILDE RIDERS.
The drive into New Jersey is
exhausting. My only saving grace is that most of the traffic is going into the
city instead of out of the city like I am. You’ve got to love those bridge and
tunnel guys. I wouldn’t date one but I have a little bit of respect for them.
The commute into Manhattan turns a nine hour work day into an eleven hour one,
if you’re lucky.
I can feel my stomach start to knot as I get further away from the city
and further away from civilization. Pretty soon I’ll be in the sticks surrounded
by woods and farmland. I can almost smell the manure that will no doubt take
days to completely rid from my nasal passages. I pray that I don’t run into any
animals, especially cows, which are huge, smelly and completely freak me out.
The only live animals I ever care to see have to fit comfortably in a handbag,
like a Chihuahua or Teacup Poodle, for example.
I have an appointment with a man
named Jake Wilde. He asked me to come early, before the place opened at noon,
so he could give me his full attention. I try to imagine what someone named
Jake Wilde would look like and all I can come up with is an old gunslinger like
Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven.
As I pull into Old Town the place
looks exactly like I thought it would. The buildings in the town square are old
and I image the place hasn’t changed much in the last hundred years or so.
Haymakers is just past the town square,
down the hill from the deli, next to the gas station. Those were the exact
directions I was given, in those words. I take that to mean the town only has
one gas station and one deli.
When I pull into the parking lot,
there’s only one other vehicle sitting there. It’s an old beat-up Dodge Ram.
Nothing like fitting the country bumpkin stereotype like a glove. Then I have a
brief moment of panic and wonder if it’s safe to park my BMW in the dirt lot.
Then I remind myself where I am. Who is going to mess with it in the middle of
the day? A stray deer from the woods out back? The only thing I probably have
to worry about is it getting dusty.
I take in a deep breath. I have to
be thankful there’s no manure smell yet. The
quicker you do this, I remind myself, the
quicker you can get back to the lovely asphalt jungle you call home.
I’m hit with a gust of wind as soon
as I get out of my car. How is it possible that Old Town is even windier than
lower Manhattan? I didn’t think I’d ever find a place windier than Wall Street.
Even the Windy City didn’t seem this windy when I had business in Chicago.
When I enter the bar, I try to
smooth down my thick hair, which I know is probably a complete mess from the
gust. I’m surprised by the homey feel of the place. How could someone like me
possibly feel at home in a country bar? Even if I was wearing jeans and cowboy
boots, if I even owned jeans and
cowboy boots, I wouldn’t fit in at a place like this.
I hear someone clear his throat and
I turn to see a guy about my age, mid-twenties, standing next to me. I can’t
help my surprise when I see he’s wearing khakis and a polo shirt, like he just
stepped off a golf course. He looks as out of place in this country bar as I
feel.
“Are you Jake Wilde?” I ask.
The guy gives me the faintest hint
of a smile but it’s almost as if it pains him to give that much. His deep brown
eyes look even more distressed and I can’t help but wonder what’s behind those
sad eyes.
He rakes his fingers through his
thick dark hair. “A little windy out, isn’t it?”
My hand automatically goes to my
hair and I try to casually flatten it down again. I imagine I must look like I
just stepped out of a wind tunnel.
“Your hair looks fine,” the guy
tries to assure me. But he’s got that hint of a smile on his face again and it
makes me wonder if he’s lying just to make me feel better.
“I’m Cooper Wilde,” the guy says as
he offers a hand.
I don’t know why I suddenly feel nervous about
shaking it. It’s a business meeting. That’s what people do. But the way this
guy is looking at me gives me the feeling that he might be interested in more
than just business.
But
I’m not, I remind myself. Not only because I’ve all but sworn off men, I’m
here to do a job. I’ve been working for H & C Bank for two years and this
is my first solo assignment as a lead investigator. If I continue to do well,
I’ll be well on my way to becoming a Vice President before I turn thirty. I
don’t need a man to throw me off my career trajectory. And definitely not some
guy in a country bar in rural New Jersey.
I take his hand and give it a quick
shake but I can’t bring myself to look into his smoldering eyes again. “I’m
Riley Smith.”
“I figured that,” Cooper says.
“Why is that?”
That hint of a smile has returned
to his face again. “We don’t often get women in business suits in the bar.”
I’m not sure why I’m suddenly
overcome with the urge to get a real smile out of Cooper Wilde. I don’t know even
know the guy but it somehow seems important. I get the feeling he hasn’t really
smiled in a while and it’s long overdue.
Not that I’ve had much occasion for
real smiles myself lately.
“My brother will be here in a
minute or two. He’s just printing a few documents from the computer. Purchase
orders and receipts.”
I nod and look around the place.
From the outside, I thought it was going to be a dive but the place actually
has character. I can tell the wooden bar is old, and it looks hand carved, as
do the barstools. There’s a large stage area that looks new. That’s one of the
expenses I was charged with investigating. I try to image what the place looks
like filled with patrons watching a local band play on a Friday night.
“Ms. Smith?” I hear a deeper male
voice say.
I look up to see another guy
approaching. He also looks around my age, mid-twenties, but he looks more like
what I’d expect inside a country bar. He’s wearing a white button down shirt
with jeans and cowboy boots. His hair is lighter than Cooper’s and his face is
rounder, more boyish, but there’s definitely a family resemblance between these
two guys. They’re both about the same height, around six feet, with athletic
builds, like they play sports.
“I’m Jake Wilde,” the lighter
haired guy says.
I try not to laugh as I look at
Jake. He’s young, attractive and nothing like Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven. So much for my speculation
about his name.
I notice Jake has papers in his
hands. “Maybe we should have a seat at one of the tables.” He motions to a
table closest to us.
“Would you like something to
drink?” he asks. Jake has one thing that Cooper doesn’t. An absolutely killer
smile. It’s the kind of smile that can probably get any girl into bed in a
matter of minutes. Well, any girl except me. I no longer fall for guys with
smiles like that. It hurts too much the next morning when they say they’ll call
you, and give you that smile, and you know they’re lying and you’ll never hear
from them again.
“I’ll take some water,” I reply.
Jake actually winks at me before he
turns to head towards the bar. The guy knows how to charm people I’ll give him
credit for that.
EXCERPT TWO
I notice Cooper now has the papers in his hand. Without saying anything,
he sits down and I follow.
“I think this is everything you’ll
need as far as the fraud investigation is concerned. We’ve got purchase orders
for all of the improvements as well as receipts for the completed work. You’re
sitting at one of the new tables right now. And you can see the new stage from
here. I’d be happy to take you up to the new roof, if you’d like to see it.”
Cooper pushes the stack of papers
toward me. I quickly thumb through them. I’ll make a few phone calls when I get
back into the city to verify everything and cover my butt. At first glance,
though, everything looks clean. It doesn’t seem like a case of fraud, more
likely poor bookkeeping.
“The loan hasn’t been paid in months,” I say
even though that’s not really my department. I’m here only for the fraud
investigation. They’ll be dealing with someone else regarding the default on
the loan.
“I know,” Cooper says, and I can
see more darkness overshadow his already dark eyes. “I’m going to try and fix
that.”
Jake comes back with three bottles
of water. “Bottle okay or would you like a glass?” he asks.
“Bottle is fine,” I say.
Jake sets the bottles down on the
table and takes the seat right next to me. I’m a little taken aback by how much
space he commands. And not just because of his size. It’s his energy—his
being—that’s so large.
“So what did I miss?” Jake asks.
Cooper eyes his brother and I can
see there’s a little bit of animosity between them. Or at least there is on
Cooper’s part. Jake seems kind of oblivious to it.
Cooper rubs his temple and says, “I
was just telling Miss Smith that we’re willing to cooperate with her
investigation in any way we can. I’ve given her all of the documents she’ll
need.”
“Great,” Jake says. He gives me
another one of his charming smiles then looks at me like he’s undressing me
with his eyes.
I reflexively pull my suit jacket
tighter even though I’m revealing nothing. I’m wearing a conservative
button-down banker’s suit but I still feel like Jake can see through it
somehow.
“I’ll look at the papers more
closely when I get back to the city. I assume these are copies I can take with
me?”
“Of course,” Cooper replies. The
guy is all business. It’s in sharp contrast to his brother who seems more like
a non-stop-party kind of guy.
“Did you decide if you want to see
the roof?” Cooper asks.
When Jake laughs, Cooper glares at
him.
“What?” Jake says. “If that’s
supposed to be a pick up line, you’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“It’s not a pick-up line,” Cooper
says through clenched teeth.
Still grinning, Jake asks, “You’re
really going to show her the roof?”
“It’s not necessary,” I state. The
last place I want to be is in the middle of these two guys’ drama. There’s
obviously a lot more going on than just showing me the roof.
Jake leans close to me and I catch
a whiff of his cologne. It’s a spicy and masculine. “Why don’t you let me show
you the new stage we had built?”
I can feel the heat radiating from
his muscular body and I’m quickly reminded by my body’s reaction that I haven’t
had sex in over six months.
I gulp. “That’s not necessary.”
I can feel several beads of sweat
roll down my forehead. I’m getting hot, and it’s not because of the temperature
of the room has changed. It’s Jake’s closeness to me.
I jump from my chair. “I have
everything I need.” I feel like waving the papers in front of my face like a
fan but I refrain. I just need to get out of the bar and away from Jake. Then
I’ll be fine.
That’s what I tell myself anyway.
Cooper rises from the table and
gives me an odd look. I wish I could figure out what it would take to make the
guy smile but I can’t stay next to Jake a minute longer. He’s like catnip and
I’m the cat. I need to escape and get some fresh air.
“Thank you both for your
cooperation,” I say.
“You’ll let us know if you need
anything else?” Cooper asks.
“I will. It was a pleasure meeting
you.” I put out my hand for Cooper to shake.
This time, when he touches me, I
make a point of looking into his eyes. They seem to have gotten even darker and
deeper in just the last few minutes and that makes me even more curious about
him.
Business,
I remind myself. You’re here for business
and then it’s back to the city.
“It was nice meeting you, too,”
Cooper says and once again, he only gives me the hint of a smile.
When Jake clears his throat, it
breaks the moment between me and Cooper. I’m embarrassed that I lost control.
I’m supposed to be a professional.
I noticed Jake has his hand out and
I realize he wants me to shake it. The last thing I want is to do is touch
Jake. I don’t want to get caught up in his charismatic web like a fly.
I give him a ridiculous wave
instead and I feel like an idiot when he frowns.
“I’d better get going,” I say as I
turn and make my way toward the door.
When I look back at the two
brothers, they’re both staring at me. I don’t know why that makes me so
nervous. I don’t plan on ever seeing either one of them again.
When I’m finally outside, I take in
a deep breath of what I think will be fresh air and instead, I’m assaulted by
the small of cow manure.
Great.
Just great.
I hop into my car and turn the air
conditioning up as high as it will go. I take in another deep breath and try to
get the stench of cow dung out of my nasal passages.
I can’t believe I’m shaking. I’m
not sure if it’s because of Cooper or Jake. Maybe it’s a little of both. But
I’m definitely rattled.
I
just need to get out of Old Town and get back to the city, I tell myself. Then things will get back to normal.
As I put the car into reverse and
begin to pull out of my parking space, I keep thinking: I just need to get out of here and get back to the city.
When I step on the accelerator to
go forward, I drive right into an old Chevy pick-up truck that’s headed
straight for me.
