Sunday Snippet: Close Quarters

April 13, 2014

Whew. It's been a long week filled with a few bumps and bruises. First up, one of my published titles, Boyfriend's Brother, is temporarily off the shelf. I'm hoping I found a new home for it, but I'm waiting for confirmation. I'll keep everyone posted when I know anything for certain.

TV fare ended up being light this week, but S.H.I.E.L.D. totally delivered an awesome episode. I won't discuss because seeing Captain America: Winter Soldier is a true bonus before getting into any details. J

Tonight's post is from Close Quarters, a sequel to Follow Me, which is going through another draft. Hopefully none of the plot threads will need major readjustments after I'm done.

Here's the tagline:

After trying to out maneuver their crew mates who bet on whether they'd ever hook up, Molly and Sloan discover an abiding love and embark on a committed relationship. Their biggest problem? Trying to figure out how to live in close quarters without making each other insane.

And a sneaky peek…

Molly grabbed up the latest forms that had been turned in by potential trainees. She had over one hundred to review, at last count, and she needed to weed through them within a week's time.

She could really use an office.

Currently, her quarters served that function and talk about not being ideal. She liked to spread the applications out and make separate piles for those who had potential and those who didn't. Then she broke down the possible recruits into different levels and from there she would build her newest class and any future classes.

A damned huge undertaking. One she didn't know if sure she was up for.

Sloan had been a huge help with separating the good from the bad, part of the reason she had everything in their quarters for now. It probably drove him nuts because Sloan was nothing if not neat.

For herself, she functioned better in chaos, relying on her instincts to do the job. She opened the door to her quarters and saw Sloan standing in the middle of the living area, a bewildered look on his face. Uh oh. Not good.

She breezed through the door after deciding to take a humorous approach. "You lost?" She sat the latest stack of applications on the table and then cleared a space on the seating area. "Have a seat, Sloan." She stepped back and waited.

Sloan crossed over to the seating area and sat down.

He heaved a big sigh before speaking. "Molls. I know this is the biggest attempt to recruit that we've done since the world ended, but please… our quarters look like a paper bomb went off." He scrubbed his hands over his face. "I hate being an ass about this, but gods, Molly, I'm afraid to walk through here for fear I'll move something important."

He stood up and sat right back down. He couldn't even pace around to work off his frustration.

He looked back at Molly, who hadn't responded verbally. She just raised her eyebrows at him, waiting for him to continue.

So he did. "The bed? I can't even see the bed for all the paper on top of it." He closed his eyes before continuing. "Would it be possible to contain this stuff to a single room?" He opened his eyes again and waited for a comeback.

Sloan's bitching irritated her, but unfortunately, she could see his point. Didn't mean she had to like it, though. She had one week to get through a mountain of paperwork.

What was one more week? Really?

Apparently, too much.

Molly pasted a smile on her face. "Right. Single room coming up" She walked into the bedroom and gathered all the forms from the bed in a haphazard pile and then stalked back into the living space. "Happy?"

She tossed the papers by the pile she just came home with. Dammit. She didn't want to argue with him, but she really felt the pressure to get this finished.

Sloan shook his head. "You didn't have to do that." He got up and carefully stepped around the papers still on the floor. "Look, I know you have a system that works for you and spreading out helps the process."

He stopped in front of her and pulled her to him. "I've worked on this with you enough to get that." He stroked his hand over her hair. "Let me help you. There has to be a way we can keep the process going without wrecking our own space… at least until they assign an office to you." He leaned back to see how she was taking his suggestion.

Molly's face remained impassive while she mulled over Sloan's offer.

She hated giving up any kind of control but even she couldn't stand the mess they were living with right now.

What the hell?

He could help her go through everything and organize it a little better. Which meant they'd be putting in a long night. Molly grinned and looked up at Sloan.

Instead of answering, she stepped back and pulled him toward the newly cleaned off bed. If they were going to be up all night, at least they could start things off with some fun.

I actually had the best time writing that scene. J

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flip.

ML Skye