A Holiday Excerpt
I’m sending out a longer excerpt from this scene to Downside Army members later tonight or early tomorrow, but I thought hey, why not post a little bit here, too?
I hope you enjoy it, and that you’re having a wonderful holiday! I’ll be away for the first few days of next week, but I’ll be back before the new year. (Not that you asked or anything, just that you-oh, never mind.)
(NOTE: This is an excerpt posted free on my blog for anyone to read, yes, but it’s still mine and belongs to me. Sorry, but as the creator and copyright holder I do NOT give permission for this excerpt to be reproduced-on a blog or a website or whatever-without at least notifying me first, much less asking me. Please don’t do that. Feel free to link back all you like, of course, and discuss the excerpt or whatever else. But don’t just copy & paste it elsewhere, okay?)
This is from the unedited manuscript and the final published version may vary.
His eyes sparked too hard behind their darkness as he crossed the kitchen floor, not speaking. Too much energy moved in the air around him, and when he stood right in front of her-close enough to make her tilt her head all the way back-and reached out to touch her cheek she knew what it was. He’d had quite a day, she guessed; violence clung to him like black oil.
Violence and a wild sort of intoxication from that violence, to be more exact. Whatever it was inside him that made him so good at his job, that made him the most feared man in Downside, had been riding him for hours from the looks of it, the feel of it. Now there was nothing else to hit or attack or destroy, and that energy, that almost feral whatever-it-was…wanted to find some other satisfaction. Something or someone else to overpower, something or someone else to subdue, to defeat, to conquer.
She knew he’d never think of it that way. He probably wasn’t even aware of it, that dark bloodthirsty excitement lurking behind his eyes, surrounding him like a vicious cloud. His work-fighting in general-didn’t always do that to him, not that she’d seen, but when it did… Her heart jumped into her throat, then fell straight into her pelvis and stayed there, beating like a hummingbird’s wings.
“The fuck happened here? It hurting?”
“Oh, I just…” She bit her lip. “I got a new case today. And no, it doesn’t hurt, not really.”
“Aye? Ain’t so much?”
“Yeah, it looks worse than it-”
Definitely violence. Even if she hadn’t known from his energy she would have known from the way he kissed her, the way he fisted her hair tight at the nape of her neck, the firm possessiveness of his hand on her bottom as he yanked her up against him, bending her backwards. Rough and eager, and that energy infected her, too, made her grab his shoulders, wrap her leg around his.
Originally posted at Stacia Kane. You can comment here or there.