Sunday Snippet: A Rustic Affair

Happy Easter to those who celebrate. For everyone else, I hope your weekend is rocking with good vibes!

We got some terrific news this week. My youngest, who will graduate from university in May, got accepted into grad school! She's so excited and will have a Master of Arts Administration when she finishes.

Had a fairly busy week with work projects. Discovered one ended up with a corrupted file and had to fix some weird, random code that inserted itself into the file. What a pain!

Decent week of viewing television. I'll admit some was mainly background noise while I worked on editing. But not bad overall.

Ended up getting two episodes of The Batman in this week. Enjoyed both and should be on track to catch another one this week.

Also caught two episodes of Classic Rugrats. Weirdly, I remember two but from different episodes. They always did two per show and I distinctly remember one from each of the episodes I watched. Weird.

Watched another episode of My Life Is Murder and, once again, enjoyed it. Dueling bakers isn't something I would normally think of as a premise for murder.

Enjoyed another episode of Midsomer Murders. I have one left for this season and then it's time to wait for more again. Good thing there are plenty of other mysteries to keep me occupied.

Started the new season of Silent Witness. Another new face or two for this season and I'm okay with that. I have a feeling things are going to get very interesting this season.

Caught another episode of Death in Paradise. We're getting closer to Humphrey's exit and Jack's entrance. I'll be able to start Beyond Paradise in the near future.

Watched another episode of Elementary. The new vibe between Holmes and Watson is fun. I'm enjoying a slightly softer version of Sherlock.

Started an episode of Peak Practice. I skipped one because I really didn't care one bit about the whole saga of Andrew and Kate. But it's interesting that Will is back. Should be a wild ride.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from A Rustic Affair, a novella that explores what happens after a couple retires from their dangerous life.

Here's the miniblurb:

Necia Sands and Falcon Seaver, two mercenaries for hire who finally retire from the life, try to settle down. Being opposites draws them together, but it also makes them clash over simple things—like finding the right place to live.

And a snippety peek…

Falcon wouldn't believe it, but Necia loved the bones of the house. Yeah, a full reno would be needed to get it where she wanted it to be. But working with Falcon—especially for their future—made her giddy.

She gazed out the window of a second-floor bedroom. "What about security?" They might be retired but no one ever completely left the job behind.

Not in their line of work.

Falcon lifted his shoulder. "We can take some precautions—if you really feel they're necessary." His lips curved in a half smile.

Necia frowned. "You don't?" They'd be stupid to not consider some type of system.

He sighed. "Maybe, but we're done, Necia. I'm using an alias for the deed transfer. If someone wants to find us, they'll have to look hard." He rocked back on his heels a little.

She didn't want to argue but they had a long list of potential enemies. And some of them might actually go out of their way to track them down. Then again, she and Falcon had a habit of being lucky.

Glancing up at him, she gave a shrug. "We're pretty good at hiding when we need to." She grinned. "We probably don't have to worry … much. We won't have to run down bad guys out here, right?"

Falcon chuckled and grabbed her hand. "Doubtful. Besides, look what we'd probably end up chasing…"

She followed the direction of his gaze. A family of furry critters paraded along the edge of the cliff. Her mouth curved in a smile. An image of her and Falcon spilling out the house, guns drawn filled her mind.

She barked out a laugh. "Yeah, okay. We can revisit the security idea later." She'd chill on the idea for now.

Falcon stepped behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Works for me." His chin rested on her shoulder.

Necia turned to face him. "Getting used to normal might take a while." But the concept gave her several ideas and she tilted her head to one side. "Is it bad luck to christen a house before we own it?" Her hands smoothed down his chest.

Heat flared in his eyes. "Don't know, but I'm willing to tempt fate."

She popped the button on his cargo pants. "Downstairs, looking out at the ocean?" Her fingers worked his zipper down.

Falcon grabbed her hands. "Absolutely." He stepped away. "Race you there." Taking off, he made a beeline for the steps.

Necia huffed out a harsh breath and stripped her shirt off. "To the victor go the spoils."

And she would be victorious.

This is such a fun story! Necia and Falcon won't be quite finished with their dangerous affairs, and I can't wait to dive into that!

 

That's it for this week. Happy reading!

Skylin