Tabloid
Dirty Laundry, #1
by Jackie Paxson
Date of Publication: May 25th 2019
Cover Artist: self
Genre: Romance with a dash of humor
Cover Artist: self
Genre: Romance with a dash of humor
Tagline: 1 gossip writer + 1 A-list movie star = 1 fake relationship…or does it?
BLURB
After breaking a story that rocks Hollywood, Talia is the top gossip writer around. One night will put all of that into question. The writer becomes the story when she gets caught doing the walk of shame from A-lister Zee Jaxon’s home.
To save both of their reputations he suggests a fake relationship. Pretending should be easy. It shouldn’t mean the fake feelings become real. Accepting the real feelings means the lies they’ve told are even harder to hide.
When the truth comes out can their love survive or will everything just fade to black?
Excerpt
Talia woke on
something soft and warm. It was too
lumpy for a bed. Not to mention
moving. Her eyes snapped open. Abs.
Pecks. Nipples. She couldn’t
quite comprehend what she was seeing.
Lifting her head, she saw Zeke.
Zeke was her bed.
Her eyes roamed over him. His mouth was open as he slept. Blonde scruff
grew along his jaw. A soft snore escaped
making her freeze in place. His hands
flexed around her. A tingling sensation
exploded inside her.
Zeke’s chest rose with every breath
bringing her gaze to his well-defined pecks.
With her free hand she reached out to touch a muscle she’s only seen in
magazines. None of the men she’d
previously been with had such a defined chest.
Some should have even had bras.
Her hand trailed down his chest to
his abs. A sensation of need took over
her. All she wanted to do was drag her
tongue over each ridge of muscle. The
six pack abs with those defined hip bone things made her squirm. She lightly caressed his happy trail.
“I wouldn’t go
any further, baby.” Talia squeaked in surprise pulling her hand back.
Zeke was awake
and watching her. In his eyes was a
desire she was surprised to find.
“Oh…um…uh.” Talia tried to move off of him, but he
clutched her tighter.
“You don’t have
to stop. I just wanted to warn you
because if you went any further I don’t think I could help myself any
longer.”
A look of shock
crossed her face. She scrambled off Zeke
only to grind against something very hard.
“Oh god.” They both moaned. In her clumsy attempt to climb off him she
fell off the couch banging into the coffee table.
“Ow!” She moaned laying on the floor.
“Glad to see you
two are awake. Breakfast is ready. Zeke you are needed in the barn. Apparently, the storm did some damage.” Addie looked at them.
“Thank you,
Addie.” Zeke ground out.
Addie smirked at
the two then walked back to the kitchen.
“What time is
it?” Talia asked.
“Oh God! Its after nine. We are really late.” Zeke turned to see Talia
crawling away from the table. “I wish I
had my camera right now.” He laughed.
Using a side
table, she heaved herself off the floor. Walking away, she gave him the finger
over her head. His laughing followed her
upstairs.
***
Hours later covered in brown, either
mud or horse shit, Talia washed up in the first-floor bathroom. She scurried across the hall to the laundry
room. A pair of sweats and t-shirt sat
folded on top of the dryer. She pulled on the sweats and oversized shirt.
Taking a deep breath, she shuffled her way out to the kitchen.
“Alright,
Addie. I am ready to help. What can I do to help with dinner?”
Addie looked at
Talia. The wince she tried to conceal
told Talia all she needed to know about how she looked. “You don’t have to help me, hon.”
“I’m not a
freeloader around here. Give me
something to do.” Talia felt her reserve
dwindling, but she needed to help out.
Reluctantly,
Addie gave Talia the rolling pin. “Roll
out this dough. When it’s about an inch
thick cut out the biscuits and place them on the sheet.”
Talia could do
that. How hard could it be to roll out
dough and cut it in circles? The answer
was near impossible with only a few hours of sleep. Not to mention cleaning the horse stalls all
day.
“Oh dear.” Addie stood next to Talia. They looked at the misshapen dough. Most were a ball or oval. They weren’t an inch thick either.
“Sorry,
Addie.”
“It’s alright,
Tally. Go sit in the living room while I
put these in the oven.” Talia nodded and
slumped off to the living room.
A bone deep ache
spread through her body. She couldn’t
remember the last time she’d worked that hard.
Talia now knew how Zeke got those defined muscles. Those muscles she’d been touching, rubbing
and ready to kiss. What the hell was
wrong with her?
“What’s wrong
with her?” Zeke’s voice came out from
the kitchen echoing her thoughts.
“She’s
exhausted.” Addie said.
“How long has
she been sitting like that staring at the blank tv?”
“About 45
minutes. Poor thing needs a good soak in
the tub, dinner then straight to bed.”
Footsteps
sounded next to the couch. Zeke squatted
in front of her. “Lia, you ok?”
“Yep. Just catching my breath.”
“Uh huh. Come on let’s get you upstairs.”
“No, I’m
fine.”
“You have two
choices. Either you get your butt off
the couch and up to your room or I pick you up off the couch and carry you to
your room. Easy way or hard way, Lia?”
Talia remained
seated on the couch. She was too
exhausted to answer.
“Ok. Hard way it is.” Zeke picked her up as if she were light as a
pillow.
“What are you
doing?”
“I’m taking you
to your room, getting a bath ready for you, then bringing you dinner.”
“Ok.” Talia was too tired to argue. She knew she smelled of the manure/mud mixture,
but she couldn’t help snuggling into Zeke’s arms. His warmth and strength enveloped her. He smelled like sweat, hay and fresh cut
grass. It was like a damn
aphrodisiac. Her lady V was standing at
attention.
Author Info
Jackie is a single mom of a rambunctious boy and his dog, Cady. She is an avid reader with a blog under the name of The Book Maven. Reading has been a passion of hers from the time she could pick up a Sweet Valley High book. Writing is a new adventure where she gets to curse, be clumsy and fall in love with every page.
The Book Junkie Reads . . . Interview with Jackie Paxson . . .
Hello! Thank you so much for having me and my book, Tabloid, on your blog.
How would you describe your style of writing to someone that has never read your work?
-My writing is a mixture of romance, comedy and emotion. There are definitely times you will be laughing out loud but then in the next chapter you will need Kleenex. I try to make everything as believable as possible by taking real scenarios that have either happened to me or someone I know and make them just a tad bigger. Unfortunately, some are 100% true. I will leave it to the reader to figure those out. 😊
What are some of your writing/publishing goals for this year?
-I have plans on continuing the Dirty Laundry series with hopefully publishing the next two books by the end of the year. However, in the middle of those goals are the facts of moving my family to a new house and school.
Do you feel that writing is an ingrained process or just something that flows naturally for you?
-For me personally, there are times that writing comes naturally. It flows out of me and I can barely keep up with the thoughts and ideas. If the thoughts and ideas are not coming then I can’t force it. No matter what if I am not in the mood to write or my characters don’t want to show themselves to me then I am basically incapable of writing.
Where would you spend one full year, if you could go ANYWhere? What would you do with this time?
-If I could go anywhere for an entire year I would go to Europe. I would want to travel all over. See all of the historical sites, write and enjoy meeting new people and cultures. I can only imagine inspiration I could get from a trip like that.
Can you share you next creative project(s)? If yes, can you give a few details?
-I have two things spinning in my head right now. First is the next book in the Dirty Laundry series. I will tell you it is Chrissy and Max’s book. From this book another set of characters has popped up. I am feeling a spin-off from this series about some brothers who own a bar. I can feel the shenanigans coming.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bookmaven623
Thanks for sharing the excerpt. Sounds good.
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