Julie James Shows Us Some Excerpt Love…

…for her upcoming release, Practice Makes Perfect which is coming out on March 3, 2009. I know that there are a lot of people that are looking forward to this release since the smashing success of her debut novel, Just the Sexiest Man Alive. I am totally one of those people anxious for its release. (Holly says: I already read it. It was really good. *eg*)

Julie James will be coming by on February 27th to hang out with us and to talk about her new book and her life as a writer. You won’t want to miss that. Since Julie rocks our socks, she’s given us some excerpts to give everyone a taste of what’s in Practice Makes Perfect.

Check it out:

Payton turned and headed down the back hallway to Ben’s corner office. J.D. strode easily alongside her; she had to take two steps for every one of his to keep up. Not that she let him see that.

After walking together in silence for a few moments, J.D. glanced around for witnesses. Seeing they were safely out of earshot, he folded his arms across his chest with what Payton had come to think of as the trademark J.D. Air Of Superiority.

“So I saw your name in the Chicago Lawyer,” he led in.

Payton smiled. “40 To Watch Under 40,” she said, referencing the article’s title and proud of her inclusion in its distinction.

“40 Women To Watch Under 40,” J.D. emphasized. “Tell me, Payton— is there a reason your gender finds it necessary to be so separatist? Afraid of a little competition from the opposite sex, perhaps?”

Payton tried not to laugh as she tossed her hair back over her shoulders. Hardly.

“If my gender hesitates to compete with yours, J.D., it’s only because we’re afraid to lower ourselves to your level,” she replied sweetly.

They arrived at the doorway to Ben’s office. J.D. leaned against the door casually and folded his arms across his chest. After eight years, Payton recognized this gesture well— it meant he was about to begin another one of his condescending little lectures. She gave it 95% odds that he’d begin with one of his pompously rhetorical questions that he had absolutely no intention of letting her answer.

“Let me ask you this…” he began.

Bingo.

“…how do you think it would go over if the magazine ran an article called “40 Men To Watch Under 40?” He wagged a finger in her face, answering for her. “You and your little feminista friends would call that discrimination. But then isn’t that, per se, discrimination? Shouldn’t we men be entitled to our lists too?”

J.D. held the door open for her and grandly gestured for her to enter. As she passed by him, Payton noted that Ben wasn’t in his office yet, so she took a seat in front of his desk. As J.D. sat in the chair next to her, she turned to him, coolly unperturbed.

“I find it very interesting when a man, a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, sitting next to me in an Armani suit, has the nerve to claim that he is somehow the victim of discrimination.”

J.D. opened his mouth to jump in, but Payton cut him off with a finger. Index, not middle. She was a lady after all.

“Notwithstanding that fact,” she continued, “I submit that you men do have your so-called ‘lists.’ Several at this firm, in fact. They’re called the Executive Committee, the Management Committee, the Compensation Committee, the firm’s golfing club, the intramural basketball team—“

“You want to be on the basketball team?” J.D. interrupted, his blue eyes crinkling in amusement at this.

“It’s illustrative,” Payton said, sitting back in her chair defensively.

“What’s illustrative?”

Payton sat upright at the sound of the voice. She glanced over as Ben Gould, head litigation partner, strode confidently into his office and took a seat at his desk.

J.D. answered Ben before Payton had a chance. “Oh, it’s nothing,” he said with a dismissive wave. “Payton and I were just discussing the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Ledder v. Arkansas, and how the opinion is illustrative of the Court’s continuing reluctance to embroil itself in state’s rights.”

Payton glanced at J.D. out of the corner of her eye. Smart-ass. Although admittedly, that wasn’t too shabby a bit of quick thinking.

The jerk.

Ben laughed at them as he quickly glanced at the messages his secretary had left on his desk. “You two— you never stop.”

Payton fought the urge to snicker. He really had no idea.

J.D. seized on Ben’s momentary distraction to lean forward in his chair. He held the lapel of his suit out to Payton and whispered. “And by the way, it’s not Armani. It’s Zegna.”

He winked at her.

Squeeeaaaaallll! Who’s excited? I know for damn sure I am. We’ll have some more excerpt love and some more Julie James love to share with everyone up until the release date so stay tuned for all that goodness. And mark you calendar’s because Julie James will be back over here at Book Binge hanging out with us on February 27th and her new book, Practice Makes Perfect will be in bookstores on March 3, 2009.

Woot!

This book is available from Berkley. You can pre-order it here.

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