Kelly Apple's Blog, page 27

Pinnacle Point Short – Tension Relief

Tension Relief

Logan and Jenna

Pinnacle Point

 

There wasn’t enough scientific data in the known universe to allow Logan to accurately predict his fiancé’s mood as the date of their wedding grew closer. She ran the gamut from giddy excitement to teary wails of distress that everything wouldn’t turn out just right over the course of every twenty-four hour period.

At the moment, Jenna was focused on her work, so she was neither giddy nor teary. At least not about the wedding.

Scowling, she clicked something on her computer and glared until the printer began to spit something out.

Despite the overwhelming urge to smile at his beautiful fiancé’s expression, Logan kept his face carefully blank. Since the strange, incredible night that had been the start of their romantic relationship, Logan had learned a lot about Jenna and her moods.

Not enough to predict where they’d turn in regards to the wedding, but enough to know she wouldn’t quickly forgive him if he laughed at her when she was upset about something.

See? You could teach a socially awkward scientist a few tricks.

Jenna muttered something uncomplimentary about the matriarchal lineage of her laptop and ground her teeth together. Not wanting her to damage the equipment, Logan cleared her throat before she could pick it up and violently heave it across the room.

Jenna’s glare was potent, but it wasn’t directed at him. Not really.

Even when she turned the full force of it in his direction, Logan knew she was more irritated with the new database they’d recently upgraded to than him.

After all, he’d done nothing to warrant a look that could fry the circuits on a motherboard.

At least he didn’t think so.

“Problems, Jenna?” he asked, keeping his voice light.

“Whose idea was it for this upgrade again?”

Logan thanked whoever was out there watching over him that it hadn’t been his suggestion. “Kane,” he said, completely willing to throw his boss under the bus. “He said the old database didn’t have enough room for expansion and he had too many plans for the future to be hampered by a shoddy record-keeping system.”

Jenna growled—an actual full-throated growl that would probably get a nod of approval from the werewolf in charge himself—and glared even harder. “I really don’t like it.”

“No one likes it.” Logan paused. “Except Kane, I guess. He seems perfectly happy with what it can do.”

“Kane’s an idiot.”

A roar echoed from down the hall. “I can hear you, Jenna-Lynn,” their boss bellowed.

Jenna snarled. “I know you can, you idiot.”

Logan coughed to cover up his laugh. Kane and Jenna had been at each other’s throats since Jenna had marched into his office and bluntly told him she was dating Logan now and he could stick his non-fraternization policy up his hairy ass.

Personally, Logan thought Kane was more bothered by the hairy ass comment than the fact he and Jenna were dating. Werewolves were weirdly sensitive about their hairiness being pointed out to them.

Considering Kane sprouted excess hair once a month whether he wanted to or not, Logan thought he might understand.

But whatever. He didn’t like to think too much on Kane’s excess hairiness.

Stepping into her glare, Logan raised a suggestive eyebrow at his beautiful fiancé and cocked his head in the direction of his office. “Do you need to take a break, babe?”

Jenna opened her mouth and then closed it. She got a look on her face that made Logan’s heart rate pick up.

“You know what, lover? I think I do need a break. A long break. A hard break. On your desk. Maybe more than once.”

Kane groaned from down the hall. “If I apologize again for making you learn this new system will you please stop having sex in Logan’s office?”

Jenna’s smile sent a shiver of desire down Logan’s spine. “No,” she yelled to their boss. “An apology won’t cut it.”

“Jesus, Jenna,” Kane snarled. “I didn’t authorize the upgrade to specifically piss you off, you know.”

Logan could imagine Kane’s expression. The werewolf would have his face screwed up in disgust as he glowered at the door.

Another smile from Jenna, this one as sharp as a blade and just as deadly. “Well, lucky you, I’m pissed off all the same.”

Logan turned to look at the wall. He found it amusing when Jenna stood up to their boss. Kane adored her quick mind and would never fire her for sassing him.

In fact, Logan thought the only thing that would ever cause her to lose Kane’s approval would be if she deliberately sabotaged any of the experiments going on in the lab.

Considering one of those experiments had been the reason they’d ended up together, Logan knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that was one thing his Jenna would never do.

After all, sabotaging an experiment could cause their timeline to skew and then the future him would never go back in time and…have a threesome with them.

Yeah, that thought still made Logan’s head hurt.

Blinking, Logan found Jenna in front of him, her hand fisting in his shirt as she drew him down for a smacking kiss. “Did you come here to tease me about your desk, handsome, or are we going to annoy the shit out of Kane now?”

Kane growled from down the hall, but Logan barely heard him.

Sex with Jenna in the middle of the day was his newest addiction. Hell, sex with Jenna alone was his newest addiction.

The woman was lethal and if she wanted to get naughty on his desk, who was he to argue?

Sappy smile on his face, Logan followed Jenna out the door and down to his office. He was pretty sure Kane grumped and growled from his own office the entire time, but Logan didn’t give two shits.

His lady needed him to relieve some tension so she could be refreshed when she went back to tackling the database.

As a scientist, he was obligated to help his fellow man achieve the greatest heights they could achieve.

And achieving great heights with his Jenna was his specialty.

The End

Want to see how Logan and Jenna got together? Grab Future Perfect to read their story or pick up Pinnacle Point: The Harker Collection to meet all of the Harker clan.

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Pinnacle Point Short – Tension Relief appeared first on Kelly Apple.

The Art of the Slow Burn

Flat out, my reading tastes normally lean toward insta-love and attraction that flares up so hot and bright you get contact burns if you stand too close. I’m seriously in love with people being hit out of the blue by FEELINGS and the knowledge they’ve found their special someone.

In other words, while I can appreciate a slow-burn romance, they’re not the type of book I normally gravitate toward.

Then I read Mariana Zapata’s The Wall of Winnipeg and Me. That lady KNOWS how to write some compelling slow-burn romance. I mean, Aiden didn’t have any designs on Vanessa when they first met. Or over the two years she worked for him. She was someone he tolerated because she didn’t annoy him as much as most people.

*side note* Aiden’s kinda a dick when we first meet him. Just so you know. He’s a mega-sports star at the top of his game and his life revolves around playing and training and winning. He doesn’t like anyone who distracts him from those things and he’s got the aloof, broody asshole thing down. Don’t worry, though, he figures things out. Eventually. I mean, he’s still a dick sometimes, but he sees what he could have lost in Vanessa with his dick-hole-ishness and makes an effort to be better. */side note*

Basically, I was smitten with Aiden and Vanessa. But I still wasn’t convinced I liked the slow-burn. Not enough to actively seek it out, anyway.

Recently, I reread TWoWaM and fell in love with it all over again. I realized I’d collected a few other Mariana Zapata books (I’m a sucker for a sale, guys. A SUCKER!) and decided I was going to dive on into them.

Wait For It – Broody, asshole hero has REASONS for not pursuing the sassy single mom who moves in across the street. SPARKS FLY. He douses them with his broodiness. MORE SPARKS FLY. She (mostly) convinces herself she’s fine with being only his friend. THINGS HAPPEN. They hug after. I SWOON.

HOLY WOW, the hug alone made me giddy. And once those REASONS he was holding himself back are resolved things get steamy.

The buildup to them reaching the point where they leaned on one another killed me. DEAD. I was dead. Then things went deeper and YEAH, FINE, I TOTALLY GET THE APPEAL OF THE SLOW BURN. Aiden and Vanessa weren’t a one time thing. Dammit.

Kulti – Dude. Reiner Kulti is an asshole when we’re first introduced to him. Aiden was broody and glowering, Kulti is just flat-out a dick. The issues he’s dealing with in his personal life (which we don’t find out until a while in) have made him retreat into himself. Add in his mega-sports star ego (kinda like Aiden’s ego, come to think of it) and he’s NOT A NICE GUY. Let’s just say he has the simmering scowl and brooding silences down and that doesn’t make him approachable AT ALL.

You know, until Sal chips away at his cold dead heart enough to allow a little sun in to thaw it.

DAMN YOU, MARIANA ZAPATA, now I want more slow-burn.

It’s the payoff. The payoff after several hundred pages of butting heads and starting tentative friendships makes me swoony.

I don’t know if I’ll ever write a slow-burn, but I’m enjoying reading them. Maybe too much. I seriously can’t get these books out of my head and they’ve left me with a big book hangover.

The point here is if you want to be RUINED for the slow burn, read a Mariana Zapata book. Or three.

The post The Art of the Slow Burn appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Pinnacle Point Short – When the Heart Beats

When the Heart Beats

Maisie and Zane

Pinnacle Point

 

Contrary to popular opinion, zombies did have heartbeats. They were slow and infrequent, but their hearts did beat.

Draped over her boyfriend’s chest, Maisie waited for the next muted pump of his heart.

There. Like the most beautiful sonata, it beat once and then fell still. It could be upwards of an hour before the next one came. Zane would likely be awake by then and she wouldn’t have the chance to hear it.

Which was fine. Her zombie’s sleeping patterns were just one thing she’d had to get accustomed to when they started dating.

He only ate every few days—and procuring the food involved a trip to the morgue—and he rarely slept, but none of those had ended up being deal-breakers.

Sure, Maisie would like to wake up beside him in the morning, but it was what it was.

Zane was a zombie. He ate odd foods. He slept infrequently. His body temperature was a bit lower than hers.

He was also unfailingly loyal. Dedicated. Determined.

Sexy.

Her man—her zombie—made other men pale in comparison when he was focused on her pleasure.

Maisie doubted she’d ever be able to be content with a mere human now that she’d had a taste of the supernatural. Of course, that implied she and Zane weren’t going to last and that wasn’t something she liked to consider.

Zane Harker was in her bed and her heart and she didn’t have any intention of letting him out of either place.

One of said zombie’s big hands lazily stroked down her back and Maisie knew her introspective time had come to an end. He was awake. Maybe she could keep him in her bed for another hour of quiet time, but her chance to hear the next beat of his heart had likely passed.

Ahh, well. What could a woman do? If she had to sacrifice herself on the altar of their lust to keep him beneath her for one last listen, she would.

Willingly.

Propping her chin on her hand, she looked at her zombie love and gave her smile free rein.

His eyes were still closed, the sooty lashes she envied dark against his cheeks. A smile played at the edge of his mouth—that luscious, decadent, determined mouth—and Maisie watched as it deepened.

He lay against her pillows like some sort of pagan god and Maisie loved him all the more for letting her get a glimpse of him with his guard down.

Zane wasn’t like other men in some ways, but he was very much like every one of the species in others.

She was the only one he truly relaxed with. Even with his cousins he maintained that sharp edge that told her he was always watching. Always prepared for something no one else could see.

“You’re awake early,” he rumbled, his sleep roughened voice making things low in her clench.

Settling back into her place against his chest—the place where she could dear his elusive heart beat the best—Maisie laughed. “It’s not that early, lover.”

“It’s four in the morning.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“I like my quiet time with you.”

The muscles under her gently questing fingers tensed and Maisie raised her head. He was looking at her now, his eyes dark and serious.

“You need more of this, don’t you?”

More of the big zombie D? Always.

No. Wait. He wasn’t gesturing toward his dick, a wicked smile on his face. He looked solemn, like what he was asking was important.

Maisie pushed aside the hormone driven side of her brain for a second to properly parse through his words.

“I need more of what?” she asked after a long moment of thinking.

“Quiet time. Like this.”

Need it? Probably not. Not like she needed food or water or air. Wanted it? Well, yeah. She wouldn’t mind lazing away more than a stolen hour or two draped over Zane’s big body whenever he shut down to recharge.

Heh. That made him sound like a robot. Her zombie was anything but a robot.

Besides which, if he was, Zane’s scientist cousin would be here all the time to poke and prod at him.

Zane’s expression tightened when she didn’t immediately respond. “Shit. You do. Okay. We’ll figure out a schedule. Tell me how often you think you need this and I’ll make it happen.”

Her man was so ridiculously beautiful when he started putting together a plan.

“I love this.” Maisie waved her hand between the two of them. “Just like this. No schedules or pre-planning needed. But I love it because I love spending time with you. I love listening to your heart beat. I love being able to just be with you.”

Zane’s face went blank like he was thinking hard about something. “My heart doesn’t beat,” he said after a moment.

She knew he’d say that. And she had a solution to show him he was wrong.

“I can disprove that easily enough. If you don’t mind spending the next hour or so here with me.”

He didn’t hesitate. “Of course. Anything you need me for, Maisie. I’m here.”

Gawd, she loved this man.

She’d once wondered if it was a shame her beautiful man had been turned into a zombie or a blessing. After long hours spent pondering both sides of the argument, she’d come to the conclusion that it was a blessing.

Zane was virtually indestructible. As long as he got a regular supply of brains, he was basically immortal. His stamina was through the roof. His kind heart hadn’t been poisoned by the virus that changed him.

Then there was the hard truth that if he hadn’t been turned, they might never have crossed paths. It had been his very resiliency against threats that had prompted his boss to send him to be her bodyguard when she was being threatened.

Therefore, Zane being infected with the zombie virus was a good thing.

For both of them.

They were together. They were happy. They lived in a town that was accepting of her man’s differences.

Kissing the firm pectoral she’d been using as a pillow, Maisie laid her head back down and snuggled in.

“Okay, then. Lie still and you’ll see when the next beat comes.”

One wicked hand traveled the length of her back to cup her butt. “Or we could—”

“Lie still,” she said again.

His chuckle was accommodating, but his hand remained anchored on her ass. “You got it, Maisie-babe.”

Gawd, she loved this zombie.

And she was going to prove to him that his heart did beat. For her.

Only for her.

The End

Want to see how Maisie and Zane first meet? Grab Dead Sexy to read their story or pick up Pinnacle Point: The Harker Collection to meet all of the Harker clan.

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Pinnacle Point Short – When the Heart Beats appeared first on Kelly Apple.

What I’m Watching

I have watched MANY THINGS since the last time I had one of these posts. MANY THINGS!

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter – I do like my Resident Evil movies and I was pretty darn pleased with how the series ended. Watching this *kinda* made me want to go back and pull a rewatch from the beginning.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets – I really don’t know what to say about this one. I mean, it was pretty to look at, but the acting was kinda meh and I feel like they sacrificed the story for the visuals. Which blows because I looooooved The Fifth Element and this one didn’t hold a candle to the story (although, like I said, the visuals were pretty cool).

Prometheus – I SWORE I had watched this movie at some point. SWORE. You know what, I don’t think I watched more than fifteen minutes of it and WHAT WAS GOING ON IN MY HEAD TO MAKE ME THINK I HAD WATCHED THE WHOLE THING? Anywho. I really liked this one. Because Aliens.

Alien Covenant – I didn’t like this one quite as much as Prometheus, but I liked it. I’m kinda sad it looks like the third movie isn’t going to be made (although, to be fair, with the way Hollywood works, that could change on a dime), but I’ll get over it.

Ready Player One – Okay, I liked this movie. I haven’t read the book and from what I’m understanding people who read it didn’t like how much the movie deviated from the book, but I LIKED IT.

Westworld Season 1 – OMG! THIS SERIES! HONESTLY! IT KILLED ME! Okay, maybe it didn’t kill me, but it was REALLY good. CRAZY good. INSANELY GOOD. I’m drooling on myself a little for season 2. EEEEEE! I still have questions. So many questions. I’m expecting answers once the next season starts in a week-ish. For the record, while I’m expecting answers, I don’t necessarily think I’m going to get them. At least not until a long, drawn-out battle where I second guess everything I think is happening.

OH, and 11.22.63 update (since I hadn’t finished it for the last post) – I didn’t hate the ending. It was a little bleak, but I like bleak so it worked for me.

There you have it. I’ve crossed a few more movies off my to-watch list and that pleases me.

The post What I’m Watching appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Pinnacle Point Short – Afterlife Dating

Afterlife Dating

Chance and Alison

Pinnacle Point

 

When you were a ghost, taking your girlfriend out to a fancy restaurant required a certain amount of concentration. Chance didn’t know if he had it in him to remain visible the entire time, but he was damn well going to try.

Hell, when said girlfriend showed up looking like a million bucks in a black bustier and a tight pencil skirt, her pink hair in wild disarray, Chance was willing to try anything.

“You look fantastic, Mr. Harker.”

Chance grinned at Alison’s breathy tone. He wondered if she was wearing panties. Probably not. His vixen liked to tease him by “accidentally” forgetting little things like that and casually dropping it into conversation at the best possible moments.

Smoothing a hand down his tie to make sure it was lay flat, Chance took Alison’s hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. She looked beautiful. She smelled like a dream. He would be lucky to make it through the entire meal without dragging her into the bathroom for a quickie.

No. He’d find a way to control himself tonight. His lady deserved a nice night out and he was determined to deliver.

They could have wall-banging sex at her place after.

“And you, Ms. Daniels, look utterly fuckable.” Chance loved the way her cheeks turned rosy at his gruff words. “Let’s have dinner so we can get to the naughty part of the evening.”

With Alison on his arm, Chance felt like the luckiest ghost on the planet. She looked like a gorgeous, sugary confection and he knew the other men in the restaurant were dreaming of taking a bite out of her as they were led to their table.

He thought she hadn’t caught on to the stares until she slipped him a wink as she primly sat in her seat. God, this night was going to be long. Long and hard.

So hard.

Chance sat across from her and watched her look over the menu. As a ghost, he didn’t need to eat so he ignored the one the server had placed by his elbow. Watching Alison work her way through a meal would be enough of a feast for him. Gazing on her beautiful features as she slid the tines of her fork from between her lips was better than anything he’d ever eaten anyway.

“You’re going to make me self-conscious, Mr. Harker.”

Chance grinned slyly and made a show of pretending to look at his menu.

Alison squirmed in her seat and held her menu up higher so no one could hear her next words. “You don’t need to feed me to get laid, Chance. I’m sure you’ve guessed that by now.”

Oh, he knew. But he liked Alison and giving her things she enjoyed was no hardship.

Smiling blandly, he locked eyes with his girlfriend. “We can leave if you want to, but I’m not looking to just get laid, babe. You mentioned you wanted to try this place a couple months ago and I thought it would be a nice change of pace from pizza in your living room.”

God, her smile did things to him. Especially when it had that edge of naughtiness to it.

“Okay.” She leaned back in her chair, her expensive shoes tapping against the floor. “You’re right. I have wanted to try this place.” She paused to give the server her order, her eyes glittering in the low light.

Once they were alone again, Alison looked at him sitting such a proper distance away and Chance nearly squirmed in his seat. That look was the one that had sealed the deal for him. The wicked, considering gaze that made him feel like her hot hands were running down his chest.

“If you’re taking suggestions, I wouldn’t mind if you stopped by work on Monday and made me sit still at my desk while you did deliciously naughty things to my nether regions.”

Her words almost made him groan. They’d almost been caught by her supervisor the last time he’d ghosted in to give her some oral loving during work hours. They’d mutually decided to be a little more discreet after that.

Apparently, the moratorium was up.

“I can stop by your work,” Chance said, his voice dropping into a deeper register.

Alison smiled. “Good. I’ll make sure we have extra donuts for the break room.”

Feeling his ghostly body flicker at the memory her provocative words called up, Chance set his jaw and leaned in as close as the fancy table allowed. “Make sure they’re powdered.”

God, he loved when her cheeks turned as pink as her hair.

Monday really couldn’t get here soon enough.

Grabbing onto his restraint, Chance settled back in his chair and got ready for the best night of his life.

All this foreplay pretty much guaranteed it.

The End

Want to see how Chance and Alison first hook up? Grab Ghost of a Chance to read their story or pick up Pinnacle Point: The Harker Collection to meet all of the Harker clan.

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Pinnacle Point Short – Afterlife Dating appeared first on Kelly Apple.

What I’m Reading

So I’ve been watching a shit ton of movies/ TV shows recently, but I’ve also been reading. SO MUCH GOOD READING!

Seriously, guys. There are some insanely good books out there and I feel like I’ve been hitting the jackpot recently with the ones I’ve picked up.

ALLOW ME TO SHARE!

Ivan (Gideon’s Riders #3) by Kit Rocha – HOO-BOY. The treasured princess of Sector One and her bodyguard. THESE TWO ARE ALL SMOLDERING LOOKS AND LONGING AND WOW. LOVED THEM!

As an aside, if you haven’t read any of Kit Rocha’s books, I HIGHLY recommend all of them. BUT…her Beyond series, which is the precursor to the events in the Gideon’s Riders series, is SO good. Lots of twisty intrigue and sexy SEXY sex. Sector Four doesn’t care who watches them get down and dirty and they’re willing to fight to hang onto the place they’ve carved out for themselves in this dangerous world. *fans self*

Hell Squad series by Anna Hackett – I’m working my way through this series (I’m up to book 6 of 15) and I kinda love it. The premise: Marauding dinosaur-like aliens have invaded earth, killing most of the people and doing VERY BAD THINGS to everyone else. A small band of survivors are trying to take back the planet while managing to find love and all the other things worth fighting for. It’s insanely fun. The characters are all pushed to the edge of what they think they can tolerate and then they find they can take just a little more.

As an aside number 2, Anna Hackett’s other series are amazing as well. Treasure hunters in space, galactic gladiators fighting the good fight on an alien planet, treasure hunters not in space…HECK, they’re all good.

How to Break an Undead Heart (The Beginner’s Guide to Necromancy #3) by Hailey Edwards – This series is AMAZING. It gives us magic, vampires, necromancy, YOU NAME IT. Throw in some unrequited love, some unrequited longing, some unexpected feelings, and a metric BUTT LOAD of danger for poor Grier. Oh, plus Grier was found guilty of murder (one which she didn’t commit, mind you) and thrown in the worst magical prison imaginable, so she has a few issues she’s dealing with.

Also, the covers for this entire series are SO PRETTY. There’s so darn much going on it them I can stare at them for hours.

Merry Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton – I’m doing a reread of this series (I’ve read 7 of the 8 books I’d read previously) and I’m liking it a LOT more than I thought I would. I kinda got burned out on LKH’s Anita Blake series a while back and didn’t expect to enjoy this one as much as I have, but I’m sipping through them and LOVING how Merry jumps into loving her men so whole-heartedly.

Nothing like a good bout of fey-loving when things get tough, amirite?

Alright. I’m off to go (hopefully) finish the 2nd Monstrous Revelations book today. WISH ME MONSTERS!

The post What I’m Reading appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Grimwood Short – The Well in the Garden

The Well in the Garden

Grimwood

Fen

 

The old well in the garden had always fascinated Fen.

He remembered visiting the manor house in the center of the woods as a boy. He remembered the day his mother quietly told him he needed to stay away from the well. She’d smiled her sad smile and run her fingers through his hair.

“The well isn’t safe, my darling. I don’t want you playing near it anymore.” Lorianne touched the faint scar on his collarbone, her expression darkening.

The scar was courtesy of a fall he’d taken from the big tree on the side of their house in town. Two days after he’d injured himself, workmen had come and laboriously chopped it down.

Watching from the window, Fen had sniffed back tears as his escape from reality was butchered a limb at a time.

Nodding dutifully, Fen left his mother in the garden and made his way inside. The woman who ran the kitchen took pity on him and his drawn expression and wrapped several slices of her warm cinnamon bread in a cloth.

“There’s no one in the ballroom, Master Fen. Perhaps you’d like to take your snack in there.”

No one in the ballroom sounded like heaven to Fen. He could eat his treat in peace. His mother wouldn’t sweetly tell him to slow down and chew his food more carefully. His sister wouldn’t look at him with her wild eyes, her smile disturbing.

It had been years since that day. Years. And still, Fen felt like the same boy who’d been desperate to sneak away for some time alone.

Today, his mother had left him to his own devices. She’d sent him off on his own and gone to the library with Isobel.

So Fen did what any other curious young man would do in his circumstances. He’d slipped out the front door when no one was around and made his way to the garden hidden behind the great house.

It had been several months since he and his mother had made the long journey to Isobel’s hiding place. His sister hadn’t seemed thrilled to see them, but then she rarely looked thrilled about anything. She watched him with her unnerving stare, the dark lines on her wrists barely hidden by the sleeves of her dress. When their mother had called her to the library, she’d hesitated, expression going from fierce to uncertain.

Still, her uncharacteristic behavior wasn’t enough to dissuade Fen from exploring the garden without his mother’s watchful eyes on him.

So he ran. He darted from bush to bush—easier now that there were fewer gardeners around to care for the great lawns and flower beds. As he hovered at the corner of the house, checking to make sure he wasn’t being observed, he frowned at the orchard. The trees looked…sad.

Sad and unloved.

The last leg of his journey felt less like a rebellious bid for freedom than his first steps out the door. The old house and the grounds were getting old, he realized. He’d been coming here since he was a child and every year there were less and less servants to keep the place up.

How did Isobel stand it? How could she bear to be cloistered away in this depressing place?

The only part of the old house he still found fascinating was the garden with the old well.

From the looks of things, neither Isobel or the servants had been to this corner of the garden in a very long time.

Long grass had sprouted around the base of the well. The wooden cover his mother had commissioned one of the nearby townsfolk to make years ago had been weathered by time and sun.

Still, the well held a wealth of mystery to Fen.

Checking to make sure he wasn’t being watched, he crept around the back of the well, the farthest from the house he could get while still remaining in the garden. Brushing off a wide, flat stone nearly hidden by the long grass, Fen settled in. The stones at his back weren’t comfortable, but they were comforting. There was something solid and permanent about the old thing.

Something that nearly begged him to stay longer.

If only he could.

He knew his mother would come looking for him soon. As much as he might crave solitude, Lorianne would become frantic if she couldn’t find him.

He’d take the precious moments he could find and gather them close. And when his mother called to him, he’d come.

No matter how loudly he heard the siren call of the well begging him to stay.

The End

Have you met Fen yet? His story (and his romance) unfolds in Cursed Lives.

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Grimwood Short – The Well in the Garden appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Looking Back on March

*eyeballs the end of the month and wonders, as usual, how it got here so quickly*

Man, these months just fly by, don’t they?

(Is there an echo in here??)

Things of note that happened in March…Err, I don’t think much DID happen in March. I wrote. I watched a lot of movies. I wrote a little more.

That said, April is a Camp NaNo month and I’m all set to tackle writing Monstrous Revelations. Hopefully. I mean, I PLAN on writing it, but sometimes my muse smacks me upside the head and demands something other than what I’m planning. Since I don’t have a lot of self control when it comes to listening to my muse, only time will tell what actually happens.

That said, I really do plan on getting Monstrous Revelations written in April. And mayyyybe updating the series page so you have an idea of what’s coming. (Good gravy, I should really do that!!!)

As a reminder, Series Shorts continue to go up every Tuesday and I still have the final book in the Grimwood series on tap for an April release. Which means you have THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO!

Until next month!

The post Looking Back on March appeared first on Kelly Apple.

Grimwood Short – The Heart of a Romantic

The Heart of a Romantic

Grimwood

Adria and Micah

 

Micah wasn’t as subtle as he believed himself to be.

Adria always found it amusing when he’d try to act like he wasn’t up to something when he clearly was. He might be brilliant, but his ability to lie to her convincingly—whether it was about a small thing or something more important—was severely lacking.

That was probably a good thing, she thought as she watched him skulk around the side of the house, one of the oversized baskets she used for harvesting in his hands.

When she heard the root cellar door bang open and him curse roundly at the noise, she had to clamp a hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t alert him to her presence with her laughter.

Yep, her man was up to something.

Something that would end up being sweetly romantic, if she had to guess. A quiet evening out in their favorite spot on the ridge, perhaps. Or a picnic dinner on the floor of the cabin.

Either would delight her, to be honest. But then, any time spent with Micah was a delight.

“Leave the boy to his schemes, Adria, and help your old man finish the fence.”

Adria jumped guiltily at her father’s voice. He was watching her from inside the goat pen, his brows drawn together in a frown even though she thought she saw the hint of a smile around the edge of his mouth.

She blinked at him silently as she scrambled to find something that wouldn’t make her seem like she was the one skulking about watching her husband for no other reason than she could.

“Come along, girl. He’ll tell you what he’s up to soon enough.”

Micah might be terrible at subtlety, but she wasn’t much better. Her mother and father always seem to catch her admiring the way her husband’s trousers clung to his backside or drooling over his impressively large biceps when he was out chopping wood.

She was learning to live with the embarrassment of her parents knowing she liked Micah for more than just his mind.

“Do you know what he’s planning?” Adria asked as she joined her father at the pen.

Her father’s grunt could have meant anything, but Adria thought it was an affirmative.

“Tell me.”

“No.”

“Papa.”

“No.”

“But—”

“Sometimes a man likes to surprise his woman and that’s all I’m going to say so you might as well stop begging.”

It was more than she expected to get out of him so Adria gave in. Gracefully, even. “Fine. I won’t ask anymore.”

But it wouldn’t  stop her from speculating.

As her father maneuvered a new board into position to replace one that had broken and Adria quickly stepped up to secure it, she concocted scenarios.

Perhaps, Micah was packing up rations for a new journey he was going to ask her to join him on. Believable, seeing as how he liked to travel to all parts of Grimwood to hear the legends of the great wood.

But that didn’t seem like much of a surprise. No, if that were the case, he’d just up and ask her if she wanted to head down the mountain because he heard from someone there was a woman whose great-great-grandfather had been a tree sprite…

Stifling a smile, Adria expertly wound cording around the new board to hold it in place. Her Micah did hear the strangest tales, didn’t he?

Ones so fantastic even she—a woman descended from a bloodline who could become wolves when the moon ran full—didn’t always believe they could be true.

A family descended from the spirit of a tree? Pure fairy tale.

“Adria?”

Her beloved husband stood behind her, his smile so wide her heart leapt in response to his excitement. Her father grunted and said something under his breath before heading off to the other side of the pen to give them some privacy.

Adria barely noticed him leaving.

“Micah,” she said, her own smile stretching her mouth until her cheeks ached.

“Come on. I have something for you.”

Of course he did.

Sliding her hand into his, Adria let him lead her to the old root cellar. The doors were propped open and a faint glow lit the dimness below.

Curious, she followed him down, grinning when he gruffly told her not to look until he’d closed the doors. She watched him instead of sating her curiosity.

The heavy muscles in his shoulders bunched and strained as he carefully closed them in and she thrilled all over again that this magnificent man was hers.

Her brilliant, beautiful, brave mate.

When he took her hands and led her deeper into the cellar, Adria drank him in. The size of him. The breadth of his shoulders.

The aura of competence that was pure Micah Redfield.

Buried under all the gorgeous outward trappings, lay the heart of a romantic.

Eyes shimmering, Adria took in the scene he’d set up for her.

A picnic, indeed. Her harvesting basket sat to the side of the old blanket they used when they traveled. She could smell her mother’s bread and the mouthwatering scent of her stew wafting from it.

He’d brought the strange glowing lichen they’d found in a cave on one of their travels and blanketed the place with it.

It lent the normally dim, utilitarian place a romantic, unearthly glow and Adria loved it.

She loved it.

Just like she loved the man standing in front of her.

“Oh, Micah,” she breathed, words deserting her.

He grinned and cocked his head at the basket. “Hungry? Your mother made the stew you love. I caught the rabbit myself.”

That said a lot. Her Micah wasn’t much of a huntsman.

“Starving,” she whispered, still lost in the beauty of what he’d created for her.

“Sit. I’ll serve you.”

Her mother’s food would likely be delicious, but it was the man in front of her she was hungry for.

Putting her hand on his arm, she led him now. The blanket was old and scratchy, the sturdy thing having seen more than one tryst in its days.

That day, in the root cellar of her cabin, it saw one more.

The End

Want to see how Adria and Micah’s romance begins? Grab Cursed Touch to read their story.

Missed any of the other shorts? Check out the Series Shorts page and get caught up.

The post Grimwood Short – The Heart of a Romantic appeared first on Kelly Apple.

What I’m Watching – Yep, the MOAR MOVIES Edition

I’m still catching up on movies and TV shows. Which means, you get to hear about them. YOU’RE WELCOME!

Murder on the Orient Express – Definitely a very stylish and pretty movie. Kenneth Brannagh was pretty fantastic as the stuffy Poirot. Is it one I’ll watch again? Likely not. While I enjoyed it, it’s not the type of movie I grab when I need a comfort movie.

8/10 – I’m not sorry I watched it, but likely won’t watch again

Spider-Man: Homecoming – Part of my Marvel Universe movie experience. I liked it. A lot. This kind of geared me up to watch Thor (which I did) and I loooooove the cross-overs with other marvel superheroes.

10/10 – Would watch again

Thor Ragnarok – Chris Hemsworth has amazingly massive arms in this movie. I mean, I couldn’t stop staring at them. THEY’RE HUGE! HUUUUUUGE. Beyond that (is there more to life and movies than Chris Hemsworth’s massive biceps?), the movie hit all high spots with me. I got MOAR HULK, which always pleases me, and there were some ridiculous moments that flat-out startled a laugh out of me. Did I mention the arms? HUGE! (As an aside, this catches me up on the Marvel Universe Avengers heroes movies. YESSSSS!)

11/10 – Would watch again

It Follows – A low-key horror movie that has one or two shocking scenes, but mostly relies on lingering shots of darkened doorways and FUCKING GIANTS CREEPING UP BEHIND PEOPLE WHEN THEY’RE NOT EXPECTING IT!!! Relatively low budget, it’s definitely more cerebral than most horror movies I watch. (Not that I watch all that many anymore, but STILL.) Added bonus, there are a lot of metaphors for young adulthood you can draw from it. Namely, sex comes with consequences. Sometimes those consequences are a creepy ass quasi-ghost person who follows you around and kills you.

9/10 – Atmospheric as far as horror movies go, but I don’t think I can watch it again thanks to that FUCKING GIANT CREEPER

11.22.63 – I’m 4 episodes in (out of 8) and …I like it, but I have FEARS for what it coming. I want a strong ending, and I don’t think I’m going to get that. BUUUUUT… seeing a modern man deal with the racism that was rampant in the 60s is kind of intriguing. James Franco is pretty watchable and I like pointing out foreshadowing whenever I notice it.

This one won’t get a rating until I’m done. We’ll see how things turn out.

There you have it. Another installment of What I’m Watching is in the bag!

The post What I’m Watching – Yep, the MOAR MOVIES Edition appeared first on Kelly Apple.