Hey, girl. Jimmy
Rowan here. You might know me from my YouTube channel. Yeah, I’m the guy who
nearly gets killed on every video. Say what? You want to know how I got
started?
Ahh, long story.
Maybe for another day. Or a night with some tequila Cuervo handy. The short is,
I’m a daredevil. And I’m good at it. So…imagine my shock when prim and proper
Miss Elizabeth Banks comes up to me at a bar, a really seedy, not-her-damn-type
bar, and offers me a hell of a lot of money to be her ‘perfect’ freaking man.
Kind of wild,
right?
All I have to do
is wear her suits and act “civil” – whatever that means.
And I’m having a
great time just raking her with my eyes.
This woman is all
long legs, pouty lips, and looking all business in a business suit that’s just
begging to get rumpled.
Definitely what
Lizzy wants me to do is a walk in a park compared to some of the stunts I do. I
mean. I’ve thrown myself off tall buildings and pulled my chute way, way past
the moment when I should’ve.
I’ve crashed
motorcycles on top of cars when I tried to leap over them.
I’ve broken a rib
or two, and sometimes several at a time, and I’ve got a good number of black
eyes, with no help at all from anyone but me.
With Sexy little
Lizzy here, there’s no physical risk at all. Not one you could see anyway,
except the one that I never really saw coming.
Damn her.
Damn her and her
little big million dollar contract.
Damn this sexy,
smart, closet-crazy perfectionist just waiting for more than just a sweep off
her feet. Oh man, this girl needs a flat out toss to the ground. And I’m the
man up for the challenge. What? You’re shocked? Lady, they don’t call me devil
for nothing.
Million Dollar Devil Excerpt
There’s a long,
almost-empty bar and a couple of customers having nachos and chips and salsa at
the tables.
But as I walk
across the tilting cement floor, every single one of those eyes is on me.
What am I doing
here, again?
Oh, right.
Probably trying to get myself mugged.
Summoning my
courage, I take a middle stool at the bar and tell the bartender, who’s busy
watching something on his phone, “Tequila, the finest you have—straight up,” in
a gruff voice that I hope makes me sound like I can hold my own, in case
someone is eyeing up my purse.
He doesn’t look
up, merely smiles down at whatever he’s watching as he pours me something from
a bottle called Montezuma and serves with his free hand. What the hell is
Montezuma?
Great service. “Um. I said the best you
have.”
He looks up at
me, finally seeing me for the first time. A frown of annoyance on his lips.
“This is the best, princess. Also the only.”
I probably don’t
want to upset him, seeing how he has arms the size of tree trunks, covered in
tattoos.
I take my shot
and guzzle it down. It’s awful, like paint thinner, squeezing tears from my
eyes. Whatever. I tap the bar for another. When my curiosity gets the best of
me, I ask, “What are you watching?”
“Jimmy.”
“Jimmy what?”
“Jimmy Rowan. The
stunt guy on YouTube? He’s going to get killed one day.”
“Hopefully not
today.” I frown and peer at the screen as he shows me. “What kind of stunts
does he do anyway? That’s so dangerous.”
He tilts his
phone in my direction. A guy in a helmet and nylon jumpsuit is throwing himself
off an airplane. He’s speaking into the camera saying, “So I was dared to pull
the strings fifteen seconds after any sane, normal human being would. So, let’s
count down from right about … now.”
My eyes widen,
and my insides clutch in concern for the idiot behind the camera.
Fourteen…
The static from
the wind makes his voice sound shattered, strained.
“Thirteen.” The
bartender is counting.
I watch the idiot
continue his free fall as land grows closer beneath him.
“What an idiot,”
I mumble, but I’m still unable to take my eyes off the video.
“Five!” the
bartender says. I look away.
“Just tell me he
lived.”
“Oh, he lives.”
He shows me the camera when the guy finally pulls the cord on his chute, and a
few seconds later, crashes into the ground. The guy growls, “Ouch,” then starts
laughing, a low, rumbly laugh. I can’t help but smile and shake my head.
“And he did this
all because…”
“They dared him
to. Five hundred bucks.”
“He did all of
that? For five hundred bucks?”
“He gets more
from the video views. A man’s got to put food on the table.” He eyes me up and
down. “Specially when he doesn’t have a trust fund coming to him.”
Shaking my head,
I push my empty glass forward. “Bartender. Another drink. Please.”
I’m on my third.
He pours it for
me. “Classy guy, that Jimmy.”
“In what
dictionary?”
He frowns as he
sets his phone back into his pocket and polishes a glass. “Huh?”
“What dictionary
would define him as classy?”
His eyes widen as
if I’ve just murmured something blasphemous. “Well, maybe not your class.
He doesn’t own a Rolls. But around here, he’s royalty. Jimmy hangs out here all
the time.” He nods at a dark corner booth situated to the right of the bar.
“His office is right over there.”
I see the
cluttered tabletop and wonder what kind of man leaves a tripod, camera, and old
laptop set up in a bar. He must trust the people who patronize this place.
Either that or the patrons fear him.
“Jimmy Rowan will
do anything for a dare—he’s a man of honor.”
“If he’d do that
for five hundred, what would he do for half a million or more?” I grumble,
smiling and shaking my head at the thought. At least I can still smile.
“He’d do
anything. What? You offering?” He eyes me with new interest, in kind of a
smarmy way, as if he thinks I’m asking to buy his services. Who the heck does
he think I am? “Ladies go for him.”
Oh god, he does think
that.
“No, thank
you very much,” I mutter. “Ladies or women? I don’t think a lot of ladies would
go for someone that foolish.”
He raises his
gaze past my shoulders. Silence falls over the room, and then the bartender
murmurs, “Speak of the devil…”
There’s a loud
crash, followed by a ruckus.
“What’s that?” I
glance around at the commotion.
The bartender
smiles. “Jimmy Rowan.”
I turn my gaze to
the door, and my heart skips a beat. The tall, raw-looking sex machine the
bartender refers to doesn’t look anything like a Jimmy. The guy is
too tall and eye catching and too … well, hot.
***
About the Book
Title: Million Dollar Devil
Author: Katy Evans
Release Date: May 28, 2019
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Summary
Heir apparent to her father’s company, Lizzy Banks needs a
man. The perfect man. But when the rich “fundbabies” she usually rubs shoulders
with prove impossible to hire, she takes a chance on a raw beast of a man
salvaged from the wreckage of a bar brawl.
James Rowan earns a modest income as a YouTube daredevil,
but he can’t refuse Lizzy’s million dollar deal. As she polishes his rough
edges, creating a sophisticated gentleman fit for the highest circles of
society, not only does she bring out the perfect man—it’s like she’s making the
man of her dreams. How can she resist?
Though Lizzy loves seeing James in his clothes—and out of
them—he isn’t the kind of man you bring home to Daddy. Her father’s disapproval
and the pressure of the campaign have her eyeing the straight and narrow, but
Lizzy’s finding it awfully hard to resist the devil on her shoulder . . .
Author Biography
Katy
Evans loves family, books, life, and love. She’s married with two children and
a dog, and she spends her time baking healthy snacks, taking long walks, and
taking care of her family. To learn more about her books in progress, check out
www.katyevans.net and sign up for her newsletter. You can also find her on
Twitter @authorkatyevans and on Facebook at AuthorKatyEvans.
Social Media Links
Website: http://www.katyevans.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKatyEvans
Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorkatyevans
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