The Only Thing
(The Donnigans)
by Marie Harte
Blurb:
What do you do when a "fake" relationship is so much better than the real thing?
Hope Donnigan is finally getting her life together. She's working a job she likes, has some amazing friends, and is steering clear of Mr. Wrong. Now if only she could get her mother to understand that. Maybe a hot tattoo artist from the other side town is just the ticket to teach her mom a lesson.
J.T. Webster fell for Hope months ago at his sister's wedding. So when she propositions him to be her fake boyfriend to get her mother off her back, he's all in. The only problem is J.T. had no idea their pretend relationship would be better than anything real he's ever had…
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Excerpt
“J.T.?”
He froze for a moment, feeling déjà vu. He kept hearing Hope
Donnigan’s voice in the weirdest places. Although she had actually been at his dad’s on Friday. He turned to see her
standing by the wall-mounted screen to his right. Huh. She was really here.
“Hope?”
She wore open toed sandals showing off dainty, blue painted
toenails. Shapely legs disappeared under a knee-length, floral sun dress. A
cropped sweater hid her shoulders. She looked like the essence of summer, and
he wanted to kneel down in worship. Innocence radiated from her in waves, as if
begging him to muss her a little and show her just what heels like those would
look like on either side of his head.
He should have felt dirty for wanting to muddy that
innocence. Instead, he grew more aroused. Hell.
“Hi.” She smiled at him.
His heart raced. Damn, that dimple slayed him every time.
“He says hi back,” Suke said dryly. “I’m Suke, one of the
harder working artists around here. I take it you know J.T.?”
Hope nodded. “Great place. I hadn’t realized it was down
here.”
As she and Suke spoke, he watched them interact. Hope didn’t
seem to care that Suke had tattoos up and down her arms, piercings in her nose
and lip, and spiked black hair in a dare-to-be punk style. Nor did she seem to
mind the way Suke was eye-fucking her.
“Hey.” He growled; he
minded.
Suke grinned. “I’m leaving for the day. You need me to stick
around and lock up? Maybe walk Hope out to her car?”
“Go.”
Suke chuckled and left.
“She’s nice.”
He laughed. “Suke? She busts our balls on a daily basis, but
we love her. Now what brings you to the lion’s den?”
She grinned. “Is that what this is? The sign outside said
Tull Paint & Body.”
“Yeah, a play on Auto Paint & Body, like a car paint
shop. I worked for my dad before I opened the place, and some of him stuck.”
Jesus, he was babbling.
“Tull?”
He shrugged, searching for calm. “My dad was a Jethro Tull
fan. Sounded cool when I was twenty-five.” He paused, shoving his hands in his
pockets so he wouldn’t tuck a stray strand of her golden hair back behind her
ear. “What’s up, Hope?”
She flushed, now looking uncomfortable. “Ah, this is kind of
awkward. I have a favor to ask.” She didn’t say any more.
She looked so damn adorable. He couldn’t help himself. He
had to mess with her. “Okay. So you want a baby without the commitment. I get
it. You want to make one right here or in the back room? Do you have some
paperwork for me to sign first? You know, about rights for the kid?”
“What? No.” She
blinked at him. “Have you done that before?”
“Nah, but I can’t think of a more awkward conversation. So
now that I know you’re not here to use me and abuse me, what can I do for you?”
“Ah, actually…” Her face turned bright red.
He gaped. “Shit. Really?” He took a step closer. “You want
to abuse me? I’m game.”
“J.T.” She
blew out a breath. “I have a problem. And I kind of dragged you into it.”
“Color me
intrigued.” He led her to the high-backed purple leather chairs by a coffee
table, on which a print portfolio of their work lay, along with some other
tattoo mags.
“Sorry,”
Hope apologized. She crossed her legs to sit demurely in the chair, and his
heart threatened to leap from his chest. He wondered if she felt the same
sexual chemistry he had since the first time he’d laid eyes on her.
Probably
not, since she didn’t seem affected by him. She was shy, gorgeous, and could
have any guy she wanted with the crook of her finger. He couldn’t imagine why
she needed his help, but whatever. He was game. And truth be told, he felt
protective of her. She was a weird extension of family his sister had married
into.
“Hope? Just
tell me.”
“It’s my
mother. She’s such a pain.” Hope glared, and he was taken aback by the
fierceness out of a woman he’d never seen be anything but pleasant. “She was on
me about dating some rich guy. A doctor this time. Then she was riding me about
my job, my lifestyle, being boring. You name it. She jumped on my nerves and
ground them to nothing.”
“Ah, sorry.”
He still didn’t see what part he had to play in this.
“So I
mentioned I was dating someone. A tattoo artist who had baby mommas everywhere
and had done time. Have you done time? Because that would be good.”
He blinked.
“Huh?’
Like a
steamroller, she continued, “I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend the next
time I have to go to dinner at Mom and Dad’s. And you need to be awful.”
He didn’t
like the tone of this drama. “What? Play the big bad black man to scare your
lily-white mom?”
She snorted.
“Please. If only it was that easy to scare Linda Donnigan.”
He relaxed,
more than glad to know she couldn’t care less about his skin color. “Then what
do you need, exactly?”
“My mother
loves men and women of all races, genders, and sexualities. But she’s a snob.
It’s all about money and success to her. If you’re not dying to be president,
you’re nothing.”
“President
as in…?”
“The top of
whatever your career is, or the actual POTUS. With Linda, it could be either,”
she said wryly. “I have no drive to be more than Cam’s assistant right now. I
work at my cousin’s investment firm, and I’m basically a glorified secretary.
But I’m okay with that.”
“You don’t
sound okay.” She sounded frustrated.
“I am.
Mostly.” She sighed. “Look, none of this is your fault. I needed someone I
thought my mother wouldn’t like.”
“That
hurts.” He wasn’t lying.
“It’s not
personal. She doesn’t know you, J.T. But she’s not a fan of tattoos at all. And
you look tough. So I thought, who do I know who would freak my mother out?”
“Me?”
“Yes.” She
smiled. “I just need you to pretend to be my new boyfriend a few times. Then we
can ‘break up’ and she’ll never know.”
“I have met
your mom, you know. It was brief, at Del’s wedding. She might remember.” He
frowned. “Then again, she was drinking that night.”
“She’s good
like that.” Hope leaned closer and grabbed his hand.
The feel of
her smaller palm against his had sweat break out on his forehead. He stared
into her honey gold eyes and felt himself nodding.
Giveaway
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