To celebrate, I’m giving you a peek at some
of my works in progress, my contracted story, Being Prince Charming and several
in various writing stages, Waking Beauty, The Princess and the Frogman, which
are almost completed and Beauty and the Brigadier, which is in the planning
stage.
So, that being said, I bring you the WIPs for
my 1NS mini-series, Military Fairytales.
****A word of caution,
these are unedited snippets.****
Being Prince Charming
Lissa left and never came back, going home to where they’d been high school sweethearts, even if her family had long since moved on. Gunny crumpled the divorce decree and tossed it in the trash, refusing to hold onto the one souvenir he’d retained from his marriage with Lissa. Gone were their wedding pictures, the dishes, pots and pans, everything that had made their off-camp apartment a home, including the woman he still loved. He surveyed the room. Except for a few pieces of outdoor plastic furniture, it was as empty as his life.
No matter how he tried, he couldn’t wrap his
mind around the finality and accept it. Marines didn’t give up. He picked up
his bags and walked out the door, not bothering to lock the door behind him.
Anyone who wanted it, could have the remnants
of his life. He’d finally retired from the Marine Corps, and thanks to Cori,
he’d secured a job working for Sol’s company, Protect and Serve. Not that it
mattered, without Lissa he had no reason to care, but it would help him to get
by until he could figure out how to get his wife back.
Make that ex-wife.
And he would get her back. Eventually she’d
come to her senses. No one could turn love off. He’d be the one to know. His
heart ached constantly for the woman he’d once had. He’d been an idiot not to
listen to what she said, to put the Corps before her. Hindsight being
twenty-twenty and all that, he decided it was time to man up, improvise, adapt
and overcome.
He strode up to the unsexiest vehicle a man
could own, a fifteen year old minivan with rusty doors, a black cloud of smoke
that followed wherever he drove it, and a driver’s side door wouldn’t open. He
tossed his bags in the back, and climbed over the passenger seat to take his
place behind the wheel. He patted his pockets and extracted the key, wondering
why he even bothered to remove it from the ignition. A thief would be doing him
a favor to steal it.
Waking Beauty
My name is Chief Warrant Officer Alexandria Larson. I fly an Apache as one of the elite Nightstalkers. If you are reading this, I probably didn’t make it back from Afghanistan alive. Know that I entrusted this document to a chaplain on the installation I was stationed out of, who was to contact Madame Eve at 1 Night Stand for directions where to send this, in the event something happened.
I needed you to know
why I stood you up.
This was my third deployment,
but everything felt wrong from the moment I set my boots down on Khandahar
airfield. It was why I enlisted the help of an online dating service. I wanted
to experience love on my terms—if only for a night, and if I made it home, I
promised myself I would.
All my life I’ve
pretended to be someone I wasn’t, but if you are like me, you know what I’m
talking about. The, don’t ask, don’t tell policy of the military, prevented me
from coming out as a lesbian for many years. Even after it was lifted, I felt I
couldn’t come clean about who I was—at least not to Uncle Sam. Being one of the
few female combat helicopter pilots for the Army came with a cost.
Silence.
It was hard enough to
earn the respect of my peers, and as you read this, you’ll understand more why
I did what I did. I’m only sorry that I never got to meet you.
I knew from the
moment Madame Eve contacted me and told me about you, that you were all I ever
dreamed of. Smart, beautiful. And my heart ached that you were alone—like me. I
wanted to kiss you. Hold you. Your picture...I’ve carried it with me since I
received it in the file from the dating service.
The Princess and the Frogman
“I asked you not to judge me. It’s not crazy, considering all I have to lose. I have to make this one night count. I may never have another chance. So, what was that question again?”
Amanda sighed. “Your ideal man?”
“Tall. Handsome.” Elizabeth closed her eyes.
“Let’s see...he’ll have dark hair, a stomach I could do the laundry on, or lick
chocolate from. His smile will be enough to make me drop my panties and....”
She smiled.
“And?”
“Hung.” Elizabeth looked over at Amanda and
winked.
Amanda choked on her drink, spewing it across
the beach shelter. “Excuse me, miss virgin. Hung?”
“Yes. If I’m going to have sex one time in my
life, I want a big....” Elizabeth lifted her hands in the air and stretched
them about a foot apart.
“Right. Are you sure?”
“Yes. Put it down.” She leaned back and
rested her eyes again, listening to the waves and the squawks of the birds
above.
“Got it. Big dick.” Amanda started typing and
suddenly stopped. “Oh, good lord.”
Elizabeth cracked an eye and studied her best
friend. “What?”
“I think your order just came in with the
tide.”
“You’re kidding.” She sat up and began to
scan the beach, not seeing anything that looked like what Amanda mentioned. She
did spot a little old man in a Speedo two sizes too big, wrinkles hanging over
the fabric, making it appear smaller than what it really was. The baggy ass and
leg openings where his junk partially hung out, gave away the fact it didn’t
fit him, but blech..the guy was about ninety, and she so didn’t need to see
that after just having lunch. Bitch.
Seriously? “Ha, ha. Very funny.”
“I assure you, I’m not kidding. I just
creamed my bikini bottoms. Not over there.” Amanda reached over, gripped her
under the chin and redirected her gaze to the left. “Look at that. Come to
mama.”
Walking down the beach in a black and red wet
suit with the top peeled down to hang around his hips, a set of fins in one
hand and a snorkel in the other, was the man she’d just described. “Holy shit.
I want that one. He’s perfect.”
As for the final one I listed, Beauty and the
Brigadier is in the planning stages and well, no snippet as of yet. Not to
fear, I have a feeling this one is going to be a knee-slapper. What else
happens when you put together a fifty five year old, single, jaded, one-star
general, with an aging forty something, has-been super-model? This story, with
more a more mature hero and heroine will hopefully showcase my playful side.
Because some people just take themselves too seriously and need to loosen up.
GIVEAWAY
Thanks for stopping by today. I’m giving away one of my e-books in the 1NightStand series, Seducing Liberty and a tee shirt with one of my Decadent titles, in either M/L/Xl or XXL.
All you have to do is leave a comment under this post.
I will draw a name from my virtual hat on October 21st and announce the winner.
Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter to get in on other great prizes during our “Celebration Bash” Good Luck!
