Praise for The Nanny
“I need more books like The Nanny, stat. A smart, educated heroine (Yes, please!) meets a driven, career-focused single dad. Sparks fly . . . and fly, and fly. Seriously, this book is like if Ali Hazelwood and Tessa Bailey had a smutty baby. I devoured every page and was sad to see it end. This is the spice BookTok wants! Now I need Lana Ferguson to work faster, because I want to see everything she writes.”
—Ruby Dixon, international bestselling author of the Ice Planet Barbarians series
“Smart, fun, sexy, and sizzling with romantic tension, The Nanny is a mouthwateringly delicious take on second chances, with a healthy dash of steam. I can’t wait for more from Lana Ferguson!”
—Sara Desai, author of The Singles Table
“The Nanny is sweet, beautifully sexy, and Aiden is the single Zaddy you want in your life. An amazing debut.”
—Elena Armas, New York Times bestselling author of The American Roommate Experiment
“Ferguson makes the will-they-won’t-they sing with complex emotional shading and a strong sense of inevitability to her protagonists’ connection. . . . Rosie Danan fans should snap this up.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“This steamy romantic comedy puts a modern spin on traditional tropes, bringing the falling-for-the-nanny and secret-past storylines into the twenty-first century. . . . Readers who enjoyed Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone’s A Merry Little Meet Cute will adore this positive, upbeat, sex-filled romp.”
—Library Journal
“Everything about The Nanny is enjoyable: the plot, the pacing, the characters, and especially Ferguson’s wise and funny voice. It’s also refreshing to see sex-positive characters who approach intimacy with maturity. . . . If you’re a fan of dirty talk and slow-burning chemistry, you’ll love The Nanny.”
—BookPage (starred review)
“If you’re looking for a heartfelt romance that knows how to bring the heat, look no further than The Nanny by Lana Ferguson!”
—The Bookish Libra
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BERKLEY TITLES BY LANA FERGUSON
The Nanny
The Fake Mate
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BERKLEY ROMANCE
Published by Berkley
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
penguinrandomhouse.com
Copyright © 2023 by Lana Ferguson
Excerpt from Overruled copyright © 2023 by Lana Ferguson
Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.
BERKLEY and the BERKLEY and B colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ferguson, Lana, author.
Title: The fake mate / Lana Ferguson.
Description: First edition. | New York : Berkley Romance, 2023.
Identifiers: LCCN 2023019640 (print) | LCCN 2023019641 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593549377 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780593549384 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Shapeshifting—Fiction. | LCGFT: Paranormal fiction. | Romance fiction. | Novels.
Classification: LCC PS3606.E72555 F35 2023 (print) | LCC PS3606.E72555 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23/eng/20230508
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023019640
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023019641
First Edition: December 2023
Cover illustration by Monika Roe
Cover design by Rita Frangie Batour
Interior art: Wolf and Moon © happy.designer / Shutterstock
Book design by Alison Cnockaert, adapted for ebook by Molly Jeszke
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Contents
Cover
Praise for The Nanny
Berkley Titles by Lana Ferguson
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Excerpt from Overruled
About the Author
_145559228_
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To my oldest friend, who at the time of publication of this book most likely still hasn’t finished it because of the “weird wolfy shit.” I love you, asshole. You don’t know what you’re missing.
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1
Mackenzie
“I’m seeing someone.”
In retrospect, the lie comes much easier than I thought it would. It feels icky, lying to the woman who’s raised me since I was twelve, but in the face of my seventh bad date (or has it been eight now? I’ve honestly lost count) in three months—it also feels necessary.
My grandmother, Moira, has a reaction as immediate as it is expected. “What? Who? Someone from work? Is it someone I know?”
I know if I don’t shut down this line of questioning quickly, it will spiral into a full-blown interrogation.
“No,” I say quickly. “You don’t know him.”
