Jade C. Jamison's Blog, page 22

A to Z Challenge: Q is for QUESTIONS

For the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge, I’m writing a story, aiming for 1000 words a day (every day except Sundays). Continuing today with the next part of the story about the character Codie Snow.

If you’re new to this series of posts, you might want to start here:

A is for ACCEPTING the Challenge
C is for CODIE

NOTE: Ah…another thing I’m good at doing. Before the character is fully solidified in my mind, I might change his/her name until it’s settled. Well, I discovered that Slade’s last name was Stewart when I’d first begun writing this story, and now it’s Sheppard. Apparently, I really like the SS, but I’d better figure out which last name I want. *Sigh* A writer’s problems…

Codie putzed around their apartment that afternoon. It was a day off from work (a job she hated) and she should have been doing something…something meaningful, but she couldn’t. Her mind was obsessing over Pete.

So, after spending an hour napping and then cleaning up her room, she fired up her laptop computer. She’d considered for a just a second to see if any of the scenes she had witnessed with Pete had hit the news, but she had another goal entirely.

When the laptop was done booting up, Codie opened up the browser and went straight to Facebook. She remembered that, at one time, Pete had had a profile, but she wondered if becoming a cop had changed that. Maybe they were encouraged to do away with them or to go incognito. She typed Pete O in the search bar, and his profile was suggested by the site. She heard the words I’ll be damned in her head, but she only smiled and barely shook her head as she clicked and headed to his timeline.

They were friends on the site but it looked like he wasn’t very active on it. She imagined he could actually lurk and use his connections to see what some of the dumb criminals around town were up to. There were a few things she wanted to check, and she thought by snooping she could find several answers to her burning questions. She knew a few years ago, Pete and some girl named Clarissa were pretty serious. Codie couldn’t remember for sure, but they might have even lived together. Pete was “not in a relationship,” but she thought maybe she could peek through his photos—

She heard the front door open. “Honey, I’m home!” Matthew yelled. She slammed the laptop lid down. It wouldn’t do her any good to have Matthew doing his usual probing and prodding when she wasn’t sure how she felt about her and Pete yet. Yeah, Matthew thought he knew, but how could he when she didn’t? All she knew was she wasn’t willing to chalk it up to a one-night reminiscent thing.

Not yet anyway.

She stood, taking a deep breath, and walked out of her room. Matthew pulled her into a hug. “How’s my favorite roomie?”

“Tired.” He set her down on her feet. “I just proved to myself once again that graveyard shifts aren’t for me.” She’d tried it in her present job as a CNA and learned quickly that the higher overnight pay just wasn’t worth it. Not for that damn job anyway.

Matthew shrugged, removing his suit jacket. “Somebody’s gotta do it.”

He started walking toward their bedrooms and, even though it bordered on potential talk about things she wouldn’t care to hear, she chanced asking anyway. “How was work?”

Matthew paused just inside his doorway and spun with a flair. “This afternoon was exciting! We were in court.”

Codie had heard for years that good lawyers never saw the inside of a courtroom, but the people who said that shit had never seen Slade in action. When they’d first started dating, he’d invited Codie to sit in on a big lawsuit involving tenants versus slumlord (well, as slummy as Dalton got—there weren’t any actual tenements or ghettos, but there was a “bad side” of town). She still hadn’t been convinced that Slade had been the one, but seeing him in his arena—so to speak—had encouraged her to give him a fair shot. The man was likely one of the best performers she knew. She might have even called him an actor, seeing how he could turn on emotional responses like anger and empathy like a switch.

The day she’d sat in on the trial was one she’d never forget. Slade was wearing a dark gray suit. His black hair was slicked back, his brown eyes blazing. She hadn’t seen him in his birthday suit yet, but watching him storm back and forth from his table to the witness stand to then pace in front of the jury before delivering a passionate tirade made her feel warm.

Their first night of sex was fueled with those memories.

Now, though, it seemed like that was where Slade’s mind always was—in the courtroom. Most lawyers might have preferred to dicker about on paper, but Slade was meant to perform in that arena—and he was fun to watch. The boring stuff like divorces he left to his paralegal and Slade just overlooked it and signed off. “Exciting, huh?”

Matthew started unbuttoning his white button-down. “You know Slade…” Yeah, she knew Slade. “Some construction company up to questionable practices in town and three Main Street businesses hired Slade to set them straight.” Matthew slid the shirt off his shoulders before draping it over the back of the chair next to the dresser. “And, believe me, he did. The judge already ruled on it and told the assholes to pay restoration for damages.” Matthew opened a drawer and lifted items until he found a shirt he wanted to wear—a skin-hugging black tee—which Codie found strange, because Matthew should have been changing into his workout outfit like he always did this time of day, but that tee was one he often liked to wear when he was going out. “So Slade and I are going out to dinner to celebrate.”

Ah. That explained it. “Where you goin’?”

Matthew slid off his shoes and then picked them up, placing them in the closet on a rack before unbuttoning his slacks. Codie knew anyone watching would find it strange, but she and Matthew had been close friends and roommates for so long that each other’s partial nudity didn’t bother the other. As long as she didn’t see his actual junk, she was fine—and he felt the same way about her. He’d seen her in bra and panties more times than she could remember, but he’d never seen her completely naked. “I don’t know yet. I don’t think Slade knew where he wanted to go yet—just some place with alcohol.” In seconds, her friend had donned blue jeans and loafers. “How do I look?”

“Great!” They walked toward the kitchen. Codie planned to see Matthew to the door and then to rummage around in the kitchen to scrounge up something to eat. When the doorbell rang, though, she realized that her roommate was being picked up for dinner—he wasn’t meeting his boss somewhere. Codie wanted to bolt—she was in no mood to face Slade—but Matthew wouldn’t let her run off and hide…and she knew it. So she took a deep breath, bracing herself to see her ex-boyfriend Slade for the first time in a month…

UP NEXT:  R is for ???

A to Z Challenge: P is for PETE

For the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge, I’m writing a story, aiming for 1000 words a day (every day except Sundays). Continuing today with the next part of the story about the character Codie Snow.

If you’re new to this series of posts, you might want to start here:

A is for ACCEPTING the Challenge
C is for CODIE

Codie rolled her eyes. Matthew was the reason why she and Slade had ever met in the first place. Slade Sheppard—attorney at law, one of Dalton’s best—had hired Matthew as a receptionist/paralegal when her friend had been a freshman attending the local community college. One night a few months later, Slade had been celebrating a big win with his staff of two, and Matthew had invited Codie. It had been calculated, Codie had learned later. He’d been certain Slade and Codie were soulmates.

She wasn’t convinced…although, when they were together, it often seemed like magic.

But Slade could be a bit of a dick. And Codie was tired of putting up with it. They were currently not dating—so she could play the field with a clear conscience. “I don’t give a shit what your boss thinks.”

“Ooh. Bitchy, girlfriend. You sure you had a good time?”

“It was weird, Matthew. It felt like the most natural thing.”

Matthew finally picked up his sandwich. “Sex is a very natural thing. If we could get that through these Puritans’ heads, though…” Having grown up in the smaller Colorado town of Dalton, Matthew had felt more eyes on him than he likely would have if he’d grown up along the Front Range where all the state’s big cities huddled. The fact that he was gay might not have bothered him or a lot of his classmates, but there were a few people in town who still thought he was an abomination. Yeah…they’d used that very word. They’d both planned to leave town after they’d graduated with their associate’s degrees—but Matthew was already working for Slade by then and Codie…well, Codie had been caring for her sick grandmother and had dropped out of school, not sure what she wanted to do.

It turned out that Slade was the perfect boss for Matthew. He was well-dressed, well-groomed, and well-spoken, three things highly valued by the man who soon became the lawyer’s paralegal. By now, a few years later, Matthew had become Slade’s right-hand man. So, even if the “Puritans” didn’t appreciate her friend, his boss most certainly did. “Yeah, well, good luck with that,” Codie said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

“I’m still waiting,” Matthew said, a pinched grin on his face, his blue eyes alight with mischief. Codie was almost surprised he wasn’t drumming his fingers on the table to emphasize his displeasure.

“Waiting for what?”

“Details.”

“There’s nothing to tell, Matthew.”

Her friend threw his potato chip back in the basket with a flick of his wrist while whispering as loudly as he could muster, “Oh, my God!”

“What?” Codie was in no mood for Matthew’s dramatics this morning. Okay, it wasn’t morning anymore. Today. Not today.

He began swirling his finger around, as if trying to describe the motion of a hurricane to someone. “This…this is a heart thing, isn’t it?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Feeling a little nervous now, Codie picked up her cup and began sipping furiously, drawing harder on the straw than she should have. If Matthew was saying what she thought he was saying…

“You care about the ex, don’t you?”

Codie tried to act casual. “Eh.” She shrugged her shoulders and sucked harder on the straw. Damn. The tea was almost empty.

“You do. Holy shit! Does he know?”

“I need to refill my tea.”

“Oh, girlfriend, not at a—”

“Be right back.” She slid out of the booth and skedaddled over to the drink station, knowing she’d barely escaped a sweaty situation. How Matthew could read her so well and so easily, she’d never know. Hell, he’d figured out her feelings for Pete before she’d had a chance.

But she barely had her lid off and had set her cup underneath the spigot before Matthew stood next to her. “Codie, seriously, you cannot walk away just when we got to the bottom of things.”

“We? The bottom of things? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Fortunately, Matthew dropped his voice, probably sensing that half the restaurant was now staring at them. They must have looked ridiculous—Codie wore a pair of skinny jeans paired with a Motionless in White t-shirt while Matthew wore a designer suit. Codie could never remember the name, because every time Matthew got a raise, the name of the designer changed. Her friend’s philosophy was that his wardrobe should get nicer as his paycheck did—his clothing should reflect his pay. His boss and her ex, Slade, was not that way. He was wearing four-digit suits from the start. It’s how his dad had operated and he was following in the old man’s footsteps.

Ah, but thinking about Slade at a time like this was dangerous. And confusing.

Matthew took one of Codie’s hands as if leading her back to their booth, and he didn’t sit down until she’d slid her own butt back in place on her side of the table. “How long have we known each other?”

Codie furrowed her brow, trying to do the math. They’d known each other since they were children, but she suspected he was wanting to know how long they’d been friends, and that had happened in high school. So, doing the math—

But Matthew was impatient. “A long time. And we’ve talked hot dates how many times?” She shrugged again. That number would be even harder to calculate than the previous one. “But the couple times where you haven’t wanted to talk have been when your heart was invested in the guy.” Codie sucked air into her lungs through her nose. She was afraid of opening her mouth. “Am I right?”

Before she tossed out an answer, she really gave it some thought. Pete Olson, former high school sweetheart, quarterback of the almost-state-champion Dalton Tigers, now a law enforcement officer in their little burg, a nice guy except when he had to be a bad ass. Just thinking about him made her warm—especially when she thought about last night.

Yes, Matthew was right. One-hundred percent on the money.

“Nope. Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Codie picked up the paper cup and sucked more tea through the straw. If she were a judge, she would have banged a gavel, forcing Matthew to move on…because she had to, right this second.

UP NEXT:  Q is for ???

A to Z Challenge: O is for ONLY

For the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge, I’m writing a story, aiming for 1000 words a day (every day except Sundays). Continuing today with the next part of the story about the character Codie Snow.

If you’re new to this series of posts, you might want to start here:

A is for ACCEPTING the Challenge
C is for CODIE

NOTE: Sorry to disappoint you all. No sex scene on my blog. I promise it will get written before the final version, though. I love how many of you suggested that O could be for the BIG O. It most definitely could—but not right this moment…

Holy hell. Codie’s world had just been rocked hard. She didn’t remember Pete being that good a lover when they were kids.

Of course, she probably hadn’t been the greatest, either.

She let out another long, slow breath as her heartbeat slowed and she rested her head on his chest. He smelled really nice. And, yeah, he might have been in good shape back when he’d played football for the Dalton Tigers, but he was hard and tight all over now.

Slade who?

She pressed her lips into his pec and then looked up at him in the dim light of his bedroom. She felt sleepy now. Pete might have been used to working graveyards, but Codie was a day person. It was sometime after two in the morning and, after such a busy, tense night, she was feeling tired. “When do you have to go back on patrol?”

He’d had his left hand tucked under his head while his right arm held her close to him. He slid the left hand out from under his head and held his wrist up so he could look at his watch. After squinting at the dial, he said, “About fifteen minutes.”

She felt herself frown and tried to hide it. Forcing her eyes to open wider—trying to fake wakefulness—she said, “Guess we’d better get up then.”

Pete grinned so that one of his dimples showed. He stroked her hair and said, “Just rest your head a few more minutes. We got time.” Wow. He—no, that. Yes, that. The meticulous attention to her. How many times in the past had she and Slade finished making love, only to have him either zonked out immediately or checking his emails or getting back to perusing some brief? Yeah, she loved that being driven was a huge part of who Slade was, but she was really enjoying being the only thing Pete seemed to care about—if only for a moment.

She dozed off while he stroked her hair, lulling her into a deep, restful sleep, and it wasn’t until she heard him moving around in the bedroom that she stirred—and even then, she struggled to half open her eyes. “Oh, crap. Gimme a minute.”

“No, you just sleep. I can catch the bad guys without you.”

“But—”

“Shh.” He kissed the top of her head and said, “Make yourself at home. I’ll be back later.”

She was out like a light before he closed the front door.

* * *

Codie fell into a deep sleep but managed to awaken a little when she heard Pete making noise as he walked in the front door. She forced her eyes open and squinted at the clock beside the bed. It was almost seven-thirty, so she imagined he was done for the evening.

He’d told her before the ride-along that, aside from the higher ups, many of the cops were on rotation. He’d work graveyards for a while and then he’d be on the day and swing shifts for a while before rotating back to nights. It made it fair for all of them, especially the guys who had families. Once in a while, he said, there were guys who actually wanted those shifts—probably because of the pay deferential—but most of them didn’t mind switching things up.

Codie heard Pete start the shower and then she drifted back to sleep, so it seemed like only seconds passed before he was back in bed with her and pulling her close. He kissed her earlobe before whispering, “You didn’t miss much. The most exciting part of the night is usually the beginning of the shift.”

She’d been considering sleeping a little longer and then bailing, but his firm body holding her close—and smelling fresh to boot—made her change her mind. “You’re just saying that so I feel better.”

He chuckled. “Nah. But if you don’t believe me, we can schedule another ride-along next week.”

“Hmm. We might have to do that.”

“I can ask for a longer lunch break too.”

She laughed before falling asleep once more.

NOTE: I imagine this will be a place where I’ll have a chapter break. This is a natural place for a chapter to end, and it stops on a sweet note, a nice place for the reader to set the book down before coming back later. But…that also might not be a good idea. I need to leave the reader wanting more, and while lots of shit happened on patrol the night before—things that the reader might be curious about—that might not be enough to make her/him want to pick up the book later. So I might instead do a scene break to pull them back in and keep them invested before I end the chapter. Yep. I just talked myself into that.

Author Interview: Jennifer L. Allen

Jennifer L. Allen writes rock star romance—and that’s how we met! You’ll learn more about that when you read my interview with her below.

Jennifer, thank you for answering questions for me today. I first met you in my group, Jade’s Bullet Babes, and you have become an amazing friend. Please tell us how long you’ve been writing (both published and unpublished).

I started writing on a whim at the end of 2014. I had a dream and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I’m an avid reader, and all I kept thinking was that this would make a great book! I never thought I could do it…ever…but I finally typed it all out, deleted it, typed it, deleted it…you get the idea. And voila! Our Moon was born. It was published on June 2, 2015. I then published my second book, Change of Heart, in November and my third, Hearts in the Sand, the second in the series with Our Moon, will be out on April 8, 2016. But I guess my writing days go back to grade school when I had to complete random assignments for English and Language Arts classes. I bet if I dig far enough, I’ll be able to find my actual first book, which I think was about some fairy in the forest that I wrote in middle school! I always enjoyed expressing myself creatively like that.

You and I both write rock star romance. Can you tell me how many rock star books you’ve written? What has inspired you to write in this particular romance subgenre?

I’ve written two rock star romance books, and honestly, I didn’t set out with a plan for them to be rock star books. I love music, so it’s no surprise that the guy in the scenes from my dream was in a band, but when I started writing Our Moon, I never once thought “I’m writing a rock star romance book.” It wasn’t until a reader said something later that I realized, “I just wrote a rock star romance.” I’m a little slow on the uptake.

A to Z Challenge: N is for NAUGHTY

For the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge, I’m writing a story, aiming for 1000 words a day (every day except Sundays). Continuing today with the next part of the story about the character Codie Snow.

If you’re new to this series of posts, you might want to start here:

A is for ACCEPTING the Challenge
C is for CODIE

Codie allowed herself to enjoy the kiss with everything in her. She hadn’t realized till just that moment that she’d been tense. Maybe the evening’s events had stressed her out more than she realized.

Maybe she should give up the fool notion of being in law enforcement.

For now, though, that thought floated away as Pete’s tongue lightly brushed her bottom lip, teasing her senses. Part of her thought she should pull away, because this was blurring the professional barrier, but the selfish part of her—the part of her that had been increasingly turned on by this old flame throughout the night—wanted to instead hold him close.

It was then that she noticed the fingers of her left hand had wrapped around his shirt—the uniform he wore for work, a starchy-feeling, thick cotton thing that she desperately wanted to yank off him.

But she didn’t know his intentions. It was then that she loosened the grip of both hands but she still allowed herself to relish the taste of his lips and tongue on hers. And there was no way in hell she could control the pounding of her heart in her chest, any more than she could control the way her blood pressure was spiking in response to this guy.

She drew his tongue in her mouth for a deeper kiss, all while realizing she needed to call a halt to this action right now. She knew she would now have a hell of a time riding in his cruiser, thinking about him in not-so-nice-girl ways.

Yeah. Really naughty thoughts.

Oh, hell. They had to stop. Right. This. Second.

When the kiss ended, she slid her right hand from his neck to his chest and gently pushed against him. Their lips broke off from each other and she said, “Pete, maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

There was that all-American grin, reminding her just how much she’d adored him as a young man. “You seemed to like kissing me just now.”

She let out a small breath, unable to stifle her own smile. “I liked it too much.”

“There’s no such thing. Come here.” His hands that had been around her waist pulled her close once more and he laid his lips on hers again. This time, though, he allowed his fingers to drift down as his hands slowly cupped her ass and pushed her more into him. Her eyes closed and she let herself enjoy the kiss again. When he stopped, he let her go slowly, teasing her once more, and he took a small step back.

It was weird. Even though there was now a gap between their bodies, she could still feel his warmth.

And those stupid sweatpants. She could feel them trying to fall off her slender hips again. She grabbed them with one hand and caught her breath, trying to solidify her thoughts. Before she could speak, though, Pete said, “Okay. Lunch, I guess, and then back to work.”

Codie blinked. “So that’s it?”

Another captivating grin. “What do you mean?”

She could feel her eyes grow wide. “You get me all hot and bothered and then that’s it. Back to work?”

It was almost imperceptible, but she could see how he cocked his head slightly. Hmm. She knew he was confident to the point of being cocky, but was he signaling that he couldn’t read her? How was that possible? This guy—a cop, trained to read people—was having a hard time sensing her emotions?

If she’d been wearing panties, they’d have been soaked, for heaven’s sake. How could he not know?

“That’s what you’re here for, right? And you said it wasn’t a good idea.”

She pursed her lips to stifle a smile and then said, “Jesus, Pete. It doesn’t matter what I said.” She swallowed. “It might not be a good idea, but…yeah. I want you.”

Immediately, Codie wondered if she’d stepped out of bounds. Pete might not have been able to read her, and it went both ways. She’d thought maybe he was feeling the same way she’d been—that they were old lovers and the embers still glowed down deep, and now that they were older and maybe wiser, why not see if the chemistry was still there? Aside from the awkwardness they’d experienced early on as kids—when she gave him her virginity and then as they began exploring their budding sexuality—their bodies had been compatible, even when their minds hadn’t.

Now, though, she wasn’t so sure. She could see in Pete’s eyes some kind of struggle. Yeah, she’d definitely misread the situation. Shit. Talk about awkward. And there was no graceful way to correct any of that. All she could do would be to apologize and then ask him to take her home.

While she was trying to formulate just how to say all that, Pete pulled her close again. Okay, so she hadn’t misread him. Not by a long shot. And as she felt him grow hard against her before picking her up so she could wrap her legs around his torso, she let him carry her to his bedroom.

NOTE: So, uh…those of you who read my books regularly know I write erotic romance. Yes, that means my sex scenes are pretty damned explicit—steamy and descriptive. While I try not to hold back too much here on my blog, I’m not going to be too naughty here, and there are several reasons for that. First is that, for some bizarre reason, sex scenes take me longer to write. I’m wanting to maintain momentum in this challenge, and that requires not taking days to write a scene that might not even equal a thousand words. The second is that—if any of you missed this in the early days of the challenge—when I revise this story, I’m planning to post it on Wattpad. I’ve been given to understand that, while you can be a little steamy on that site, you can’t go too overboard, and I don’t want to be censored or banned, so I’d rather ratchet it down myself to save others the trouble. Plus, if readers on that site aren’t used to reading what I write, I don’t want to scar anyone.

A to Z Challenge: M is for MAYBE

For the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge, I’m writing a story, aiming for 1000 words a day (every day except Sundays). Continuing today with part 12 of a story about the character Codie Snow.

If you’re new to this series of posts, you might want to start here:

A is for ACCEPTING the Challenge
C is for CODIE

Pete paused, his face inches from hers, and she felt herself holding her breath and involuntarily moving her lips closer to his. As if in slow motion, their lips finally connected and she closed her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the sensation. She still couldn’t catch her breath as his mouth touched hers softly, but he kissed her as if he had all the time in the world. She felt explosions going off in her head as all thought vanished to be replaced by pure emotion and need, and it all ended way too soon. She could feel him pulling away before she forced her eyelids to lift. “Need to get you all cleaned up before we get back on the road.”

At last, she was able to pull air into her lungs. “Yeah.”

He pointed toward a hallway and said, “The bathroom’s down that way. Towels are in the closet next to the door.” For a second, it all felt surreal. Codie wondered if they’d just kissed. She took another deep breath and nodded, heading in the direction he’d indicated. “I’m going to make something to eat too. I only have an hour for lunch. A sandwich okay with you or would you rather have something else?”

Codie paused in the hallway and turned, still feeling a little disoriented. “I’m not really hungry, Pete.” Doubt began flooding her brain. “Maybe I should just go home since I don’t have anything to wear.”

He chuckled. “I have stuff you can wear. Don’t worry about it. And if it doesn’t fit okay, we can swing by your place for a few minutes while I’m doing my thing.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Go get cleaned up.”

Codie grabbed a towel and washcloth from the hall closet before stepping into Pete’s bathroom. She’d never been here before because, after they’d dated in high school, they’d maintained a casual friendship but nothing deep or intense. Maybe that was about to change, because Pete wasn’t nearly the macho overbearing jock she thought she’d remembered from their school days.

He was a pretty nice guy.

Oh, and hot. Very hot. How the hell had she forgotten that?

Well, she knew. Because they hadn’t spent a lot of time together in the past ten years, she hadn’t watched his transformation. He had changed. She was certain of that. And while she knew a good many cops in her town were egotistical, power-hungry jerks, being a cop had done a lot of good for Pete. He seemed humbler somehow…as if he’d taken the law enforcement mission to heart—that he was personally protecting everyone in their town. And she’d already seen tonight that he could be formidable, downright scary to the people he was trying to protect the rest of the citizens from. All that was wrapped in a package that was…lickable. Yes, lickable. Codie couldn’t get her mind off tasting more of Pete…but it looked like maybe that wasn’t an option.

After all, they were only halfway through his shift, which meant they were also only halfway through the ride-along.

Codie made her way around his bathroom and began peeling off her clothing that had become sticky. Yes, definitely Sprite or some other lemon-lime sugary soda. She could smell it now. Her mind began racing through the night’s events. In a short time, she’d watched Pete handle a domestic violence issue where the woman appeared to be the perpetrator, had seen a dead body, and had watched a meth lab blow up.

Yeah, he was a hell of a guy. He was kind of (no, more than kind of) overshadowing her hotshot lawyer sometimes boyfriend. Pete was definitely making her question why she’d spent so much time trying to work things out with Slade when it probably should have been evident to her that the guy didn’t want a relationship. After all, that was part of why they didn’t live together. Slade hadn’t wanted to commit. He’d given a million reasons why, but she knew he wasn’t ready, and she’d accepted it years ago.

But maybe they weren’t right for each other. She was definitely questioning it now that she was in Pete’s orbit.

She got in the shower, deciding to rinse out her hair too. Even though the woman hadn’t doused her head, her hair had gotten wet too, and she thought it might be better to wash it all off. Just in case. She rolled the bar of yellow soap in her hands, realizing that this very bar had touched Pete’s skin recently…and then Codie, a girl not at all shy, felt her cheeks grow warm nonetheless. Pete was the guy she’d lost her virginity to and they’d stayed together through high school. Hell, Codie couldn’t even remember why their relationship had ended all those years ago now. But maybe—

She nearly jumped when she heard Pete’s voice pulling her out of her musings. “I’m setting some clothes on the counter here—a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. I hope they work.”

Yeah, no underwear. That would be fun. “Thanks, Pete,” she said, wondering if she should invite him in and then thinking the better of it.

“Sure you don’t want something to eat?”

“I’m good. Thanks.”

When she finally turned off the water a minute later, she peeked out of the shower first, pulling the curtain back. Even though she’d been thinking about Pete in less-than-innocent ways, she didn’t know that she was ready to just appear naked in front of him. But he’d left the room, so she dried off fast and hung up the towel before putting on the clothes he’d offered her.

The shirt, while big, fit fine, but the sweatpants wouldn’t stay put. They were too big. As silly as it sounded, maybe he had a belt she could wear. She piled her clothes and shoes next to the wall and out of the way, deciding to ask Pete for a plastic bag to carry them in until she got home. She stepped out of the bathroom and into Pete’s quiet and dark house. He hadn’t turned on the light in the living room but light spilled out of the kitchen, leading her to him. He was standing across the room, leaning against the counter, sipping at a glass of water. “Feel better?”

“Lots,” she said, but she showed him that she was holding up the sweatpants with one hand. “Except these are too big. Do you have a belt or something?”

That look—what did it mean? He crossed the room, close to her again. “I actually have a better idea.” And as he consumed her in a toe-curling kiss, she wondered if her fingernails digging into his neck were too aggressive or if that was exactly what he’d had in mind…

UP NEXT:  N is for ???

A to Z Challenge: L is for LUST

For the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge, I’m writing a story, aiming for 1000 words a day (every day except Sundays). Continuing today with part 11 of a story about the character Codie Snow.

If you’re new to this series of posts, you might want to start here:

A is for ACCEPTING the Challenge
C is for CODIE

As Codie started running toward the garage, trying to decide if she should enter there or through the front door, she heard Pete yell her name. She turned to the left to see him coming around the side of the garage. “What happened?” she asked as the sirens in the distance grew louder as they got closer.

As Pete stopped next to Codie, he placed his hand on her elbow, gently leading her away from the garage. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Codie realized he was talking about her dripping. “Oh, yeah. Some crazy woman ran out of the house and poured a pitcher of something on me, told the guy in the car she’d find him, and then ran down the road. Sorry I didn’t chase her.”

Pete shook his head. “No, don’t be. It’s a good thing you didn’t. She’ll show up.” Once they were on the far side of the cruiser so that it was between them and the house, he said, “I’d just walked in the house. They’re cooking meth in there, so I was gonna see who else in there I could arrest. But before I got to the kitchen, there was an explosion, so I jumped out the back door and made my way around here.” Codie nodded. “You weren’t worried about me, were you?”

God, the grin on his face was disarming. “What if I was?”

A cop car halted in front of the house, followed by firetruck that parked almost in the middle of the street. Pete cocked and eyebrow and said, “We probably need to clean that shit off you. Do you know what it is?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“One minute.” Pete strode over to the other cop car and chatted with the officer. In less than ten minutes, they had a team of specialists on site and the other cop took the guy named Brian to haul off to the detention facility. Then Pete told Codie to get into the car. “Any clue what she poured on you? Should I get you to the emergency room?”

“It doesn’t hurt or feel bad.” She turned her head and took a big whiff of her damp hair and shirt. “It smells like…like ginger ale or Sprite, maybe.”

“You sure that’s what it is?”

She touched her arm. Goosebumps stood out on the flesh, because it wasn’t yet the relentless heat of summer. Late spring meant there were still cool breezes and moderate temperatures, and being wet in the dead of night ensured Codie was cold. “Yeah. Pretty sure. It’s kind of sticky.”

“We need to get you cleaned up.”

Codie imagined there were showers and locker rooms at the police station, even though she’d never been given a thorough tour. She didn’t completely disagree that she needed it, but she was fairly certain he should be patrolling the streets instead of pampering his ride-along. It kind of defeated the purpose of him actually doing the job. “I’ll be okay.”

He grinned and winked. “Get in the car.”

Oh. That voice again.

She felt another involuntary shiver work its way through her spine and she flashed a smile—albeit a weak one—back at him. Tonight’s little life experiment had reminded her all too well how attracted she’d always been to Pete. He was masculine, self-assured, and even sweet, even though he didn’t show that side much, and now that she and her sometimes-boyfriend Slade were separated, she was seriously considering putting the moves on her cop friend.

But, um…not while doused in Sprite.

Soon enough, they were in the car and Pete was driving down the road. Codie felt like she should say something, but the words weren’t there. He didn’t say anything either, instead focused on the road. No, actually, he was doing more than that, and Codie had been watching him enough this evening to know that. Part of him was tuned in to the chatter that came through the radio off and on, but more than that, he was keeping his eye on his surroundings, looking for anything on his patrol that was out of the ordinary or suspicious.

In a few minutes, he was back in a residential section of town—his section of town and, shortly after that, he was pulling the patrol car into his driveway. Pete turned off the car and glanced over at Codie. “Time for my lunch break—if you’d call it that.” She felt a little confused but nodded and, when Pete got out of the driver’s side, she did the same on her side. “And you can shower while we’re here.”

She followed him up to the front door of his modest white-and-gray-brick ranch-style house. “But I don’t have any clothes to change into.”

Pete shrugged as if he didn’t care but as he pushed the front door open and waved Codie in first, he said, “I think I’ve got something that will fit you.”

She began laughing as he pushed the door closed and started to reply when he got close to her. His eyes had grown dark and felt like they could see through to her soul, but it wasn’t a bad thing. She could feel a deep vibration in her core as he got close enough that she thought she could feel his body heat. As her muscles felt like they were growing limp, she managed to swallow the saliva pooling in her mouth before saying, “I don’t think we’re the same size.”

“I’m pretty sure I have something.” His voice grew lower when he added, “I just don’t know that you can wear it.”

Oh. And so, when Pete’s face got near hers, she had no response other than to move her lips the rest of the way to join with his.

UP NEXT:  M is for ???

A to Z Challenge: K is for KABOOM!

For the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge, I’m writing a story, aiming for 1000 words a day (every day except Sundays). Continuing today with part 9 of a story about the character Codie Snow.

If you’re new to this series of posts, you might want to start here:

A is for ACCEPTING the Challenge
C is for CODIE

NOTE:  One thing that’s been a little weird about this challenge is the way I’m writing.  I usually write a chapter at a time, sensing where those breaks should go, and so there are always scenes but each one has its own mini story, complete with tension and building conflict as we work our way toward the end.  For this challenge, I’m just writing the story without chapters in mind at all.  I sometimes “see” where one might go, but it’s not part of the process right now.  That will make revision interesting. 

The volume of the music blaring from the house dropped, but that didn’t stop the hairs from standing up straight on Codie’s forearms. She knew down deep in her bones that something was wrong—dead wrong.

“Codie,” Pete said, without turning his head to look back, “I need you to get back in the car, and I want you to duck low, out of sight.

“Shouldn’t—”

“Do it,” he said, his voice low but scary, letting her know there would be no arguing. He tilted his head and spoke into the mike attached to his shoulder. Codie thought he was calling for backup, but she couldn’t be sure.

She started to walk backwards, really not sure if that car would keep her safe, but she knew it was more the idea of out of sight, out of mind. If the bad guys couldn’t see her, she might not be a target.

Before she could move any farther, though, the door from the house into the garage banged open and smoke trailed behind the man in a big cloudy puff. “Hands up where I can see them.” It was an order, and it wasn’t quiet. Pete had suddenly turned formidable—and scary.

“But—”

“Now!” Codie was frozen, just watching the action. The guy dropped his cigarette on the concrete floor of the garage and held his arms out—probably not the way Pete had wanted him to, but it was definitely easy to see that he wasn’t holding anything. With lightning speed, Pete had the guy cuffed and was patting him down, asking him questions. Codie couldn’t hear a lot of what was said, but the guy answered one question loudly enough that Pete understood.

“My old lady’s in there tryin’ to save it.”

Pete marched the guy out of the garage and didn’t even look Codie in the eye as they passed her and he opened the back door to the cruiser, practically stuffing the guy inside. “I’ll find her.” Once he closed the door, he said to Codie, “I’d remind you to get in the car, but I’m sure he reeks of toxic shit. Just stay close to the car, got it?” She nodded and watched him walk back through the garage, this time with his gun in his hands.

She knew the timing was bad, but Codie was finding Pete’s masculinity to be a hell of a turn on, and she wondered why she’d rebuffed his more recent advances. She’d have to rethink a Codie-and-Pete combo.

As Pete made his way through the garage again, she could hear the guy making noise in the cruiser—shouting, maybe? And then it sounded like he was banging on the window, but his hands were cuffed, so she didn’t know how he could do that. She turned around to glance and saw him banging his head on the glass, and when she looked, he started shouting at her. He looked panicked, but there wasn’t anything she could do, no matter what the guy was saying. She shook her head at him and turned back around just in time to see a woman with blonde hair sticking up all over run out the front door. She had a pitcher in her hands, holding it like a weapon, and she looked around frantically. It was dark and the cop car wasn’t flashing the red-and-blues, but she spied it anyway and ran over. Codie felt her eyes grow wide but she just stared, feeling like she couldn’t move.

“Brian? You in there?” When she saw Codie, she acted at first like she was going to tackle the woman, and Codie braced herself for it, preparing for a fight, but then the woman suddenly flung her arm so that the pitcher’s contents doused Codie in a cold liquid that didn’t seem to have any smell.

But it was cold and it made her gasp while throwing her off guard. Before she could fully get her wits about her, she heard the woman yell, “I’ll get you out, Brian!” And the woman started running down the street before Codie could even make sense of any of it. She ran to the edge of the driveway, wondering if it would be smart or safe even to chase the woman, and she was grappling with what to do when she heard an explosion from the house behind her.

She spun on her feet to see the flickering of flames off smoke coming from in back of the house, and she could hear several dogs barking and howling in the neighborhood. It was then that she heard several sirens in the far off distance, Pete’s backup whose timing left a lot to be desired.

Codie decided she couldn’t chase the woman—not with all that was happening. Now she had to wonder what had happened to Pete. Was he injured? Dead? Had he caused the explosion or just been unfortunate enough to be there when it happened?

Should she go inside and try to save him?

Another smaller explosion told her she shouldn’t. But she wanted to know what the hell was taking his backup so damn long and decided she couldn’t just stand there while Pete might be dying or dead…

UP NEXT:  L is for ???

A to Z Challenge: J is for JAVA

For the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge, I’m writing a story, aiming for 1000 words a day (every day except Sundays). Continuing today with part 8 of a story about the character Codie Snow.

If you’re new to this series of posts, you might want to start here:

A is for ACCEPTING the Challenge
C is for CODIE

After typing in a cursory report on the laptop in his cruiser, Pete looked over at Codie, buckled into the passenger seat. “Quick coffee break,” he said, pulling the car onto the street. He drove slowly, though, and Codie noticed that he was checking out the house next door. The lights were on there too, in spite of the fact that it was getting quite late.

Codie figured the women knew their sister Michelle was dead.

Once they were past, Pete said, “Even though I’ve been working graveyards for two years, I still can’t adjust my sleep schedule. On my days off, I’m sleeping a lot and then back to usual. The first night back to work sucks.” He glanced over at her and grinned. “Coffee is a night cop’s best friend.”

Codie had already figured that out. This would be the third cup of coffee she would see him consume tonight, and even though she was nowhere near sleepy, she wouldn’t complain about having more.

It wasn’t long before they had turned onto the main highway through town. Soon, Pete pulled the cruiser into a convenience store. “We’re here,” he said, and Codie got out of the car with him. She was glad she’d brought a little money with her, because she didn’t want Pete to feel like he had to keep buying her stuff, just because she was along for the ride, but as they were heading toward the front door, Pete nodded at the cashier. “She’s with me.”

The clerk nodded back. “Have a good night, officer.”

“You as well.”

Once they were out the door and heading toward the cruiser, Codie asked, “You didn’t have to pay for the coffee?”

He grinned that all-American quarterback smile, one of his strongest weapons. “Lots of places give cops free drinks. They figure it’s a way to say thanks for our service, but it’s also a great way to get policemen to come in and make their presence known. Tends to keep the riffraff away.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“Don’t worry. We don’t take advantage. We never come in when we’re off duty and demand something, and we try to spread out the love. So like this place? I won’t come back here for a week, ‘cause I don’t know how much the other guys come here.” They got in the car and buckled in. “Now, finally, we can start patrol.” He backed out of the parking space and pulled out onto the highway. There weren’t many cars as he drove down the road, pulling off onto Main Street a few blocks down. “We all have routes we patrol, different neighborhoods we drive through and watch and what’s good about that is we get familiar with what things usually look like. We know which areas are hot spots for crime and which ones are less likely to have problems.” He turned down a side street, heading toward a residential area. “I’ll drive through here twice tonight, hopefully, but at least once, starting now.” Codie tried to think of questions she wanted to ask, because she didn’t want to blow the opportunity, but she knew she’d have lots of time later, after the shift, if she needed. He took another gulp of coffee from the paper cup. “Mmm. Good stuff.”

“Yeah, not bad at all.” She’d expected gross coffee, java that had been sitting for far too long and had developed an oily scum on the surface, the integrity of the flavor long gone, so much so that no amount of sugar or creamer could mask the old taste. But it was strong and fresh, almost as if the convenience store had seen them coming from miles away. It was no Starbucks, but it’d do.

The radio that had been blaring incessantly and that she had, thankfully, started to tune out caught Pete’s attention. He picked up the mike. “Eighteen here.”

“Neighbors are reporting loud music on Elm Avenue.”

“On my way. What’s the address?”

As Pete responded to the operator, Codie took another sip of her coffee. She wondered if that was simply a sign of the times that neighbors didn’t feel comfortable enough with the people they lived near to tell them to turn down the tunes. And how rude and inconsiderate of others to blast their music enough that their neighbors felt like they had to call the cops. It wasn’t like it was Friday night and warranted a party; it was the middle of the week. Kids had school the next day. A good lot of people had to work the next morning. Cranking the tunes was beyond rude.

Codie didn’t know if the detour was part of Pete’s regular patrol, but he didn’t act like it was an inconvenience. In fact, he didn’t act that way about any part of his job. He seemed to enjoy everything he did as a cop, from the expected to the routine. Nothing was a chore.

He loved his job.

As they drove down another side street, Pete rolled down his window. “Oh, yeah,” he said. Codie turned her head and, above the radio chatter, she was able to hear some heavy techno dance beat. The cruiser kept rolling, though, and soon Pete was parking in front of a residence that had its garage door open and lights on. There was some kind of SUV inside but a guy was just outside the door, pacing back and forth while smoking a cigarette.

Codie didn’t ask. She just got out of the car when Pete did and followed closely behind. Better to ask for forgiveness than beg for permission.

As they got close, the pacing man shouted, “Hi, officer. What can I do you for?”

Pete’s voice was firm. “We’ve had complaints that the music is too loud. I need you to turn that down.”

“Oh, yeah. Of course.” The guy went back into the garage and then into the house from there. Pete continued to saunter closer so that he was inside the space in short order. Codie was still there, appearing as a shadow, but close. Before she actually walked into the garage, she noticed the faint scent of weird chemicals, a sicky sweet smell that made the coffee in her stomach feel sour. She saw Pete’s gait slow and he touched his belt. Scratch that. He touched his gun, a weapon she’d almost forgotten was there. Apparently, something had his hackles up and he was thinking there was more to this call than merely loud people.

She was starting to suspect it too.

UP NEXT: K is for KABOOM!

BOILING POINT (Feverish #1.5) is LIVE

Okay, so that’s not exactly news…not by any stretch.  But I’ve been so damn busy, between the release of Pink Shades of Words: Walk 2016 and preparing (and sticking with my schedule) for the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, that I didn’t post the requisite “Yoohoo!  It’s here!” post.    So…here it is.

Boiling Point

a novella

(Feverish #1.5)

Release date: March 29, 2016

Genres: Contemporary romance, erotic romance, rock star romance

Audience: 18+ due to sexual situations and adult language

Links

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28828094-boiling-point

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ToZyaZ

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/23vaHv5

Amazon CAN: http://amzn.to/1RfneQf

Amazon AUS: http://bit.ly/1LkJSEg

iBooks: http://apple.co/1QV96Gb

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1YMbzrA

Blurb

Pathetic.

Needy.

Untrusting.

Emily Brinkman hears all these descriptions in her head, all the things she knows others are thinking when she joins her boyfriend, Clay “Jet” Smith, on tour with his band. It doesn’t matter that she’s going as his PA as well; she knows she’s being judged…but she also knows that the people watching are half right.

Hot.

Tight.

Fine.

Clay can hear what all the men around him think of his sweet girlfriend and he loves having Emily join him on tour. To this woman, he’s not just a one-dimensional axe-slinging guitar god. She loves him and wants the best for him, and she won’t tell him something just because it’s what he wants to hear. But Clay didn’t stop to realize that all the guys on tour—from the roadies to security and even their frontman—would appreciate that Emily is a nice piece of ass. He will need to learn to trust her if their relationship is going to survive.

Will Clay and Emily survive the bumps on the road or will their time on tour drive them apart?

Excerpt

“I just want to prepare you. You’re dating a rock star. It’s an experience unlike anything you’ve ever known before, and talks with your mama couldn’t prepare you for the shit that will go down.”

Yeah…that was another thing Emily wouldn’t tell Debbie about. She’d lost her mother years ago in a horrible car accident. It had been just her and her dad forever—and her dad hadn’t had a clue about how to prepare Emily for anything having to do with being a woman…not that he hadn’t tried. She’d also had an awesome PE teacher in middle school who’d helped her navigate the seas of adolescence. But God bless her dad—he really had tried…and he’d done the best he could.

As for “dating a rock star,” Debbie had no fucking clue about Clay. Rock star or not, inside he was the sweetest, most genuine man Emily had ever known. They’d been through a lot of emotional ups and downs in the short time they’d known each other, and she felt as though they’d grown together, so even though she’d been feeling a little insecure, it wasn’t because of any stupid ass thing Debbie had hinted at.

She was going to keep her mouth shut so as not to encourage any more asinine comments from the woman, but she could see that wasn’t going to happen. Best to just spit it out. “Clay’s not anything like you think, Debbie.”

The frontman’s girlfriend lifted her perfectly sculpted thin eyebrows as her mouth froze. After several seemingly eternal seconds, she let out a long breath of air. “Look, Emmy, I know you’re knee deep in new love. I get that. I know how that works. I was there with Sam once, too. But wake up, girl. Yeah, I know you think you know Clay…but I’ve known him a lot longer than you have.” She brought her cup up to her pink lips and sipped before repeating, “A lot longer.”

That was true…but she had to believe that Clay had been honest with her about his past—his entire past. Debbie had been looking at him not as a friend or as a lover but as the girlfriend of one of his coworkers. Of course, anything she felt about Clay would be jaded. So Emily brought her cup to her lips, trying to think of a comeback.

Debbie began talking again, though, allowing Emily to keep her mouth shut. “Sure…it starts out pretty innocently at first. You don’t even know what’s happening until it’s too late to stop it, and it’s a slippery slope. You’ll lose your guy if you don’t keep going…”

Praise

“I loved Emily realizing that Jet’s attitude isn’t so bad when you need to get stuff done. I also loved how Clay felt real pride in his woman when he realized she was much respected in her line of work.” ~ Angie J, Twinsie Talk Book Blog

“I enjoyed getting to see the various different dynamics between of all the players (crew/band, Emily/crew, Debbie/Emily) and especially Emily/Jet/Clay…the dual personas of Clay the man and Jet the rockstar and how it affects Emily. It was an insightful look at behind the scenes and what fans see vs what really happens.” ~ Sue Banner

Series Info

1 Feverish

1.5 Boiling Point

The Feverish series is a spinoff of the Bullet series:

1 Bullet

2 Rock Bottom

3 Feverish

4 Fully Automatic

4.5 Christmas Stalkings

5 Slash and Burn

6 Locked and Loaded