Saturday, September 14, 2024

Excerpt Reveal: State of Union by Paula Dombrowiak

 

State of Union
Paula Dombrowiak
(Kingmaker, #3)
Publication date: September 10th 2024
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Our marriage could make or break us…

Letting go of billionaire playboy Darren Walker was the right thing to do.

My life as a former escort will only damage his campaign for congress, and I’m too scared to admit I’ve fallen in love with my fake husband.

Except when Darren finds me and refuses to let me go, I can’t run from my feelings any longer. It’s time I have the courage to confess that he isn’t my husband in name only. He’s my everything.

All Darren wants is to carve out a future for himself while honoring his father’s legacy. But can I truly be the politician’s wife my husband needs when there are those who will use me to derail his campaign?

It doesn’t matter how much we love each other, I can’t change my past.

But we have no way of knowing that he has shocking family secrets that are yet to be revealed. Secrets bigger than me and powerful enough to destroy him.

And his enemies won’t stop until they’ve left him—and our marriage—in ruins…

The Kingmaker trilogy is a steamy, marriage of convenience, romance, in a political setting. State of Union is the final book in the trilogy with a guaranteed HEA. The books must be read in order, for the best reader experience.

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EXCERPT:

“Are you so angry I left that you’d offer my mother money just to prove a point?”

“I didn’t do it to prove a point,” he reassures.

“You can’t help messing with my life!” I yell at him.

“I wouldn’t have to if you had just taken the money and gotten the hell away from them,” he

explains. “At least I could have dealt with that, but not this.” He motions around the house in

disgust and it’s that look in his eyes that I can’t bear.

I know what he sees.

“What happened to you?” he shakes his head.

I look at him with confusion.

“When I first met you, I was sleeping with one eye open, afraid you’d try to smother me in

my sleep,” he jokes darkly. “Then I find you living back here with these people,” he says it with

disdain.

“She was the only family I had left!” I yell, my voice echoing through the empty room and

off the walls.

He raises his voice. “And you are my family!” He taps his chest. “You had five million

dollars. You could have gone anywhere. You could have had any life. Instead, you donated it all

and came back here to work as a waitress, living with your stepfather,” he accuses. “You cannot

ask me to have that knowledge and be fine with it,” he continues. “I couldn’t keep your money.”

“I know,” he says quietly. “Because you love me.”

“I don’t love you, Darren,” I grit out.

He smiles that wolfish grin like he knows a secret. “If you say so. You want to deny that you

love me, fine. You don’t want to come back to Washington with me? Fine.” He pulls a lighter

from his pocket. Flicking it on, he watches the bright red flame flicker in the drafty room. “But

in no world would I ever accept you living here with them,” he raises his voice, the flame

flickering.

“So you can hate me all you want, but I’ll sleep well knowing they’re far away from you,”

he grits out, snapping the lighter closed.


He takes a step forward, grabbing my hand roughly and placing the lighter in my palm. “The

house is yours, Evangeline. I bought it for you. Burn it down if that’s what you want.”


Author Bio:

Paula Dombrowiak grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois but currently lives in Arizona. She is the author of Blood and Bone, her first adult romance novel which combines her love of music and imperfect relationships. Paula is a lifelong music junkie, whose wardrobe consists of band T-shirts and leggings which are perpetually covered in pet hair. She is a sucker for a redeemable villain, bad boys, and the tragically flawed. Music inspires her storytelling.

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