I ❤ Wednesday. #1lineWed makes it easy for me to pick out a snippet. 😆 Today's theme is…*drumroll* EYEBROWS! Everyone has them. Some characters use them a lot, some not. 
While Smoke Jenner from October’s NIGHT FIRE release has brows, he tends to only look arch when dealing with arson investigator Leigh Daniels. This little scene gives some background on Smoke, along with some by-play between the two of them as they hunt a serial arsonist who might–or might not be–Smoke. 😉 This snippet is obviously in Smoke’s POV. 😀
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“Get out.”
Leigh stared, an argument forming on the lips I wanted to kiss. Fisted hands planted on her hips and her chin jutted, she furrowed her brows into a tight vee. “No way.”
I wanted to kiss the crinkles in her skin just above the bridge of her nose too. “It’s not safe, babe.”
She glanced around then, eyes widening as they adjusted to the gloom in the boat house. “What the hell?”
“Yeah. Exactly.” The place was stacked to the rafters with explosive material, all rigged to blow.
“Oh, crap.”
“You can say that again.”
“Oh, crap.”
“Funny.”
“Wasn’t meant to be. What do we do now?”
“We don’t do anything. You’re leaving.” I put command in my voice, like she’d pay any attention. Still, worthy a shot. She needed to get the hell away from here.
“Not happening. We both need to get out of here. I’ll call the bomb squad. We’ll let them deal with this.”
I pointed to a digital timer happily counting down. “Too late.”
She gulped, cleared her throat before asking, “How’d we set it off?”
“Probably when we walked in. Vibrations on the floor started the countdown.” I hunkered down next to the device. “If the room starts shaking, you need to run like hell.”
“If the room shakes, we’re toast.”
She was right but I was not about to admit defeat. I pulled out a multi-tool from a back pocket and set to work.
“What are you doing?” Leigh didn’t quite screech but the timbre of her voice hurt my ears.
“My job.”
“Your job? You’re an arsonist.” Was she scoffing? He’d just have to show her.
“Wasn’t always. Marine Force Recon, EOD tech.” Explosive Ordinance Disposal. I’d disabled or blown up a shit-ton of IEDs in the sandbox. I never figured I’d be sitting in a covered boat house at a marina on Lake Dallas sweating bullets as I worked to save my ass. And Leigh’s. Especially hers. I had plans for that sweet ass that didn’t include it getting blown to hell and back.
“Wait. You were a marine?”
I cut my eyes her direction. She looked stunned. “Yeah. Proud member of Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children.”
“But…” She waved her hands like she couldn’t figure out the next word. One waved at my head, the other at the rest of me. Shrugging, I pulled out a bandanna and tied back my hair.
“Walk soft, babe, but go stand by the door.” She hovered for a few moments, peering over my shoulder. I grunted and shifted back on my heels. “Now, Leigh. If we have to evacuate, I want you where I can grab you on the way out. Yeah?”
She breathed heavily, air brushing across the side of my neck, then straightened. Finally. She did as I asked, pussy-footing to the door leading to the dock. I studied a nest of wires and the trigger device. Wasn’t my design. Dammit. Nothing could be easy and Luck was being a bitch tonight.
“You’re hot, you know.”
I froze then glanced over my shoulder. I arched my right brow and she waggled hers at me in some sort of flirty semaphore I had no clue how to read. “Not the time, darlin’.”
“It is. Just in case. I…wanted you to know. I’ll be your match.”
“Uh huh.” I bent back to the job at hand, but she kept talking.
“I’ll light up your life.”
I clipped a wire. “That’s a bad love song, ba—”
The timer went dark but sparks shot out. “Fuck!” I was up and running, barreling into Leigh, through her, turning at the last minute so my back hit the door. I curled around her as the explosives erupted, raining fire and thunder on us. We hit the surface of the lake. Went under. Deep.
When we came up for air, Leigh pushed sopping hair out of her eyes, grinning like some evil pumpkin. “Smoke on the water. Talk about bad love songs.”
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Who’s paying attention to the eyebrows today? Hrmmm???? Share!
Guardian Muses? If there’s a market for those, I’m in! I need one! 😆 As much as we’d all like to blame our Muses on those periods of no inspiration, of writer’s block, of author meh, that’s not really fair. As B.E. reminded me yesterday, being a published author is a business. If I want to get paid, I need to put words on paper, edit them, prep them for publication/submission, and move onto the next project. That’s the way it works.
Silver James 