I'm also curious. How do you get your BETTE (replace my name with yours) on? I'd love to read your comments, which you can leave below (and while you're at it, I'd also love for you to follow my blog.)
Oh, I almost forgot. Here's another snippet from my current manuscript, MOONFLOWER ROAD. Enjoy!
Collin watched as Jeannie turned and
rushed out of the kitchen. He was exhausted, but not too tired to notice the
gentle sway and roll of her hips as she exited. He felt a familiar tug deep in
his groin. Stop it, you fool! A damned woman’s the reason you ended up in
Iowa in the first place! That did
it. Thinking about Annette was like throwing water on a fire. Not a pleasant
feeling, but it produced the desired effect. He’d be armed and ready with those
deflating thoughts and whip them out when the temptation became too great.
The bathroom ended up being a
combination bathroom/laundry room. Figuring he could kill two birds with one
stone, Collin ran a bath instead of opting for a shower. That way he could run
his clothes through the washer while he bathed, which was an absolute necessity
since what he wore was the only set of clothes he owned right at the moment. At
least he had enough sense to figure that he probably couldn’t attempt a shower
and run the washer at the same time without either getting scalded or getting a
blast of cold water as the washer moved through its cycles.
Removing wet jeans was harder than
Collin realized. After falling over twice, and ramming one knee on the corner
of the counter, he finally succeeded by stepping on the bottom of one pant leg
and yanking his leg out, then repeating the process with the other leg. Good
thing Jeannie wasn’t witnessing this. She would have had a good laugh and never
let him forget it. Only after peeling off every stitch of clothing, throwing
them into the washer, and deciphering the instructions on how to run the damned
thing, did Collin allow himself to slip into the glorious, hot water. He leaned back and slid under, soaked his
hair, then lathered up, and slid under again, running his hands through his
hair to get out all the shampoo. Son of a... He looked down at his
stinging hands. Blisters, ripped open from the repetitive movement of the
scraper, dotted the palm of his right hand.
Sitting behind a desk for the last ten years had softened him up. His
skin wasn’t used to this much manual labor. Well, he’d have to grin and bear
it. They’d have time to heal up a bit after the bath. Plus, he could just wear
gloves tomorrow.
After giving himself a scrubdown, he
settled back into the tub and closed his eyes. He’d have time to rest just a
bit before he would have to move his clothes from the washer to the dryer...
#
Bam-Bam-Bam!
Collin’s eyes flew open. He was up
to his nose in cold water in a bathtub in a strange bathroom. Bam-Bam-Bam!
Someone was pounding at the door. Jeannie! He regained his senses, remembering
where he was as he hauled himself out of the tub.
“I’m taking a bath!” He grabbed a
towel and wrapped it around his waist.
“You’ve been in there for almost two
hours, and, might I remind you that this is the only working bathroom in the
house?”
Two
hours? I must have fallen asleep! Collin ran over to the washer,
grabbed his clothes and tossed them into the dryer.
“I need to dry my clothes.”
“Just get dressed and get out of
there, unless of course you want me to pee in the bushes.”
Collin held onto the towel with one
hand, and opened the door with the other. Jeannie’s jaw dropped as her eyes
flashed down to the towel. “Sorry, but the rest of my clothes were stolen out
of my saddlebag.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, then
grabbed the knob of the door and slammed it shut.
“Just wait. Don’t come out.”
Collin could hear her feet pad
across the room, up the stairs and across the floor above him. It was quiet for
about ten seconds, then the sound returned as she retraced her steps. Within a
few seconds, she knocked quietly at the door.
“Yes?”
“I have a robe you can borrow until
your clothes dry.”
The door inched open and she stuck
her hand through the opening. Collin peeked out to see that she had turned her
head to the side. Her eyes were pinched shut. He smiled to himself. The naïveté
and innocence of these Midwestern girls was so unlike anything he’d encountered
in New York. This woman was actually flustered! He took the navy blue
terrycloth, and she snatched her hand away.
***
“Just hurry, will you?”
Jeannie heard a click behind her.
Within a few seconds, the door opened. She turned to see Collin standing in
front of the door wearing Jason’s robe. It didn’t help. He might as well have
been naked. She already knew what he looked like underneath—well, at least from
the hips up, and what she had seen a few minutes ago had knocked the breath
from her. His tanned torso and rippling abs had been forever etched into her
mind, burned onto her retinas, and she could just imagine them under the
robe...
“It’s all yours!”
Jeannie blinked, confused as she
came out of her brief reverie. “What?”
Collin smiled. “The bathroom. You
said you’d prefer the bathroom to the bushes.”
Jeannie’s face shot a blazing red
once again. She knew why he was smiling. That smug, son of a bitch was getting
a kick out of this…out of watching her ogle him like a star-struck teenager. She
cleared her throat, lifted her chin, and brushed past him, trying to preserve
some thread of near non-existent dignity.
“Right. It’s about time.”
Collin turned to face her, but she
slammed the door and threw her back against it before he could say a word. She
held her breath, waiting to hear retreating footsteps. Instead, she heard a low
chuckle.
“You’re welcome.”
Jeannie squeezed her eyes shut in
embarrassment.
Shit.
What have I gotten myself into?
