The Billionaire's Fake Fiancée by Annika Martin
Release Date: April 28th
The Billionaire's Fake Fiancée, a sexy romantic comedy by New York Times bestselling author Annika Martin.
I’m no Prince Charming, and the last thing I want is a Cinderella.
My instructions were simple: scour the city for a fake fiancée who’s not my type at all. Have her on my jet Monday morning, dressed appropriately for a yacht vacation.
I need a woman believable enough to convince a certain client that I’ve changed my playboy ways…yet nothing like the supermodels and socialites I usually have on my arm.
Somebody too annoying to tempt me—no emotional entanglements, thank you very much. This is business only.
If she’s unfazed by my looks and wealth, all the better.
Should be easy. Right?
Apparently not, because my people go and hire Tabitha. My hairdresser.
What were they thinking? Yes, I said annoying, but I didn’t mean her, the most frustrating woman in the world.
Tabitha is sunshiny. She has a pet hamster. She loves Hello Kitty, and she gets under my skin like nobody else.
As if that’s not bad enough, the minute we step on deck, she thinks that certain people on the yacht are up to something shady—based completely on her soap opera knowledge.
She won’t listen when I tell her she’s being ridiculous.
But as the days go by, I find that we’re actually having fun. And our fake kisses are heating up. And suddenly her wild theories aren’t sounding so strange after all…
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Excerpt:
“We need a practice kiss.”
My gaze falls to her lips and my mind goes blank. “Did you not read the contract?” I bite out. “This relationship is to be purely platonic.”
“Oh, I know. And before you think I’m jonesing to kiss you, please know, I’m just trying to do a professional job at this, and the kiss is important. Because I
can tell you right now, when people do the fake engagement ploy and get busted, it’s often because they’re forced to do a first kiss in front of suspicious people. Everybody can tell a first kiss.”
“Have you been involved in other fake engagement situations?” I ask.
“No, but, you know, it’s a thing. Trust me.”
“It’s a thing?” I ask, incredulous.
“Well, on soap operas,” she adds.
I groan. “Jesus Christ, save me from your ridiculous soap opera wisdom.”
“What? There is a lot of life wisdom in soap operas.”
I give her a hard look.
“And the fact is, with people who have never kissed, there’s a lot of trepidation. They’re like, How do I start off? Where do I put my hands? Which way should I tilt my head?”
“Those are not questions that would cross my mind during a kiss. Ever.”
“Please. Spare me from the knowledge of what crosses your mind when you kiss a woman,” she says. “I’m just telling you, people aren’t stupid. They’re capable of recognizing a first kiss. We need at least one practice round. Unfortunately.”
I swallow. Somewhere down on Wall Street, trading is in full swing. I have rates to check, reports to analyze, spreads to monitor, but the idea of pulling her to me and kissing her crowds all of that out. My hands flex.
A practice kiss. I can’t think of a worse idea. “We’re not a couple who enjoys public displays of affection.”
She does her playful wince. “Okay, buuuuuut…what happens when they toast our engagement? We can’t exactly shake hands.”
Will people do that? Gather around and expect us to kiss in front of them? I focus on the window. The whole idea here was not to be tempted or distracted.
“If I decide we need a practice kiss,” I inform her, “then and only then will we have a practice kiss. And I’ll do the kissing.”
“It has to be more than a peck,” she says. “Just in case that’s what you’re imagining.”
“Rest assured, a kiss from me would be the opposite of a peck.”
“The opposite of a peck,” she echoes, as though she finds it funny.
“The polar opposite.” My gaze has gone back to her lips. They’d taste like some sort of sugary berry. Her dark hair would be thick and cool in my grip, her ass soft and firm. My mind won’t stop spinning on kissing her, now.
“I’m trying to help you pull this off,” she says. “Think of the times you’ve had a first kiss. The wild rush of it. The buzz of it. It’ll be so obvious.”
I frown. Who the hell has she been sharing these mind-altering first kisses with?
“Don’t worry, I get this is business,” she says. “You’re not at all the type of guy I go for, either.”
“No? Do tell—what type of guy do you go for?”
“For one, he would scoff at the idea of a private jet. And he would never wear or even possess cufflinks. Or if he did, there’d be a string attached to the cufflinks because he would’ve made them into an awesome toy for little Seymour. That would be a guy for me.”
“Sounds like a loser,” I growl.
Review:
3.75-4 stars
****
This was a cute book! The Billionaire's Fake Fiance is a standalone rom-com. Tabitha is good friends with a few of the other heroines from Ms. Martin's other books. She is a mobile, concierge hairdresser for high end clients. Every week, she cuts Rex's hair in his office.
He is rude and grumpy, but she takes it all in stride and tries to brighten his day. Her personality grates on his nerves, but he puts up with it because she doesn't act scared of his bark. A defamatory tabloid article paints him as a playboy, when he's really more of a reclusive workaholic. He must spruce up his image for his most important, conservative, matriarchal client. He is competing for her business. So Rex decides to hire woman to play his fake fiance on a two week yachting trip his client has invited him on. He wants a woman that he won't be interested in romantically or physically, so as not to complicate his trip. He makes a list of what he hates in a woman, so that his assistant can find the perfect woman for the job. Meanwhile, Tabitha has an injured wrist and is not able to continue cutting hair for a few weeks, so she is in need of money. Rex's assistant decides to hire Tabitha. She joins Rex on his yacht vacation, playing the perfect fiance and causing all of the other guests to fall in love with her fun personality. As Tabitha and Rex spend time together, sparks fly and feelings bloom. They also find themselves embroiled in a mystery involving his client's shady relative on the ship. Rex and Tabitha soon find their fake relationship is not so fake after all.
I enjoyed this book a lot. This couple were very much opposites attracted. Tabitha had such a fun, sunshiney personality, which I loved. Rex was grouchy with a soft gooey middle. They were a perfect match and just what each other needed. Rex is a little rude and cold at first, but he is drawn into Tab's charm. Rex finds he doesn't hate Tabitha's personality after all. He really adored her, even if he didn't know it at first. She is a little guarded because of men from her past and doesn't have serious relationships. Neither of them are interested in a relationship, but feelings develop between them and they decide to take a risk. I liked them both a lot, even if I wanted Tabitha to give in to her feelings a little sooner. Rex and Tabitha had a great opposites attract dynamic and amazing chemistry. The way the couple snuck around to investigate on this ritzy yacht was so fun. I definitely could see this book as a rom-com movie, similar in style to Murder Mystery. The yacht setting was a great one, too. I did want a few more happy times in the resolution after the climax and to see the couple together in their daily life, but that is a nitpicky, personal preference.
Overall, this was a cute, funny romantic comedy with some emotional moments. Rex and Tabitha were adorable together. It was fun seeing their relationship develop. I look forward to more from Ms. Martin in the future.
Meet the Author:
Annika Martin loves fun, dirty stories, hot heroes, and wild, dramatic everything. She enjoys hanging out in Minneapolis coffee shops with her writer husband, and also likes birdwatching at her bird feeder alongside her two stunningly photogenic cats, especially when she should be writing. She’s heavy into running,
music, saving the planet, taking long baths, and consuming chocolate suckers. She’s worked a surprisingly large number of waitressing jobs, and has also worked in a plastics factory and the advertising trenches; her garden is total bee-friendly madness and her most unfavorite word is nosh or possibly fob. A NYT bestselling author, she has also written as RITA award-winning author Carolyn Crane.
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