Stay Here With Me, page 1
Stay Here with Me
The Wilder Bothers
Book 5
Carrie Ann Ryan
Contents
STAY HERE WITH ME
STAY HERE WITH ME
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
A Note from Carrie Ann Ryan
Also from Carrie Ann Ryan
About the Author
STAY HERE WITH ME
A WILDER BROTHERS NOVEL
By
Carrie Ann Ryan
STAY HERE WITH ME
A Wilder Brothers Novel
By: Carrie Ann Ryan
© 2022 Carrie Ann Ryan
eBook ISBN 978-1-63695-191-1
Paperback ISBN 978-1-63695-192-8
Cover Art by Sweet N Spicy Designs
Photo by Wander Aguiar Photography
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.
Praise for Carrie Ann Ryan
“Count on Carrie Ann Ryan for emotional, sexy, character driven stories that capture your heart!” – Carly Phillips, NY Times bestselling author
“Carrie Ann Ryan’s romances are my newest addiction! The emotion in her books captures me from the very beginning. The hope and healing hold me close until the end. These love stories will simply sweep you away.” ~ NYT Bestselling Author Deveny Perry
"Carrie Ann Ryan writes the perfect balance of sweet and heat ensuring every story feeds the soul." - Audrey Carlan, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
“Carrie Ann Ryan never fails to draw readers in with passion, raw sensuality, and characters that pop off the page. Any book by Carrie Ann is an absolute treat.” – New York Times Bestselling Author J. Kenner
“Carrie Ann Ryan knows how to pull your heartstrings and make your pulse pound! Her wonderful Redwood Pack series will draw you in and keep you reading long into the night. I can’t wait to see what comes next with the new generation, the Talons. Keep them coming, Carrie Ann!” –Lara Adrian, New York Times bestselling author of CRAVE THE NIGHT
"With snarky humor, sizzling love scenes, and brilliant, imaginative worldbuilding, The Dante's Circle series reads as if Carrie Ann Ryan peeked at my personal wish list!" – NYT Bestselling Author, Larissa Ione
"Carrie Ann Ryan writes sexy shifters in a world full of passionate happily-ever-afters." – New York Times Bestselling Author Vivian Arend
“Carrie Ann’s books are sexy with characters you can’t help but love from page one. They are heat and heart blended to perfection.” New York Times Bestselling Author Jayne Rylon
Carrie Ann Ryan's books are wickedly funny and deliciously hot, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. They'll keep you up all night!” USA Today Bestselling Author Cari Quinn
"Once again, Carrie Ann Ryan knocks the Dante's Circle series out of the park. The queen of hot, sexy, enthralling paranormal romance, Carrie Ann is an author not to miss!" New York Times bestselling Author Marie Harte
STAY HERE WITH ME
The Wilder Brothers from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan continues with a secret romance that East and Lark never saw coming.
The world thinks I only write songs about my ex-boyfriends.
They study each lyric to point a finger at which man broke my heart—even if I’ve never met him.
Only the man I refuse to write about is the one who is so tangled in my mind that I know I can never be with him.
I had one night with East Wilder, and I know that’s all there will ever be.
He broke my heart without even trying.
Yet now I can’t seem to write a single verse and I need a place to hide while I figure out who I am. The Wilder Retreat will have to be my refuge as the Wilders prepare for my best friend’s wedding.
And when I’m there, I refuse to fall for East again.
Even if the dark shadows in his eyes draw me in and the dangers of his past might be the one thing that forces us to finally give in.
To Mariah.
Thank you for being my sounding board. And here is to our futures.
Chapter One
Lark
“I gave myself to the future you brought but you took what you wanted and never looked back. For I am nothing, nothing in your eyes. But I am everything in mine.”
“Without You” written by Lark Thornbird
I sat on the floor cross-legged, feet bare, and cursed the mountains of notebooks surrounding me.
This didn’t make any sense. This was not me. I knew what I was doing. I had done this before, after all.
Yet it was like I had never written a lyric in my life.
I was a songwriter. It was part of who I was: a singer-songwriter.
I had Grammys for my writing, Billboard Music Awards, and countless other smaller awards. I’d even won a Teen Choice Award for my song from a movie with America’s favorite teen heartthrob.
That teen heartthrob was actually a twenty-five-year-old man who had kissed me on my cheek when I won, and with that kiss, he’d become my next Internet Boyfriend.
I rubbed my temples, cursing.
He was two years older than me, and yet they had called me a cougar because they assumed that with that boy-band hair, he was young and innocent.
If I had actually dated every single man that the internet accused me of, I wouldn’t have had time to do anything else.
There was Brendan, the waiter from my favorite coffee shop. They assumed that I wrote “Without You” after he used me to get into that film.
Then James, the valet who used me to become a rockstar in his own right.
There were Bobby and Robert. Two completely different actors who were in a feud with each other, so of course, they put me in the middle.
There were Sebastian, Roger, Rourke, Timothy, Easton, Megan, Ariel, Eric, Aurora, Jasmine, John, Smith, Rory, Harry, and a few boy banders, just in the past three years alone.
Since I was fifteen—a full decade ago—when I wrote my first song, I had been paired with nearly every current “It” boy and girl.
It didn’t matter that I’d never been on a real date then, and the only boy I had ever kissed was from my hometown and who sold the story later to gain a few minutes of fame which had ruined my summer vacation.
Not that I actually got a summer vacation. I didn’t get those.
But even through the fake heartbreaks and a few real ones, I had always been able to write.
And despite what others thought, I didn’t usually have a real boy in mind—they were fictional. They were friendly until they were lyrics on a page that I could sing about.
I didn’t need a man in order for me to make music.
After all, the internet would just make one up for me when it wanted to.
I was always able to write lyrics. I was good at it. Put a guitar in my hand and a mic in front of me, and I could sing. I could write. I could pour out my soul.
But I had nothing.
And I knew why.
I hated that I knew why.
“Damn that man.”
Because there was a song in me I wanted to write. One that I thought I possibly needed to. But I wasn’t going to. I wouldn’t write about him. I couldn’t. I promised.
He thought I would anyway. He didn’t trust me.
I trusted him with my body, let him inside me, and he didn’t trust me not to break his heart. He believed what everyone else thought: That I used my heart and their soul to write my words, all so I could have fame and fortune and sell out stadiums. So I could have people tattoo my lyrics on their bodies so they could share a part of me. They wanted all of that, so of course I would use men and women to make that happen.
Of course, I would.
And East Wilder would believe all that. He wouldn’t believe me.
I cringed and opened up my next notebook, reminding myself that I could do this. I was not going to freak out. I had already freaked out, but I wasn’t going to think about that.
I rubbed my temples as my phone buzzed.
I looked down at the readout and ignored it. I did not want to talk to my manager. Yes, I had an album due soon. Yes, I needed to sit in the recording studio and record. But in order to do that, I needed songs.
And that just wasn’t happening right now.
So instead, I picked up my phone and I tried to find another way out.
I wasn’t going to run to him. I wasn’t going to use him for inspiration. He was not my inspiration.
But maybe I needed a little something else.
Me: Hey. Which home are you at right now?
Bethany:
Me: Vermont. I rented a room at a B&B. I am full of maple syrup, candy, and the scent of trees that I think are sending me into a full allergy attack.
Bethany: The allergies in San Antonio aren’t great either. Are you doing okay?
I hated that she understood me with just one text. But I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Bethany Cole was my best friend. Had been my best friend for as long as I could remember. We’d started out in the business around the same time, and now she was an Academy Award-winning actress who did superhero movies, period pieces, and emotional drama pieces. She had even done a few comedies, which surprised everybody other than those who knew her.
Bethany was one of the best people I knew, and not just because of her talent.
And I needed my best friend just then.
I didn’t know why. I should be fine. I had money, I had a home I loved, I had the ability to go wherever I needed to work. I was sitting here, alone on the floor, surrounded by my notebooks, and empty.
Just empty.
Me: Do you think I can come down? Think I need a new view.
Bethany: Yes please! You’re always welcome here. At our house, or one of the cabins. You know the Wilders would take care of you.
I winced at that, because there was a certain Wilder I wanted to take care of me, and yet I knew he wouldn’t. Which meant I didn’t need him to. I didn’t want to need him to.
There was something seriously wrong with me.
Bethany: When are you getting into the studio?
Bethany asked because we understood each other’s careers, even though they were different.
Me: Soonish. I have some time.
Meaning I actually had to write songs first, but I wasn’t going to think about that.
Bethany: Come on down. The whole crew is here. We miss you. You’re one of us.
I snorted. I wasn’t one of them. I was a friend, while everyone else was getting married or having babies. Bethany and Everett’s wedding would be on the property soon, and I was the maid of honor so of course I was going to be there anyway. I would just get there early and hope for the best. I had to figure out something. Because sitting here and hoping to hell I could make this album work wasn’t going to help me. Maybe I needed cowriters to write poems for me that I could somehow make my own. I had never needed that before. Even my coauthored songs had mostly come from me, and while I had done some duets, I had also done most of the writing. I was good at it. Sometimes it felt like it was the only thing I was good at. And yet, it wasn’t working for me. And that scared me more than anything. Even more than the latest tabloid about me forever being alone because they hadn’t seen me out and about with another human being in a while.
What if this was me being alone? What if I had nothing else to give?
The phone rang, and I immediately picked up, seeing Bethany’s face.
“Okay, talk to me. What’s wrong?”
I sigh. “I’m fine. Just having an off day.”
Or an off week. Perhaps an off year.
Perhaps an off life.
“Well, I want to see you. It’s been forever.”
“It’s been a month.”
“That is forever. Come visit us. We love you.”
I smiled. “Okay, I’ll look up flights and figure out when I can get there. I don’t think Vermont is working for me.”
“Which is sad because Vermont is amazing, but if it’s not working for you, it’s not.”
“When is your next movie?”
“We have to do reshoots for something soon. We were expecting it with the script changes.”
I could practically hear her roll her eyes at that, but I just smiled into the phone. “And after that, anything new?”
“Enough. I think. It’s going to be a long few months when things settle down. But I get a break because of the wedding and our honeymoon. I’m taking this thing called a vacation. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of it.”
“I’m on vacation right now. What are you thinking? I’m covered in tree sap. It’s beautiful.”
Bethany’s laughter soothed my soul. That was her. Just happiness personified. I knew that was in part because of her fiancé, but not all of it. A lot of it was the fact that Bethany was just an amazing light-filled soul who had gone through hell, and found her way out of it.
I loved her, and I was so happy for her.
I just wished I could find my own happiness. But that was on me.
And like most of my songs said, I did not need a man to make that happen.
“Okay. I’ll see you soon. Give me all of your information, and we will make sure we pick you up.”
“No, I can get there.”
“No, you know one of the team is going to come to get you. We have to be careful with security.”
I sighed but knew she was right.
Trace was her security specialist and bodyguard, and he had trained everyone that worked for her—and me when I needed it. He was also working to keep the Wilder Retreat safer. They had a few issues spring up over the years, not through any fault of their own, and with Bethany living on the compound and bringing some celebrity clientele with her, they had to be careful. So that meant I had to be careful, too.
“Okay, whatever you say. I’ll see you soon.”
“I’ll see you soon. And then we can talk.”
I was a little worried about that. I had my own secrets, and I knew Bethany was curious. She didn’t pry. She wouldn’t unless she thought I was hurting myself by not sharing.
I couldn’t let her pry too much. Not when I was so afraid of what could happen. I hadn’t told her about East.
The fact that I had slept with her future brother-in-law.
To be fair, she had six future brothers-in-law and at least three sisters-in-law at last count. Maybe four by this point. It was hard to keep up.
And I had slept with him. And it was a secret. The biggest secret I had ever kept from my best friend. And I was not doing okay with it. And that should worry me.
Just a little bit.
By the time I touched down in San Antonio’s small airport and made my way to the retreat on the other side of the city, I was tired, the cedar allergies hitting hard, and yet I finally felt like I was home.
I’d never once lived here, yet the sense the place gave me once I stepped on its clay soil spoke to me. Or perhaps they were merely lyrics waiting to get out of me.
Or the fact that my best friend lived here for part of the year.
We were in the Hill Country, and even though much of the grasses and plants were dormant right now, it was beautiful. The vineyard on the Wilder land was gorgeous, rolling over the hills, and the vines from other wineries surrounding them made a perfect picture.
I loved it here, the way that you could see for miles in some directions, and yet the hills blocked others.
Nothing beat a Texas sunset when you were feeling the need to look out into the future.
I quickly wrote down that line, even though I would have to alter it so it was a little more melodic. I was scraping the bottom of the barrel here, so I would use what I got.
We made our way through the gates and checked in with security at the front before pulling up to the main building of the Wilder Retreat and Winery.
I loved the Wilders. Not just the people but the place. There was a large inn where they had rooms, as well as a scattering of cabins on the property. There was a restaurant, gift shop, and multiple places for meetings and just for relaxation. You could take a golf cart, or walk through the greenery to get to the winery itself. My friend Maddie ran the tours there, and I knew some of the Wilders worked at the winery, and others at the inn or with event planning. One of my good friends now was the wedding planner for the whole place, because the Wilders hosted a lot of weddings. It was their main source of income for events.
