By Peggy Yeager (Guest Blogger)
What
do cleaning hacks and fairy tales have in common? More than you
think!
As
a child I loved the story of Cinderella. I tend to think most women
in my age group did because at the time, little girls everywhere
weren’t taught to fend for themselves, and weren’t raised with
the notion that higher education, careers, and being able to support
oneself were viable options to a happy future. We were simply taught
that “one day our Prince will come,” with the codicil that he
will ride us into the sunset and we’ll live happily ever after. As
children, we bought into the fairy tale.
Then
we grew up.
Now,
I have to admit, I still love the Cinderella tale. Why, you ask?
Well, it isn’t because I think a woman’s future happiness has to
be tied to a man coming into her life and sweeping her away. No, I
view Cinderella as a role model for behavior, deportment, and
kindness.
Think
about it: even though she lived with that horrible step-monster and
jealous step-sibs, and was treated abominably, she maintained her
sweet disposition, worked hard at her chores, and was kind to
everyone. I was a big fan of the 1960’s Rogers and Hammerstein
musical version of Cinderella starting Leslie Ann Warren, and if
you’ve ever been lucky enough to see it, you know how they depicted
Cinderella. That’s the version of her that has always stuck in my
mind. In the purest form, Cinderella was a good person who had some
lousy breaks in life but still managed to stay true to her
personality and not turn bitter and cruel. I aspire to that, every
day.
Now,
you need to know that along with loving this tale, I am an
organizational and cleanliness maven. I love a clean house and work
space and, over the decades, I’ve discovered countless cleaning
hacks to make my home shine without breaking the bank on commercially
sold products. A little baking soda, a fresh lemon, and some warm tap
water can do wonders for almost anything!
The
thought to write an updated version of the Cinderella tale popped
into my head, fully formed, on the way back from a weekend spent
visiting relatives one sunny Sunday. As I daydreamed while hubby
drove, I secretly wished I had someone at home who’d done all the
laundry, gone grocery shopping for the week, ironed the clothes, and
cleaned my house while we’d been away for a few days, because all
those chores waited for me for when we arrived home, and I was tired.
Bone tired. I thought, “wouldn’t it be great to have someone come
in, take care of all that, and then leave?”
It
was as if I’d been struck by lightning.
Immediately,
the Cinderella story jumped to the front of my mind. I wanted a
Cinderella. Well, not the poor girl sitting by the fireplace, but
someone like her. The writer in me formed a story around a
Cinderella-type CEO who ran her own cleaning company. The romance
author in me turned it into a modern day love story, complete with a
prince who’s not royalty. In this version of Cinderella, the prince
doesn’t save her from a life of penury and heartbreak; she saves
herself.
DIRTY
DAMSELS in
the brainchild of Cynderella Jones. She came up with the idea for an
elite cleaning business in college when she was left penniless after
her father died and her stepmother refused to fund the rest of her
education. In order to pay her way, she started cleaning the houses
of her college professors and their wives, and made quite a name for
herself. She was able to finish college and then business school with
her earnings. She formed Dirty Damsels with a $150,000 business loan,
a solid plan, and a group of out of work actresses and models as her
cleaners. Ten years later, her business is a success. And when you’re
a success in business, there’s always someone who wants to take
that business away from you and make it there own. When Dirty Damsels
is threatened with a corporate takeover, Ella has to fight with
everything in her to make sure her business stays her own. She
doesn’t anticipate losing her heart along the way, though,
especially to someone known as the Prince of Wall Street.
Blurb
When I first saw Cynderella all covered in soot in that sexy maid uniform, I knew I wanted to be her Prince.
She’s
a small and savvy businesswoman who’s built her cleaning company
from the ground up. But now that Dirty Damsels is booming, I’ve
been hired to arrange a hostile takeover.
But
the temptation of having her was too much to ignore… We ended up
spending one night together—a night neither of will forget. Now, I
want more. I need more. I want to spend every night, skin-on-skin,
with my beautiful Ella.
Problem
is, when she finds out who I really am, she’ll never forgive me.
Excerpt
The
bathroom door opened.
In
his tailored suit he’d been impressive and striking. With a white
bulky towel wrapped around his waist, and the humidity in the
bathroom sluicing off his damp torso, he was downright magnificent.
Those wide and solid shoulders tapered down into biceps I could tell regularly attended a gym with him, and then into forearms corded with strong sinew and veins.
“I-I’m
sorry,” I stammered. “I’m almost done. I’m sorry.” I
blushed again and I cursed my fair skin. But really, how could I not
blush and stutter when faced with this unbelievable specimen of
hotness standing five feet away from me, all wet and hard muscled and
gorgeous?
He
moved like a panther across the rug, soundlessly stalking, as if
playing with his prey, until he came to the opposite side of the bed.
He
took one corner of the sheet in his hand and yanked it. “Do you
have enough on your side?”
Speech
was impossible because I knew I’d start blabbering again, so I
nodded and tucked the sheet under the mattress.
“Hospital
corners.” He nodded and then mimicked my motions. “I love a tight
sheet.”
I
couldn’t help but stare at the way his biceps swelled when he
lifted the mattress as if it weighed nothing, and shot the sheet
under it. Nor could I forgo glancing at the thick mat of black hair
crisscrossing from one side of his pecs to the other and then down,
disappearing below the towel. And I’d have to have been struck
blind and stupid – which I’m neither – not to notice and admire
the trim, tight waist and abdomen the towel was securely wrapped
around.
At
least I prayed it was securely wrapped.
I
grabbed the comforter, shook it out and he helped me place it over
the bed.
“Toss
me one of those,” he commanded when I grabbed a pillow and began
tugging the case on.
He
caught both in midair.
The
bed made, I turned to tell him about the platter of food, but stopped
before the words could leave my throat. He’d moved without a sound
again, coming to stand so close to me I could smell the citrus scent
of the soap he’d used wafting off his body.
He
placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. I swear my
body temperature went up ten degrees. I figured by now I resembled
one of those cartoons where the character’s head turns beet red and
then explodes upward.
“Thanks,
Cinderella.” A devilish grin tripped across his tired face. “But
I need to crash now, so…”
I
truly could have stood there for the rest of the afternoon basking in
his hotness, but I got the hint.
I
nodded and made one last visual sweep of the room.
“Do
you want me to close the blinds?” I asked, turning back just in
time to see him drop the towel and slide – gloriously naked –
into the freshly made bed.
Holy
Mother of God. The man had a butt made
for grabbing. Two perfect, round, and tight cheeks dipped from that
narrow waist, leading downward to two thick and powerful thighs.
Since his back was to me he didn’t notice my jaw hanging open to
my knees while he burrowed under the comforter.
“
Mmm…sure.
Thanks, Cinderella.”
Even
half asleep his voice made my heart skip a few beats and my girlie
parts go zing.
Buy
Links
Exclusively at Amazon
Kindle
version: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TBBPHM8
Print
Version: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1640348409
About
the Author
Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes Romantic Comedies about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them. If she can make you cry on one page and bring you out of tears rolling with laughter the next, she’s done her job as a writer!
Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, she brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she’s created the families she wanted as that lonely child.
When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.
A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.
As a lifelong diarist, she caught the blogging bug early on, and you can visit her at peggyjaeger.com where she blogs daily about life, writing, and stuff that makes her go "What??!"
Social
Media links
Website/Blog:
http://peggyjaeger.com/
Amazon
Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0
Instagram:
https://instagram.com/mmj122687/
***Contest***
Leave
a comment telling my your FAVORITE
FAIRY TALE as a child (or an
adult!) and you’ll be placed in a drawing for a free ecopy of DIRTY
DAMSELS.
