Sunday, December 4, 2016

Sunday Snippet: Down and Dirty

December 4, 2016

Tis the season! The final month of the year filled with joy, happiness, and insanely crazy schedules. LOL

I'm working on a little something I hope to share throughout the month, with the idea dependent upon how many hours I have left over during the day.

Television this week had the best almost full week crossover in the DC universe. Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow went up against the dominators and came out on top. Pretty great stuff!

The Librarians had a fun episode. I like it when Jenkins and Eve have adventures. The Walking Dead's Tara-centric episode ended up being pretty terrific, too.

Gotham got interesting with the introduction of Selena's mother and Gordon landing in another hot mess. Of course, Barbara and company teaming up with Nygma can only be a good thing.

Agents of SHIELD took a twisty turn having Mac inhabited by the fiery vengeance seeker for a brief period. I'm liking where everything is headed.

For fun, I started what I’m calling my Great Holiday Show Binge Watch. I started out with all the holiday episodes of JAG then dove into the Doctor Who Christmas specials. I'm up to "The End of Time" when David Tennant hands over the TARDIS to Matt Smith. Hoping to finish out the Whoverse episodes and maybe start on NCIS next.

And that's it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Down and Dirty, a sexy short that should end up being a free companion read for the full-length novel, Follow Me.

Here's the mini-blurb:

The tale behind how a certain pool gets started that put Sloan and Molly in the hot seat. And how Specialist Neve Campbell thought she might have caught them in the act.

And a sneaky peek…

The nearly empty flight deck sounded oddly quiet on third watch. Only the deck chief, Keegan Douglas, and Specialist Neve Carlyle remained, handling some routine maintenance reports and cleaning up. The chief sat on a stool at one of the workstations, catching up on the paperwork. Specialist Carlyle cleaned up around the perimeter of the flight deck with her push broom, every once in a while she'd stop to spray down a workstation and wipe it clean. Neither the Chief nor Neve paid much attention to the two pilots in a darkened corner of the deck where a mangled bird needed extensive repairs.
Finishing up a workstation, Specialist Carlyle took a moment before she started sweeping again. Resting her chin on the handle of the broom, she stared dreamily, her mind flitting back to an earlier incident after the first dog CAP.
Phoenix—Lieutenant Molly Ryan—came in hot and landed hard. The CAG—Captain Sloan MacNeill—read her his riot act. Not that Neve blamed him. The lieutenant pulled a daredevil maneuver against the captain's orders and cut it too close. If the CAG hadn't jumped her shit, the chief would have. The space carrier's planes were his babies and he got very protective—and extremely grouchy—when pilots decided to play rough with them.
Neve stumbled onto the scene on her way back from the mess. If she'd known what would go down, she'd have brought popcorn. Keegan… Chief Douglas… hovered close to the action, which drew Neve's attention right away. The chief rarely stood still on the deck. He preferred a constant state of motion, the better to put out fires with a quick response. Neve stopped and followed his line of sight to the CAG and his top pilot.
Her breath caught in her throat. It usually did when the captain and lieutenant got within five feet of each other. Even when they argued—sometimes a daily occurrence—something, chemistry maybe, oozed back and forth. Sloan and Molly had a history and baggage with each other, but the depth of feeling, always there, defined their friendship. Lieutenant Ryan pushed MacNeill's buttons, but everyone knew she respected him. That helped smooth the way when he took over as CAG.
It really saved the day when Captain MacNeill had to get in the lieutenant's face. Molly often stood toe to toe and argued with him, but she held the key to his acceptance among the other pilots and crew. The fact Molly approved of him meant everyone else did. And the current turmoil made it vitally important. The pilots were the front line defense, protecting the fleet and providing safe passage. Neve wouldn't hesitate to admit she appreciated having them around. Being on the run and having them as backup made her take extra special care with her duties. Even something as mundane as cleaning up the flight deck.
Neve worked her way around the hangar and edged closer to the bent plane, but she hadn't made it far enough to see who lingered there. Besides, the darkened corner could wait a few minutes for the swipe of her broom. Maybe she'd get lucky and they'd leave before she reached it. She hoped none of the nuggets decided to try the chief’s patience by sneaking in a quickie on the flight deck.
It would not go over well. Just last week he'd caught two newbie crewmen all hot and heavy in one of the transports. Her ears still rang from the scathing lecture he'd delivered. Neve wondered if maybe he'd been listening to the CAG and picking up pointers. Captain MacNeill blasted Lieutenant Ryan not long ago for disobeying a direct order. Neve would totally deny it, but watching them go a round always made her a little hot under the collar.
And why wouldn't it? The air between the captain and lieutenant literally crackled. Neve took a moment, letting the scene play out in her head.

Sorry, but I'm stopping here. Stay tuned for the free download when and if I finally get Follow Me polished up and ready to go.



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

ML Skye

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