“Rule’s a rule,” the security guy growls. “You’ll remove the animal or I’ll remove it and hand it over to animal control.”
Animal control? It?
The son’s blue eyes sparkle with humor, as if the security guard’s threats are mere clownish whispers in a world constructed for him and him alone.
He addresses the assembled staff as a group. “Do you all understand who this is?”
It’s Smuckers, biotches! I think.
The complaining nurse folds her arms. “I don’t care. This is a pet-free facility.”
I rivet my attention to the son. I didn’t like him when he was turning his hard-ass Blue Magnum gaze on me, but now his asshole power is on my side, or at least Smuckers’s side.
“This is Bernadette Locke, head of the Locke Foundation, the entity that funded this wing, the medical teaching and research facility on the other side of that skyway, and probably your paychecks.”
I straighten. What?
More people come into the room, among them, a woman who seems to be some kind of administrator. “Henry Locke,” she says, grasping his hand. She apologizes for the mix-up, uttering words of empathy, admiration, gratitude. If he had a ring, she’d kiss it. She’d make out with it.
“…and of course Mrs. Locke can have her dog stay with her as long as she pleases,” she continues. “With our sincerest apologies—we had no idea that the swing shift was not informed…” She mumbles on, all excuses.
“Thanks,” I say. “It means a lot.”
They all look at me, like you’re still here?
The son points at me. “You. Out.”
“Wait. I promised Bernadette—I promised her I’d care for Smuckers. She asked me specifically to care for him, you know, when…”
He huffs out an exasperated breath and holds out his hand. “Card.”
I grab my wallet, and hand over my Etsy business card, quickly drawing away from the brush of his hand, the sizzle of his orbit.
The card has a photo of a tough-looking German shepherd wearing a pink-sequined bow tie.
He scowls down at it for a long time. Really scowls.
I’m imagining that he’s thinking of all the things he’d do if somebody tried to put a bow tie dog collar on him. And I’m guessing none of his scenarios end with the bow tie dog collar being in any way recognizable as a bow tie dog collar.
“She wants to know Smuckers has a home and—”
“I comprehend the meaning of care for Smuckers,” he says. “We’ll send Smuckers in a car.”
A car. That’s how Mrs. Locke would always say it. Send a car. I thought she meant an Uber or a cab all this time.
But it comes to me, standing there, that Bernadette Locke belongs in an entirely different world than I belong to, and that in her world a car is a limo.
Grab Most Eligible Billionaire!
Also by Annika Martin (aka Carolyn Crane)
Romantic Comedy
Most Eligible Billionaire (formerly Most Eligible Bastard)
An enemies-to-lovers standalone!
OMG - the cute little dog I adopted turns out to be a billionaire! That's right, my tiny Maltese inherited a huge corporation!
But now the sexy CEO thinks I'm a scammer…
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The Billionaire’s Wake-up-call Girl
An enemies-to-lovers standalone!
When our tyrannical CEO fires every wake-up-call service on the planet, what’s a lowly admin to do? I secretly start making the calls myself. But now they’re turning hot, like pay-by-the-minute hot, and he’s scouring Manhattan to find me. No way can I let him discover the truth!
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Fun, super-dirty romantic comedy (read in order)
The Hostage Bargain (Free standalone)
I was a small town girl, trapped in an impossible situation…and then three hot, kinky bank robbers took me hostage.
The Wrong Turn / Deeper Game
The Most Wanted
The Hard Way
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MM Spies - thrilling, sexy, and bantery!
Enemies like You (standalone) - They're dangerous men. Absolute enemies. And totally hot for each other.
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Romantic Suspense standalones
Against the Dark - Playing the fake girlfriend of arrogant secret agent Cole Hawkins? It’s the last thing Angel wants to do. But it’s just one weekend, right?
Off the Edge - She’s running for her life—new name, new country, new hair. And no time for sexy professors with deep, dark secrets.
Into the Shadows - He’s a twisted, brutish killer who kisses like a god. And he must never, ever discover her secret.
Behind the Mask - What do you do when your twin sister is won in a card game by dangerous cartel members? Trade places, of course!
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All four steamy, thrilling, award-winning Undercover Associates novels collected into one convenient and money-saving edition.
* * *
Mafia Princes (Dark romance alert! Read in order)
Dark Mafia Prince - He’s a devil in Armani with a twisted sense of justice. But when he kidnaps his enemy’s daughter, their sizzling connection puts everything at risk.
Wicked Mafia Prince - Viktor is stunned when the pretty assassin he once loved—and killed—appears in Chicago.
Savage Mafia Prince - Baby Brother Kiro is totally freaking SAVAGE. Like, literally.
Criminals & Captives (Dark romance alert! These are standalones)
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Prisoner - He seethes with raw power the first time I see him - pure menace and rippling muscles in shackles.
Hostage - The police say he’s obsessed with me. But I’m the one who can’t stop thinking about him.
* * *
Click here to see a complete list of Annika’s books.
Acknowledgments
I seriously don’t know what I’d do without my beautiful, badass, book-loving friends out there. So many of you lent your love to this book!
Thank you, Joanna Chambers, for your tough, OMG-smart, wizard-level feedback over two full iterations of this book. And Molly O’Keefe, I'm wildly grateful for your amazing insights, for thinking of things that made this book so much better. Massive thanks also to Katie Reus—you came through with character ideas and tweaks that made the text sing. Thank you, Christine Maria Rose, for reading this over and using your chemistry expertise to help me get this book right, and to make Theo into a credible chemist. And thank you to Courtenay Bennett for your many book-saving catches, and for keeping me out of the tool and rod club! And to Trisha Wolfe for kickass tweaks! And to Rylie Finn from Book-Bosomed Book Blog for eagle-eye catches!
And to you, Nina Grinstead—you have become such a fierce friend and ally, you blow me away with your warmth and fun and badass strategic mind. Thank you to the whole Social Butterfly gang—Brooke, Sarah, Chanpreet, Shannon, and everyone else.
And Melissa Gaston, I don’t know how I got so lucky as to be hooked up with you—thank you for your creativity and warmth and smarts! Thank you also to editor Deb Nemeth for wonderful developmental edits, and to Sadye Scott-Hainchek, Judy Zweifel, and Lea Schafer for fabulously expert copyediting and proofing polish. Any mistakes in here are my own because apparently I can’t stop fussing with every little thing!! And major hugs to Michele of Catalano Creative for this amazing cover.
I’m grateful to too many bloggers to name—I deeply appreciate the care you take with your reviews and recommendations—my heart does a little flutter when I see you’ve read and reviewed my books, and your passion inspires me to always reach higher.
I want to thank my husband, Mark for always being there and for patiently reminding me of all the other times I freaked out and thought the book I was in the middle of writing was a doomed mess, but later felt happy about it. Not that it kept me from a mid-book freakout this time around. Maybe next time, baby!
Huge, warm, tackle-hug thanks to my amazing friends in the Fabulous Gang—y
ou are the smartest, funniest, sweetest group there ever was. You guys mean the world to me! Special thanks to gang members Darlene Good, Erica Stennett, Catherine Ojalvo, and Cindy McGriff for coming through with perfect heroine, friend, and sister names. And my Awesome ARC gang – I hope you know how grateful I am that you are on this journey with me. You all so rock!!
All the Annika deets!
I love panty-melting books, doing yoga, taking pictures of my cats, rocking out to 90’s grunge music, taking long baths, consuming See’s chocolate suckers, mooning over heroes’ hands, and helping animals. I also love connecting with readers. Let’s hook up!
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The Billionaire's Fake Fiance Page 28
