Island Surprise - Continues

This excerpt is an excerpt from Island Surprise based on the included picture prompt. Dan and Lacy are walking along the beach at their hotel after their wedding and before Claire sees him on the island. 

Lacy and Dan strolled along the beach hand in hand. Lacy squeezed his hand, tugging on his arm. “What’s wrong? You seem a bit preoccupied. The stress of the wedding is over. You should be relaxing now.”

“I’m just worried that Crystal will try something crazy.”

“Why? You paid her off, didn’t you?” Lacy threw her long black hair back, but the wind fought her.

Looking down at his bare feet in the sand Dan muttered. “Yeah, I gave her a check for 20,000 thousand, and said I’ll pay her more once the baby’s born. I told her I’ll support the baby. But I get feeling that it’s not going to be enough.”

As Dan looked out at the ocean waves illuminated by the moonlight, his mind returned to the day it all changed. The day his causal fling, Crystal Matheson told him she was pregnant, with his baby. He tried to play it off like it wasn't his at first.

Crystal looked up at him. “Come on Dan, I’m not seeing anyone but you, and you know it. I love you, and I thought you’d be happy about this. We’re going to have a baby. I so hope he looks like you, babe.” She said massaging his arm as they stood under the Stone Arch in Central Park two weeks earlier. 

Dan’s smartphone beeped. He pulled out the sporty cell and read the text message. A shot of adrenaline raced through his system when he saw the message was from Crystal.  I just checked into the hotel, babe. I’m in room 622. He exited the message, and jammed the phone in his the pocket of his chinos.

Lacy stepped back and watched his expression change to complete shock.

He faced her, eyes wide open. “She’s here.”

Darn those 300 word limits :) Return to Tuesday Tales for more stories from talented authors.

This Just In... My Book Cover!!

I just received the book cover for my novella Love & The Economy, tentative release date September 2012, by Secret Cravings Publishing. I'm over the moon.
Cover artist Dawne Dominique did a fantastic job of capturing the flavor of the story.
I can't wait to get my edits!

Island Surprise Continues

Sam, Claire and Nancy have returned back to their hotel for the rest of the conference. This week's prompt is baseball. 

When Sam and Claire headed over the television lounge area, a baseball game was on the screen, the sound was muted. They stopped at the coffee bar and sat at two bar stools. Sam glanced up at the television again and saw that the local news interrupted the game. A crowd of uniformed and plain clothes police where at a wooded area, ‘Woman Found Dead’ read the caption under the scene.

           Sam stood up and took Claire's hand in his and held it tight, standing next in front of the bar. He could see the TV in the reflection of the walled mirrors that decorated the lounge area. He kept one eye on the reflection of the screen showing the crime scene and the other on Claire.

"So are you attending any workshops today?"

"I'm planning on going to a few." Claire looked at Sam with an odd expression on her face.
"Oh, great! Which ones are you going to?" Even though the screen was mounted on the wall behind the bar, he moved closer to her to hold her attention.            

            The coffee bar waitress approached them. "Would can I get for you two?"            

            Claire moved to the left so she could talk to the waitress around Sam. "I'll have a small mocha latte with soy milk." She smiled at the waitress and gave a questioning glance to Sam. He smiled at her and turned around to the face the waitress.

            "I'll have a medium regular coffee with half and half, please."

            "Okay, coming right up," the waitress said and went off the place the orders.

The scene was still on the screen with a reporter interviewing a police official. Sam turned back to Claire and attempted to block her view of tv again. "Would you like something else? They have danishes and things..."

            "We just had a big breakfast. I can't eat anything else."
             He need to continue the conversation. "You didn't say which workshops you're going today."

            "Why don't you sit. You're making me a little nervous. Is there something wrong?"

            Great, now she's suspiscious. Well you're not going to get academy award for this performance."No, I'm fine. I'll sit. I don't know I just feel a little wound up today." He sat on the stool next to her. He glanced up at the screen again and was relieved to see the camera was back on the anchor and they had moved on to the next story. He took a few deep breathes trying to reclaim his inner claim state. He didn't want Claire to see the story about the woman's body found, not just yet. He figured it was best to let the police do their thing, without getting involved. It bothered him that Claire might be involved in this as it is, he didn't want to attract unwanted attention from Dan if he was the involved in this. He had the feeling that Dan was indeed playing cat and mouse with them, and he certainly didn't want Claire or Nancy to know any more than they needed to. In his experience of reseraching criminals for his thrillers, he knew that they usually gave themselves away and that other people stepping in to play cop was usually a bad idea. It often lead to more murders when the killer thought he would be discovered.

            "Maybe you should have a decaf coffee or some tea." Claire leaned into him a bit. He got a hint of her musky cologne looked down into her concerned face.

            "I'll be all right." Their eyes locked for a moment.

            The waitress returned with their coffees. "Can I get you anything else?"

            "No, thank you. This is just fine." Sam said to the waitress while still looking at Claire.

            "Okay. Are you two here for the writer's conference?

            "Yes, it's been great." Claire picked up her spoon the stir her latte.

             "Is this your first time in Hawaii?" The waitress started wiping the bar next to them.

            "Yes, it's our first time here. It's lovely and the hotel's great." said Sam

            "Yeah, just sorry you have to be here when we've had our first murder in like twenty years or more. It's just terrible. They just found that poor girl's body on the small island yesterday. I sure hope they get the creep who did it."

            Claire practically dropped her spoon on the bar.  "What? A girl found dead on the small island?"

            Sam's face went white. He sat motionless for a moment while his mind shifted gears.

            The waitress continued. "Yeah, the small island next to this one. They’re planning on building an extension of the hotel over there. It's been the top story on the island all day yesterday and last night."

            "Oh, no, I was right all along. Did you know anything about this?" Claire looked at Sam.

            "Of course not." He blurted out. He fumbled with his coffee cup, needing something to do with his hands before he started over gesturing which he did whenever he was nervous. The cup shook in his hand, spilling a bit of coffee on the bar.

The waitress came back and wiped it up. "Just an awful shame. I came here to get away from the senseless crime. And now this poor girl..."

            Sam wished the waitress would go away and shut up. His prayers were answered when a few people walked into the lounge and sat down at the other end of the bar. The waitress left them alone.

            “So it looks like Dan, our perfect host murdered someone. I knew I wasn’t seeing things.” Claire got up from her stool. “Are you sure you didn’t know anything about this, Sam?”

            “Well, I didn’t want to alarm you.” He looked down behind the bar avoiding her accusing brown eyes.

            “Alarm me?”

            “Yes, alarm you. Look at you, you’re ready to bolt out of here and do what? Confront Dan who could be involved in this.  Or are you going to the police, to tell them what? That you may have seen something, but you’re not really sure. This is a powerful man Claire, you have to tread lightly here. And I’m trying to help you and protect you.” He looked at her hand gripping the bar, and wanted to reach out and put his hand over hers.

            “When did you find out about the body?” She appeared to be calming down. She loosened her hand on the bar railing, but he could see her heart was still beating rapidly.

            “I found out last night at dinner.” He told Claire about his friend from the 14th Precinct calling him while they were dining with Dan and Lacy.

            “Wow, I just don’t know where to start, Sam. Why didn’t you tell me this last night?” She sat back down and looked at him. He met her gaze.

            “I thought about it, but you know last night was special. We were finally alone, even pretending to be a couple, which was fun. I really didn’t want to hit you with that kind of news.” He looked down at his hands around the coffee cup.

            “Why, because I’d be too distracted to give us a whirl? Since we were getting along so well together.”

            “Well, it’s not a bad thing, is it? It was something like that, Claire.”

            “I can’t believe this. You’d keep this important information from me, just so we could share a bed together and get closer.” She kept her voice low, which Sam was quite thankful for, but her eyes screamed. He saw the hurt in them, and his hands started to shake again. He released the cup.

Claire stood up, took her bag off the stool back, and put it over her shoulder. “I have to go,” she said quietly and left.

            “Wait, Claire…”

The waitress returned.

            “Can I get you anything else?”

            “No, thanks.” Sam reached in his pocket, pulled out a bill clip and put a ten dollar bill on the bar. He told the waitress to keep the change and went after Claire.

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Island Surprise - Continues

Welcome to this weeks excerpt from Island Surprise, one of my works in progress, created for Tuesday Tales. Thanks for stopping by and leave comment if you'd like. Writing Prompt - blue. 

Morning sun streamed in thru the glass terrace door, and the fierce Maui waves crashed against the shore waking Claire up. She was in a strange room and had to catch her bearings. She turned her head to the right, and saw the strong arm slung around her waist, her eyes followed the arm and was treated by the sight of the bare brawly chest of Sam Stewart asleep next to her.

Wow, he was sex personified.

He was lying on his side facing her with one leg over hers, in need of a shave. His yummy torso with its neatly trimmed hair begged to be fondled by her hand, and followed with soft kisses. Wait a minute, isn’t that what she did last night? Even if she did, looking at him now she longed to do it again. Oh no. It all came back to her in flash. She remembered throwing caution to the wind when somehow the king sized bed must’ve shrink to a twin because she was so close to Sam her skin was warmed by his body heat next to her. As she recalled, he reached out and touched her, and they both lost it and had to have each other. It felt so good to be in his arms again. Her body cried out for him, and he answered every which way he could. It was beautiful. So good it scared her. Instead of enjoying the present, her mind drifted to the past she didn’t want to revisit.

She was sitting up in bed staring out the terrace door. Claire watched as the blue ocean waves rushed in to kiss the beach while her memories drifted off.

Sam woke as if nudged by her thoughts. He smiled and reached out and laid his hand on her back. “Good morning.”

She flinched a bit at his touch, not aware that he was awake. When she faced him, her forehead was creased in worry mode. “Hi,” she said faintly.

 “What’s wrong? You should be here beside me cuddling. Wasn’t last night great?” He raised himself up on his elbows.

He’s right, she thought. She should be cuddling.

“Of course it was great last night. I know this is crazy, but I just couldn’t help but remember the last time I felt this close to someone. Jeff.”

He sprung up at the mention of her old fiancé’s name and sat next to her. He nodded for her to go on, listening intently.

“Well you know the story, soon after we became engaged he had a terrible car accident was taken away from me. It’s been a few years, and even though I know I shouldn’t feel guilty, sometimes I still do.”

“I know, you’ve been through so much, Claire. But please don’t feel guilty for what we did or for how we feel about each other. You deserve happiness, and I want to be the one to share it with you.” He put his arm around 

her shoulders.

She looked into his brown eyes, flicks of hazel glistening and unblinking staring back at her with intensity. She took a deep breath and ingested what he said. She desired this man, and believed what he said. Claire felt her shoulders loosen up as the grief and guilt she carried for Jeff began to slowly dissolve.

As writer, she wrote about feelings all the time, but for her it was easier to write about them being felt by other people than to actual feel them for herself. She looked at Sam and knew she was ready to experience her feelings again. Especially if it meant having another night like last night. She didn’t want to hold anything back from him. Since they had a professional relationship, a friendship and now a budding romance she trusted him, and knew that he wouldn’t let her down.

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Island Surprise

Welcome to this week's installment of Island Surprise. This week Tuesday Tales writing prompt is dawn.

            After an hour of talking about the book they wrote together and doing a sequel, Claire finally looked at her cell phone for the time. “Wow, it’s almost 2 AM. I’m going to bed before we see the dawn rising up. Although that would be a beautiful sight here.  I didn’t realize how late it is.”

            She stood up and pushed her chair back by the table. Sam followed her and closed the terrace door as he came into the suite.

            Claire started to unbutton her blouse and looked over her shoulder at Sam, who was trying not to be obvious while sneaking a peek at her. She reached down on the bed and picked up the nightshirt the hotel staff provided per Lacy’s request. It was a large white cotton tee shirt featuring the hotel’s name and logo.

They also provided a pair of grey cotton boxers for Sam. He picked them up. “Not bad. They really thought of everything, huh.”

            “Yes, it was very thoughtful of Lacy, so we wouldn’t have to sleep in our clothes.” Claire was on her way to the bathroom to change.

            “Or in the buff. Which might not be such a bad thing.” Sam said the second line in a lower voice thinking Claire wouldn’t hear it.”

            “Oh, I heard that, Sam,” She yelled from the bathroom. “Wouldn’t be such a bad thing. That remains to be seen.” She giggled.

            “Yeah well you can’t blame a guy for trying.” Sam took off his clothes. He was putting them over a chair when he heard her come out of bathroom, and saw her in dresser mirror he was facing. Wow. He had never seen Claire with so little on before. She was completely gorgeous. She walked into the room, clean faced, no make-up, hair pulled back in a headband, wearing just the white tee-shirt. The shirt hit her thigh high, and as Sam felt revealed the best part of her long legs. The shirt was large, but he could see her shape underneath. He could see that she wasn’t wearing a bra, and see her breast swaying naturally beneath the cotton. He even saw the faint outline of her dark areoles showing through the shirt, and felt his boxers tenting in appreciation. He angled himself to the side, to hide his reaction. He didn’t want to scare her off by revealing his obvious arousal.

He knew that Claire was attracted to him, but he also knew he had to move slowly with her. She had said in the past that she really enjoyed working with him and wanted to keep their relationship on a professional level, although there’s no doubt that a friendship had formed. Well he wasn’t about to blow it all now by displaying the expanding bulge in his pants she elicited from him.

            Claire walked over to the dresser and put her clothes in the top drawer. “Have you given any thought to the sleeping arrangements?”

            A picture of her on top of him grinding into him popped into his head, causing his tent to rise a bit more at his own suggestion. “You can have the bed. I’ll sleep on the couch.” He walked toward the closet away from her, to see if there was an extra blanket in it.

            “Don’t be silly. This is a king size bed. There’s plenty of room for the both us. It’s so big it’s almost like having your own bed.” She turned off the table lamp and got into the bed nearest the terrace door.

Sam was so relieved she turned the light off. “Are you sure? I don’t mind sleeping on the couch.” He wanted to be on the bed to be nearer to her, but knew very well he wouldn’t get much sleep if he couldn’t have her the way he wanted to. And if he did wind up on the couch, he knew he probably wouldn’t get much sleep there because it didn’t look comfortable.

“Sam, the couch is really a love seat, not a full size couch. You can’t sleep on that, it’ll kill you. Just get in the bed, please.”

Sam pulled his side of the covers back and smoothly got in, careful not to reveal the package he was guarding from her. “Okay, if you say so.”

He lay down and his erection stood straight up. He turned on his side to hide it.

Claire pushed the sheet off her, revealing her bare arms.  “See that’s better. We both need our sleep. And besides, this bed is so big, it’s like we’re not even in the same bed.”

Yeah right.

Sam took a deep breath and detected a hint of her lavender perfume that was wearing off from the day. He couldn’t help himself. His mind drifted. He longed to bury his face in her neck and breathe it in. Instead he made due with taking deep breathes as the spicy aroma engulfed him.

After awhile he realized this wasn’t working for him, her signature scent was stimulating him more and keeping him awake. He tried counting backwards from 100. Maybe that would work to level off his arousal so he could get some sleep. Just lying there thinking about her cologne or the fact that he could simply reach out and touch her body was enough to keep him hard all night. And frustrated…95, 94, 93.

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Island Surprise Continues

Thanks for stopping by. This week's Tuesday Tales writing prompt is ocean.

              The five of them walked out of the elevator and onto the fifth floor of the hotel. When they reached room 511, Lacy turned to Sam and Claire, and handed Sam the card key. “Here’s your room.”

             Claire winced inside and wished she could hit a rewind button and end the evening earlier. Whose idea was it to go for a stroll on the beach then to a night club for drinks? A combination of Dan who suggested the walk, and Sam who suggested the drinks.  Sam played the part as her boyfriend well all evening, holding her hand, and dancing with her at the club. And then it got too late to fly back to their island, so Lacy arranged rooms for them at the hotel. One of the perks of hotel ownership, she laughed.

 “And your room’s next door,” she gave a card key to Nancy. “We’re right across the hall. If you need anything, just call the desk and they’ll take care of you.”

Nancy and Claire exchange looks while Lacy handed Nancy a card key.

Sam caught Claire and Nancy’s silent exchange, and then Sam noticed Dan watching them from behind.

“Is anything wrong?”

Claire looked up at Dan. “Oh no, nothing’s wrong. I have no problem staying here tonight. But we do have to get back in the morning for the conference.”

“What time do you need to get back there, so I can make arrangements with the pilot to have plane ready?”

“I think, 10 o’clock would be fine,” said Claire. “Is that all right with you guys?” She looked at Sam and Nancy for confirmation. They nodded their approval back.

 “Okay. I’ll let the pilot know. We’ll meet you at the hotel restaurant for breakfast at 8. That should give us enough time to eat and fly,” said Dan.

            The “good nights” and “thank-yous” were exchanged as Dan and Lacy watched their guests go to their respective rooms. When Sam closed the door behind him, he stood at the door and listened till he heard the couple’s door across the hall close.

            They walked into the room together. It was a very nice room, with a king size bed staring them in the face.

            Nancy walked further into the room, past the bed and saw that they had a balcony facing the ocean. She opened the glass door and a sharp breeze swept in, blowing the sheer drapes. Sam came and stood behind her. She felt his body heat surround her although he hadn’t laid a hand on her, yet. Need to stop thinking like that girl. This is not the time to get your grove on. Her twin angel on her other shoulder said in her mind, If not now than when? Claire smiled at the inner battle going on inside her. She thought, he hasn’t even touched me and I’m already freaking out. If he could hear this dialogue in my head he’d laugh, and then maybe insist on putting it in a book. She lost it and laughed aloud.

Sam looked down at her and touched her shoulder. “What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking of the turn of events that brought us here. This is crazy.” She stopped laughing.

“It’s crazy, but also very convenient. I’ve been trying to get some alone time with you, and good old Lacy hands us the keys to our room.” He leaned in and whispered in her ear.  “And it’s a very nice room.” He wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder. “Why don’t we sit outside for a while before turning in?”

“Okay.”

Sam released her and then moved the two chairs together facing the ocean view. They sat in the two patio chairs.  Sam thought about telling Claire what Jerry told him on the phone about a woman’s body being

found on the small island. But then he looked at Claire. As she looked out at the ocean waves, her shoulders had finally dropped a bit and her expression soften. She had finally relaxed. The sound of the surf had calmed her down, and he didn’t want to upset her again. He decided to tell her tomorrow. Maybe then he’d learn more about the victim. For now he was just happy to be with quietly alone with Claire while they listened to waves rushing in.

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Island Surprise continues

Thanks for stopping by. This week's writing prompt is money. I have good news, the story I featured on my blog, Love & the Economy will be published by Secret Cravings Publishing, September 2012. I'll keep you posted.

At dinner Dan strategically positioned himself next to Lacy, but across from Nancy, so he could keep an eye on her. He appeared calm, but inside racked his brain about that morning on the little island. He wasn’t sure who he saw in the row boat leaving the island that day, but was a Nancy Wells pen that he picked up the beach. He was too far away and the sun was very strong in his eyes. He usually wore contacts but didn’t have time to put them in that morning. He was in rush and had even forgotten his prescription sun glasses, which he would wear if not wearing his contacts. In fact he hadn’t seen his glasses in a while. He made a mental note to check around the suite for them.

Dan thought about when he meet Nancy at the book fair. It was the first time he’d been to one and he was surprised to a box of pens at table Nancy was signing at. He noticed that she and all the other authors freely gave away pens, bookmarks and other favors to the buyers. Then it dawned on him. It doesn’t have to be her pen, just because her name is on it. Anyone could have one of her pens. He could’ve kicked himself. Dan slowly shook his head in disbelief, and then took a sip of his martini. Why didn’t he realize this before? Well with all the commotion his mind was focused on dealing with what he had to do instead of trying to track down someone who may have seen something he didn’t want to explain. After all accidents happened, but not on your honeymoon. Now he was entertaining a couple few strangers he ordinarily wouldn’t have meet.

            Lacy noticed Dan’s demeanor change. She watched him set his glass down. “Is everything okay, dear?” She touched his arm gently.

            Dan pushed his thoughts aside and rejoined the table. “Yes, everything’s fine. I was just trying to remember where I left my sunglasses. I get the feeling that I lost them.”

            “Oh, don’t worry about that now. They’re probably back at the room. We’ll find them, and if you don’t it’s not like we don’t have the money for another pair.” She smiled at him and blew him a kiss and continued her conversation with Nancy.

                        Sam overheard the exchange between the couple and watched as Dan picked at his olive with the cocktail pick. “You lose something?”

            “Just my sunglasses. They’re prescription lenses, so I like to know where they are.”

            “Oh yeah, I know what you mean. They’ll turn up.”

            “Where do you guys live?” Asked Dan, changing the subject.

            “New York City.”

            “Oh, so are we. We’re right on 78^th street near Fifth Avenue. “

            “Nice, I’m downtown in Tribeca. You’re right at Central Park. One of our favorite places is the Ramble; you’re not far from there.”

            “I jog through there. I love the Park and know it well.”

            “You’re lucky to live so close,” Sam said as he felt his cell phone vibrate in his jacket pocket. He took his phone out. “Excuse me, I have to take this call.” He got up and walked towards the men’s room. He locked himself in a stale, but stood facing the door so he could see if the door opened. He redialed the number that just called him.

His old friend Jerry Mason, of the Detective’s Squad at the 14^th Precinct answered his phone. “Hey Sam, thanks for calling me back.” Jerry and Sam were college buddies. Years ago Sam thought he would be a lawyer and even majored in criminal justice, but once he took a creative writing class his future began to change. Jerry was Sam’s sounding board for many of his crime thrillers, advising him on the nuances of police procedures, making sure his fiction sounded convincing.

            “Do you have anything on this guy?”         

            “No Daniel Roberts is clean. He just married a very wealthy woman. His wife’s father is J.D. Hunter, a huge real estate developer in Hawaii.

            “I know. I just rode on Daddy’s private plane.”

            “You did. Well, you must be having a great time, while the rest of are busy working double shifts.”

            “I’ll make it up to you later. I’ll treat you to a rib dinner.”

            “I checked with Hawaiian officials, and they just found a woman’s body on the Island you mentioned to me early this morning. You didn’t see it on the news there?”

            “Jerry, I’m at a writer’s conference, and now I’m trying to keep an eye on Claire and her friend. I haven’t seen a TV or newspaper since I arrived.”

            “Well, they might be trying to keep this one quite for a while till they identify her, and try to get a handle on what happened. Her body was found on the small island, in a cave. Some hikers found her.”

            “Maybe Claire was right, Maybe this guy is involved in this. She thought he killed his wife, but she’s alive and well. Please do me a favor Jerry and see if you can find out if there’s any connection between Dan and the woman”

              “Of course Sam.”

            The bathroom door opened and Sam could see the man through the crack in stall door. It was another patron, but he didn’t want anyone over hearing his conversation.

            “Jerry, I got to go. Thanks a lot for your help.”

            “Okay, Sam. I’ll be in touch if I have anything new to report. Bye”

            “Okay, bye, buddy.” Sam tapped End Call and slipped his phone back in his jacket pocket. He flushed the toilet, and washed his hands then headed back to the table.


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