Archive for the ‘Breathless Press’ Category

Keeping House

by Lee Brazil

Publisher: Breathless Press

ISBN 9781926930466

ASIN B004ZMVRYW

Mischa knew his brothers were up to something. He didn’t know it would lead him to Donovan Holloway and change his carefree lifestyle forever.

Donovan Holloway, advertising executive, newly made vice president of the company where he’s worked for twenty years, grew up in a free love hippie commune, taking care of the parents who should have been taking care of him. He’s worked hard to put himself through school and achieve the American dream. All he’s ever wanted was a normal family life–house in the suburbs, two cars, two kids, a shaggy dog. A family to come home to–to care for, and to care for him.

Mischa Blake is the green eyed, liberally-pierced, black-haired, Mohawk-wearing spoiled youngest son of a Hollywood producer and his actress wife. Mischa has made a terrible mistake. In a fit of childish pique, he’s accepted a dare from his older brothers. The dare? Live on his own, supporting himself completely for a year without accessing his trust fund. No problem. Except Mischa has never worked a day in his life, hasn’t finished college, and has absolutely no skills that he can bring to the table.

So when he sees Donovan’s ad for a housekeeper/gardener, he has nothing to lose by applying, because really…how hard can it be?

Buy “Keeping House” at Breathless Press , All Romance eBooks, and Amazon among other online retailers.

Guest Post from Lee:

Introducing: Keeping House~ A Story About Family, A Story About Love

Good morning Readers! After a glorious sunrise today, I’m sipping the coffee, and ready to talk about Keeping House. When I think back over writing this book, the scene I love most is when Mischa and his friends are unloading the U-Haul in front of Donovan’s house. Donovan, being the gentleman that he is, comes out to help them. Donovan can’t resist temptation, and kisses Mischa for the first time. First kisses are a magical thing in my book; I’ve always believed that kisses are more intimate a connection even than sex. After the kiss, Mischa thinks that Donovan was merely reacting to the display that his friends put on with their petting in the background. Ouch! That had to have hurt!

I’m from a large family, so I know exactly how the Blakes feel about their baby brother. Mine is over seas in the Navy right now, and I can tell you, there isn’t a day goes by that I don’t worry about him and what he’s doing over there. So, while I felt some degree of sympathy for Mischa and the plight he found himself in, I empathize most with Terry and Brandon Blake. Being an older sibling is almost as tough as being a parent. Terry and Brandon genuinely feel that they are doing their best to help Mischa, never realizing that their brother has dreams of his own that contradict their dreams for him. I know exactly how they felt, and that makes them less wicked manipulators and more men to be admired in my opinion.

I’m not sure where the inspiration for this story came from, except from the concept of family. As a family, my siblings and I often sit down to play a hand of cards or a game of some kind. Moments like that bind a family together. They are times for teasing, for sharing, for laughing and loving together. My fondest memories are of my Dad and Mom sitting down to play a rousing hand of cards with us. That’s where the poker game in the beginning came from. From there, it was natural to pair Mischa, a youth who didn’t really appreciate what a great family he had, with Donovan, a man who craved a family but didn’t really have a true concept of what family is.

BIO: I am a former English grammar and composition instructor who relocated from sunny Southern California to the countryside of Illinois a bit more than a year ago. I occupy my days here with gardening, reading and writing. Falling in love has been the biggest adventure of my life, and I hope to share that with readers through my writing.

Buy “Keeping House” at Breathless Press , All Romance eBooks, and Amazon among other online retailers.

Keeping House

by Lee Brazil

Publisher: Breathless Press

ISBN 9781926930466

ASIN B004ZMVRYW

Mischa knew his brothers were up to something. He didn’t know it would lead him to Donovan Holloway and change his carefree lifestyle forever.

Donovan Holloway, advertising executive, newly made vice president of the company where he’s worked for twenty years, grew up in a free love hippie commune, taking care of the parents who should have been taking care of him. He’s worked hard to put himself through school and achieve the American dream. All he’s ever wanted was a normal family life–house in the suburbs, two cars, two kids, a shaggy dog. A family to come home to–to care for, and to care for him.

Mischa Blake is the green eyed, liberally-pierced, black-haired, Mohawk-wearing spoiled youngest son of a Hollywood producer and his actress wife. Mischa has made a terrible mistake. In a fit of childish pique, he’s accepted a dare from his older brothers. The dare? Live on his own, supporting himself completely for a year without accessing his trust fund. No problem. Except Mischa has never worked a day in his life, hasn’t finished college, and has absolutely no skills that he can bring to the table.

So when he sees Donovan’s ad for a housekeeper/gardener, he has nothing to lose by applying, because really…how hard can it be?

Buy “Keeping House” at Breathless Press , All Romance eBooks, and Amazon among other online retailers.

Hello Readers!

Excerpt: Keeping House

“So, tell me why you want to work for me.” That should give him pause.

“I don’t. My brothers dared me to get a job, and it’s been a lot harder than I expected. I just came from a McDonald’s where the manager had a guy with a BS cleaning the toilets and an MBA flipping burgers. The economy sucks.” Mischa sounded dejected.

“Ahh.” He wanted a job on a dare? What the hell? Who told a prospective employer they didn’t want to work for them? “Let me tell you a little about the parameters of the job.”

Mischa gazed at him quietly, waiting. Maybe the daunting aspects of the task would send the kid the way of the first applicant. “You’ll be responsible for preparing meals. I eat breakfast at six, daily, take a boxed lunch to work, and expect a minimum of a three course dinner. Sometimes I have guests, and occasionally dinner parties.” He didn’t really, but threw out the possibility anyway. For a moment, he was distracted by the amusing vision of a room full of elegantly clad clients and coworkers staring in horror as a Goth-garbed Mischa, hair spiked and piercings glittering in the candlelight announced that dinner was served.

“Got it. Cooking. I can do that.” Mischa seemed to be trying to convince himself as much as Donovan of that fact.

“You’ll have to do the shopping. I don’t have time for things like that. Then there’s the cleaning. I expect the house to be spotless at all times.” He assiduously ignored the fact that the house was currently anything but clean.

Mischa wasn’t inclined to be so kind, though. He glanced pointedly around the kitchen, at the stack of dirty dishes in the sink, the debris from several takeout meals on the counter tops, and the unpacked boxes of kitchenware. “OK. Clean. I can do that.”

“I need the house put together, too. The boxes,” he waved around, “unpacked and stuff put away. The walls painted, furniture ordered and assembled and put in place.”

Mischa looked shocked. “You trust me to decorate your house?”

“No. I have the plans here.” He thumped the red leather-bound album that held the dream house drawings he’d labored on over the years on the marble counter. “I need my housekeeper to coordinate the workmen, decorators, deliveries and so on.”

More nods. “I can do that.”

Donovan stared helplessly at the kid. Stop calling him kid. It’s too pervy. What else? “References? Do you have references?”

Mischa bent over and the tight black t-shirt rode up as the skinny jeans inched down. Damn. All that creamy white flesh, hairless and smooth tempted him to reach out and touch, to examine the texture and resiliency. He wondered if there were any more shiny piercings hidden under that severe black garb.

“Hey,” Mischa was waving a handful of papers in front of his face, and Donovan flushed slightly. Could Mischa tell he’d been staring inappropriately at his exposed skin?

“I’ll, ahh, I’ll keep these. I need to call on them later.” He searched desperately for something, anything to turn the kid-man off the idea of working for him. Recalling the indignation and vitriol of the second applicant, he took a shot in the dark and threw it out there. “I’m gay.”

No response.

“I said I’m gay, a homosexual, a flamer.”

No response. Just inquiring green eyes locked on his face. Someone must have told the kid-man that eye contact was important.

“I sleep with other men?” Shit now he was making statements as questions.

The pierced brow rose slightly at that in an enigmatic gesture, but no response was forthcoming.

“This is a live in position. You don’t mind working for and living with a gay man?”

Finally, Mischa smiled. Donovan’s heart lurched at the sexy sweetness of that smile. The tiny silver hoop in his lower lip glinted seductively. Wonder how that piercing would feel when he pressed his lips to Mischa’s? It certainly drew attention to the swollen plumpness of the full red lower lip. Yeah–he really needed to get laid this weekend.

“No. I don’t mind working for a gay man, as long as you don’t mind hiring one.” Mischa’s smile was now a broad grin, and he settled back more comfortably on the barstool, as though he were suddenly making himself at home.

Sudden sympathy overrode Donovan’s concerns. Why not give the kid a chance? If Martin Weston hadn’t hired him to work in the copy room at his company all those years ago despite his being an underage gay hippie he wouldn’t be where he was today. He’d probably regret this, but it looked like the skater-Goth-boy/man had talked himself into a job. And the corporate advertising executive was sentencing himself to a series of cold showers.

Buy “Keeping House” at Breathless Press , All Romance eBooks, and Amazon among other online retailers.

About Lee Brazil:

I am a former English grammar and composition instructor who relocated from sunny Southern California to the countryside of Illinois a bit more than a year ago. I occupy my days here with gardening, reading and writing. Falling in love has been the biggest adventure of my life, and I hope to share that with readers through my writing. Not juicy enough for you? Well, I lived in the south for a while as a kid, and the southern really comes through sometimes. Most people already know I enjoy cooking, can’t dance, and read way too fast. My most common typographical error is to transpose the ng in words ending in -ing. Just kidding. That’s not juicy enough, either, is it? Oh, how about this? I believe kissing is the most intimate and meaningful act between lovers. I’ve made a study of it. *chuckles*

You can find me online at : Twitter Good Reads Face Book

Look forward to seeing you there!