Sunday Snippet: Under the Influence (a South of the Border novella)

Boo! It's the month of Halloween and creeptastic treasures! I love October. That said, it's also the time I need to start thinking and doing my holiday shopping. I do not want a repeat of last year when I waited way too long to get stuff done.

Had a busy week driving all over the place with my daughter. We had a college visit on Monday. I picked her up from the district tournament for golf on Wednesday. And I picked her up from her band competition because she needs to be up and out early in the morning. I forgot how much windshield time driving gives me. LOL

Not a bad week for television. I haven't started any of the new seasons of my faves yet. But… I did finish up Peter Gunn. I have a few ideas of what to replace that slot with but haven't landed on a specific one yet.

I caught two episodes of Blue Heelers. I'm still at the beginning of season two but I love this show. It has a great cast.

I started season nineteen of Midsomer Murders. I can honestly say I took the death of Sykes really hard. Seriously. Which is actually kind of sad but, man, that was one cool dog. The new one, Paddy, is also fun, but I had years' worth of Sykes antics to enjoy. Anyway… I like the new DS guy but I miss Charlie. I'm watching an episode with Jones in it and it kind of makes me nostalgic.

I got to watch two more arcs of Classic Who. The Claws of Axios and Colony in Space. I'll be starting a new one this week.

I also plan to watch the new Passionflix movie that released this week. I'm looking forward to it.

That's pretty much it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Under the Influence, a South of the Border novella.

Here's the mini-blurb:

When her father dies, Lilith Jans inherits a piece of hotly sought after property in Mexico. She also unknowingly takes on an unpaid debt, which puts her life in danger. Hayden Knoxville makes her an offer she wants to refuse, but can't—sell to him and he'll deal with the men coming to collect payment.

And a snippety peek…

Kiernan loved how Lars always asked the right question. Never took him long to get up to speed. Working for a covert military unit didn't hurt… made him think fast on his feet.

Kiernan gave him the shortest version of the answer. "According to Maria, the no-good Lester killed Juanita when he crashed their car after leaving another bar he owned in California." She grabbed another cold one and twisted the top off. "Lilith wasn't with them when it happened and Lester never had a controlling interest in Juanita's business so her shares went to Lilith." After taking a nice, long swallow of the icy beverage, she finished up. "Now that Lester's dead, Lilith owns the bar outright."

Lars paused on his next drink, lowering the bottle. "So… what's the problem?"

Kiernan snorted. "Lester didn't own controlling interest in the California club either." She met Lars's gaze. "And he borrowed heavily against his stake." She stopped there, letting Lars fill in the blanks.

His lips twisted. "Which means he died owing money." He straightened, scooping Kiernan into a sitting position.

Kiernan nodded. "Ding. Ding. Ding." As usual, he got it in one.

Lars took another stab. "So… Maria is worried Lester's business partners will come after Lilith to collect." His eyes got dark with anger.

Kiernan dipped her chin, acknowledging his guess. "Yep. And they're not exactly the kind of guys who'll let the court systems in two countries figure everything out." They weren't the type to respect laws anyway.

Lars put his beer down and leaned in close to Kiernan. "Well, then. You'd better plan on getting Maria over for dinner so we can talk about how to keep Lilith safe."

Kiernan grinned. "I love you." She slid her hands up to his biceps.

Lars rolled his eyes. "Of course you do. What's not to love?"

She laughed and pushed him backward in the lounge then landed on top of him to snag his lips in a steamy kiss.

She loved everything about Lars.

I always enjoy going back to Kiernan and Lars from Down in Mexico. Working a few of their friends and colleagues into the mix lets me show the progression of Keir and Lars's relationship, which I love to do.

That's it for this week. Happy reading!

Skylin