Sunday Snippet: Zinging Barbs

Welcome February! The shortest month seems like a great time to start new things. I've challenged myself to post every day on Bluesky and I picked drawing one oracle card from a random deck each day. So far, I'm two for two.

I'm also going to launch the side project I've previously talked about. Tip Jar Shorts is a fun way to get sexy romance short stories right to your inbox. The blog is up and running and still a work in progress. I'm so excited to see how things go! If you're interested, check it out!

I had a busy work week with a challenging copy edit but it's almost complete and I'm happy I got to work on this mystery series. A few more bits and pieces to check and it'll be on its way to the publisher.

Had a somewhat quiet viewing week. Between getting Tip Jar finished up and the copy edit, I needed a quiet background to get everything done.

Caught another Batman Beyond episode. I remembered this one and enjoyed during my first run through of the show.

Enjoyed an episode of Classic Rugrats. I'm in the final season and catching some episodes I haven't seen before.

Watched another episode of One Lane Bridge and I'm still enjoying the show. It's kind of a slow, moody narrative and I'm rather into that right now.

Caught another episode of London Kills and I'm kind of wondering what the hell is going to happen next. I'm also wondering what the superintendent thought would happen when he tried to run.

Enjoyed another episode of Death in Paradise. The vibe is very different with season eleven and I'm kind of okay with that. I like the new sergeant and I'm looking forward to seeing where things go with Florance doing an undercover stint. I like that the reason is tied back to a previous murder.

Loved the episode of Beyond Paradise that I caught this week. I'm interested in how Humphrey and Martha work through their issues and was so happy to see her rebuff Archie, even if he's portrayed by one of my favorite actors. I'm still on the fence with Martha's mom. I can't quite decide if I like her or not. We'll see how the rest of the season goes.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Zinging Barbs, a sexy short that reunites some of the characters from the South of the Border series.

Here's the miniblurb:

Relic finder Vaughn Dyson sticks much closer to home since Faulkner Roush saved her life, but when an artifact all but lands in her lap, she insists on taking it to the university for safe-keeping, which Faulkner can't argue about even if they'll be late for a party in their honor.

And a snippety peek…

Vaughn circled around trying to keep the three masked attackers in her sight. "Where's Faulk when I need him." Why the hell had she not considered a Saturday for being a bad day to drop off the artifact?

The university had very low on personnel on the weekends. Especially when a festival clogged the streets with traffic. Vaughn would bet the three goons had been in the van they passed.

The tallest assailant made a grab for the artifact. "C'mon, lady. Just give us the statue."

His two cohorts spread out, trying to flank her on either side.

Vaughn shook her head. "I don't think so. This is staying where it belongs." She gauged the distance to the vault room.

No way she could make it before being overcome.

But … Vaughn wouldn't give it up. Her best option would be to at least maneuver toward the entrance. Another goon made a lunge in her direction. She held the artifact above her head and danced around him, moving away from the vault. Dammit.

Twice more she dodged and weaved, keeping a firm grip on the figurine. The men were getting pissed off … but must be conscious of the statue's value because they were careful when they made their attempts to get it from her. That wouldn't last much longer.

After another attempt, she stopped in the middle of the room and raised the artifact above her head. "That's it. I'm done playing this stupid game." She made a downward motion, ready to smash the ancient piece into dust.

Faulk breezed into the room. "Vaughn. What's taking so long."

She huffed out a breath. "Had a surprise greeting." She tucked the valuable statue under her arm.

Faulk snorted. "It's only three. You've taken on more." He quickly fanned along the way in her direction, drawing the attention of the men.

Vaughn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, can't fight and protect the artifact at the same time." She eased her way toward the vault room.

Faulk made a hum of agreement. "I see your dilemma. Want some help?" He stopped and planted his feet, bracing for action.

Vaughn slid her gaze sideways. "Thought you'd never ask." She spun out of the way and dashed into the storage area.

Faulk went to work throwing a punch to the midsection of the tallest goon. He spun and kicked out, landing a solid blow to the knees of the smallest assailants. He went down and Vaughn focused on getting the item safely put away.

She quickly keyed in the combination to the vault and placed the artifact inside. Closing the vault, she flexed her fingers and loosened her muscles in her neck and shoulders. Then she went out to help Faulk kick some ass.

I'm striving to get this series written and ready for publishing. Working on a fun side story helps keep the creativity going.

 

That's it for this week. Happy reading!

Skylin