Sunday Snippet: Taken By Surprise

Ohio is back tobeing contrary with its weather. Super cold days in the teens followed by a warmupof midfifties. My sinuses hate this kind of back and forth.

Had a fairly busywork week with a new project landing in my inbox. It's one of my favoriteauthors to edit and proofread for. Also spent a lot of time pulling my taxstuff together. I realized last week I hadn't filed for 2023 yet. Better latethan never.

Not a bad week ofviewing. I didn't make a full round of my usual slate of shows, but I got mostof the way through. Again, my sleep schedule is playing havoc with my brain.

Watched another episodeof Mr and Mrs Murder and thoroughly enjoyed it. A lot of familiar facesin this one, which is always fun.

Caught another episodeof London Kills and I'm kind of excited about Rob and Vivienne teamingup to investigate David. Of course, there's more to the story and I can't waitto find out what's really going on.

Enjoyed anotherepisode of Death in Paradise. I'd seen most of this one but it's nice tofollow the whole story from beginning to end instead of catching bits andpieces all the time.

Finished up seasontwenty-seven of Silent Witness. Gotta say, I really enjoyed the finale.Jack proposing to Nikki made my heart happy. And I'm interested to see whathappens with Jack's place. Maybe Kara and Velvy will stay there.

Watched anotherepisode of Elementary and enjoyed it. Still not a Mycroft fan even if hehad extenuating reasons for being an ass. I am kind of glad Sherlock isn'tgoing to throw his brother under the bus. At least I don't think he is. Thenext episode should reveal what will happen.

And that's it forthe life update this week. Tonight's post is from Taken by Surprise, a sexyshort that changes the dynamics of a friends-with-benefits couple to somethingmore.

Here's the miniblurb:

Pales Thompson has a new man, Herrick Edwards, in herlife and his birthday is coming up, but they're stuck on a ship with no R&Rpasses available. Pales isn't great at maintaining a relationship, but she'lltake Herrick by surprise and plan a spectacular day.

And a sneaky peek…

Herrick enjoyed the view when Palesmade her way out of the mess. "Damn, that was fun." Getting a littleunder her skin made his day.She made pursuing her so much funwith her quirky reactions. Not that many people could read her … she had anoutstanding poker face. But he paid attention and discovered quite a few of hertells. Like when her gaze lost focus, and a slight smile played around herlips? She had sex on her brain. Or when her eyes shifted color? He could guessmost of her moods by the changing hues of her irises or how quickly her pupilswidened.Did he keep track of anyone elsethe way he did with her? "Nope." But he liked Pales, even when shegot prickly.He'd heard the stories. She rarelyattempted a full-fledged relationship. The woman had terrible luck with herprevious attempts. One guy couldn't keep his dick away from others. Not aproblem except he'd been caught with his pants down an hour before hisscheduled wedding … to Pales. Needless to say, she broke the engagement.Another guy broke up with her whenshe made lieutenant before he did. Didn't matter if she had the experience and higherscore on the exam. Also didn't matter they'd been together for close to twoyears. The asshat's ego mattered more to him than she did.Herrick finished up his meal and stackedhis tray on the pile at the wash station.He didn't discount her reasons forbeing wary of getting involved with anything long-term. "But she can't gothrough life without a deeper connection. No one can." Okay … maybe aperson could, but what did that kind of existence look like?Lonely, for one. And, frankly, shortsighted.Living in the moment absolutely had benefits. But everyone needed a person theycould count on. Whether they slept together or not.  He wanted to be that person for Pales.He wouldn't push, but he'd bepresent. As up close as possible. He didn't want to spook her. But he needed toshow her he'd be there, no matter what.Because he liked so many thingsabout her. Her sassy mouth, her total focus when flying, her ongoing feud withthe XO. He quite loved everything about her. The sex became an unexpected andadded bonus.His mouth curved. "Especiallywhen neither of us expected to hook up." At least not the first time.A mix-up on new assigned quartersput them in the same berth. She'd pulled a double shift and appeared dead onher feet after a shower. The quartermaster either transposed the numbers ormade a mistake. Either way, the card she held listed the same designation as hisnotification had earlier. When her shoulders slumped and she blew out a frustratedbreath, he didn't have the heart to make her wake up the quartermaster to get anew rack.He slid back against the wall andlifted his blanket. "Look, you might as well crash here. We can straightenthis out after you get a solid eight." He could sleep facing the bulkheadso she didn't notice how much she affected him.She only hesitated for a momentbefore she slipped beneath the covers. "Thank you." Pulling thecurtain closed, she grabbed his extra pillow and got comfortable. "I oweyou one. 'Night." Within a minute, her breathing deepened into sleep.The next morning, he woke up with astart and the feel of her palm cupping his erection. She didn't say a word, butshe worked his dick out of his knit boxers and moved to straddle his thighs.After pulling her hipster panties to the side, she sank over his rigid lengththen leaned down to mesh her lips with his. Neither lasted long, but by thetime she broke and shuddered through her orgasm, he pretty much wanted to wakeup every day with her wet heat surrounding his cock.Of course he didn't say that toher.Instead, he made it his mission tobecome her friend and find out if they had a chance for something else. Themore he got to know her the deeper he fell. When one or both needed to scratchan itch, they found themselves together. So far, they hadn't strayed from thatpath. Which meant he might not stand a chance for a future with her, but he atleast wanted to try.Exiting the mess, he headed for ashift in comms. "And I aim to find out soon."

Having a lot of funpulling this story together. Herrick likes to catch Pales off guard, but she'sgot a few tricks up her sleeve also.

 

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

ML Skye