Sunday Snippet: Healing the Wound

September has ushered in yo-yo weather. We had record low overnight temperatures this past week and we're supposed to end up with record high temperatures this week. My sinuses are not happy right now.

I'm still finishing up the copy edit for the extended project and should have it ready this week. I'm looking forward to starting a new project in the next week or so. September is shaping up to be a busy month and that makes me happy.

Didn't have a bad week of viewing. I got a lot of episodes in and finished up a series, which means I get to start a new one this week. I have no idea what that will be yet, but probably a mystery.

I caught two episodes of Death in Paradise. One I remember seeing before and the other new to me. This is why I love going back and watching in chronological order.

Also watched two episodes of Fantasy Island. Enjoyed both for the fantasy aspect. Did not enjoy the angst factor. As usual, you take a perfectly good couple and break them up for a stupid reason. Depending on how the next few episodes go, I'm probably done with this show.

Enjoyed two episodes of The Batman. Bane and Catwoman were introduced and the Catwoman episode was a lot of fun. The Bane episode wasn't bad either.

Caught two episodes of Classic Rugrats. The four vignettes were all ones I'd remembered and pretty fun to watch again.

Finished up the Agatha Christie Hour and enjoyed the final episode. I love mistaken identity hijinks and this episode had a splashy party to boot. So much fun.

Caught the second half of Suspects and thoroughly enjoyed watching the team unravel the tangled web of who did it. Also kind of great to get some insight into the characters' personal lives.

Finally watched the season nine finale of Peak Practice. It was as hard as I thought it would be. I'm not looking forward to Andrew's personal life being a main focus of season ten, but I'll still be watching.

Finished the second half of Silent Witness. This one ended up being very twisty and I like that. Looking forward to the next two-parter. Might get more insight into Jack's character.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Healing the Wound, a novella that brings a couple together after the loss of another character.

Here's the miniblurb:

Jenna Creed loses the love of her life and blames Thorp Waggoner. She needs to stop living in the past and Thorp wants to be the man she moves forward with, which means Jenna has a very big problem.

And a sneaky peek…

Jenna rolled over in her sleep, vivid images filling her mind. Thorp's mouth made a slow trip from the lobe of her ear, ghosting along her jawline before dipping in to nuzzle along her throat. His lips feathered over her shoulder and skimmed her collarbone before inching down to capture a taut nipple. When his teeth worried and teased the nub, Jenna let out a low moan, heat infusing her blood and nerve endings.

"Jenna? Hey … you okay?"

She woke with a gasp, blinking to clear the slumber from her eyes. Her veins thrummed with hot passion, the dream still playing out in her fuzzy mind. Shaking her head, she focused on the face next to hers. One that didn't belong to Thorp Waggoner.

A small smile curved her lips, squashing the kick of guilt roiling in her gut. "Yeah. I'm good, Mick. What time is it?" If still early, she might be able to grab a shower and make some breakfast before Mick had to head out.

He cupped her face. "Gotta leave in five." He rolled off the bed, fully dressed in his fatigues.

Jenna sat up, rubbing a hand over her face. "Shit. Sorry. Why didn't you wake me when you got up?" Before she had the dream…

Mick snorted and grabbed his duffel. "It's the ass crack of ugly o'clock now. No reason you should have to be awake at zero dark thirty unless you're deploying … like me." He zipped his case and dropped it by the bedroom door.

Deployment. For an unspecified amount of time to a classified location with multiple hot spots. Not exactly her idea of a fun way to spend her second anniversary with Mick.

Then again, they'd been lucky. After almost two years together, they'd only had a handful of time apart. And Thorp ended up being assigned to the same base six months ago with a bump in rank. No surprise there.

Mick returned to the bed and sat on the edge. "Waggoner's picking me up here, which I gotta admit surprised the hell out of me." His lips twisted. "Not like we get along well." He rolled a shoulder and met her gaze. "But it means I got more time with you before shipping out."

Jenna gave a nod but didn't say anything. The steamy dream about Thorp rewound and played out again in her mind. A new flicker of guilt unfurled in her stomach. She'd had the stupid nocturnal side trip because Thorp and Mick were going on a mission together. There couldn't be any other reason. She loved Mick and shouldn't feel anything for Thorp. What might have been had no place in her life right now.

A horn blared outside, and Mick leaned in, catching her lips for a farewell kiss.

Jenna only half-heartedly responded, still hung up on the erotic content of her dream. But Mick didn't seem to notice. He already had his bag over his shoulder and headed out of the room.

Jenna scrambled off the bed and dragged a robe on. "Good hunting. Get in touch when you can." Which might not be until they returned from their mission.

Mick gave her a quick salute and exited their house. The loud rumble of the truck accelerating down the road then making the turn for the airfield lasted briefly before everything went quiet again. Jenna leaned against the wall not quite ready to confront the weird vibe she couldn't seem to shake.

She’d make up anything lacking in her goodbye to Mick when he came home. And Thorp would have no place in her mind or heart when she did.

Jenna thought she put the spark with Thorp in a neat little box, but her dream proves otherwise, and she's not thrilled about having the reminder she found him attractive.

 

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

ML Skye