Excerpt: 'The Hookup Hoax' by Heather Thurmeier

Heather Thurmeier shares a snippet from her new release, The Hookup Hoax.

First, here's the blurb about the book (courtesy of Entangled Lovestruck):

The perfect guy. The perfect girl. The perfect lie.

Sawyer Sterling needs a girlfriend. With the family cabin up for grabs, he's desperate to prove that he could be the guy to "pass it on." Of course, Sawyer also has a tendency to treat relationships like a contagious stomach flu that should be avoided at all costs. Now he needs a girlfriend-for-hire. Someone he can trust. Someone he could never, ever fall for...

Someone like his best friend's sister.

Sawyer's offer is exactly what Olivia Morgan needs. After traveling around the world for the last five years, the promise of a job and free accommodations is heaven. And sure, maybe Sawyer's a super-hot, charming guy with dimples made for kissing, but he's not willing to be the guy—or relationship—she needs.

All it takes is one hot hook-up before this little hoax gets blown all to hell...

Heather sets the stage for us …

Heather: In The Hookup Hoax, Sawyer needs a temporary girlfriend — fake girlfriend! — but finding the right one is a challenge. She has to be convincing, willing to play along for a few months and, most of all, free from the risk of a real commitment. When his best friend's little sister, Olivia, joins them for lunch, Sawyer realizes the perfect girl is sitting right across the table from him. She's got everything he needs in a fake girlfriend and he couldn't get anyone safer than a sister protected by the Bro Code. Now he just has to offer her a deal too good to refuse …

EXCERPT

"No one will give you a job?" Sawyer asked. "That doesn't seem right."

Olivia shrugged. "Seems 'kiwi picker in New Zealand' doesn't earn much respect on a resume these days. I mean, I worked hard to earn my pay. It's not like I was sitting around on a beach for years working on my tan."

Her skin was a warm caramel, but the neckline of her shirt had slipped off her shoulder while she ate, revealing a tan line that proved just how milky white her skin normally was. Maybe she wasn't a professional beach bum, but she'd definitely seen her fair share of sunshine recently, more than they'd had here in New York City in the last few months. As his gaze followed the tan line where it disappeared beneath her shirt, he found himself wondering how sun-kissed the rest of her body was. Surf-loving New Zealanders liked bikinis, didn't they? When in Rome, as they say...

Forcing his thoughts on to safer topics, he swallowed his last bite of burger before speaking again. "Didn't you do any other work while you backpacked around the world? Surely something you did must be good enough for a resume."

"Would you hire a kiwi picker, coffee server, or farm hand who hadn't been in the country for the last five years?" Sawyer's thoughts filled with images of Olivia on the top of a ladder with her head stuck in a kiwi plant. He could imagine the kid he knew back in middle school doing something like that, but this put-together-without-being-high-maintenance woman in front of him? No way. She definitely looked more suited for an office job somewhere instead of out in a field getting dirty.

Huh.

Crashing on a couch. In need of an apartment and a job.

Maybe...

Olivia was Aidan's little sister.

His smirk grew into a grin. She glanced up from her plate, flinching suddenly when she found him eyeing her. He knew he should look away, but couldn't. Olivia was safe. She was protected by the Bro Code. Little sisters of buddies were always off-limits, as Aidan had already made perfectly clear. There was no way Sawyer would be tempted to get involved with her in any way, when doing so would jeopardize his friendship.

"Why are you grinning like a guy who knows two weeks in advance which team would win the Super Bowl?" Aidan asked.

Sawyer leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table, giving all his attention to Olivia and ignoring his friend. "I'll hire you."

"You will?" she asked. "But you don't even know my qualifications."

"What was your major?"

"I graduated with a BA in Business."

"Perfect. We have an administrative assistant position that's available because Bethany had to take a medical leave."

"That's great," Olivia said, enthusiastically. "Not for Bethany, of course, but for me. I can fill in until she's well enough to return to work."

"Are you sure you want to do that? You don't need to feel obligated to hire her because of our friendship," Aidan said.

"Shut up," Olivia whispered, nudging her brother in the side. "I need a job."

"Yeah, but you'd have to work with him."

"What's wrong with that?" she asked, still whispering.

Sawyer cleared his throat as a subtle hint that while they could obviously see him, he could also hear them. When they turned his way, he wove his fingers together as if he was about to pray. Maybe he should, if it meant this new plan had a hope of working. "On one condition."

Aidan grimaced. "What's that exactly? And before you answer, remember she's my sister and I will hurt you." Sawyer didn't know why, exactly, but ever since Olivia had graduated college and gone off to travel, Aidan had been especially protective of her.

"I can speak for myself. What's your condition?" she asked, before taking another bite of her sandwich and shoving in a few fries for good measure. The girl could eat.

"I'll hire you. I'll even offer you my guest room, rent free. All you have to do is agree to be my girlfriend for a while."

Olivia choked and reached for her water. After taking a good, long chug, she spoke. "I would be your girlfriend, why, exactly?"

"It wouldn't be real," Sawyer said. "You'd only have to pretend."

"No way." Aidan sat back in his chair, his arms folded across his chest. The waitress collected his empty dish and asked if they needed anything else. "The bill. We're done here."

He knew, by the look on Aidan's face, he meant they were done with more than the meal. But Sawyer wasn't done. He always got what he wanted, and right now he wanted Olivia. She was the perfect choice.

Find out more about Heather and her books at heatherthurmeier.com.