Title: The Drummer's Heart
Author: Penelope Ward
Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Rockstar Hero/"My Wife"/Small Town
Close Proximity/Slow Burn/One Bed
Release Date: February 23, 2025
BLURB
From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward comes a new, STANDALONE novel…
Don’t say her name.
That was the one rule my bandmates followed, because they knew how much it messed me up to think about her, especially on tour.
My ex, Nicole.
The one who got away and the woman who still owned every piece of my heart.
After our divorce, I threw myself into the rock scene, trying to forget my heartbreak.
Three years after we split, a phone call from Nicole changed everything.
She told me her grandmother wasn’t doing well.
Mimi was still family to me, and she apparently had one wish before dying: to spend time with us—Nicole and me.
With Mimi’s caretaker away on vacation, it would be the ideal time for us to move in with her for a couple of weeks.
Of course, I couldn’t refuse.
But there was a catch.
Nicole apparently never told her that we’d gotten a divorce.
She hadn’t believed Mimi could handle it, because her grandmother loved me so much.
So, not only would I have to see Nicole again, but I’d be pretending to still be her husband.
Two weeks in a tiny house in a small town with the woman who broke my heart. Or was it me who broke hers?
It was complicated.
And it was about to be a heck of a lot more complicated sharing one bed in the guest room with a woman who wasn’t mine anymore.
PRE-ORDER LINKS
Read the first standalone in this series, The Rocker’s Muse FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
The current paperback pre-order is for the special-edition, floral cover only. A model-cover paperback will be live on release day as well.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
ROCKSTAR HERO
"MY WIFE"
SMALL TOWN
CLOSE PROXIMITY
SLOW BURN
ONE BED
EXCERPT
Copyright © 2024
By Penelope Ward
While she was out of the room, I prepared her coffee just the way she liked it. I’d nearly forgotten just how much I loved taking care of her. I felt nostalgic for a moment as I poured in just the right amount of sugar. But taking care of her wasn’t my job anymore. I couldn’t help enjoying these little moments of delusion, though, while I still had them. In less than two weeks, we’d be apart again, and I’d go back to my life without her. This time here would seem like a dream.
Nicole emerged again wearing a cute, floral dress that was almost worse than her shirt with no bra. It had a low neckline and her beautiful breasts were practically busting out of it. I had to wonder if she’d selected that outfit to torture me. She’d also sprayed on a fresh burst of Egyptian musk. I licked my lips.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize my not wearing underwear was that noticeable.” She looked down at her chest. “I’ll cover up from now on,” she said. But the glimmer in her eye told me she had no real intention of accommodating my request.
Okay. She’s definitely f*cking with me. “You drive me crazy,” I growled under my breath.
Suddenly, my attention was diverted to Mimi’s room. I heard voices. I narrowed my eyes. “Who the hell is here?”
“I don’t know.” Nicole walked down to her grandmother’s room as I followed.
There was a woman standing there talking to Mimi.
“Hi there.” She smiled. “I’m Lori McFadden. I live next door.”
“Oh…” Nicole tilted her head. “Hello.”
“I hope you don’t mind. Adele gave me a key a while back, and I check in on her from time to time. It’s good to see you both. She’s always talking about her granddaughter and grandson-in-law.”
“Aren’t they the most beautiful couple you’ve ever seen?” Mimi beamed.
Nicole looked over at me. I was still fired up by her little dress and wanted an excuse to touch her. I decided to play the part for a moment. “Thank you so much,” I said. “It’s our pleasure to be here with Mimi.” I wrapped my arm around Nicole, bringing her close. She flinched at first but then relaxed her body into mine.
I rubbed my thumb along her waist.
Nicole squirmed and cleared her throat. “I’m sorry if I seemed surprised to see you here, Lori. I didn’t realize she’d given anyone a key.”
“Only recently. Just in case her worker can’t be here or is running late. She has my number if she ever needs me.”
Nicole nodded. “Well, I appreciate that so much.”
I tightened my grip around her waist and pulled her closer. “We appreciate that.”
Nicole looked up at me; her face was beet red, and I f*cking loved it. I leaned in and kissed her softly on the forehead. Her eyes were still slightly closed when I pulled back to look at her. As much as I wanted to hang on, I let go and put her out of her misery.
Nicole couldn’t get away fast enough as she rushed past me through the kitchen and into the bedroom. She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. “Don’t do that again.”
My stomach sank. It hurt to hear her say that, even if I had crossed the line. “Don’t…what specifically?”
“Touch me.” She lowered her voice. “Don’t touch me again like that.”
That felt like a knife to the heart. “I thought we were pretending to be married,” I whispered. “Married people touch each other.”
Her chest heaved. “Yeah, well, I can’t handle that.”
“Your nipples can’t handle it, at least. They’re hard as f*cking rocks right now. It’s obvious why you don’t want me to touch you, Nicole. It isn’t that you can’t handle it. It’s that you like it. And you don’t want to like it.”
She looked down as her cheeks turned pinker by the second.
My voice was strained. “You tell me not to touch you. And yet you’re intentionally trying to torture me. That f*cking dress. You wore it on purpose because you knew it made your tits look so damn good. And you wanted me to suffer.”
Her gaze lifted to meet mine. “Maybe…”
“You don’t think I’m tortured enough? You put that damn dress on and tell me not to touch you?” I leaned in so she could feel what she was doing to me. “You get off on edging me?” As her breathing became heavier, I inched closer. “You don’t want me to touch you because it makes you feel things you’re trying not to feel? Is that what it is?”
She looked away. “I don’t know…”
I placed my hand on her chin, moving her face to look at me again. “You used to beg me to touch you.”
She licked her lips, and it made me yearn to do the same, to taste her again.
“For the record, Nicole, I will never not be yours to touch. Nor would I be able to pretend for a second that I don’t want you to touch me. You never have to ask permission.” My chest pressed into hers. “You were looking at me our first night here like you wanted to touch me. When I came out of the shower, I could see it in your eyes. Desire. You weren’t happy about it, but it was there. Tell me I’m wrong.”
AUTHOR BIO
Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.
She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.
With millions of books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over forty books. Her novels have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.
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