One impulsive lie leads to a weeklong adventure of fake dating for two bickering coworkers in this swoony destination wedding rom-com.
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Sajni Patel’s The Design of Us, which releases on July 16th 2024.
Sunshine incarnate Bhanu brings big UX energy to whatever she does, including going for the promotion where her only serious competition is her work nemesis, AKA Sunny, the grump with the Denzel voice. She expected to get a reprieve from him while visiting her family in Hawai’i, but the universe has other plans. When Bhanu runs into Sunny at the hotel and witnesses his ex criticizing him about being single, Bhanu does the first thing that comes to she impetuously claims to be Sunny’s girlfriend just to get some peace and quiet. Except Sunny is on island for a friend’s wedding and his ex has already texted the entire wedding party about this mysterious girlfriend.
Bhanu truly is the bane of Sunny’s existence. But the last thing he wants to do is cause tension during his friend’s wedding festivities, much less be the object of their pity. He has no choice except to play along, if only he and Bhanu can put aside their quarreling and act like a real couple.
Between Bhanu’s hilariously meddling family and Sunny’s ecstatic friends, the two are pushed closer together, even as stress mounts over the impending promotion.
They say what happens on island, stays on island. But as Sunny and Bhanu let their guards down, will either of them be able to resist this romantic getaway without crossing the line?
EXCERPT
I vaguely remembered having drank so much water that my egregiously small bladder had dragged me out of a dead sleep to pee two, maybe three, times.
I stomped back to bed in the dark. It wasn’t pitch black. Light seeped in through the gaps at the edges of the curtains. With a burp, I plopped into bed and rolled onto my side, hitting a fortress of pillows.
I shoved them back. They didn’t budge. Another shove, a much harder one after that, followed by an annoyed, throaty, “What, Bane?”
I almost shrieked as I shot up in bed. “Sunny?”
“Yes?”
“Why are you . . .” Oh, right. Kimo’s brother had crashed on the couch and Sunny had come in late. Drunk. And . . . had been flirting with me?
I groaned. Whatever. I was too dang tired, and by the silence, Sunny was, too.
But there was a man sleeping next to me. Not a boyfriend. Not even a friend. Not quite a stranger but a coworker nemesis. I peered over at him. Sunny was hidden behind the fortress of pillows. He had at least followed the one rule I’d given his drunk butt last night.
“Are you watching me?” His voice was a low, gravelly grumble. And it did some funny things to my insides, tying them up into knots constricting and releasing in slow, pleasant tugs.
“You’re protected by the fortress,” I replied.
“I didn’t want to get knocked the hell out.”
I bit my lip. “Good memory for a drunk.”
“Almost drunk,” he corrected.
“Seemed pretty much there to me.”
“You’ve not seen many drunks, have you?”
“No.”
“What a protected life you lead.”
“Do I have to deal with you stumbling in, in the middle of the night, almost drunk again?”
“Hopefully I get a room.”
“You probably won’t. Might as well just stay here.”
Sunny poked his head up from behind the fortress, his hair adorably disheveled and his eyes as low and brooding as they had been last night. “Why wouldn’t I get a room?”
“You’re not the only person needing one, and you have a place to stay . . . so . . . let someone else have a room.”
He watched me, perplexed. “You’re inviting me to stay the entire trip?”
“Yes. I doubt you’ll get a room as nice as this.” I lay on my side and watched his expression turn from sleepy to wary to thoughtful.
“You don’t even know how long I’m staying.”
“When do you fly out?”
“The wedding is on Saturday, and I leave on Sunday.”
I shrugged. “It’s a couple more days. You’re not in the worst situation. The invitation is there. I’m more concerned about some poor family or an actual couple who has no place to go.”
“That’s considerate.”
“You’re welcome.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Thanks, Bane. You’re all right.”
I shoved the pillow between us into his face. “I thought I was pumpkin and edible.”
He laughed into the pillow, pushing it away in a quick game of back-and-forth until he pulled it away. There was a breach in the fortress, and no barrier between our top halves. Not that the bed was small by any means, but a gaping reminder that, holy crap, a man was in my bed.
Excerpted from The Design of Us by Sajni Patel Copyright © 2024 by Sajni Patel. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
