Sunday Snippet: Mixed Signals

Howdy!

Whew. Whirlwind weekend in Columbus, Ohio. My husband's region won their company's highest honor and we got a lovely dinner with fun entertainment and a night in a downtown hotel. Caught up with some old friends and finally, finally got to see my brother's house just south of the Brewery District. He's only lived there ten years and it's my first visit. LOL

Tonight's post is from a brand new (heh, as in just started) novella. Mixed Signals had one scene that sort of ate my brain until I put it down on paper. It's still very much taking shape, but I'm enjoying the discovery of the character interaction.

Here's the tagline:

Avery and Trigg, both undercover cops, used to have a relationship, but their work made it hard to stay connected. When mixed signals results in Avery shooting Trigg in a friendly fire incident, she wants to set the record straight and maybe test the waters to pick up where they left off.

And a snippety peek…

Avery popped her head inside Trigg's room. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I? Is Dinah here?"

Trigg waved her in. "Nope." His gaze lowered. "I'm not with Dinah anymore. She can't handle the line of fire thing.

Avery made her way to his beside and propped her hip on the mattress. "You mean friendly fire, don't you?" Dinah probably wanted her head on a platter.

He glanced up. "Look, you got sucked into a bad situation. You had to take action."

She lifted a shoulder. She couldn't disagree, but didn't trust herself to talk about it yet.

He grasped her hand. "Avery, it's not like you meant to shoot me. I got caught in the crossfire." He squeezed. "Hell, I practically stepped in front of the bullet when I tried to help."

Her lips twitched. He truly had kinda mucked up her operation.

She met his gaze. "We both work on instinct, reflex, and gut reaction and we still fuck things up sometimes."

He nodded. "Yeah, so cut yourself some slack and quit letting it tear you up."

She smiled. "Right. I'll do my best." She waited a beat the dove into why she'd really come to see him. "So, you're relationship free and wounded. That's a double threat."
He let go of her hand. "Oh, no, Avery. You don’t wanna go there. Dinah and I had issues from the beginning, but you'd still be rebound girl and I don't wanna be that guy."

She laced their fingers together. "Why not? Technically, I can't be a rebound since we share a past." And he couldn't have been that attached to Dinah—Trigg admitted as much.

He sighed. "Avery, what do you want here? Is it because you shot me?" He shook his head. "If you're trying to assuage your guilt by screwing me wild, don't. Because I'm just pissed off enough to take whatever you're offering and walk away."

She snorted. "Trigg, you're an ass sometimes, and you've got every right to be pissed. But don't give me that line of bull. If we do hook up, I want more than wild sex, and something tells me you'd never just walk away." She tilted her head sideways. "Would you?"

We'll see how things take shape. Right now, Trigg wouldn't walk away, but he just might not want Avery to be hip to that fact. LOL

That's it for this week. Happy reading!

Skylin