Sunday Snippet: First Time Laid Eyes on You

Well, July is off to a roaring start. Daughter's graduation party is scheduled for today and I'm hoping we have a good turnout but also spaced out over the three hours of the party. I'm filling out my blog post early and getting it ready to post beforehand.

Had a semi-busy week between work and the party prep, but I did get some solid television watched. I started out with Ms. Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries. This is a rewatch for me but I love the show.

Also caught another arc of Classic Who. The four-part Ark in Space episodes. Not a bad group.

Watched another episode of The Witcher and, ouch, kind of a heartbreaker episode. I did totally love the dragons though. Looking forward to the next episode.

Caught two more season three episodes of Danger Man. I don't remember either of them so I enjoyed watching.

And that's it for this week. I should have more time next week to dive into some of the shows I'm behind on. And I have to watch the finale of Arrow. I'll have at least two boxes of tissues on hand. Just saying.

Tonight's post is from First Time Laid Eyes on You, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Nadia Blunt takes one look at Bart Uppermark and decides they'll make a great team in the air and on the ground. But when Bart shows zero interest in working together—she takes too many risks for his comfort zone—Nadia pulls out all the stops and proves him wrong.

And a sneaky peek…

Nadia Blunt kicked back in her rack, reviewing the specs for the new flight simulators. "About time we got updates. We've only been flying the new birds for two years now." She skipped over the listed programs, preferring to go in blind and pick a random scenario.

She'd already scheduled an hour in the machine, but got bumped to make time for a higher ranking officer. "Figures. Some bigwig usurps my spot." Not that she could complain … she'd been lucky she held the top spot during the last qualifying runs.

She rolled her eyes. Since the sparkly units were installed this morning, she couldn't wait to get her turn and thought she'd be the first one in. Not so much.

The hatch clanged open and her bunkmate burst through the space, skidding to a halt while gasping for breath. Nadia set the manual aside and straightened, waiting to see what had Jancie in a tizzy.

Jancie held up a hand and dragged air into her lungs. "You'll never ever guess who's on base right now." She paused, sucking in more oxygen. "Your fantasy dream man, Captain Uppermark." Jancie stepped forward and shoved Nadia's feet off the bunk then plopped down.

Nadia scrambled to her feet. "Parble, you'd better not be messing with me." Holy hell.

Jancie shook her head. "Not on this. I wouldn't. Not only is he here, he's the one who bumped you. He's in the simulator right now." She pointed toward the corridor.

Nadia all but tripped over her feet to get out of the bunkroom—with Jancie's laughter following her—and down to the simulator section. Nadia's fascination with Bart Uppermark went back a long way. She'd used his record as her benchmark, striving to break his records during her time in flight school. Having him on base, and being the one to take her scheduled time, had to mean something on the cosmic scale of what could go right in the universe.

Right?

Entering the corridor where the simulators were, she grabbed a petty officer. "Captain Bart Uppermark? Which sim?" If the captain only used her allotted space, he only had fifteen minutes left.

And she wanted to see every possible moment.

The petty officer sputtered and tried to sidestep her question.

She tightened her grip on his arm. "Now, petty officer." Her impatience almost boiled over.

He pointed to the door behind. "Sim three." Jerking his arm out of her grasp, he gave her a nasty look.

She quirked a brow, daring him to complain. She outranked him and, dammit, she needed to watch Uppermark in his element. Like she needed to breathe, or fly, or eat.

She cut the petty officer a break and patted him on the shoulder. "Thank you. Sorry for getting in your face." Moving past him, she put her hand on the knob to the viewing room.

And froze. She took a long moment to try and calm her racing heart.

I'm going to watch a master at work.

And not even be the least bit upset he'd taken her time.

I like how this story is coming together. The title will absolutely undergo a change, but it works for now. When it's ready for publication, it's too much of a mouthful. LOL

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

ML Skye