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HENDRIX
Caldwell Brothers #1
MJ Fields and Chelsea Camaron
Loveswept
Perfect
for fans of J. S. Scott and Emma Chase, Hendrix introduces the wild and sexy
Caldwell boys—three brothers who are living up to their legendary names in
Detroit Rock City.
Hendrix Caldwell wants nothing more than to revitalize the family bar—and tear down every last reminder of his no-good father. But business isn’t the only thing on his mind. An explosive encounter with a stranger at a charity masquerade is just the distraction he craves, with no names and no strings attached. For Hendrix, sex is casual, and love is a four-letter word. His commitment is to his brothers, his bar, and his bike. So why can’t he stop thinking about the naughty Cinderella who rocked his world, then left him—and her panties—behind?
Olivia Hemmingway knows fairytales are for little girls. Drowning in debt and hiding a shameful secret, she won’t be saved by a knight in tattooed armor, no matter how mind-blowing their one-night stand may have been. Olivia never expects to meet her masked lover again. But when she takes a job at Hendrix Caldwell’s bar, her sexy new boss seems all too familiar. And once the lights go out and the music is turned up, the sparks between them burn hotter than ever.
REVIEW
Hendrix Caldwell wants nothing more than to revitalize the family bar—and tear down every last reminder of his no-good father. But business isn’t the only thing on his mind. An explosive encounter with a stranger at a charity masquerade is just the distraction he craves, with no names and no strings attached. For Hendrix, sex is casual, and love is a four-letter word. His commitment is to his brothers, his bar, and his bike. So why can’t he stop thinking about the naughty Cinderella who rocked his world, then left him—and her panties—behind?
Olivia Hemmingway knows fairytales are for little girls. Drowning in debt and hiding a shameful secret, she won’t be saved by a knight in tattooed armor, no matter how mind-blowing their one-night stand may have been. Olivia never expects to meet her masked lover again. But when she takes a job at Hendrix Caldwell’s bar, her sexy new boss seems all too familiar. And once the lights go out and the music is turned up, the sparks between them burn hotter than ever.
REVIEW
I received a ARC in exchange for a honest review.
4.5* read.
I really like both these authors so I was intrigued as to
what brilliance they could write together. I loved the story and the characters
especially Hendrix who I fell in love with. He was a sexy hot alpha who had his
deep broody side too. Even better is he has brothers who are just as sexy, yumm.
Olivia was a perfect match for Hendrix and I loved their relationship and how
they first met. It had its laugh out loud moments but also some real emotion
too. These two together were hot and as a reader I invested in them together.
I cant wait for the other brothers books too and will be
keeping my eyes open for when their released so I can fall in love with another
brother.
Excerpt
I walk in the bar on a Friday morning after my run
with Floyd along the riverside. We don’t open until noon , but I have to place stock orders
for next week.
I start up the coffeepot in the kitchen, then walk
out behind the bar. The place looks like hell. It better have been a busy
fucking night.
The weekday barmaid, Lola, is getting lazy. I swear
to fuck, she spends more time applying that glossy shit to her lips than she
does doing the job she is paid for.
Work ethic is sorely lacking nowadays. Everyone
wants something for fucking free. What happened to hard work, perseverance,
dedication, and determination?
I watched my momma bust her ass for years. Even
though I heard a million damn times, “This is my bar,” come out of my old man’s
mouth, it was Momma who held those qualities—the
ones it takes to run a business—not him.
Sighing, I wipe the sticky mess from last night off
the nicked-up old oak bar. One of the four sinks under the bar hasn’t drained
completely, so I reach down, pull out the lime wedges plugging it up, and throw
them in the trash that I notice wasn’t taken out. The coolers aren’t stocked,
the fruit trays are sitting in the melted ice under the soda tap, and I am
ready to fucking explode.
When I walk around the bar and look down, I find
the fucking floor isn’t swept or mopped, and there are full ashtrays on the pub
tables. What’s more, I have at least an hour’s worth of paperwork and orders to
place before I can even start the damn cleanup. Orders that have to be placed,
or I won’t get a delivery on Monday when the bar is closed, and I will be
fucked.
I decide the priority lies on getting the order in,
so I head back behind the bar and walk up the steps between the kitchen and the
back of the bar to my office.
I walk in, and there is old Lola, bare-assed, lying
across my old man’s waist.
“Get the fuck up,” I yell.
She startles and jumps. “Oh, God. Oh, Hendrix—”
“Get the fuck out of my office. You, too, old man.”
“You watch your tone with me, boy.” He glowers at
me as he sits up.
“I ain’t gotta watch shit, old man. What the fuck
are you doing here? What the fuck are you doing with my employee?”
“I think it’s obvious what I’m doing here, son,” he
slurs as he stands.
“Get your pathetic ass out of here.” I point to the
door. “Lola, I’m sorry about this—”
“We love each other,” she says and starts crying.
“Is that so?” I force a laugh and shake my head as
I look at my pop’s pitiful ass as he buttons up.
“Yes,” she answers and grabs his hand when it is
free. “We’ve been in love for a year.”
I look at him, waiting for him to deny this “love.”
Hell, as long as I’ve been alive, I have never heard him say that word, to Mom
or any of us. The denial never comes, though.
“A year? So Mom was still alive?”
Still no answer, and at that moment, charity ceases
to exist.
“Get your shit out of the apartment. And, Lola,
you’re fired. You may wanna get yourself checked, too, old girl. His dick is a
weapon.”
“How dare you? You can’t do that!” he yells at me.
“It’s done. Now get out.” I don’t yell, don’t
fight. This is actually fucking perfect.
He had been under the protection of my mother for
all my life and stayed that way through grief’s numbing aftereffects over the
last year.
The first step in the grieving process is denial
and isolation. My brothers and I hit denial from the word “terminal,” but with
only a two-month warning of expiration, there wasn’t time to go hiding out. The
next step in the grieving process is anger. I have been stuck on that one for a
while now. There are even stages to this particular stage. I get pissed, and
then I am numb. Then, before I know it, I’m right back to being pissed again.
Lola is wiping the smudged mascara off her face. I
can hear my dad mutter to her, “Guess we were meant to be, you and me.” He puts
his hand on her ass as he looks over his shoulder at me, giving me his glare.
It is the same glare that once made my mother and us boys cower, but now holds
no weight over me.
“It’ll last as long as she stays your meal ticket,”
I respond back as Lola shakes her head and continues going about gathering
their things.
I head down to get back to work. He has no control
over this family any longer.
“Lost another one?” Jagger strolls in and laughs.
His assumption is based off the obvious fucking mess of the bar he’s taking in.
“Maybe,” I answer noncommittally.
“Seriously, bro, you need to learn to play nice
with others.”
“Look, unless you’re here to take on another
night—step it up a bit—I don’t wanna hear shit.”
“I liked Lola,” he says as he sits down on the
other side of the bar.
I hold my finger in front of my mouth, keeping him
quiet, and point up. “You hear heels clicking up the wooden stairs into the
apartment?”
When he looks at me like he has no clue, I raise my
eyebrow and shake my head.
“No shit?” he asks when he catches on.
“Just found ’em in my fucking office. Told him a
month ago, when I caught him skimming from the till, he was out. Not to step
foot in my fucking place again, or he could pack his shit.”
He nods and then shakes his head. Then, his fists
ball up as he takes a moment to look down.
“What are you gonna do?” he asks finally.
“He’s packing his shit.”
“You for real, man?” There is a mischievous look in
his eyes, making my kid brother look kind of happy. Looks good on him. Ain’t
seen it in a long damn while.
“As fucking real as terminal cancer.”
Some people wouldn’t find that the least bit
amusing, but they aren’t Caldwells
I look up when the door opens to see my buddy
Johnny, the cop. It isn’t unlike him to stop by on a chilly morning and grab a
cup of coffee.
Jagger stands to greet him. “Got bail?” my brother
asks me.
“You’re fucking joking, right?” I shake my head,
then look at his knuckles, and nah, he isn’t joking.
“Jagger, you know I have to take you in.” Johnny is
pissed. “You beat the shit out of your landlord.”
“His kid was crying. Heard her through the wall,
opened the door, and she’s running down the hall. Fucker came out chasing her
with a belt.”
“So you beat him to the ground?” Johnny asks,
taking the cup of coffee I slide across the bar. “How about call 911? That’s my
job, man. Now she’s so scared she’s not talking and won’t press charges—”
“What do you mean, ‘won’t press charges’!”
Jagger’s vein is popping out of his neck. “She had switch marks across her
goddamned neck, Johnny. She’s a fucking kid; she needs someone—”
“She’s seventeen. Can’t make her do shit, you hear
me?” Johnny states, then points to the door. “Restraining order, so now you got
nowhere to live, and when the judge asks where you work, what are you gonna
say? ‘I smash people up in abandoned warehouses while others stand around and
watch’? It’s fucking illegal.”
“Nah, man, I got a job.” Jagger chuckles. “I’m a
motherfucking astronaut. Just got back from the moon last night. Shit looks
good up there.”
“Last time, you told the judge you were a fucking
OB-GYN apprentice, and that got you a week in county.”
Jagger smirks and looks to me. “Do I have a place
to live?”
“Of course you do.” I lean against the bar and
cross my arms over my chest.
“I work here, right?” Jagger winks.
“Yeah, man, you do. Call me after your photo shoot and
fingerprints. I’ll be down to pick you up.”
With that, I watch them walk out. Only Jag can
climb in the back of the squad car like he is getting in a damn taxi. Then, I
see the old man and Lola the bar whore walk by with garbage bags from the side
alley. They must have taken the back exit. Good riddance.
I feel a weight lift off my shoulders just before
the guilt washes over me. I should have booted his ass years ago. Then, maybe
Momma would have paid attention to the few symptoms she did have, cramping and
shit. She wouldn’t have thought they were just everyday stresses of working too
damn hard. The everyday stresses I knew damn well came from dealing with his
sorry ass.
I wish I could go back so fucking bad.
You know what the third step to grief is? Bargaining.
Right now, that is what I’m doing. If I only had done this . . . God, if I do this, will you
make the loss less?
Yeah, that shit is what I’m doing right now. Does
it bother me? Hell yes. But, I also embrace this new stage in life.
Bring. It. On.
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USA Today bestselling
author Chelsea Camaron grew up turning wrenches alongside her
father, which just so happened to inspire her Love and Repair and The Hellions
Ride series. When she’s not writing, you can find her playing with her kids,
attending car shows, going on motorcycle rides on the back of her husband’s
Harley, snuggling down with her new favorite book, or watching any movie that
Vin Diesel might happen to be in. She lives in Louisiana with her husband and
two children.
MJ Fields is the USA Today
bestselling author of the Love series, the Wrapped series, the Burning Souls
series, the Men of Steel series, and the Norfolk series. A former
small-business owner who recently became a full-time writer, Fields lives in
central New York, surrounded by family and friends. Her house is full of pets,
friends, and noise ninety percent of the time, and she wouldn’t have it any
other way.
Want more Caldwell Brothers?
Pre-Order Book Two
MORRISON
Releasing Dec 1st, 2015
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