Time Out (Nashville Nights Next Generation -6)

  Time Out

  Book Six in the Nashville Nights Next Generation Series

  Cheryl Douglas

  Copyright © by Cheryl Douglas

  Smashwords Edition

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  Persons, places and other entities represented in this book are deemed to be fictitious. They are not intended to represent actual places or entities currently or previously in existence or any person living or dead. This work is the product of the author’s imagination.

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  Any and all inquiries to the author of this book should be directed to: info@cheryldouglasbooks.com

  Time Out © 2013 Cheryl Douglas

  Nashville Nights Family Tree

  The Turners

  Trey and Sierra Turner - Nashville Nights, Book One, Shameless

  Jared and Elaine Turner - Trey’s parents

  Alisa Turner - Next Generation, Book One, High Stakes

  The Coopers

  Josh and Lexi Cooper - Nashville Nights, Book Two, Fearless

  Jay and Victoria - Josh and Ashley’s son and daughter-in-law / Nashville Nights, Book Seven, Hopeless

  Mike and Tori Cooper - Josh and Ashley’s son and daughter-in-law / Nashville Nights, Book Eight, Careless

  Aiden Cooper – Josh and Lexi’s son / Next Generation, Book Two, Trade Off

  Brianna Cooper – Josh and Lexi’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Three, Game On

  Ava Cooper – Jay and Victoria’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Eight, Blown Away

  The Spencers

  Luc and Marisa Spencer – Nashville Nights, Book Three, Ruthless

  Nikki Spencer – Luc’s daughter / Nashville Nights, Book Five, Relentless

  Ryan Spencer – Luc and Marisa’s son / Next Generation, Book Three, Game On

  Evan Spencer – Lun and Marisa’s son / Next Generation, Book Four, Burn Out

  The McCalls

  Ty and Avery McCall – Nashville Nights, Book Four, Reckless

  Anna McCall – Ty and Avery’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Five, Fast Track

  Nick McCall – Ty and Avery’s son / Next Generation, Book Six, Time Out

  J.T. McCall – J.T. and Derek’s brother / Nashville Nights, Book Five, Relentless

  Nikki Spencer – McCall – J.T.’s wife / Nashville Nights, Book Five, Relentless

  Lauren McCall - J.T. and Nikki’s daughter / Next Generation, Book Seven, Face Value

  Derek McCall – J.T. and Derek’s brother / Nashville Nights, Book Six, Heartless

  Ashley McCall – Derek’s wife, Jay and Mike Cooper’s mother / Nashville Nights, Book Six, Heartless

  Book Six – Time Out

  Rancher, Nick McCall, loves the simple life. Wide open spaces, clean country air, and sweet down-home girls. But when his mother asks him to entertain their new house guest, a TV personality with a penchant for bad boys, he’s wondering if it might be time to add a little spice to his life.

  Megan Moore moved from Los Angeles to Nashville to accept a job on a country music network, but she misses dating movie stars and riding around in limousines. She promises her new agent, Avery McCall, she’ll stick it out for the remainder of her one year contract, but she intends to be on the first plane back home a minute after her contract expires.

  Nick knows Megan’s only in Nashville for a short time, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a good time.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  About the Author

  Coming Soon

  Chapter One

  Megan Moore raised a trembling fist to the heavy wood door and paused, her hand in mid-air. Could she go through with it? Did she have the courage to face a father she feared may prefer to forget she existed?

  A year ago, she would have said she didn’t need him, but then her mother died, and she found herself alone in the city she’d once called home. Her hometown felt filled with predators hoping to move in for the kill as soon as she let down her guard.

  Straightening her shoulders, she reminded herself he couldn’t say or do anything to hurt her more than he already had. No matter how painful to hear, she needed to know why he’d mailed her mother a check every month, yet failed to acknowledge her birthday with so much as a phone call.

  She rang the doorbell and waited, taking the time to survey the grounds. The house was modest, but she wasn’t surprised. Manny Moore hadn’t topped the country music charts in decades. He was the old guard, and the big record labels had gradually eased those artists out in favor of the younger cross-over artists who appealed to a larger demographic of fans.

  A lovely, middle-aged brunette answered the door with a warm smile. “Can I help you?”

  Megan slipped her professional mask in place, pretending she was in front of a camera about to face a national audience to deliver the day’s entertainment news. “I’m looking for Manny Moore.”

  The woman seemed to frown, yet her brows remained immobile. Megan almost smiled. That was par for the course in L.A., yet in Nashville, she suspected it wasn’t as common.

  “You look familiar. Have we met?” she asked.

  “No, ma’am.” The woman was without a doubt her step-mother. The mother of her half-sisters. “I’m Manny’s…” She couldn’t say the word daughter, not when he’d never been a father to her in any sense of the word. “I’m Gloria Barnem’s daughter.”

  “Oh.” She pressed a manicured hand to the open neckline of her designer blouse. “Of course, that’s where I’ve seen you: on TV.”

  “That’s right. I was on Celebrity Flash,” Megan said.

  “What are you doing in Nashville?”

  “I’ve accepted a job offer. I’ve moved here to host a show about country music, interviewing artists, following their tours, album releases, that sort of thing.” Megan didn’t know why she was sharing her plans with the woman. She didn’t owe her an explanation. “Manny. Is he home?”

  “Um…” She looked down the hall as though she was trying to come up with a plausible excuse to buy her husband some time.

  “I won’t take up too much of his time, Mrs. Moore.”

  “It’s okay, darlin’. I’ll handle this.” Manny Moore walked up to stand behind his wife, looking every bit the aging hillbilly.

  Megan wasn’t surprised he’d been hovering, listening silently to their conversation. She’d always pegged him for a coward. Evidently she was right.

  His eyes, so much like hers, wer
e hard as steel when he looked at her. “What can I do for you?”

  Curling her hands into fists at her sides, Megan said, “I’d just like a moment of your time, if that’s not too much to ask?”

  He had the audacity to snicker. “You’ve already taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from me. I haven’t got any money left, if that’s what you’re after.”

  Megan’s stomach turned over as the egg white omelet she’d forced down almost came back. “I can assure you, I don’t need your money. I only want some answers from you.”

  His wife glanced at the slim diamond watch on her wrist. “The kids will be home from school soon, Manny. Just talk to her for a few minutes so she can be on her way.”

  Megan tried to tamp down her hurt over being dismissed so easily. She wasn’t surprised to learn she was Manny’s dirty little secret. She’d always suspected as much.

  “Fine,” he said, stepping away from the door with a gusty sigh. “Come in.”

  Stepping past him, Megan tried to ignore the stab of longing when she caught a whiff of his cigar. Her mother had told her he loved to smoke cigars, and he’d held one in nearly every publicity shot Megan had ever seen. The little girl in her harbored a fantasy of being held in her daddy’s arms, inhaling the scent of cigar smoke, as he told her he loved her and was sorry he hadn’t been the father she deserved.

  “So why the hell did you move to Nashville? Seemed to me you had a good thing goin’ in L.A.,” Manny stated.

  Megan had loved her job as an on-air entertainment correspondent, but an ill-advised relationship with her producer had turned her world upside down. “I needed a change of pace. Since my mother died…” Her eyes traveled the length of the mantle. Framed photos of two girls crowded the narrow space, showing gap-toothed grins, dance recitals, graduation pictures, and time spent with their father. Something Megan would never have.

  Manny said, “Like my wife said, our girls are gonna be home soon, and I’d just as soon you be gone.”

  She faced him and saw a shadow of the man who used to fill stadiums. He was nearing seventy, and parenting two teenage daughters was taking its toll. His hair was silver and receding, his face was weathered, and his shoulders slumped. She still saw a hint of the image of the much younger man she’d kept on her nightstand when she was a little girl.

  “I just have one question for you… why?” Megan asked.

  He was silent so long, she thought he may refuse to answer or pretend he didn’t understand.

  Finally, he said, “I never loved your mother, Megan. I’m sorry if that sounds harsh, but I had just started makin’ a name for myself in country music. I’d paid my dues, and it was finally my time to shine. I didn’t want a woman or kid holdin’ me back.”

  Manny’s wife hovered in the doorway.

  “Why did you get involved with my mother then? Why did you even risk getting her pregnant?”

  “I asked her to terminate the pregnancy.”

  Megan never imagined he would have the nerve to admit to her face he wished she had never been born. “Why did you provide financial support if you never wanted me?”

  He shoved his hands into his pockets, a look of disgust on his face. “I didn’t have a choice. Gloria threatened to take me to court, to make me pay one way or the other. My lawyers and manager told me I couldn’t afford the negative publicity. The record label would have gotten rid of me if I did anything to tarnish my brand.”

  “Your brand?” She barely forced the words past the lump in her throat. All those years, she’d held out hope. She’d wanted to believe her father felt compelled to offer his financial support because he cared and it was the least he could do.

  “You think it’s easy to make it in this business?” He gave her a scathing look from head to toe. “Maybe you can use your looks and body to get ahead, but I had to rely on talent.”

  Megan didn’t know she could feel such contempt for another human being. She had a half-brother she barely knew who her mother had put up for adoption four years before Megan was born and two half-sisters from the monster before her. But when she looked into Manny’s icy eyes, she knew she didn’t have any family left.

  “I’m glad I came,” she said, looking him directly in the eye. “I always had a fantasy that my father was a kind, decent man. Now I can put that fantasy to rest once and for all.”

  “You can leave now.”

  “I intend to.” She lifted her chin. Megan forced a slow smile to spread across her face. That man had already taken enough from her. She wouldn’t let him believe he still had the power to hurt her. “But before I do, just know I intend to pay back every cent of ‘support’ you ever provided while I was growing up. I didn’t need you then, and I sure as hell don’t need you now.”

  ***

  “Avery, I have to find some way to get out of this contract.”

  “I’m sorry things didn’t work out the way you’d hoped they would with your father, Megan. But you signed a one-year contract with the network, and they expect you to honor that.”

  “I don’t belong here.” Living in the same city with that man made her skin crawl.

  “Why don’t you come and stay with us until you find a place?”

  “What are you talking about? I couldn’t do that.” Finding a property owner willing to accept a month-to-month lease wasn’t going well, but she hadn’t given up hope. Megan intended to find some way out of that contract, and as soon as she did, she’d be on the first plane back to L.A. It may have felt like a jungle by the time she’d left, but at least everything there was familiar to her. In Nashville she felt as out of place as a toucan at a cattle farm.”

  “Sure, you could. There’s way too much space for just us. Besides, Ty and I travel so much, we’re hardly ever there. You can’t deny it would be better than staying in that impersonal hotel and eating in restaurants every night.”

  Megan couldn’t deny a home-cooked meal or a kitchen to cook in sounded enticing, but she could never impose on her publicist that way. Avery had already been too generous. “Thanks for the offer, but-”

  “I’m not taking no for an answer,” Avery declared, coming around the desk. She reached out and pulled Megan to her feet. “Come on, it’ll be fun. Our daughter moved out a few years ago. I miss her so much. Having a little girl time will be nice. I’m out-numbered by my husband and son.”

  “Your son still lives at home?” Megan couldn’t hide her surprise. Judging by the picture on Avery’s desk, the handsome cowboy had to be nearing thirty. She’d just assumed he had his own place.

  “Not exactly. He has his own home on our property and runs the ranch.”

  “I see.” She didn’t, but if she asked any more questions, it would seem as though she was prying.

  “Please say you’ll stay until you find a place.”

  “Avery…”

  “Please.”

  Megan loved her new publicist more than she should since they only had a temporary working relationship. Avery McCall was everything Megan admired in a woman: strong, beautiful, confident, smart. Not to mention she was married to country superstar Ty McCall, and she obviously had a beautiful family she adored. Megan couldn’t deny she was curious to see how Avery managed to pull it all off. Maybe Megan could pick up a few pointers and apply them to her own life, which seemed to be spiralling out of control.

  “Fine, but don’t you have to talk to your husband and son about it first? How will they feel about having a stranger invading their space?” Megan asked.

  Avery laughed. “Honey, you haven’t met them yet. As far as they’re concerned, everyone’s a friend. Some friends they just haven’t met yet. Like you. Come on, we’ll pick up your stuff on the way home.”

  Home. Megan couldn’t deny it had a nice ring to it.

  ***

  Nick had had a lousy day. He’d had it out with one of his ranch hands when he gave Nick grief about mending fences, and one of the girls he’d been seeing reamed him out when he’d called to canc
el their date. She’d told him that was the third time in a month he’d canceled, and he was crazy if he thought she would sit around waiting for him to make time for her. Like he cared.

  When his mother’s shiny black Mercedes SUV drove by, he barely lifted his hand in acknowledgment. She stopped beside him and got out of the car, as did her passenger.

  Avery called to him, “Nick, I want you to meet my friend and client, Megan Moore. She hosts that new show Players. She’s staying with us for a while.”

  Nick tipped his cowboy hat as his eyes roamed the beauty at his mother’s side. Hotter than hell were the first words that came to mind. He took in her trim black business suit and heels. They added at least five inches to her petite frame, and Nick found himself wondering if she ever kept them on during…

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nick,” Megan said.

  She looked him square in the eye, as though his perusal was par for the course. Of course, a girl didn’t get through life looking like that without learning how to cope with attention.

  Nick nodded. “You too. How long you gonna be stayin’ with us?”

  “I’m not sure. Not long.”

  Avery squeezed Megan’s hand. “She’s gonna stay just as long as she likes. She signed a one-year deal with the network and hasn’t found a suitable place to live yet. Maybe you could help her?”

  Nick didn’t know anything about real estate. Ask him about horses and he could hold his own, but he’d found his little piece of paradise on the McCall family ranch. “She’d be better off askin’ Sela, or even Lauren, about that.”