RELEASE TOUR incl Exclusive Excerpt: Paper Roses by Lily Morton
Length: 90,000 words
Series: Confetti Hitched, book 3
Genre: contemporary
Tropes: Fake marriage, Boss and assistant, Workplace romance, Forced proximity, Only one bed
Trigger/Content Warnings: Reference to spouse’s death. The death was 10 years before this story and is off page, but the grief is discussed.
Jed Walker is starting to think that cheerful oblivion about his feelings is the key to being fake married.
Jed Walker thinks he’s having a midlife crisis. The only trouble is that it feels too good to stop.
Widowed at a young age, he’s spent his life since then avoiding any relationships that might end up hurting him again. He has his successful wedding planning business, Confetti Hitched, and a series of uncomplicated hookups, and that’s all he needs in life.
The one person disrupting this controlled stoicism is his younger assistant, Artie. He’s sweet and kind and has a funny way of calming Jed’s mind. So, when Artie comes to him with a problem, Jed moves heaven and earth to help, which is how he finds himself entering a fake marriage with the younger man and catching feelings. Too bad it’s all pretend. Or is it?
From bestselling author Lily Morton comes a story about how love can completely derail the best-laid plans.
This is the third book in the Confetti Hitched series, but it can be read as a standalone.
“I have something amazing to tell you.”
“What?” I ask cautiously. Daisy’s ideas can sometimes be rather catastrophic because she doesn’t think things through.
“Do you remember my friend Simon?”
“Can you narrow it down? You have hundreds of friends.”
“I met him at college. He was the one who was sick on the sofa at my old place, and I lost my deposit.”
“You lost your deposit because of the broken window.”
“You must remember him.”
“Is he the one who spoke about Proust for three hours before the unfortunate incident with the sofa?”
“That’s the one. He was better than a bouncer for clearing parties. Anyway, I met Simon tonight, and I was telling him about your little problem.”
I groan. “Aren’t we supposed to be keeping it a secret?”
“Oh, don’t worry. I didn’t mention your name. I just said it was a friend. Anyway, I told him all about it, and he’ll do it.”
“Do what?”
“He’ll fake marry you. It’s serendipity, sweetie. He’s an actor.”
“Have I seen him in anything?”
There’s a pause. “No, probably not. He’s not actually working as an actor at the moment.”
“What does he do, then?”
“He’s behind the counter at Greggs in Camden.”
“So, you want me to trust my future to an actor who’s not actually acting?”
“It’ll be fine.”
“It probably won’t.”
“And a bonus is that he always gets the leftovers from Greggs, so we’ll never run short of sausage rolls.”
I picture Simon. Then I picture spending several important hours of my life with Simon. “I hate to deprive you of a good sausage roll, but I’ve already solved the problem myself.”
“Artie, have you decided not to do it?” she says gently. “Because it’s fine if you have, sweetie.”
“No. Absolutely not. I still want to do this.”
“So what did you have in mind?”
I lick my lips. “Jed said he’d do it.”
There’s a pause. “Who?”
“My boss.”
“Sexy Jed said he’ll pretend to be your fake fiancé?”
“That’s the one. Surprise.”
“That’s an understatement.” She hesitates. “And you’re actually thinking of accepting his offer?”
“Well, it’s Jed.”
“But can he act?”
“He can do anything he puts his mind to,” I say with certainty. “And he’s never mentioned Proust, so that’s got to be a bonus.”
Lily lives in sunny England with her husband and two children, all of whom claim that they haven’t had a proper conversation with her since she bought her first Kindle.
She loves chocolate and Baileys and the best of all creations – chocolate Baileys! Her lifetime’s ambition is to have a bath in peace without being shouted by one of her family.
