Million Dollar Devil

In this spirited but uneven makeover story, Evans (Boss) creates two appealing, flawed characters from different sides of the tracks whose business arrangement conflicts with their intense mutual desire. Lizzy Banks, longing to convince her father that she can become CEO of Banks Limited, a high-end men’s fashion line, commits to finding the perfect model to launch their new designer suit line. Her father thinks the model should be someone already famous or wealthy, and, after failing to dig up a suitable millionaire, Lizzy heads to Tim’s Bar in the “not-so-nice part” of Atlanta, where she discovers Jimmy Rowan, a roguish stunt man with a YouTube following. When Lizzy offers a million dollars for a three-month contract in which she’ll make Jimmy the new face of Banks Limited, Jimmy agrees in order to better provide for the bullied younger brother he’s raising, though he resents Lizzy’s requirement that he hide his lower-class background. Simmering sexual tension and growing respect draw the protagonists together, yet both struggle with the challenges wrought by Jimmy’s runaway success. Lizzy’s fear that discovery of Jimmy’s origins will bring disgrace to Banks Limited strikes a sour note, particularly when she gets drunk and publicly shames him as “a sewer rat,” but both characters have enough likability to have readers rooting for their ultimate union. Agent: Amy Tannenbaum, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (May.)