Sunday Snippet: Specter's Masquerade (a Specter Station novella)

A weird week ofchilly weather and lots of cleaning projects. I'm at that place where the clutteris driving me bonkers, but I don't have enough hours in the day to really focuson a good cleanout. So … I'm tackling small areas to at least make a littleprogress.

Lots of workprojects landing in my inbox. A few have been quick turnarounds, which I enjoy.I love having a project that I can finish up in a few hours. That type of workhelps when I also have three difficult manuscripts that challenge my brain andone that requires a lot of focus.

Had a solid week ofviewing. I'm still trying to finish up an episode of Peak Practice, butI made it through a full round of shows.

Started with Mr.and Mrs. Murder, an Australian mystery series. I've seen several episodesbut not in order and I'm looking forward to watching this one from beginning toend. Thoroughly enjoyed the first episode, which I had not seen.

Also started anew-to-me British crime drama called London Kills. Loved the first episodeand look forward to watching this series.

Caught another episodeof Death in Paradise introducing the new DI. Enjoyed the interactionbetween the commissioner and his new lead detective. Interesting to havesomeone Patterson doesn't particularly like as part of the team.

Started a newtwo-part Silent Witness. I'm intrigued by the premise of this one. Ithought the episode felt a little disjointed and I'm hoping the initial murdersomehow ties into the other two. Kind of happy to be guessing on this one.

Watched a funepisode of Elementary with the return of Lestrade. I love the actor, soI love the character. Plus, he's much less annoying than Mycroft.

Enjoyed an episodeof The Batman. Finally got a return of Batgirl. I'd forgotten Fireflypowered up in a big way and almost blew up Gotham. Great episode.

Caught another new-to-meepisode of Classic Rugrats. I'm not a great fan of the three-vignetteformat but I do have a lot of love for this series.

That's pretty muchit for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Specter'sMasquerade, a novella that brings a couple together on a space station daysbefore a huge gala.

Here's theminiblurb:

Juna Newberry starts her new position as head of securityon the Specter Spacestation under fire. She walks into the job two days beforethe biggest gala event of the solar year, a threat is made on the personnel,including the principal owner of the station, Maddox Specter, all whilefighting her attraction for the sexy entrepreneur.

And a sneaky peek…

Maddox still wanted todo bodily harm to every member on his board, but he couldn't fault theirchoice. After spending half the day with Juna, his confidence in her ability toseamlessly step into the position soared. He loved her sharp mind. Hell, heloved everything about her.Sitting back while sheread through her final notes, he envisioned the type of costume he'd provide.She wore a no-nonsense ponytail, with her hair pulled sleekly back from herface. His fingers itched to pull the holder off so he could see the burnishedbrunette tresses settled over her shoulders, hopefully bare. She had great bonestructure with nicely proportioned curves her uniform couldn't hide. Not thatthe standard issue garment did spectacular things for her, but his activeimagination had no trouble filling in the details.She glanced up andcaught him gazing in her direction.She quirked a brow."Do I have something on my face?" Her gaze traveled down. "Or onmy uniform?"His lips twitched. Junafocused primarily on work, but provided flashes of humor, too. He'd loveworking with her professionally and hoped like hell to wrangle something on apersonal level, too.Even if the timingsucked and probably couldn't be worse. Juna Newberry drew his interest like nowoman had in a long time.She cleared her throat."Mr. Specter?"He shook his head."Maddox, please. Save the Mr. Specter for official use only." Why nottest the waters?Juna set the notepadaside. "Okay, I'm sensing something more than employer-employee in yourtone. Am I mistaken?" She paused a moment. "Because, if not, I'dprefer if you were direct and even blunt." Folding her hands in her lap,she held his gaze.Maddox cut to thechase. "You're not wrong. I'm a driven man and know what I want." He waiteda beat. "I want a piece of you." Stopping for a moment, he went on."I realize I'm out of line here, but I don't believe in mincing wordseither." He rather hoped he wouldn't get a punch to the jaw for his brutalhonesty.Juna exhaled on a longbreath. "Okay, I respect having things out in the open but, yeah, out ofline and crappy timing." She glanced away, inhaled deeply, then turnedback and pinned him with her gaze. "Can we talk about our mutualattraction after the masquerade so I can stay on task and up to speed withoutbig distractions?"The words tumbled outof her mouth at a rapid pace all on the one drag of air she'd taken in.Maddox cocked his headto one side. "Of course. But to be clear, you did say mutual attraction,right?" He should leave well enough alone, but the impulse to push forclarity wouldn't let him.Juna gave a terse nod."I did. But I won't—can't—think about it right now. I need to get back tomy team and start doing my job." She ended any additional chance forbanter by rising from her seat. "Which I'll do right now." Smoothingthe creases from her uniform, she shot him a grin. "It's been anextraordinarily interesting start to my tenure with Specter Station." Witha wink, she turned and exited his office.Maddox leaned back inhis chair and put his hands behind his head. His board might be the bane of hisexistence, but they'd done him a good turn by bringing Juna Newberry into hisorbit.A wide smile crossedhis face. Paul Edwards would shoot stardust out of his ass when Maddox thankedhim for the wonderful treat.

I love this series!There are three more books featuring Maddox's friends and I really hope I canget their stories launched within the next year.

 

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

ML Skye