After 8 years of waiting...he's got 1 month to make her his.
TO LOVE AND TO CHERISH
The Wedding Belles #3
Lauren Layne
Releasing Oct 18th, 2016
Pocket Books
Sex and the City meets The
Wedding Planner in The Wedding Belles, a contemporary and witty
romance series about three high-powered New York City women who can plan any
wedding—but their own.
Alexis
Morgan has spent the past six years devoted to turning her tiny start-up into
Manhattan’s premiere wedding planning company, The Wedding Belles. Now that her
business is thriving, it’s time to turn towards her much neglected personal
life, and Alexis approaches her relationships like she does everything else:
with a plan. Not a part of that plan is Logan Harris, the
silent partner in the Belles, and the one person who’s been there for her since
the very beginning. But Alexis needs someone fun, and Logan’s all business, all
the time—except when a late night at the office ends with an unexpected kiss
that leaves the usually cool and together Alexis reeling.
Logan
has lusted after Alexis since the day he walked into the tiny Harlem apartment
that used to double as her office. But the ambitious wedding planner has always
been untouchable...until now. Alexis has made it clear that she’s on the dating
market—and equally clear that he’s not in the running. But when Alexis finds
herself in need of a date for her sister’s last minute wedding in Florida,
Logan knows it’s the perfect time to show Alexis that there’s more to him than
numbers and spreadsheets—and beneath the pinstripes and glasses lies a hot-blooded
heartthrob. As Florida’s sultry days turn into even hotter nights, Logan’s out
to convince Alexis that the fling of a lifetime could just maybe turn into
forever...
Excerpt:“Hello.”
The sexy British accented
startled Alexis out of her thoughts, and she glanced up, both alarmed and
intrigued to find that the face that awaited her was every bit as appealing as
the voice.
The man was about her
age—early, maybe midtwenties—and ridiculously cute. His hair was dark and maybe
just a touch too long, as though he intended to get a haircut but kept
forgetting. The eyes were brown and friendly, accented by trendy black-framed
glasses.
The chunky cable-knit
sweater with elbow patches—for
real—bordered on dorky, but then, Alexis had always had a soft spot
for dorky. He had a bit of the Clark Kent thing going on, which had always been
far more her type than the overrated Superman.
“Hi,” she replied
quickly, realizing that she’d been staring.
His smile grew wider as
he extended a hand. “Logan Harris.”
Darn.
Even the name was good.
“Alexis,” she said.
“Does that come with a
last name?” he teased, lowering himself to the vacant barstool beside her.
“Not to strange men,” she
retorted.
“I could buy you a drink.
Get rid of the ‘strange’ part.”
Alexis’s smile slipped as
she remembered that romance, even flirting, wasn’t part of her plan. She’d
learned the hard way that she could have one or the other—her own business or a
boyfriend—not both. And
even if she wanted the latter, the latter didn’t want her back.
“No thanks; I’m fine,” she
said, letting the slightest amount of chill enter her voice. The ice-princess
treatment, Roxanne called it.
Logan shrugged,
undeterred. “All right then. May I borrow your menu?”
She nodded, and he picked
it up, perusing it for several moments and paying her no attention.
It was both a relief and
also a bit of an insult, if she was being entirely honest, to be given up on so
easily.
Alexis tried to turn her
attention back to her laptop but watched out of the corner of her eye as he
finally shut the menu, waiting patiently to catch the bartender’s eye.
“Hi there,” he said, when
the bartender ambled back over. “I’d like a Stella, and a maybe bite to eat?”
Alexis didn’t miss the
once-over that the bartender gave Logan before the curvy redhead leaned over
the bar, displaying perky boobs as she clicked her pen and pulled a notepad out
of her back pocket.
“Shoot,” the bartender
said flirtatiously, looking a good deal friendlier than she had when she’d
spoken to Alexis.
Not that Alexis blamed
her. A cute Brit could do that to a girl.
“All right then,” Logan
said. “I’d like the burger, medium, with Swiss. Fish and chips, extra tartar,
and . . . how’s your chicken club?”
The bartender blinked.
“It’s good. But you want all that?”
“I do. Thank you.”
“Suit yourself,” she
said, scribbling Logan’s order on the pad.
“Hungry?” Alexis couldn’t
resist asking after the bartender moved away.
Logan gave a sheepish
smile. “I’m a recovering student. I sometimes get so wrapped up in my day that
I forget to eat.”
“A recovering student. What
does that mean?”
He turned slightly toward
her. “Someone’s showing plenty of interest in a strange man.”
She bit her lip. “I’m
sorry if I was rude before. I’m just not really in the market for . . . you
know.”
He gave her an easy
smile. “Everyone’s in the market for a friend, Alexis.”
She opened her mouth and
then shut it as she realized he was right. She could use a friend. She’d spent her entire
life in Boston and knew almost nobody in New York. This guy seemed nice and
nonthreatening enough—what would be the harm in a little conversation over
dinner? It had been too long since she’d had somebody to share a meal with.
Logan seemed to know the
moment she capitulated, because he turned more fully toward her. “A recovering
student, Alexis, is a recent graduate. One who hasn’t quite absorbed that there
will be no more finals, no more requisite all-nighters, and no more dorm sex.”
Alexis laughed.
“Undergrad, then?”
He gave her a wry look.
“How young do I look, darling? MBA from Columbia. Just finished up end of last
year.”
She felt a little stab of
relief that he wasn’t twenty-two.
He leaned toward her
slightly. “Twenty-five next month, just in case you were wondering. As a friend.”
She tried to hide her
smile and failed. “Columbia, huh? You’re a long way from home.”
“Noticed that, did ya?”
He winked. “I came out here for undergrad, also Columbia. Always figured I’d go
back to London and maybe someday I will, but . . .” He shrugged. “Seems I have
stuff to do here first.”
“Such as?” She took a sip
of her wine, dismayed to see that it was half-empty.
“Well, this will probably
shock you, given my vast amount of brawn, but I’m an accountant. Or at least I
will be, once I get my business up and running.”
Alexis was impressed.
“Your own business?”
Most twentysomethings,
even those with an entrepreneurial bent, opted to get a few years of work under
their belts for someone else before branching out on their own.
He nodded. “I’m working
out of my flat for now, but I’m hoping to lease some office space soon, get some
legitimacy. If nothing else to get my father off my back.”
“He’s not a fan of your
plan?” Alexis asked.
Logan’s shoulder lifted,
and for the first time he seemed a little sad. “Both parents have had it in
their head that I’d come home. Run the family business in London.”
“Which is . . . ?”
He spun his beer glass
idly. “Financial consulting firm. My father’s the CEO, Mum’s the COO.”
“Wow, that’s . . .”
“Scary?” Logan supplied.
“I was going to say
impressive. That they work together—without killing each other, I mean.”
“They’re in love. It’s
atrocious,” he said with a wink. “What about your folks?”
Alexis laughed. “Not in love. They
divorced when I was in high school. Dad’s remarried and happy now, I think. Mom
not so much.”
“And you?” he said. “Are
you happy, Alexis?”
She pursed her lips,
surprised and yet not entirely unsettled by the personal question. “It’s been a
while since anyone asked me that. Since I even thought about it, really.”
“Think it out. I’ll
wait,” he said with a wink.
She didn’t have to think
that long. “I’m almost happy.”
“You sound quite
confident on that.”
She shrugged. “Let’s just
say that I need a few things to fall into place in my professional life, but
once that happens . . . yeah. I’ll be happy.”
She’d make sure of it.
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Don't Miss Any of the Wedding Belles Novels
In 2011, she ditched her corporate career in Seattle to pursue a full-time writing career in Manhattan, and never looked back.
In her ideal world, every stiletto-wearing, Kate Spade wielding woman would carry a Kindle stocked with Lauren Layne books.
For a list of all her works, please be sure to check out her official website!
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