Lucky Girl (New Adult Rock Star Romance) (21 page)
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Authors: Emme Rollins
About
Emme Rollins
Emme Rollins is
a USA TODAY and NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR of New Adult/Mature Young Adult fiction. She’s been writing since she could hold a crayon and still chews her pen caps to a mangled plastic mess. She did not, however, eat paste as a kid.
She has two degrees, a bachelor’s and a master’s, one of which she’s still paying for, but neither of which she uses out in the “real world,” because when she isn’t writing, she spends her time growing an organic garden to feed her husband and children (and far too many rabbits and deer!) where they live on twenty gorgeous forested acres in rural Michigan.
She loves tending her beehives (bees are wonderful pollinators and Hello!? Honey!) and keeping up with her daily yoga practice and going for long walks in the woods with her boxer, Rodeo, who loves chasing squirrels almost as much as Emme loves writing!
Emme loves hearing from fans, so feel free to use the contact page to connect with her.
OTHER BOOKS BY THIS AUTHOR
Sara is obsessed with rock star Tyler Vincent, and as she works to complete her senior year, she’s determined to find a way to meet him—although her best friend, Aimee, keeps telling her to find a different escape from her desperately violent home life.
Complications arise when Dale, the mysterious new transfer student, sets his sights on Sara, and she falls for this rock-star-in-the-making in spite of her better judgment. When Sara wins a contest, she is faced with a choice—travel to Tyler Vincent’s home town to meet him, or stay and support Dale in a Battle-of-the-Bands hosted by MTV.
Their triangulated relationship is pushed to its breaking point, but there is another, deeper secret that Dale’s been keeping that just may break things wide open...
Turn up your collar, feather your hair, and splash on some Polo, because we’re going back to the ‘80’s when MTV played music videos, there was no such thing as American Idol, and becoming a star meant doing nothing short of crazy for that one, big break.
EXCERPT:
“I dropped out in my senior year. Three years ago.” Dale sipped his Coke too, looking at me over the rim. He had a way of seeing into me that was disconcerting. I felt naked in front of him.
“Let me guess? You wanted to make it in the music business?”
“My parents were having problems.” He sat back in his chair, picking at his food. “My dad left my mom. We moved to Seattle. That’s when I really started getting more serious about music.”
“And your dad was okay with you quitting school?”
He snorted. “No. But he I didn’t give him a say. I moved out.”
“So, how did you end up here?”
“I told you. He got a job at Rutgers.” He seemed far away now, distant. I didn’t like it.
“But you weren’t living with him?”
Dale shrugged. “He asked me to come with him. He said he’d pay for everything, let me live with him, and I could pursue my music as long as I was working on getting my diploma.”
I nodded. “So the Academy is your compromise.”
“Well, I knew about the battle of the bands before we moved.” He flashed me a brief smile. God, that dimple. “MTV did them last year in New York, and I had it on good authority they were going to do them again this year. I figured I’d have time to put a band together and give it a shot.”
“Well now that I’ve seen you, I think you’ve got a pretty good one,” I said honestly. That was an understatement. I couldn’t imagine anyone beating them.
“You think so?”
I nudged him with my knee under the table. “I think you know it.”
“I still like to hear it.” He turned to look at me, his eyes searching. “Especially from you.”
I smiled, reaching over and taking his hand, giving him exactly what he’d asked for. He deserved it. “You’re very good. You’re an amazing singer. You’re an incredible performer. I’ve never seen a crowd go crazy like that for someone they’d never seen before. I mean, celebrity takes time. Exposure. I think you’re one of those people who draws other people in. Like a magnet. You’re going to have people following you around, no matter what you do. For the rest of your life.”
He was actually blushing. “Why do you say that?”
“Because that’s how you make me feel,” I confessed, biting my lip, almost wishing I hadn’t said it.
“Hm.” He made a little noise in his throat, turning my hand over in his, tracing the lines in my palm with his fingertip like he was following a road map. “How do I make you feel?”
“Like I would follow you anywhere,” I whispered.
He lifted my hand and pressed his lips to my palm, closing his eyes briefly, and I noticed how long and dark his lashes were before he looked at me with that intense, blue gaze, telling me more with one look than either of could ever say in words.
“When I saw you in the audience today, I don’t even know how to tell you what it did to me.” He shook his head, twining his fingers with mine.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were performing?” I asked softly.
“Because I didn’t want that to happen.” He gave a short laugh. “I didn’t want to be distracted. I wasn’t supposed to let myself get distracted…”
He met my eyes, the emotion in them so strong I felt it before he even said the words. “Sara, I don’t think you understand what you do to me.”
“What do you mean?” Now it was my turn to ask him.
“I couldn’t think,” he confessed. “Thank God the song was over, because the minute I saw you… I was done for.”
“Oh please.” I smiled, teasing him. “All those screaming girls. I’m surprised they weren’t throwing panties at you.”
“Sometimes they do.” He grinned. “But that never mattered to me.”
I blinked in surprise. “What does matter to you?”
“Now? You.” He squeezed my hand in his, that was all, but the sensation shot up my arm with a jolt that nearly knocked me off my chair.
“Dale, do you realize how crazy that sounds?” I whispered, glancing around like someone might overhear us. “We’ve only known each other for a week.”
“Sometimes the best things in life are crazy.”
I laughed. “I can’t argue with that.”
It was crazy.
It was all crazy.
Me and Tyler Vincent.
Me and Dale Diamond.
But somehow the latter had fully eclipsed the former in my mind—and my heart—at least in the moment.
Should some secrets remain buried?
Dusty has always been a hothead, far more impulsive than her twin, Nick, the calm, cool and collected one of the pair. But Nick is dead, found murdered in their local cemetery, and Dusty simply can’t rest until she finds out who—or what—has killed her brother.
Sure the local authorities aren’t being straight with her—or anyone else—about what’s been going on in their little upper Michigan town, Dusty delays going off to college for a semester, defying her father and stepmother and taking a job in the local bar to start doing some digging.
Her focus soon fixes on Shane, her brother’s best friend and the town bad boy. The tension and rivalry between Dusty and Shane has always been palpable and sparks fly as the two collide. Dusty finds herself sinking in deeper with Shane and the mystery of what happened to her brother—and a lengthening list of victims—grows even stranger.
When everything comes to a head, Dusty focuses on one thing: What happened the night her brother was killed in the cemetery? She’s sure Shane is keeping a secret and she’s determined to find out what it is, one way or another.
Lucky Girl
© October 2013 by Emme Rollins
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Cover Art by Willsin Rowe © 2013
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