Small Town Girl
Authors: Gemma Brooks
SMALL
TOWN GIRL
GEMMA BROOKS
COPYRIGHT 2014 GEMMA BROOKS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form without written permission from the publisher or author. If you are
reading this book and you have not purchased it or received an advanced copy
directly from the author, this book has been pirated.
This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the
product of the author’s imagination or, if an actual place, are used
fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does
not have any control and does not assume any responsibility for author or
third-party websites or their content.
Cover
by Felicia Burrows
Editing
by H.L. Mayfield
DEDICATION
To JM – with every
beat of my heart.
Gemma
DESCRIPTION
HUDSON
We didn’t have
anything like her back home.
A bona fide head turnin’,
heartbreakin’, small town girl approached me on a dare from her friends.
Whiskey on her pretty lips and a sway in her hips, she lost all composure the
second our eyes locked. And the moment I kissed her, I knew I had to get her
out of that place. I had to take her home with me. One look in her eyes, and I
knew we were on the verge of something amazing. All she had to do was trust me…
BRYNN
A bona fide
smooth talkin’, expensive haircut havin’, fancy watch wearin’ movie star rolled
into my little town to film a movie.
He said he wanted
to show me the world. Take me under his wing. And he got upset when I
questioned his intentions. But what could a big name movie star like him
possibly want with me?
A virtual nobody?
It was hard
to question his motives when his hands were all over my body and his lips were
whispering all the right words, but I had to protect my heart. I had to be
extra careful with this one. He was unlike any guy I'd ever met before, and he
had the power to destroy me in one fell swoop.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
This is the remastered, novelized version of the STARSTRUCK series. If you have
read the STARSTRUCK series, you have already read this book. Due to adult
content, this novel is recommended for mature readers.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Monotony had a name and it was Rock River.
But on the rare occasion, exciting things rolled into town and kept my life
from becoming intolerably dull.
“Can you believe they’re filming a movie at
the Kaufman’s farm?” I asked as I took a sip of my whiskey sour, one finger
hooked through my belt loop. There was a buzz in the air.
Raw
energy of sorts.
It was tradition every Friday night to
meet up at the one and only bar in town for drinks. Whoever named the bar The
Manhattan had an odd sense of humor. We were smack dab in the middle of the
country, surrounded by miles and miles of Iowa cornfields.
There was never much to do around here.
The closest city with an ounce of entertainment and nightlife was a solid two-hour
drive from us, so most of the time we stayed local and made the best of it as
we hung out with our own.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” Luke, said as
he slipped his arms around my shoulders like I was his kid sister. “Not
everyday something that exciting comes to Rock River.”
Luke and I had been best friends since we
were in grade school, but the year I turned sixteen something changed. The annoying
boy who used to chase me around with worms, the middle schooler who had a
squeaky voice and a chin full of pimples, the guy who would roughhouse with me
like I was one of the boys had suddenly turned into this strapping, gorgeous
guy who made my heart flutter.
Almost overnight, the other girls took
notice too and he became the most sought after boy in school, which I know
didn’t mean much when you graduated with a class of fifty, but still. He was
gorgeous, all 6’3’’ of him, and he was my best friend, which only made it that
much harder to tell him how I felt.
A million times it was on the tip of my
tongue and a million times, I clammed up. I couldn’t tell him how I felt, so
instead I kept him close. We were practically inseparable, and all I could do
was wait for him to someday love me back. So I ditched college and stayed in
Rock River, never wanting to be too far from Luke.
It had been almost seven years since I
first realized I loved Luke Summers. Over the years, I sat by as he dated and
eventually dumped a handful of girlfriends, always hoping that I might be the
next one, but it never happened. Through the sling of girls Luke had dated, I
was always the one he came back to. I took comfort in that, even if it wasn’t
in a romantic sense.
He’d worked for his dad since right after
high school, and every year he’d buy a few acres and a few head of cattle as he
tried to build up his own little farming empire. I loved that about him. He was
so ambitious and hardworking. I just knew he was going to make an amazing
husband someday. I couldn’t imagine spending my life with anyone but him. He
was my first love, even if he didn’t love me back in that way. I never gave up
hope.
“So who’s in this movie they’re filming?”
my best friend, Piper, asked.
“Um, you don’t know?” I said with a
smirk. “Hudson Smith.”
His name rolled off my tongue, lingering
like warm brandy. He was only one of the hottest A-list actors in Hollywood. I
may have lived a boring life of isolation in the middle of Iowa, but I never
missed an issue of Us Weekly.
“Hudson Smith?” Piper said as a grin
spread over her face. “We should totally go drive around town some night soon
and try to find him.”
“I’m game,” I said with a mischievous
smile. There were many things we did in our small town to keep ourselves
entertained. Driving around and looking for people was one of them.
“Brynn used to be obsessed with him,”
Luke teased as he nudged me.
“Like insanely obsessed,”
Piper
added. “Poster on the wall obsessed.”
“I was fourteen, you guys,” I said.
“I’m getting another beer. You guys want
anything?” Luke offered. It was rare that he’d offer. It seemed like someone
was always waiting hand and foot on him, not the other way around.
I held my glass in front of Luke’s face.
“Yes, please. And do I know you right now?”
“Take advantage of it while you can,” he
said as he leaned over and pinched my arm. He smelled like sweet hay and musk
from a day of working in the field.
The front door to the bar swung wide
open, letting what was left of the daylight outside fill up our space for a
brief moment. The men who entered were wearing mostly black. They definitely
weren’t from Rock River. Every set of eyes in the bar honed in on the strangers
as they made their way towards the bar and filled up every last available bar
stool.
“Must be part of the film crew?” Luke
mused.
“Duh,” Piper said as she turned around
and quickly lost interest. “If it’s not anyone famous I could give two shits.”
“I don’t recognize anyone,” I said as I
turned back away.
Within seconds, the front door swung open
again and a single man stood in the doorway. I spun around to catch a glimpse
and watched as a broad shouldered hunk of meat lingered. He peered around the
room, waiting for his eyes to adjust, and bee lined it for the bar where the other
men were perched.
“Is that who I think it is?” I said as I
squinted to get a better look. I’d stared at pictures of Hudson Smith a million
times in the pages of my magazines, but I’d always heard celebrities looked
different in person.
“No fucking way,” Luke said as he cocked
his head and tossed back the rest of his beer. “Well, Brynn, there you go. Go
make your move.”
“You’re not seriously going to talk to
him, are you?” Piper asked.
I hesitated as I locked eyes with Luke.
Never in a million years did I stand a chance at hooking up with someone like
Hudson Smith, but when was I ever going to run into him again?
“Yeah,” he said with an entertained grin.
“Brynn, go talk to him. I dare you.”
I studied Luke’s face, hoping to find a
hint of jealousy or hoping he’d talk me out of it. Sometimes I felt like he
liked me but was just afraid to tell me. This would’ve been a great time to
tell me not to go talk to some other guy, but Luke was practically pushing me
towards Hudson, giving me away like some cheap token to be had.
“You think I should?” I asked, directing
my question at Luke and only Luke. “He might sweep me off my feet and you
guys’ll never see me again.”
He laughed and tossed his head back as if
that scenario couldn’t have been more farfetched. He was probably right. “Do
it. Go for it. See if he takes the bait.”
Piper watched me intently, almost in
disbelief that I was even considering it. Ever since we were kids, I was always
the shy one of the group. Luke was the charismatic, magnetic one. Piper was the
chatty, extroverted one. And then there was quiet little me, always content to
sit on the sidelines while everyone else had all the fun.
“So, are you going to go chat him up or
what?” she asked.
I glanced across the room, and my heart
began to flutter. The idea of hooking up with someone like him was so
far-fetched and unrealistic. He was probably used to gobs and gobs of fans
approaching him, hitting on him, asking for his autograph and everything else.
I wasn’t sure if I could handle being ignored or rebuffed by someone like
Hudson, but then again, it wasn’t any kind of embarrassment that a few drinks
couldn’t numb.
I took a deep breath and tried to muster
up an ounce of courage. My drink was finally working its way through my veins,
and I could feel my buzz turning into a slightly drunken state.
I can do this, I told myself. He’s just a
person like anyone else. I have nothing to lose but a tiny bit of dignity.
“Are you sure I should do this, Luke?” I
asked him one last time. I secretly hoped he would tell me not to do it, but I
had a feeling I was just annoying him at that point.
“Yeah,” he said with a drunken laugh.
“Stop waffling. Go for it.”
The fact that Luke didn’t seem the least
bit jaded by my approaching Hudson Smith tore away a little bit at me. There
were times Luke would give me a certain look or make a certain comment, and I
was sure it meant something. Apparently it had all been nothing but wishful
thinking on my end.
Over the years I’d tried dating a few
different guys, but nothing ever lasted. They were never right for me. They
were never good enough.
They
weren’t
Luke
.
“Here, finish this,” Piper said as she
handed me her half-empty drink. “You look nervous.”
“Um, I am nervous,” I said as I swiftly
grabbed it from her, downed it, and slammed it on the table. “Give me a few
minutes.”
“What are you going to say?” Piper asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I guess I hadn’t
thought about it.”
“Just wing it,” Luke said. “He’ll
probably ignore you anyway.”
“Thanks,” I said to him in a sarcastic
tone. “Way to make me feel less nervous.”
Luke let out the most annoying cackle,
like he was way past drunk. He tended to overdo it sometimes, but I was used to
it.
My body started to warm over, and I was
feeling a bit more confident thanks to downing the rest of Piper’s vodka soda.
“Okay, I’m doing this,” I said. I reached
down into my purse and strategically pulled out a tube of red Cover Girl
lipstick. I slicked it on, rubbed my lips together, and fluffed my hair. I
glanced over at Luke one last time who was just grinning and standing
there
waiting for the show to start.
In my heart of hearts, I knew I didn’t
stand a chance in hell with Hudson. In my mission to try to give Luke a chance
to admit he had feelings for me, I’d backed myself into a corner. There was no
turning back. I had to go through with it.
Each step I took across the bar brought
me closer to the stool where Hudson’s beautiful ass was resting. Even from
behind, he gave me goose bumps. The way he sat with his broad shoulders
slightly hunched over the counter, drink resting lightly in one hand, were
enough to give me butterflies. The glint of a platinum and diamond encrusted
watch shimmered under the faint, incandescent bar lighting.
As I approached, one of the men dressed
in black edged in closer to him. I didn’t know if it was intentional or what,
but I began to panic a little until he moved out of the way again. I had my
shot. I had to take it.
“Excuse me,” I yelled over the loud music
that pumped out of the speakers in each corner of the bar. I waited. Nothing.
“Excuse me.”
I didn’t know if he was ignoring me or if
he just couldn’t hear me. One of the guys sitting next to him clearly heard me
because he spun around, then tapped Hudson on the shoulder and pointed towards
me.
As if in slow motion, Hudson spun around
in his stool, clutching a tumbler of amber colored whiskey in his hand. My
knees began to buckle.
I expected him to give me a once over, to
look me up and down, but he didn’t. His intense, dark brown eyes locked into
mine, and I couldn’t turn away. My lips wanted to move, to say something, but I
couldn’t. One look from Hudson put me in a trance.
“Yes?” he said as he finally broke the
silence. He leaned back with his elbows resting on the counter behind him, the
epitome of confidence.
“H-hi,” I stammered. I was off to a great
start already. “I’m Brynn.”
“Hi, Brynn,” he said. The way my name
rolled off his tongue sent my body reeling. “I’m Hudson.”
I smiled coyly as I searched for the
right thing to say next.
“I just wanted to say welcome to Rock
River,” I said. “I don’t know how long you’re in town for, but if you need
anyone to show you around, I’m your girl.”
“Oh, yeah?” he replied, eyes steadily
gazing into mine. “I appreciate that. Thank you, Brynn.”
I so badly wanted the conversation to
continue, but I realized I hadn’t left it very open-ended. I lingered for a few
moments, awkwardly, as he stared deep into my eyes.
“I, um, just need to order another
drink,” I said as I flagged down the bartender. “Jack and Coke.”
The bartender mixed my cocktail as I
stood and waited. Hudson still hadn’t turned back around. He was still facing
me, staring at me, in the same relaxed position. I casually turned back to see
what Piper and Luke were up to, but they were standing at their table watching
like a couple of pathetic idiots enjoying their cheap entertainment.
The bartender sat my drink down, and as I
reached over to hand him a five, Hudson grabbed my hand. His touch sent shivers
down my spine.
“It’s on me,” he said with a smile and a
wink. He reached down and pulled his wallet from his pocket, slapping a twenty
on the bar and sliding it to the bartender. “Keep the rest.”
“You didn’t have to do that,” I said to
him.
“You didn’t have to come over here and
welcome me to your little town,” he said as he took a sip from his drink, his
eyes never leaving mine. “But you did.”
I tried to study him, to take him all in.
I was sure this would probably be the only time in my life I’d ever be within
spitting distance of a bona fide celebrity, and he just happened to be one of
the hottest men on the planet. Seriously. I think he was voted some magazine’s
“Hottest Man of the Year” that year. His hair was dark, cut a little short, and
slicked with some sort of brill cream. His barely visible five o’clock shadow
suggested he’d probably last shaved earlier that morning. His skin was smooth
and flawless, and his lips were like two kissably soft pillows.