My Fair Lacey & A Perfect Fit by Janette Rallison
"My Fair Lacey" is the story of Lacey, who has dreamed of opening a restaurant for years - but first she needs a loan. When Garrett Halifax, her roommate's Harvard-educated brother, offers to help her clean up her appearance and manner to impress the bank manager, she jumps at the chance - but will she be able to keep up appearances without falling for the sexy Garrett?
In "A Perfect Fit" Rallison Jojo Halifax believes that winning Echo Ridge's float competition is just what her fledgling art career needs. And if that means giving her ex-boyfriend, Anthony, a second chance so she can be a designer on his team, well, she's willing to make the sacrifice. But when a lost bet leads to a blind date with her brother's friend, Wyatt, she begins to have second thoughts about second chances. Wyatt is handsome and charming and just might have been paid to make her forget about Anthony. Is falling for his charm worth the risk or should she take Anthony back again?
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Samples from My Fair Lacey
Lacey’s second week of practice went about the same as the first had, and the third wasn’t much better. Her boss didn’t appreciate it when he overheard a customer asking how the lasagna was and she answered, “Ignominious.”
Ignominious, it turned out, was a word her boss knew.
She read more Dickens along with Wuthering Heights, and Frankenstein. When she went to Garrett’s house for her next lesson, he led her into the living room and asked, “What did you think of this week’s literature?”
“I never knew British dudes had so many problems.” She plopped down onto his couch. “They all seemed like they had such boring lives.”
He laughed and she couldn’t keep herself from staring at him. He looked good when he laughed. He seemed relaxed, touchable, and . . .well, there was probably some hyped up word with lots of syllables that smart people used to describe a guy when he looked that way, but she hadn’t learned it yet.
He gave her a twenty-minute lesson on verb tenses, then spent another twenty minutes quizzing her on it. “Which is correct: They is meeting you later or they are meeting you later?”
“Neither. I don’t have time to meet anyone. I sold my soul to Garrett Halifax.”
“Correct,” he said, and there was a pleased glint in his eye.
*****
Lacey pressed her lips together and tried again. “Couldn’t you find some authors who write more entertainingly?”
Garrett didn’t answer because he was typing instructions into his laptop. He had a list of grammar rules that he kept adding to when she made a mistake. She was supposed to go over his list every day.
She glared at his bent head. Why did he always have to act like a teacher? Had he even given her parted lips the briefest of thoughts?
He turned his attention back to her. “Do you want a romance?”
Her breath hitched in her lungs. Was he really asking her this question so casually, and right after he’d written down a grammar rule for her? He wasn’t looking at her with any sort of passion, just bland interest.
She shifted in her chair. “Um. Maybe. I’m not sure.” She took a deep breath, and tried to think of a better way to phrase her feelings.
He didn’t wait for her to say more. His gaze dropped to the notebook in front of him. “All right, I’ll give you a few Jane Austen novels to read. A lot of women are partial to her works.”
Oh. He had asked her if she wanted to read a romance, not have a romance with him. A stab of disappointment went through her. One that was unexpectedly strong. She bit her lip, swallowed and hoped she wasn’t blushing. No use. She was definitely blushing. Heat rose in her neck and cheeks. She just had to hope he didn’t notice.
He tapped his pencil against the table absently. “I know classics aren’t as easy to read as modern novels, but you’re not only listening to these books because of their complex sentence structure and higher vocabulary; you also need to have a basic cultural understanding. When someone mentions Homer’s Odyssey at a dinner party, you need to know that they’re talking about an ancient Greek story, not a rock group. Do you see my point?”
“Yeah. Your point is that you go to a lot of boring dinner parties.”
***
“You’re not listening to me,” Lacey said. “You never do.”
“Nonsense,” Garrett handed her a second tissue. “I do nothing but listen to you.”
“You do nothing but correct me. There’s a difference.”
“I only comment on how you say the words because that’s my job.” He tilted his head, giving her a considering look. “Do you know what you need?”
“Yeah. An MBA and a bunch of assets.”
“A shoulder massage. You’re way too tense.” He put his hands on her back and shifted her so that she faced away from him, then he slipped off the coat and began massaging her shoulders. His fingers pressed into her skin, working across her sore muscles. “You’re not going to quit,” he told her. “Because you’re not a quitter, and your dream deserves more. Also, you signed a contract.”
***
Lacey glanced over her shoulder at him. “I was only mentioning that Tatum was interested in you in case you didn’t realize it. I mean, those sorts of details seem to slip by you.”
“No, they don’t.” His fingers caressed the muscles at the bottom of her neck, making her sigh at the touch.
“Yes, they do,” she said. “Apparently there are a few things they didn’t teach you in college.”
His voice came nearer her ear. “I know Tatum is interested in me. I’m just not interested in her.”
Good. “Why not?”
“She’s not my type.”
“What, your type isn’t successful, beautiful, educated women?” She glanced at him in an attempt to read his expression. He was so close to her. This felt intimate, but it wasn’t really. This moment was like the time he took hold of her hand and she thought it meant something.
“She’s not all that interesting,” he said.
“Your type is interesting women?” Lacey couldn’t even begin to guess what sort of thing he considered interesting. Maybe women who traveled the world or fought crime. She faced forward again and his fingers worked their way across her skin in lazy circles.
“Interesting and unaffected,” he said.
Unaffected by what? It was obviously one of those words that had more than one meaning. “Hand me my phone so I can use the dictionary app.”
“No,” he said. “I’m busy helping you relax.” His finger kneaded the muscles at the base of her neck. It sent a chill of pleasure through her. “I’m going to keep this up until you’re no longer discouraged.”
“Okay,” she said. “You’re really good at massages, so I might be discouraged for a while.”
He laughed and his face came closer to her ear. “And that’s another thing. My type is women who make me laugh.”
****
Excerpts from A Perfect Fit
“You want me to seduce your sister?” Wyatt Nelson sat in front of his laptop, staring at the video feed of Garrett, his old roommate. Had Wyatt heard him right? Maybe the internet had glitched and he’d misunderstood the request. Asking Wyatt to go out on a blind date with his sister was one thing; asking for seduction was something completely different.
Garrett winced at the question. He usually looked like the poster child for a Harvard graduate: clean-cut, designer suit, born for high-powered business meetings. Now his tie was loose and his blond hair tousled, as though he’d been raking his fingers through it. “I don’t actually mean seduce seduce her. Not that. I was thinking more along the lines of just luring her away from her idiot boyfriend.”
Wyatt raised an eyebrow. Garrett had to be kidding. He was trying to set him up with someone who was already in a relationship? “So, what you’re saying is you want me to seduce your sister, who happens to be in love with another guy?”
Garrett waved his hand at Wyatt. “Shouldn’t be that hard. You’re a pro at romance. Half the girls at Harvard were in love with you. You must have some method to make them fall for you.”
Incredible. If Wyatt hadn’t already been friends with Garrett, he would have thought the guy was a colossal jerk. But he knew Garrett better than that. He was blunt and sometimes brash, but not completely unfeeling. “Girls like me because I’m a nice guy. The kind that doesn’t blatantly use people—you know, like trying to make them fall in love with me just because their brother doesn’t like their boyfriend.”
Garrett leaned back in his chair. “Hey, use whatever methods work for you. All I want is Jojo to be happily away from the influence of Anthony. ”
****
They were nearing their floor. “Anyway, whatever price Garrett paid for your services, it was worth it.”
Wyatt smiled. “Glad to know you’re satisfied.”
His answer shouldn’t have bothered Jojo, but it did. She’d made the comment tongue-in-cheek and had expected him to deny that Garrett was paying him anything. Instead, he’d confirmed it. What was Garrett paying him with? A favor called in? Cash? She hoped it wasn’t that. How much did make-my-sister-forget-her-boyfriend dates run? Hundreds? The more Garrett paid, the more pathetic it meant she was.
The elevator slowed to a stop and the door opened. Wyatt stepped into the hallway and paused, checking the numbers on the wall to see which way to go. Jojo followed him, rolling her overnight bag behind her.
“This way,” he said, heading to the left. His room was 2312; hers was 2310.
She kept pace beside him. “So you’re saying that Garrett actually paid you to take me out?”
“I didn’t say that. I just said I was glad you were satisfied.”
“Then he didn’t pay you?”
“I didn’t say that either.”
“Well, which is it?”
He gestured to the rooms on his right, completely unperturbed by her questioning. “Here are our rooms.”
“You’re not going to answer me?”
He paused in the hallway, seemed surprised by her insistence. “What are you really asking? Do you want me to tell you that you’re pretty enough and interesting enough to get a date without your brother’s help? You absolutely are. But I suspect you already know that. Girls who are as pretty as you are quite aware of it.”
The compliment washed over her, made her tingle. She was pretty and interesting. “Ah, thanks. You’re so sweet.” And then the next moment her doubts returned. “Wait, is my brother paying you to say things like that to me?”
Wyatt laughed, then unlocked his door. “I’ll be ready to go in five minutes. See you then.” He winked and disappeared inside, shutting the door.
That wink. Jojo would look stupid if she tried it, but Wyatt made the gesture flirtatious and intimate, like she’d gained entrance to his inner circle. A place she suddenly wanted to be.
As she walked into her room, she made a new goal for the evening. She would not do impulsive, foolish things, like throw herself at Wyatt in an attempt to get over Anthony. She would not flirt with him and try to get him to kiss her. Nothing good could come of that. Except, of course, the kissing part. With a guy like Wyatt, that was bound to be good.
Nope. She wouldn’t find out.
But then again, maybe she would.
***
Jojo joined Wyatt, reading the menu over his shoulder. Sitting so close was probably a mistake. She was near enough to smell his aftershave. The scent was rich and masculine. The lecture she’d given herself on being sensible tonight—yeah, she’d lasted two minutes with his aftershave and now was deciding that being sensible was overrated.
“See anything you want?” he asked.
Um, yes. The chance to forget things by staring into his brown eyes.
***
“We passed an Italian place and a Chinese one on the way here. What do you feel like?”
Jojo looked upward for a moment, then returned her gaze to Wyatt. “Being reckless. What do you feel like?”
“I’ve never eaten reckless.”
“There’s always a first time.”
***
Wyatt didn’t move away. But he also didn’t lean down and kiss her. He was watching her, weighing her. Deciding. “I didn’t expect you to be this forward. Your brother told me you were the innocent sort.”
“I am the innocent sort.” Jojo had never thrown herself at a guy before, never been this bold. “I’m only being forward because I’m never going to see you again after this weekend. And suddenly being reserved seems like wasting an opportunity.”
“Oh,” he said. “I’m a revenge fling.”
“You make that sound like a bad thing.”
I always always love Rallison's stories and characters and this was no exception. I look forward to reading the book over and over again! --Kathy at Bookworm Nation
Janette always hits it out of the park with fun character voices, hilarious situations, and delightful romance. This is another great addition to her collection of books that I'd recommend anyone read and enjoy! --Five Star Review
Such a great read! It had many laugh out loud parts and I don’t use lol lightlyl. --A Reader
Author Janette RallisonUSA Today, bestselling author, Janette Rallison/ CJ Hill writes books because writing is much more fun than cleaning bathrooms. Her avoidance of housework has led her to writing 28 novels that have sold over 1,000,000 print copies and have been on many reading and state lists. Her books are fantasy, sci-fi, and romantic comedy because hey, there is enough angst in real life, but there’s a drastic shortage of humor, romance and hot guys who fight dragons. She lives in Chandler, Arizona with her husband, kids, and enough cats to classify her as eccentric.
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Ends 7/9/18
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