Rough Rhythm: A Made in Jersey Novella (1001 Dark Nights)

BOOK: Rough Rhythm: A Made in Jersey Novella (1001 Dark Nights)
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Rough Rhythm

A Made In Jersey Novella

By Tessa Bailey

 

 

1001 Dark Nights

 

Rough Rhythm

A Made In Jersey Novella

By Tessa Bailey

 

1001 Dark Nights

 

Copyright 2016 Tessa Bailey

ISBN: 978-1-940887-97-5

 

Foreword: Copyright 2014 M. J. Rose

 

Published by Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

 

Book Description

ROUGH RHYTHM

By Tessa Bailey

 

God help the woman I take home tonight.

 

Band manager James Brandon never expected to find the elusive satisfaction he’d been chasing, let alone stumble upon it in some sleezy Hollywood meat market. Yet the girl’s quiet pride spoke to him from across the bar, louder than a shout. Troubled, hungry and homeless, she’d placed her trust in him. But after losing the grip on his dark desires that one fateful night, James has spent the last four years atoning for letting her down.

 

This time I’ll finally crack him.

 

Rock band drummer Lita Regina has had enough of James’s guilt. She wants the explosive man she met that night in Hollywood. The man who held nothing back and took no prisoners—save Lita. And she’ll stop at nothing to revive him. Even if it means throwing herself into peril at every turn, just to get a reaction from her stoic manager. But when Lita takes her quest one step too far, James disappears from her life, thinking his absence will keep her safe.

 

Now it’s up to Lita to bring James back…and ignite an inferno of passion in the process. 

 

 

Reader Advisory:
ROUGH RHYTHM
contains fantasies of nonconsensual sex, acted upon by consenting characters. Readers with sensitivity to portrayals of nonconsensual sex should be advised.

 

About Tessa Bailey

Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, she packed her yearbook, ripped jeans and laptop, driving cross-country to New York City in under four days. Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the work force as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention. She now lives in Long Island, New York with her husband of eight years and four-year-old daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.

 

Also from Tessa Bailey

Click to purchase

 

Baiting the Maid of Honor

Unfixable
(New Adult)

Protecting What's Theirs
(novella)

Staking His Claim

Asking For Trouble

Officer Off Limits

His Risk to Take

Protecting What's His

Owned by Fate

Exposed by Fate

Riskier Business

Risking It All
(Crossing the Line 1)

Driven by Fate

Chase Me
(Broke & Beautiful 1)

Need Me
(Broke & Beautiful 2)

Off Base
(novella)

Up in Smoke
(Crossing the Line 2)

Make Me
(Broke & Beautiful 3)

Crashed Out
(Made in Jersey 1)

Boiling Point
(Crossing the Line 3)

Rough Rhythm

 

Upcoming releases:

 

Thrown Down
(Made in Jersey 2), April 2016

Raw Redemption
(Crossing the Line 4), June 2016

Worked Up (Made in Jersey 3), August 2016

Wound Tight (Made in Jersey 4), December 2016

 

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Liz Berry, M.J. Rose, Jillian Stein and the rest of the magical team behind 1001 Dark Nights. What a freeing experience this was for me as a writer. Your encouragement and excitement is contagious.

 

Thank you, as always, to my husband, Patrick, and daughter, Mackenzie, who support me every single day and love me through the ups and downs.

 

Thank to my agent, Laura Bradford, for being a steady presence and also the first person to ask, are you
sure
you want to add
more
books to your schedule?

 

Thank you to Stephanie Lapensee at Inkslinger for reading this book, loving it, and giving me a boost of confidence when needed.

 

Thank you to Eagle at Aquila Editing for beta reading this book and wanting to know more about James and Lita’s first night together—I think it made a difference to the story.

 

Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection One

Click
here
to explore

 

FOREVER WICKED
by Shayla Black

CRIMSON TWILIGHT
by Heather Graham

CAPTURED IN SURRENDER
by Liliana Hart

SILENT BITE: A SCANGUARDS WEDDING
by Tina Folsom

DUNGEON GAMES
by Lexi Blake

AZAGOTH
by Larissa Ione

NEED YOU NOW
by Lisa Renee Jones

SHOW ME, BABY
by Cherise Sinclair

ROPED IN
by Lorelei James

TEMPTED BY MIDNIGHT
by Lara Adrian

THE FLAME
by Christopher Rice

CARESS OF DARKNESS
by Julie Kenner

 

 

Also from 1001 Dark Nights

 

TAME ME
by J. Kenner

 

Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Two

Click
here
to explore

 

WICKED WOLF
by Carrie Ann Ryan

WHEN IRISH EYES ARE HAUNTING
by Heather Graham

EASY WITH YOU
by Kristen Proby

MASTER OF FREEDOM
by Cherise Sinclair

CARESS OF PLEASURE
by Julie Kenner

ADORED
by Lexi Blake

HADES
by Larissa Ione

RAVAGED
by Elisabeth Naughton

DREAM OF YOU
by Jennifer L. Armentrout

STRIPPED DOWN
by Lorelei James

RAGE/KILLIAN
by Alexandra Ivy/Laura Wright

DRAGON KING
by Donna Grant

PURE WICKED
by Shayla Black

HARD AS STEEL
by Laura Kaye

STROKE OF MIDNIGHT
by Lara Adrian

ALL HALLOWS EVE
by Heather Graham

KISS THE FLAME
by Christopher Rice

DARING HER LOVE
by Melissa Foster

TEASED
by Rebecca Zanetti

THE PROMISE OF SURRENDER
by Liliana Hart

 

 

Also from 1001 Dark Nights

 

THE SURRENDER GATE
By Christopher Rice

SERVICING THE TARGET
By Cherise Sinclair

 

Table Of Contents

Book Description

About Tessa Bailey

Also by Tessa Bailey

Author Acknowledgments

Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection One

Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Two

Foreword

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

Discover 1001 Dark Nights Collection Three

Discover the World of 1001 Dark Nights

An excerpt from Thrown Down by Tessa Bailey

Special Thanks

 

One Thousand And One Dark Nights

Once upon a time, in the future…

 

I was a student fascinated with stories and learning.

I studied philosophy, poetry, history, the occult, and

the art and science of love and magic. I had a vast

library at my father’s home and collected thousands

of volumes of fantastic tales.

 

I learned all about ancient races and bygone

times. About myths and legends and dreams of all

people through the millennium. And the more I read

the stronger my imagination grew until I discovered

that I was able to travel into the stories... to actually

become part of them.

 

I wish I could say that I listened to my teacher

and respected my gift, as I ought to have. If I had, I

would not be telling you this tale now.

But I was foolhardy and confused, showing off

with bravery.

 

One afternoon, curious about the myth of the

Arabian Nights, I traveled back to ancient Persia to

see for myself if it was true that every day Shahryar

(Persian:
شهریار,
“king”) married a new virgin, and then

sent yesterday’s wife to be beheaded. It was written

and I had read, that by the time he met Scheherazade,

the vizier’s daughter, he’d killed one thousand

women.

 

Something went wrong with my efforts. I arrived

in the midst of the story and somehow exchanged

places with Scheherazade – a phenomena that had

never occurred before and that still to this day, I

cannot explain.

 

Now I am trapped in that ancient past. I have

taken on Scheherazade’s life and the only way I can

protect myself and stay alive is to do what she did to

protect herself and stay alive.

 

Every night the King calls for me and listens as I spin tales.

And when the evening ends and dawn breaks, I stop at a

point that leaves him breathless and yearning for more.

And so the King spares my life for one more day, so that

he might hear the rest of my dark tale.

 

As soon as I finish a story... I begin a new

one... like the one that you, dear reader, have before

you now.

 

Prologue

God help the woman he took home tonight.

James Brandon stared down the bar, pegging each customer as they entered his field of vision. Recent divorcée making up for lost time. A new employee showing off to his blasé coworkers by buying a round of tequila shots. Two women pretending to be indecisive over their beverage order, when really they were just waiting for someone to send them drinks. It wouldn’t be him. Christ, he hated this meat market. What the hell had he been thinking coming here?

BOOK: Rough Rhythm: A Made in Jersey Novella (1001 Dark Nights)
11.2Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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