Sunday Snippet: One Hot Mess

Happy US Mother'sDay to those who celebrate. For those with parental issues, I hope you find joyand peace.

Had the rareexperience of seeing the northern lights in Ohio. I can honestly say I haven'tbeen so excited about something in a long time. The mysteries of space are awesome!

Fairly busy weekwith work projects and other odds and ends. Finished up a couple of manuscriptsand started a new one. I have another ongoing developmental edit that I need todive back into this week.

Not a bad week ofviewing even with a few distractions. I'm at a weird place with watching rightnow. I'm kind of leaning toward doing binge marathons again and I'm not sure Iwant to fall down that rabbit hole again.

Caught two episodesof Suspects and enjoyed both. This show is kind of choppy and that adds somethingto the experience. I love the cases and how things are rarely what they seemfrom the initial starting point.

Finished up the thirdseason of Madame Blanc Mysteries. I'd love to see another series of thisshow. The cast is a lot of fun.

Watched two episodesof Silent Witness. I've realized that after the next one, I'm completelycaught up with the show. I really like the current cast and I'm excited to seewhat the next season brings.

Enjoyed an episodeof Death in Paradise. This is one I hadn't seen before and I liked thecase. I'm also enjoying Jack's tenure as DI.

I think I finishedout the first season of Elementary. I'm actually thrilled with how theMoriarity plot played out. I love seeing Joan kind of step in to the role ofconsulting detective with ease and grace. The things she sees that Sherlockdoesn't is always interesting.

Watched anotherepisode of The Batman. Nice to see Ethan back again. I'm a little bummedwe haven't seen Chen for a while and I can't remember if she comes back or not.

Enjoyed the Valentineepisode of Classic Rugrats. I do remember this one but not everything aboutit. Nice to see some longer length episodes also.

That's pretty muchit for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from One Hot Mess, anovella that brings a couple together after a night of revelry.

Here's the miniblurb:

Eva Twine and Van Jefferson have a very friendly rivalrywhen their teams compete for the galaxy championship. But when Van questionswhat Eva will wear to the celebratory masquerade, she decides to rock his veryfoundation.

And a sneaky peek…

Van Jefferson stood under a blastof steaming water, letting it work the kinks out of his shoulders. The InterplanetaryPolice Force battle of the precincts ended on a high note for him. His squadronfrom Venus took top honors.

Knocked the Mars crew down a peg.

No easy feat, the team from the redplanet had won the battle five years running and the rivalry, while friendly,finally took a step in the right direction. Van shut off the shower and steppedout of the stall. About damn time. If he had to listen to Eva Twine cackle andcrow about winning again he'd have lost his mind.

The woman made him insane. Andusually not in a good way. Even though he found her wildly attractive. She alsofrustrated the life out of him sometimes.

The creak of a door and an off-keyhumming sound alerted him to someone's presence.

Speak of the devil.

Eva sauntered into the head—how shecould do that with an injured foot, he'd never understand—and started strippingoff her clothes.

"If you give me a few, you canhave the place to yourself." Van walked into the changing area and priedopen his locker.

Eva smirked and shoved her pantspast her hips. "I kinda have to hurry. Doc took an x-ray and gave mefifteen to get showered and back to the infirmary." Her fingers slid underthe waistband of her panties. "If you can't handle the show, you'd betterleave now."

Right. He'd go hang out in thequadrant wearing a towel so she could shower. Not likely.

He raised a brow. "I doubt youhave anything I haven't seen before." He reached for his shirt.

Eva chuckled and tugged her tankover her head. "Good to know." She crisscrossed her arms and pulledher sports bra off, giving him her back as she turned. "Congrats on thevictory, by the way. They carted me out before I had a chance to sayanything."

Van waited a beat, thinking she'dadd a snarky insult to the compliment. She glanced over her shoulder, oneeyebrow arched.

He nodded. "Thanks."

She grabbed a towel and flung itover around her neck. "You headed out or sticking around for thefestivities?"

The IPF planned a huge masqueradeto top off the week. All participants in the battle automatically receivedinvitations.

Van grinned. "I'm staying. Mychief informed us if anyone tried to beg off, he'd bust us all back to beatcop."

Eva snorted. "That would suckballs." Grabbing her kit she headed toward the showers. "Guess I'llsee you there then. Don't forget your costume." She called back over hershoulder. "Remember no beat cop uniforms allowed."

Van chuckled. "I've got itcovered." He grabbed his pants. "You?"

She turned the water on and let itheat up. "Oh yeah. No worries."

He couldn't resist. "Let meguess? You're gonna show up as a sky hawg rider." His gaze slid to herdiscarded tank, the logo of the sky cycle manufacturer emblazoned across thefront.

Eva's smirked again. "Ha-ha."She stepped under the spray of water. "Get out of here. I'm down to sevenminutes."

Effectively dismissed, Van finisheddressing and exited the head. The exchange with Eva had gone better than he'dhoped. Defeat had toned down her brash bravado.

Or maybe pain did. He'd noticed she'dfavored her injured foot when she stepped under the water. He hoped it wouldn'tkeep her from the party.

This story took ona life of its own and I'm happy it did. Eva and Van are so much fun!

 

That's it for thisweek. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye