Saturday Snippet

Today's theme is romance. I happen to have plenty of scenes that fit this topic. Even though it's fairly warm and sunny where I live, I decided to go with a snippet from my Christmas novella, IT'S NOT CHRISTMAS WITHOUT YOU (which is also in the HOLIDAY KISSES anthology). I will be writing a few more stories in this world. This book kicks off the series.

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She smiled as she poked him in the side. "Austin."

He came awake in a rush. He jackknifed into a sitting position and held his hands up as if ready to fight off whomever was about to launch an attack. "What is it?"

"I want you to come to a party."

The tension didn't ease across his shoulders. He didn't lower his hands either. "Is that code for something?"

She slipped her arms around his stomach and placed a kiss on his impressive shoulder. By the second kiss, his firm stance melted and his body fell against hers.

"Sorry I scared you," she said.

"More like put me on my guard, but you can wake me up in bed anytime."

She pressed him back on the bed. Not a surprise he didn't put up a fight. The man enjoyed being naked.

But she wanted his attention. Was suddenly desperate for him to understand and agree. "There's a party at my museum at the beginning of the week. A fancy holiday party."

"Okay." He made the word into about eleven syllables.

"I want you to be my date." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "A real date. Not a Shawn date."

"At the museum." Austin said the words nice and slow as if he needed to taste them before committing.

"Yes."

The hand that had been brushing up and down her arm fell to the bed. "Is this a test of some kind?"

She wanted to say no but she had to admit in a way it sort of was. An unfair one, maybe, but a chance for her to show him something that meant so much to her.

"You don't have to look at the paintings. You just have to be there with me."

A huge smile slashed across his face. "Well, why didn't you say so?"

She bit her bottom lip. "Remember this is a big party."

"You might want to stop trying to sell it since you're going the other way now."

"Is that a yes?"

He turned until he lay facing her. "Baby, I can't think of a place you could go where I wouldn't follow."

"You need to wear a tux or at least a fancy suit."

He stopped in the middle of rolling her to her back. "Probably a good thing you waited to tell me that until after I said yes."

"I'm not stupid."

"But you are sexy." Her back hit the mattress and he loomed over her. "And awake. I'm pretty happy about that last part."

That familiar revving started deep in her stomach. The thought he might touch her again so soon was enough to kick her breathing into high gear. "Noticed that, did you?"

"I say we put this thing where we're both awake to good use."

Then he lowered his head and she forgot about anything but him.

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Remember to check out the other authors' snippets:

Eliza Gayle

Rhian Cahill

Anne Rainey

Jody Wallace

Lissa Matthews

Mari Carr

McKenna Jeffries

Taige Crenshaw

Alison Kent

Delilah Devlin

Shiloh Walker

Zoë Archer

Lacey Savage

Leah Braemel