TITLE: Unfortunate Son
Series: Book One in the Son’s Series
AUTHOR: Shae Connor
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 200 pages
Blurb:
Five years ago, Evan Day lost his lover in the Afghan sand, and in the fallout, he lost his military career and his family. With help from friends, he reinvented himself as porn star Trevor Hardball, but his scars are hidden, not healed.When Riley Yeats falls into Evan’s lap in a bar, he awakens a part of Evan he’d thought was dead and gone. Evan’s fascinated by the blond and twinky Riley, even though he’s the opposite of Evan’s usual type.
Then Evan’s family reappears his life, and Evan soon learns Riley has his own family-inflicted wounds—ones that make it hard for him to be there for Evan. A disastrous confrontation between Evan and his parents leaves Evan’s mother injured and Evan overcome by anger and fear. Losing his tenuous hold on his emotional control, Evan makes one bad decision after another, but maybe his final fall will be the wake-up call Evan needs to set things right—with his parents, and with Riley
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Interview with Cover Model Travis Irons
By Shae Connor
For today’s Unfortunate Son blog tour post, I thought I’d do a short interview with the cover model, Travis Irons. Travis and I met in Atlanta in 2012 through mutual friends, and it wasn’t long before I realized there was an interesting story to be told with Travis and his background as a foundation. Travis was happy to answer a few questions by email from his new home in Kentucky!
Tell
us a little about your background. Where did you grow up?
I was born in Edgewood, Kentucky, but I moved to Houston [Texas] when I was a month old and grew up there. I am the oldest of five, and I have three nieces. I graduated from Humble High School in 2005. I played baseball, ran track, took piano lessons.
You served in the military for several years. Why did you enlist?
I had a cousin in the army who I really looked up to, and my dad was a cop, so I joined as a military police officer. When I was a kid, my cousins and I used to play all kinds of military games and used to play paint ball and or pretend we were soldiers. It’s always been something I wanted go do.
Where did you serve?
I did basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and airborne training at Fort. Benning, Georgia. I was stationed in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and did a 15-month tour in Baghdad, Iraq.
When did you come out as a gay man?
When I was 20.
How did you get into doing porn?
When I got out of the military, I was pressured into doing an amateur strip contest. There were about 20 contestants, and I got first place. The owner of the club asked if I would be interested in getting paid to dance for an event the club had next weekend, so I said sure. One of the other dancers that weekend was at that time a big porn star, and to make a long story short, he got me into it.
What were the best and worst parts about being in the adult industry?
Traveling and the pay are the best. Being in a relationship and living a “normal” life are to me the worst. A lot of people live for that spotlight, but I honestly couldn’t do it forever. It was fun while it lasted, but I’m happier now.
What did you think when I first told you I wanted to base a character around you and your background?
Super excited! It seems like it was just yesterday we were doing shots of 3AM [vodka] at Joe’s [on Juniper, an Atlanta restaurant] when you told me. I feel really honored you thought of me.
What did you think of the cover photo shoot? The finished cover art?
Amazing! I’ve taken thousands of pictures and it’s one of my favorites I’ve ever seen of me. That day was a lot of fun with you.
Are you a reader? What kinds of books do you like to read?
I honestly don’t read as much as I should, but my favorites are mystery and suspense.
You left the adult industry a while back. Tell us a little about your life since you retired from doing porn.
Well I have been in a relationship for about 9 months with the most amazing man. I’ve ever met I know it sounds a little cliched and corny to say that, but I’ve honestly never been so happy in my life. I have a 9-to-5 job working in an office here in Louisville, Kentucky, where my boyfriend and I moved to a few months ago. We just recently got out own place together, two dogs, and a white picket fence, LOL. The “married” life is really amazing, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Riley stood at the stove, stirring what looked like a pot of oatmeal.
“Hey,” Evan said.
“Good morning.” Riley didn’t move. “Help yourself to coffee.”
He sounded normal, but the rigid way he held his back told another story. Evan couldn’t blame him, after the way Evan had rolled in the night before. He moved to the coffeemaker and poured himself a cup, then stirred in a lump of sugar from the bowl on the counter and added a healthy splash of cream from the small pitcher sitting nearby. No way would he chance black on an empty, post-drunken-night stomach.
“Thanks for last night.” He leaned against the counter and watched Riley stir the pot. “And for not kicking me out. Sorry for making an ass of myself.”
“Apology accepted.”
Evan heard the words, but he didn’t believe them. He put his coffee mug on the counter and moved the few feet to stand behind Riley, whose back stiffened even further. “I mean it, Riley,” Evan murmured, running one hand across Riley’s hip. “I acted like a complete idiot. Let me make it up to you.”
Riley stopped stirring for a long moment. When the spoon starting moving again, Riley had relaxed maybe an iota. “There’s an event tonight,” he said. “A new exhibit at the art museum. My parents expect me.” He took a breath and let it out slowly. “They don’t expect me to arrive with a date.”
Evan chuckled. “So you want to use me to shake up the folks a little?”
“Maybe.”
“Deal.” Evan leaned in and brushed his lips across the back of Riley’s neck. “Do I need a tux or something?”
“Do you have one?” Riley’s shoulders had lowered from near his ears down to something approximating normal.
“No, but I can find one.” Evan kissed Riley’s neck again and watched as Riley relaxed even more.
“No need. A suit would be nice, but dress pants and a nice shirt will work fine. Nothing showy.” Riley glanced at him then, giving a wry smile over his shoulder. “I’ll take care of that.”
Evan lifted a hand and brushed his fingers across Riley’s full lips. “I should probably go, then. I might need to do some laundry.” He leaned away and lifted one arm to give himself a sniff. “Not to mention take a shower. Or three.”
Riley laughed softly, sounding back to himself by then. “A shower wouldn’t go amiss.” He turned back to his oatmeal. “I made enough for two, though, so you should stay to eat.”
That was an invitation Evan wouldn’t turn down.
Shae Connor lives in Atlanta, where she’s a lackadaisical government worker for a living and writes sweet-hot romance under the cover of night. She’s been making things up for as long as she can remember, but it took her a long time to figure out that maybe she should try writing them down. She’s conned several companies into publishing her work and adds a new notch on her bedpost each time another story is unleashed onto an unsuspecting universe.
A member of the Romance Writers of America and the Rainbow Writers chapter, Shae was first published in 2010 and has a lineup of short stories, novellas, and novels available from Dreamspinner Press, Wilde City Press, MLR Press, and Amber Allure.
Shae is part Jersey, part Irish, and all Southern, which explains why she never shuts up. When she’s not chained to her laptop, she enjoys cooking, traveling, watching baseball, and reading voraciously, and she’s an annual volunteer for the Dragon Con on-site publication, the Daily Dragon. You can find her hanging out on Twitter most any time @shaeconnor, but for the more direct route, you can email her at shaeconnorwrites@gmail.com or visit her website at shaeconnorwrites.com.
Rafflecopter prize: A Dreamspinner Giftcard, a cover flat signed by Shae and the cover model, Travis, and a choice of any of her Dreamspinner ebooks. !!