Sunday Snippet: Going All Out

Welcome to October, the month with two full moons. Make of that what you will. I had a terrific week. Made a ton of progress on the cleanout and organization. Got a new set of rune stones. Met my two best friends for an evening of fun and laughter. And made headway on a work project.

Not a bad week for television. I watched a lot of Silent Witness. Finished up the third season and started on the fourth. It's shorter than the previous seasons, so I should be ready to start the fifth early this coming week.

Started a new episode of Blue Heelers. Apparently Nick's past has come calling. Not very far into yet but it's an interesting episode.

Watched part of the first episode of Bomb Girls. I'm excited about diving into this series. I've heard some great things about it.

I also watched a bunch of videos about rune casting again. They're very soothing, especially when I'm shredding paper.

Tonight's post is from Going All Out, a novella that features a friends-to-lovers theme and the anticipation and anxiety that comes with making the transition.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Lance and Xola work together and have a solid friendship, but there's always a little something more between them. Lance proposes a date, something other than a movie or grabbing a bite to eat at the same time. Xola accepts and the fun—and nervous tension—begins.

And a snippety peek…

Lance made it through teaching his class before he let his conversation with Xola replay in his head.

Dude, what the hell were you thinking? I can't believe you went there.

Yeah, well, he had. Not like he lied about her being his type. She fit the bill … totally.

But she's a friend and that tends to not work out well. "At least it hasn't in the past." Experience taught him if things didn't work out, the friendship got trashed.

And friends, good ones, didn't always stick around. Then again, good relationships usually had a solid friendship at their base. Not that he'd had a lot of luck with the one-on-one thing lately. Maintaining something long-term didn't seem to be in his wheelhouse.

"Because you haven't met anyone worth the extra effort yet."

Could Xola be the one to tip the scale? "Wait, slow down. What sparked this sudden interest, dude."

He loved talking to her. She made conversation easy. But … she also chilled in silence without making the quiet awkward.

Like the infrequent times they had a slow night at the station and she'd sit outside on the apron and stargaze with one or two others and soak up the night sky.

He shook his head. "Yeah, stop that. You enjoyed having coffee with her. Don't make more of it than it is." Gathering his phone and keys, he headed out of the classroom.

After stopping to get his schedule for the next two weeks, he made his way to the gym. But a forty-minute workout didn't chase thoughts of Xola away. By the time he picked up some dinner and settled in to binge-watch one of his favorite shows, he'd given up on not thinking about her.

Taking a sip of his beer, he shrugged. "Imagination is going wild right now, might as well indulge." He chuckled. "I know who'll feature prominently in my dreams tonight."

Lance and Xola are fun to write. I also enjoy weaving in the slow revelation of wow, this person is extremely cool—why didn't I notice before type of stuff.

 

That's it for this week. Happy reading!

 

Skylin