by Taylor Hart
Her Country Star Cowboy Second Chance
Solid Gold Summerville Ranch Billionaire Romance
Taylor Hart
Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Epilogue
Sneak Peak Her Navy SEAL Cowboy - Jack and Tauni
Also by Taylor Hart
About the Author
Copyright
All rights reserved.
© 2020 ArchStone Ink
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. The reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form whether electronic, mechanical or other means, known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written consent of the publisher and/or author. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This edition is published by ArchStone Ink LLC.
First eBook Edition: 2020
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the creation of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Chapter 1
“Shay … Shay … it’s time to do the after-show meet and greet, man.”
Shay jerked to a sitting position. “How long have I been out?” After doing the concert, he’d come into the dressing room and crashed on the couch. Now he steadied himself and stood, putting his hand to his head.
His brother Liam moved to his side. “Dude, you’ve been out of it for forty-five minutes, but we have VIPs we’ve committed to meeting with, so you have to pull yourself together."
"Right." Shay still didn't move.
Liam put his hand lightly on Shay's shoulder. "Look, I know seeing that Instagram post about Jaycee was rough on you yesterday, but you can’t continue to be this rattled because of her,” Liam said, his voice tentative. “It's been almost a year since she left and now she’s engaged to another man. That’s how it is, Shay.”
Shay glared at his twin brother. “Oh, that’s how it is, Liam? That’s how it is when my heart is ripped out? I need to just focus on the VIPs, right?”
Liam’s face darkened. “You know I hate it, dude. You know that, right? We’ve all had our hearts ripped out for you. We all hate Jaycee McCade so much.” He clenched a hand into a fist and swore.
Shay’s own anger dissolved at seeing Liam so upset. He turned away, feeling guilty for how much pain he’d put his siblings through. His whole family had been hurt right along with him.
Liam sighed. “Look, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wished so hard that you never met that chick. That I would have been the one driving the stupid tow truck that day, not you. That—”
“Enough.” Shay couldn’t take it. His mind flashed to the Instagram post from Jaycee's fiance.
She finally said yes. My true love and I will be married.
Kurt's post. The guy her father always wanted her to be with.
Shay’s mind went hazy and he felt nauseated.
“Okay,” Liam said. “Get your bearings, and then we’ll go out to the VIP group. They’ll wait; you know they will. I’ll be back in a sec.” He left.
Shay sucked in a breath and tried to get his bearings. Focus, he needed to focus. Part of Shay couldn’t believe that he was so famous that people would wait to see him after a show—not just wait, but pay a lot of money. For his whole life, he’d dreamed of putting out his music with his family. They’d strived and strived for it until last summer, when he’d met Jaycee and they'd written that song together.
“Tragic, Furious.”
It’d become a craze that swept the country. The song had given his family a surge to viral fame on the internet. Plus, Texas Water's record label had come calling. Now they were on tour.
Shay remembered the day he’d signed with Texas Waters’s label, joining the greats like Sloane Kent. It was humbling and overwhelming and awful at the same time, because Jaycee wasn’t with him.
She'd left him.
When he'd gone to Jackson to sign the paperwork with Texas Waters … she'd just left. Gone to London of all places. And out of his life forever.
She wouldn't answer calls or texts.
And that letter.
She'd left a letter that still made no sense to him, telling him she couldn't go through with the marriage. Telling him she wanted to finish her last year of schooling at Oxford. Telling him … there was someone else.
He hadn't believed the letter, but when he'd gone to London and tried to find her. She wasn't there.
Anywhere.
When he'd come back he'd finally gone to the police and they'd told him that Senator McCade would file a restraining order if he didn't quit stalking his daughter.
Stalking?
Anger surged inside of him and he clenched a hand into a fist as he thought of Kurt's instagram, again. She couldn't be marrying him.
She couldn't.
“You ready, Shay?” Liam poked his head back in.
He tamped down on his anger. “Yeah. I’m coming.” He waved toward the door. “Give me five. I’ll be there.”
“It’s been five.”
Shay stared his brother down.
Liam nodded. “Fine.”
Memories swarmed Shay, letting him see Jaycee as clearly as if she were standing in front of him. Her fire-red hair. Her aqua-green eyes, the color of the prettiest ocean views in the world.
He cringed, transported back to the fire. The smoke. The feel of her in his arms.
Late at night, he would still call her old number. It always went to voicemail within one or two rings, which meant that he was blocked—he’d figured that out from Google. When he tried texting her, the message never said “delivered.”
Shay focused on the mirror that hung above a dressing room table stuffed with makeup and toiletries to use before a concert. The mirror hung crookedly on the wall, and the reflection looking back at him was sweaty and a bit haggard. He laughed, hard enough to make him wheeze. Finally, here was a reflection of the way he actually felt. Off-kilter. Not like the huge banners and posters and the airbrushed pictures for the label.
Again, he thought of Kurt’s post. My true love and I …
He slammed his fist into the side of the couch. Bull! Kurt was not her true love. No way. But the cold, hard fact was that he couldn’t do the thing he wanted to do—quit it all.
No. His family had worked too hard for that. He’d worked hard too, given everything. He would keep it together for them. One foot in front of the other. One day at a time. One vision at a time.
The past year his sister, Shar, had dragged him to work with a succession of therapists, and the latest one had suggested thought replacement. It involved taking one group of thoughts that led you down a
bad path and replacing them with good thoughts that made you happy.
He scoffed. Happiness wasn’t possible. Still, he had to be functional. He put on a smile and his face felt rubbery. Was that how he looked to the rest of the world—rubbery, fake, as phony as he felt?
He moved to the door as it suddenly flew open.
“Oh my gosh.” His sister Shar looked like she’d seen a ghost.
“What’s wrong?”
Slowly, she brought her hands down from her face and stared at him. “Liam didn’t want me to tell you, but … Wow, this is bad.”
“Spit it out,” he said, growing angrier as his mind spun with dark possibilities. “Is it Mom or Dad?”
“No, they’re fine. I spoke with them last night.”
“What?” he demanded. “Just tell me, Shar.”
“She’s here, Shay.” Shar swallowed. “Jaycee is backstage, and she’s asking to see you.”
Chapter 2
She shouldn’t be here.
Jaycee’s mind spun as she tried to focus on just one thing in the room to ground herself. Mason, Shay's brother, had stuffed her into what looked like the makeshift storage room for all the band stuff. Huge boxes containing drums or keyboards were stacked along the sides. She paced, and her attention flitted about to scrutinize random objects.
She wondered why Mason was here? How had he gotten off drugs. A million things she wondered. A million things but the facts were—she hadn't been part of the Summervilles' lives in almost a year…so of course things would be different.
Sucking in a long breath, she thought of last night. She'd boarded a plane from Paris to Las Vegas. Her friend, Tauni, had helped her get the ticket and had dropped her at the airport. She’d shoved the burner phone into Jaycee’s purse and told her to stick to the plan, reminding her that the Summerville’s would help her.
Shay would help her.
Jaycee thought of how she'd had to ditch her bodyguard in London before Tauni had picked her up. The worst part, was that she'd had to ditch her brother, Duke, as well.
Since the fire last year Duke had taken it upon himself to make sure she was safe.
It had been weird. But … wasn't it a good thing Duke had been trying? That's what she had tried to convince herself.
Too bad she'd been halfway drugged up most of last year to know the difference between what was real and what was normal.
Tauni had helped her. Tauni had been a literal God send to her; showing up and staying with her. Tauni had helped her get off the meds and get back to understanding what was real and not real.
She and Tauni had made a plan for how she could escape the clutches of her father.
Too bad the plan involved doing something that would hurt the only man she'd ever loved—Shay.
The man she thought she loved.
The whole plan was a wild card of a chance to get back to Shay. She didn't know if he would help her. She didn't know if he would believe her. She didn't know if he would still love her. But … she had to find out.
When she’d gotten off the plane an hour ago, her mind had felt clear. But now, as she waited for Shay, her stomach was in knots and she felt a bit dizzy. She’d refused any meals or snacks on the flight, and she hadn’t eaten for … she didn’t know how long. Maybe before Tauni had dropped her at the airport. She strained to remember, but her thoughts were so jumbled.
Everything came down to finding out the truth. She needed to verify whether those three weeks last summer were just a figment of her imagination, like her father, Duke, Kurt, and her therapist had said.
They claimed that those weeks had been part of some psychotic break—a break that had almost cost her life in a fire.
Jaycee thought of the smoke, the feeling of drowning, the persistent confusion. Today, she was strong. She would see Shay, the man she thought she loved, and she would ask for his help. She and Tauni had methodically plotted this out for the past couple of weeks. This was part of the plan, and it had to work.
The door flew open, and she came face-to-face with the same guy she’d met almost a year ago—the guy who’d rolled up in a tow truck, the guy she’d kissed when she’d been so upset about her father’s mistress and her mother’s death.
Yet he wasn’t the same guy at all.
“Jaycee,” he whispered, rushing in.
He looked taller, older. His hair was all punk rock, and he wore jeans and a ripped black T-shirt with “Solid Gold Summerville” written on the front. There was black eyeliner beneath his eyes. He looked so different and so completely familiar.
She backed up, but it was no use; the look in his eyes was like a missile heading for a target that wouldn’t be put off course.
“Jaycee,” he repeated, rushing at her, then stopping in front of her.
His siblings followed him.
“Wait,” Mason called out as he held the door for the others. “Shay, just wait a second.”
Shay looking her up and down. "Jaycee," he breathed.
Every part of her wanted to reach for him, but she felt suddenly skittish, like an animal being rushed at and unsure of what to do. "Sh-shay," she breathed back.
The rest of his siblings moved around him.
Shay turned and waved his hand at them. “Get out for a minute please.”
Mason narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't trust her."
"Yeah." Liam agreed.
Leah kept her eyes on Jaycee, but tapped her brothers on the shoulders. "Let's give Shay a minute."
They all filed out, Mason was last, casting a frown at her before letting the door shut.
Her gaze moved back to Shay and he seemed frozen.
"I'm sorry, I …" she felt out of sorts again—had it been real or not real? She put her hand to her head. "I shouldn't have come."
Instantly, Shay closed the gap between them, his hands on her waist, yanking her close.
It was her turn to freeze. She felt his strength, not just in the hard leanness of his body, but in the way his hands held her.
"Jaycee," he whispered, pulling closer. He shoved his face into her hair and inhaled.
All of the memories filtered back. He was hers and she was his. It was like a natural law of nature, like the sun comes up every morning and goes down at night. Simple. True. She put her hands on his shoulders, letting herself be hugged, letting herself feel the calming waters of this man. The faint memory of it all became more and more real.
He pulled back, putting his hands gently on her face. “You came back to me. You came.” He leaned forward, brushing his lips to hers.
Being in his arms was so intense; she had to catch her breath. “Shay,” she whispered. “I …”
His hands trailed her face as if he were a blind man memorizing the features. He laughed, and it sounded raw and vulnerable. “I tried to call you a million times. I couldn’t stop thinking about you."
His hands rushed down her back and to her hips, pulling her closer. He kissed her neck. "I missed you." Another kiss. "I missed you." Another kiss. "I missed you." He let out another laugh. "I knew you couldn't be engaged, I knew it."
"I am engaged," she whispered.
He paused, his hands still on her hips. "Then why are you here?" He didn't sound angry, only confused.
Again, all of the confusion came back. "You left me," she said, her brain still vacillating between the lies and the truth she'd been told. She pulled back, dropping her arms. "Why did you leave me? Why did you leave that letter that told me you couldn't marry me because you wanted to focus on your music?"
Shock crossed onto his face. "What?"
She blinked, the pain of that letter hitting the center of her chest. "It hurt so much." A tear fell down her cheek. "It nearly ripped me apart, Shay."
He reached out, his hands gripping her shoulders. "I never left you a letter." He let out a sardonic laugh. "You left me a letter."
The truth of his statement filled her.
"I tried to find you." Emotion filled his voice. "I went to Lon
don and looked for you and when I got back to Rutherford, I still looked for you. When I went to the police, your father told the police that I was stalking you and if I didn't stop they would file charges against me."
"What?" Again, she felt herself shaking.
"I knew it was all a lie. I knew your father had taken you away from me." He pulled her back into him.
For a long moment, they simply held each other.
Tears fell down her cheeks. "We were both lied to."
He held her. "I knew it. I knew you wouldn't leave me."
She put her hands over his and pulled back. “I didn't leave you. I didn't leave a letter and I came here for two reasons. One, because I had to know…” Focus. She could do this.
“What do you need to know?"
"I need to know the truth."
He let out a chuckle that wasn't happy. "You want to know if I loved you?"
She nodded, feeling all of her vulnerability surface. "Did you love me?"
His eyes narrowed and she felt the same intensity she remembered feeling when she was with Shay. "I've loved you since the minute you called me tow truck boy?” He laughed, brushing his lips to hers, again. "I still love you."
The words were music to her. She sniffed and then laughed, thinking about how much he hadn't liked that name. "Everyone told me that I was crazy. My father, my therapist, Duke. But … I knew."
Shay's jawline flexed. "Your father … he crossed a line."
“It was real. You and I were real,” she whispered.
Shay stepped closer to her, and it was like the words she said didn’t matter, like they fell in the cracks of the space between them. This force of nature was the only thing that did any talking. “Do you remember how I made you ask if you could kiss me?”