Riggs Bates may be a billionaire, but he knows money can’t buy happiness. He keeps his financial status a secret and takes his women the same way he takes his meals—a different one three times a day. That’s until he’s caught sleeping with a married newswoman by none other than her ambitious assistant.
Daphne “Duffy” Markham wants two things in life: marry well and stay in the States. So when her almost-fiancé takes off to “find himself” and her work visa approaches expiration, Duffy resorts to the only thing she has left—blackmail. Luckily, Riggs needs an excuse to stay in New York as badly as she does, so their first meeting quickly leads to a begrudging engagement.
Armed with strict house rules and their mutual distaste for one another, Riggs and Duffy soon find there’s no denying the spark between them…or the fact that this fake marriage is starting to feel a little too real.
Riggs Bates takes one look at Duffy and instantly decides she’s a shallow gold-digger not worth his time, so when she tries to blackmail him, he walks away without a second thought. But he soon finds himself in a complicated work situation, the kind where a fake wife would solve all of his problems. Duffy needs an American husband for a visa renewal since she lost the job that sponsored her, and her loser boyfriend has no intention of proposing any time soon.
BJ has been leading Duffy on for years, but still isn’t ready to pop the question. She’s livid when he takes a six-month sabbatical to volunteer with monks in Nepal but tells herself to take it in stride. She hasn’t put up with his lackluster boyfriending all these years to walk away now, when she’s so close to finally getting the security she badly needs. He’ll propose when he returns, she’s sure, and in the meantime, she’ll just marry Riggs to stay in the country.
It’s supposed to be a simple arrangement existing only on paper but that’s a tough rule to stick to when your fake husband looks like a Greek god, only better. It’s also not helping that every day, with a little distance, she sees BJ more clearly and realizes she deserves better in every way, including in the bedroom. What better way to dive into being single than to bang her hot husband? I wasn’t a huge Riggs fan before this, but he’s now my favorite of the Castaways. He’s damaged and hard and a little bit crazy but just knowing that someone cares about him is a wake-up call that makes him question everything.
There’s a lot more to these characters than just their love story and I loved every minute of it. There are a couple of twists, lots of great banter and plenty of steam but real feelings too. I loved everything about their story and will definitely read it again. I’d like to thank the author and Literally Yours PR for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
