A Wilder Brothers: Bitter End Romance
"The Wilder brothers - 100% swoon-worthy!"
"a really cute, funny, adorable and slightly heartbreaking single-dad-cowboy-CEO-nanny romance"
Single Dad Seeks Nanny...
Olivia Bennett left New York hoping to find answers, and maybe a little bit of revenge. What she didn’t expect was to run into single dad cowboy Wyatt Wilder on the side of a Tennessee mountain when he saves her and her two friends from certain disaster.
He's powerful, rich and handsome. He’s also grumpy, self-important, overly proud and incapable of being polite. And, if she wants to be able to pay for the repairs on her wrecked RV, he’s also going to be her new boss. He needs a nanny. She needs the temporary live-in position caring for his daughter, so she’d better toe the line, no matter how she feels about the man. And she has all the feels.
Wyatt pushes all her buttons—the good ones and the bad. Even with her usually sunshiny disposition, biting her tongue is not easy because this hot single dad is as frustrating as he is off-limits. So why does she still want to peel off his Wranglers?
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned...and when three women are burned by the same man and decide to do something about it, things really heat up.
Welcome to Bitter End, TN, a small town that is about to feel the heat. So are the men of the town’s founding family, the Wilder brothers. Because three broken-hearted women on the adventure of a lifetime stranded in the middle of nowhere can ignite plenty of passion… and maybe even spur these consummate bachelors into love.
Get the #1 bestselling Small Town, #5 Western Romance, #92 Kindle on Amazon, #1 Small Town Contemporary Romance Indie, #1 Contemporary Romance Indie, #2 Top 100 B&N Press on Barnes & Noble, #1 Western, #10 Romance on Kobo, and the #1 Western, #14 Romance, #29 Top Paid Books on Apple Books.
Now available in A.I. Narrated Audiobook at Google Audio
Genres:
CHAPTER 1
“I say we cut off his balls when we find him.”
At those words, the RV, which had been traveling on cruise control at a steady sixty-six miles per hour, swayed precariously toward the guardrail.
Panicked, Olivia Bennet sucked in a sharp breath of air and found it tinged with all the many smells of their long road trip.
With a white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel, she corrected their course and settled the oversized vehicle safely back inside the lines.
Only then did she shoot Eva a wide-eyed stare.
“You don’t really mean that…do you?” she asked, unsure. Honestly, how much did she know about the woman in her passenger seat? They’d only met a few weeks ago.
READ MOREAlthough, more accurately they’d started communicating a few weeks ago, first, by direct message, then by phone. They’d actually met in person this morning after Olivia had gassed up the RV in Albany and hit the highway for this possibly insane road trip. That’s when she’d first laid eyes on Eva Lucas—when she’d picked her up at her mobile home in Skaneateles.
Eva glanced over, her fist overflowing with a handful of the overwhelmingly aromatic, artificially flavored buttered popcorn she’d bought at the last rest stop.
“Yes, I do mean it. It’s what the selfish cheating micro prick deserves. Don’t you think so?” A deep furrow appeared in Eva’s forehead as she glared at Olivia with piercing green eyes.
The woman’s temper was certainly in keeping with her flaming red hair. The question was, had Eva packed a knife as sharp as her tongue in her bag?
“I agree,” Poppy piped in.
Olivia dared to take her eyes off the highway to glance at the young blonde seated behind Eva. “You do?”
Poppy nodded, sending the one long blonde curl not captured by her messy bun bobbing in front of her pale blue eyes.
Of the three of them, Poppy Van Clief seemed the most soft-spoken, or at least, that had been the case since they’d picked her up from her off-campus housing in Ithaca early this morning. Not that Poppy had to say anything. Her Swedish bikini model good looks did the talking for her.
Olivia found it unsettling that her two travel companions, who couldn’t be more different, agreed with each other.
Eva was a self-proclaimed badass bitch—according to her T-shirt—and in her mid-thirties. And Poppy was twenty-something and valedictorian of her graduating class at Cornell University, according to her Instagram bio.
Both so different, but they agreed on one subject. Emmett Wilder.
Judging by Eva’s eyes narrowed to angry slits and the firm set of Poppy’s perfectly sculpted jaw, Emmett Wilder—that three-timing Lothario—was in for major trouble when they finally caught up with him.
Hopefully not felony-level trouble. Olivia was up for revenge but not jail time.
She needed to smother a bit of the fire that was apparently raging inside her road trip partners in crime.
“Let’s just see how it goes when we find him. Okay? Maybe he’ll apologize.” Olivia smiled brightly, hoping a smile truly was contagious, like her grandmother—God rest her soul—had always said.
Eva grumbled something under her breath and Poppy remained silent. Olivia figured that was the best she could hope for and reached to twist the volume dial on the radio.
Nothing but static came out of the speakers. She reached down again, taking her eyes off the road for barely a second to locate the search button to find a new station. But when she looked up, it was to see a hairpin turn directly in front of them.
Instinct had her slamming her foot on the brake while over correcting with a yank of the steering wheel, which the behemoth of a vehicle didn’t respond well to.
The thirty-foot long vintage C-Class Ford RV swayed precariously, skidding sideways. The spin sent them careening directly toward the edge of the mountain road.
The only thing between them and certain death on the rocky mountainside below was one much too short and flimsy-looking metal guardrail.
That realization—the size and weight of the vehicle versus that of the safety rail—rendered Olivia mute, frozen in fear with a death grip on the steering wheel.
Time seemed to slow as the RV spun.
The rocks. The road. The cliff. The road. The rocks again… Like a carousel, the view out the windshield changed in rapid succession as she watched helplessly.
The sound of the tires screeching and Eva and Poppy screaming mingled into a horrific cacophony. This would be the soundtrack of her death.
It seemed fitting.
Theirs would be a splashy death. Newsworthy. Better, actually, than going quietly. Maybe Emmet would see it on the news and at least feel guilty. Feel something. The cheating turd.
Olivia’s morbid thought was cut off by an impact that sent the three of them swaying hard to the right, held in their seats by the safety belts they thankfully had worn. The RV crashed into the guardrail with the horrible, screeching scrape of metal against metal loud enough to compete with the continued screams of her two passengers.
Then that was it. They’d stopped. All motion ceased. Olivia realized she’d slammed her eyes closed during the impact.
Wrapping her head around the fact she was still alive, she dared to open them again.
What she saw wasn’t exactly comforting. The nose of the RV had crashed through the guardrail and hung there, treating its passengers to a panoramic unobstructed view of the valley below through the massive windshield.
“Oh my God,” Poppy breathed out. “We could have died.”
“We still might.” Eva leaned forward just a bit and glanced down, before leaning back again. Way back.
The RV was perched precariously on the edge of a cliff with not much more keeping it from tumbling down than the weight of its back end still on the roadway.
“We have to get out.” Olivia glanced from one to the other.
“Not through my door.” Eva tipped her head toward the passenger window just past her shoulder where there was nothing but blue sky and clouds.
Olivia didn’t need to look to know the front wheel was airborne. She was in a slightly better position. The driver’s side door at least faced the road. But a glance down proved the broken remains of the guard rail jammed up against the door would make opening it impossible.
Poppy glanced behind her. The door from the back of the RV, the living section, also faced the cliff’s edge. “Maybe if we just like hug the RV we’d have enough room to get around.”
Eva let out a snort. “Yeah, and maybe we’ll grow wings.”
A sudden and loud knock on Olivia’s window had all three of them screaming again.
Spinning to face the sound, she let out a breath. Someone was there to help.
Not just someone—but a walking god of a man with brilliant blue eyes shining from beneath dark brows and the brim of his black cowboy hat.
He was big and tall. Tall enough to see easily in the window of the RV and look her in the eye.
Handsome didn’t come close to describing his good looks, from the cut of his chin to the muscles of his chest barely contained in the dark gray shirt left unbuttoned at the neck.
He made a motion for her to open the window.
When she could think again, she realized the engine was still running, but sometime after almost dying she’d put the vehicle in park. Although, she was still afraid to lift her foot off the brake lest the RV rock. That small motion could send them over the cliff, just when a savior was here to save them.
She pushed the button to lower the window and was grateful it still worked. Maybe they could crawl out the window.
“You all right?” he asked in a voice worthy of the hero here to rescue them.
“I think so.” She nodded, glancing back at her two companions.
He tipped his head in response and hooked a thumb behind him. “I’ve got a chain in the truck. I’m going to secure the vehicle before I get you out, okay?”
She followed his motion with her gaze and saw a big black pickup truck with a black and white dog seated in the passenger seat.
Perfect man. Perfect truck. Even the perfect dog. Or maybe she actually had died and this was heaven.
Either way, she liked his plan. “Okay. We’ll be waiting.” She forced out a laugh, but it sounded more hysterical than cute, as she’d intended.
He disappeared and she turned toward Eva and Poppy, both pale from the experience and looking as drained as she felt. “We’re going to be okay.”
“Apparently you think so, since you’re flirting with the guy rescuing us while we’re still hanging over a cliff.” Eva lifted one fiery brow.
“What? I am not.” The tone of her words rose so high, it made her denial sound even more false.
“You kind of were,” Poppy agreed once again with Eva.
Olivia opened her mouth, then slammed it shut, deciding no amount of arguing would change their minds.
Mister Handsome was back at the window anyway. “Okay, the chain is secure. Can you shimmy out the window? Real slow. No sudden movements. I’ve got you tied up pretty good, but if this thing goes, I’m not sure that’ll stop it.”
The image of them plummeting to their death in her RV should have been uppermost in her mind. Instead, the image of this man’s hands around her as he helped her out of the window had her body warming.
Then the fantasy of her wrists tied to his headboard as he hovered above her, naked, filled her mind. Where the heck had that thought come from? It had to be all the talk about chaining up the RV.
Clearing her throat and her mind, she said, “Okay.”
She drew in a breath and yanked the door handle. Her hand slipped off, hurting her fingertips and putting her fingernails in jeopardy. The door was still locked. And also crushed. She’d completely forgotten.
She glanced around to see who had seen that misstep.
Of course, he had.
“The door’s not gonna open. You’ll have to use the window,” he pointed out, again.
The stranger reached out two big strong hands to help her down. She looked less than delicate as she hung out the window, her ass in the air and in Eva’s face, her head dangling down precariously high above the hard surface of the road.
The sensation of his hands grasping her around the waist consumed her.
Before she knew it, she was standing on solid ground. The warmth of his touch was gone and he was back at the RV, reaching up to help guide Eva out. Then Poppy.
She fought the jealousy as they took their turn being saved by the hot rescuer.
When they were all safely out of the vehicle, Olivia let out a huge breath. “We’re safe.”
She body slammed Poppy first with a hug, since she was standing closest. She nearly knocked her over because the girl was too tall and much too thin to not be blown over by a good strong wind.
Then she turned to Eva, saying, “I’m so happy you’re both okay.”
Eva rolled her eyes but accepted the hug and even hugged back. Near death experiences brought out the best in people.
She spun to face their savior, even taking a step toward him. She was about to wrap him in a hug of gratitude. A celebration of them all being alive. But the mingled surprise and horror in his expression over her incoming hug had her stopping dead. So did the step he took back, away from her.
Not a hugger then. Too bad.
Instead, she said, “Thank you so much.”
“No problem.” Her unflappable hero acted as if them almost dying and his saving them was nothing at all. “Besides, dead tourists would be bad for business,” he continued.
She felt the wrinkle form above her brows. That was a callous thing to say. Although maybe he was making a joke and she just wasn’t in the joking mood at the moment.
“I’ll call the service station to tow this thing. They can drive you into town in the tow truck.” He pressed the cell to his ear.
He told whoever was on the phone the location and the situation then disconnected and shoved the cell into the pocket of his dark blue jeans.
“Billy will be right here with the tow truck. He said about fifteen minutes. Half an hour most.” With that, he tipped his hat and reached for the driver’s side door handle.
“Wait. You’re leaving us here?” She took a panicked step toward him.
His hard gaze landed on them, still standing next to the truck. “I’m late for an appointment.”
They’d almost died and he was going to leave them on the side of the road because he was worried about some appointment?
What was that about? What kind of hero did that?
“Oh. Um. All right.” Olivia turned and got a glimpse of Eva’s raised brow and Poppy’s surprised expression.
So she wasn’t imagining it. They agreed too. Their Prince Charming was turning out to be more of a frog.
She supposed she should be grateful that at least he’d gotten them out of the RV. She owed him a big debt of gratitude for that… even if he was acting like a douche.
Darn, and he was so good looking too. Why did the pretty ones have to be such jerks?
Resigned to that fact she glanced over to where Eva and Poppy stood on the edge of the road on the passenger side of his truck.
“Oh my God.” Eva’s gaze was focused on the door of the truck as her eyes widened and Poppy’s mouth dropped open.
Olivia frowned. “What’s wrong?”
She strode over to where they stood and followed Eva’s sightline.
That’s when she saw it. The lettering on the door that had her heart pounding and her hands shaking.
Wilder Brothers Inc., Bitter End, Tennessee
Wilder Brothers. As in Emmett Wilder. The lying, cheating, catfishing cad they were here to confront for breaking all their hearts.
Could the man now climbing into the driver’s seat of the truck be Emmett’s brother?
Olivia glanced at Eva to see if the woman—who might possibly have violent homicidal tendencies—had realized the same thing. Judging by her narrow-eyed glare, she had.
Just as Olivia started to really worry, a car pulled up. An older woman rolled down her window. “Oh, my. Is everyone all right?”
“Hey, Rosie. Yeah, they’re fine. Billy is on the way to tow their vehicle down the mountain. I figured he can give them a ride in the truck.”
“Oh, no need for them to wait around for him. I’m heading to the café. I can take them.”
He glanced their direction, as if they’d say no to an offer of a ride rather than squeezing into the tow truck with a stranger.
Olivia took a few steps forward. “We’d love a ride. Thank you.”
“Sure thing. My pleasure. Hop in, ladies.”
“Thanks, Rosie.” The man was pleasant enough to Rosie but didn’t give Olivia or her friends even a passing glance as he climbed into his truck.
They weren’t even buckled into the car yet when he’d already pulled away in a burst of diesel exhaust.
That man was no Prince Charming, thereby proving her taste in men had not improved with experience.
Emmett Wilder had left her with nothing but a near empty bank account and a bruised heart. But since she’d been rapidly falling in lust with the first man she met on the highway, she couldn’t even claim a lesson learned.
As she sat stewing about that, Poppy reached out and squeezed her hand.
At that, Olivia had to reevaluate her opinion. Emmett had left her—left them all—with something. Each other.
And boy oh boy, was he going to be sorry that he had.
COLLAPSEBianca on BJ's Book Blog wrote:"Three friends from "the big city" take off in a vintage RV looking for the "snake" who did them wrong. They turn up in a small town in Tennessee after a mishap with the RV and the fun never stops."
This was a really cute and funny and adorable and slightly heartbreaking single-dad-cowboy-ceo-nanny romance and I just loved reading it!
Olivia and her two new friends Poppy and Eva came to Bitter End, Tennessee for one thing and one thing only: Revenge!
They've all been hurt, cheated on and stolen from by this idiot Emmett Wilder.
But the Wilder they're finding first is Wyatt. Must be a brother, right? They're all idiots, probably.
But what they don't know is that cousin Emmett is the family black sheep. He's been nothing but trouble for our three Wilder brothers.
And he's also the reason Wyatt lost his last nanny!
Enter Olivia....LET THE FUN TIMES BEGIN! 🤣
Behind the Fiction
There are usually certain elements of truth behind fiction and that is true for my Wilder Brother series, right down to the basic concept. Let me explain...
Years ago I was flipping channels and stumbled upon a talk show segment about three girls who'd accidentally discovered they were all dating (live and in-person dating, not just online) the same guy.
When one figured it out (after a deep dive into the internet and his socials) she contacted the others he seemed to be dating at the same time—six of them!
From that touchy situation arose what I predict will be a lifelong friendship. Four of the girls became good friends. Three of them bought an old school bus, refurbished it together, and went on a road trip across the country which put them in the media.
Their story was written up in The Washington Post. They have an Insta account for their bus and post pics and vids of their trips. And I knew from that first five-minute segment I saw on the Ellen Show that I wanted to base a book on this idea of a cheating man who, instead of pitting the women against each other, brought them together. My series is loosely, very loosely, based on this real story.
Read more about the 3 girls and the BAM Bus HERE
BOOK CLUB DISCUSSION PROMPTS
1. Discuss the dynamics between Olivia and Wyatt. How would you describe their initial encounter and subsequent interactions? What are the main obstacles in their relationship?
2. Olivia and her friends embark on a journey seeking answers and revenge. How does their mission affect Olivia's perspective on love and relationships? Did you find their approach justified? Why or why not?
3. Wyatt is portrayed as grumpy, proud, and incapable of being polite. How does his behavior evolve throughout the story? Do you think his character transformation is believable? Why or why not?
4. The setting of Bitter End, TN plays a significant role in the story. How does the small town atmosphere and the Wilder brothers' family history contribute to the overall plot? Did it enhance your reading experience?
5. Olivia takes on the role of a nanny for Wyatt's daughter. Discuss the impact of their father-daughter relationship on the romance between Olivia and Wyatt. How does Wyatt's devotion to his daughter shape his character?
6. Friendship and support play a vital role in the lives of Olivia and her friends. How do their friendships influence their decisions and actions throughout the novel? Can you relate to their bond?
7. The theme of second chances is prominent in the story. How do Olivia and Wyatt overcome their past experiences to open themselves up to love again? Did you find their character growth satisfying?
8. The book explores the concept of "happily ever after" and challenges traditional romance novel tropes. How does the author subvert or adhere to these tropes? Did it enhance your enjoyment of the story?
9. Revenge is a driving force for Olivia and her friends. How does the theme of revenge affect the overall plot and character development? Do you think their actions were justified? Why or why not?
10. The Wilder brothers play a significant role in the story. Compare and contrast Wyatt's character with his brothers. How do their personalities and interactions contribute to the dynamics of the book?
11. The novel portrays small-town life and its impact on relationships. How does the community of Bitter End, TN influence the romance between Olivia and Wyatt? Did the town's involvement enhance the story?
12. The author incorporates humor throughout the novel. Discuss the role of humor in balancing the more serious themes of revenge, heartbreak, and second chances. Did it add depth to the story?
13. The title "Bitter End" carries symbolic weight in the book. How does the concept of the bitter end relate to the characters' journeys and the resolution of their stories? Did the title resonate with you?
14. Love and forgiveness are themes that emerge as the story progresses. How do Olivia and Wyatt learn to forgive and let go of past hurts? Do you think their growth was realistic? Why or why not?
15. Reflect on the overarching message or lesson conveyed in the book. What insights did you gain about love, forgiveness, and the pursuit of happiness? Did the story resonate with you on a personal level?