Sunday Snippet: Star Chasers

Had a less thanproductive week after having two teeth extracted. It's strange because theyreally weren't difficult to remove—well, one of them ended up being a littleharder than the other—but it still threw me off. I think because they were on oppositesides with one on top and the other on the bottom, which made eating a tadchallenging.

I also took timeaway on Friday to meet my daughter so we could do early voting. Very happy tohave that done! I voted to raise my taxes for the school and emergency serviceslevies.

Work stayed busywith some cleanup on two drafts and two copy edits. I also checked changes ontwo proofreads. Those were kind of dropped in on the fly.

Didn't quite make afull round of my usual shows this week, but I did get through about half.

Watched anotherepisode of Mr. and Mrs. Murder and it was one I'd seen at least part of.Thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Caught another LondonKills and I'm liking this show. The overarching mystery of what happened tothe DCI's wife folded into the two cases is interesting to me. I'm a littleworried about the trainee DC. Things could go really sideways for her if she'snot careful.

Enjoyed another Deathin Paradise episode. I kind of feel like this is the season where CommissionerPatterson gets a lot more screen time. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Ienjoy him.

Finished the secondhalf of Silent Witness and, whoo boy, what a ride this two-parter was.I'm going to be very interested in seeing if there's any fallout fromeverything that went down.

That's pretty muchit for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Star Chasers,which will probably end up being the series or duology's name … but I haven'tquite decided yet.

Here's theminiblurb:

Marnie Ritoli, a kick-ass mechanic for the premier teamin the galaxy, is presented with a dilemma: choose a new mate or leave theChasers. But Marnie knows Luce Carrington isn't dead, and she won't play secondfiddle to anyone, so she does what she's best at and finds a loophole in theleague rules, picking Luce's best friend … the person who backs her into acorner in the first place.

And a sneaky peek…

Marnie breezed into Win's loungeand made her announcement. "I choose you."Win looked up from his accountingbooks. "What?" Confusion marred his handsome face.Marnie reached behind her andpushed the door shut. She had a feeling things might get a wee bit loud in thenext few moments.Walking closer to the desk, sherepeated. "I pick you. As my mate." She crossed her arms and waitedfor the explosion.Win tossed his pen on the desk androse slowly. He leaned forward, getting a good look at her very serious face.Opened his mouth, closed it and shook his head."Are you insane?"Pretty much the reaction sheexpected. "Nope. You're all mine, big man." She bit the inside of hercheek to keep from saying more.Win rounded the desk and grabbedher arms. "You can't pick me, Marnie. It's not allowed."She raised a brow. "Yeah, Ican. League rules state I can choose whomever I want, as long as they're notattached to anyone else." She looked around behind him. "You hiding awoman under the desk, Win?" She knew the moment she had him, his eyes wentflat and cagey.He let go and stepped back."You know I'm not. And you know why." He perched his ass on the edgeof the desk. "As president, I'm free to do whomever I want, whenever Iwant." He gave her a determined stare. "It's gonna stay that way."Marnie snorted. "No. It'snot." She crossed her arms in front of her again. "I checked thecharter. That's not a stipulation for this crew."He shot up. "Son of a bitch,Marnie. It's accepted as one."She shrugged. "Not anymore.I'm taking you out of play." She almost hated being evil about it.Win snarled and raked his hand overhis head. "You bitch." He spun around and paced back and forth.Marnie winced but stood her ground.He couldn't deny her request. Not when he'd put her on the spot to make it.Win turned and faced her, acalculating edge to his voice. "Fine. I'm out of play." He prowledtoward her. "And you'll be ready and willing when I decide to collect onmy rights to your tasty and tempting treats, yeah?" He trailed a fingerdown her arm.She'd known he'd try to brazen itout and threaten her with that one.She smiled sweetly. "You cangive it your best shot." Her hands smoothed down his chest. "But ifyou do … you can expect my size eight boot up your ass…" She cupped herhand between his legs. "And this big dick of yours in a vice." Shelifted her gaze to his. "Don't think it won't happen."Win swallowed and stepped away."Why?"She prepared an answer for thatone, too. "Because you put me in a corner. I'm returning the favor."Emotion clogged her throat when she choked the words out.Win sighed, beaten. "Damnyou." He sank down on the edge of the desk.She'd won the battle, which didn'tmake her feel better. Only Luce could do that. But … with her point made andstatus safe, Marnie headed for the door.Before she opened it, she turnedback. "You should already know that without Luce, damned is exactly what Iam." Her hand twisted the knob, and she exited the lounge, dejected anddepressed … probably only a little bit less than Win at the moment.

I'm so excited aboutthis two-book story. It's going to get a little messy, but I'm having a lot offun planning this one out.

 

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

 

ML Skye