Sunday Snippet: Man Up

The work project abundance continues. I'm plugging along and chiseling away at the four current projects I have on my plate—two copy edits, a proofread, and a developmental edit are the main events. I also have a set of revisions to review and a read through to start. It's chaotic but also … fun? I love that everything I'm working on right now is so different. Not one of the manuscripts is similar to the other ones.

As usual, totally unhinged weather in Ohio. It's cold. It's hot. It's both in one day. Rain, sun, gloomy clouds, and hey, a chance for more snow. I did get lucky and had a mostly clear night for the recent blood moon eclipse, which was amazing to watch. Being a night owl comes in very hand sometimes.

Had a limited viewing schedule this week, mainly because I needed to focus on the words in the manuscripts. I did get a few things watched. I might have to give binge watching something for background noise a go for the next few weeks.

Finished up Beyond Paradise and thoroughly enjoyed the first season finale. They packed so much into this episode. The case, Humph and Archie fight, more shenanigans from the Chief Super, Esther and Hump bonding, Margo being Margo, Kelby being Kelby, and of course, the crew from Death in Paradise at the end. I can't wait to watch the first holiday episode this week!

Caught an episode of Elementary and quite enjoyed it. Interesting interactions between the consulting trio and the police duo and twisty bits thrown in to keep things rolling.

Enjoyed an episode of Batman Beyond. It's one I definitely remembered and liked during my first watch of this series.

Watched an episode of Classic Rugrats and actually remember this one, which is odd because most of the ninth season has been new-to-me stuff.

Started an episode of London Kills, the opener to the fourth season. I had to stop partway through because I need to pay attention and this isn't the week for me to do that.

Also binged a marathon of Peter Gunn on one of the live PlexTV channels. I've been hitting Plex up for a lot of viewing fare lately and I might end up using it over the next several weeks for background noise. Stay tuned.

That's pretty much it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Man Up, a novella that brings a couple together when they compete to see who can outdo who.

Here's the miniblurb:

Hattie Hale and Nero Palmer, instructors at the Academy of Light, are supposed to set the example, but can't quite get past their competitive natures. A drunken game of one-ups-manship goes all the way to the sleeping chamber because neither will admit to being outdone.

And a preview snippet…

Hattie wished she could sip her mug of coffee slowly, but she always inhaled the first blast of caffeine of the day. "Right, then. I'm ready for a refill. You can talk now." She reached for the carafe and filled her mug while carefully watching him through her lashes.

She had to give the guy props. He'd kept up with her last night and didn't seem too bad off. In fact, he appeared to be doing just fine. A notch of respect ticked up for him.

Nero's chin lifted. "Ground rules? Let's start there." He propped an ankle on his knee. "We need some surprises because we know each other's strengths and weaknesses in the classroom."

Hattie blinked. "Wow. You've given this some thought, haven't you?" She didn't care how they competed because her main goal had been to … what had been the original point?

Right. She kind of wanted to test the waters and see if anything developed between them. But … she didn't want to be obvious.

Nero arched his brows. "Why wouldn't I? You issued a challenge and, well, it could be fun to compete for something other than test grades." He nodded toward the pot on the ottoman. "Mind if I have more? The coffee really is excellent."

Hattie's lips twitched. "Can I count that as a win?" She scooted the carafe closer to him.

Nero laughed. "Why not? I have to concede it's better than anything I've ever brewed." He refilled his mug and shook his head.

An idea popped into her mind. "Okay. Let's make one of our ground rules competing in nonmagickal areas." She had a couple of super-secret recipes she could pull out and blow his mind with.

Nero pondered for a moment. "Yeah. I'm down with that. Like a mix of magick we don't use in the classroom and regular, everyday stuff." Sipping from the mug, he watched her over the rim of the cup.

Hattie hid a smirk. "All right. I'll cook dinner tonight. You can cook tomorrow. Monday … well, we'll see how it goes. We can use it as a tiebreaker if we need to." Warming up to the plan, she made another suggestion. "For something magickal, I think we should try something with runes. Set a ward and see if the other can break it." She loved puzzles.

Nero tilted his head. "Yeah, okay. For nonmagickal, I'm thinking darts? I have a board in my shed. We could go best two out of three." He paused a moment. "For something with magick, how about layered hexes? We'll start at the same time and see who finishes first?"

Hattie added a stipulation. "Somewhere neutral for the runes and hexes. That way neither of us has an advantage over the other." She flashed a smile. "I'm not worried about the darts. Two out of three makes it fair." Settling back, she sipped more coffee.

Nero set his empty cup on the ottoman. "I think we're good to go. Like you said, we can use Monday if we need tiebreakers for anything." He made to stand up.

Hattie held up a hand. "Hold up a minute. I'm already one ahead of you with the coffee. I think we should switch nights. You cook tonight and I'll cook tomorrow." She had to give him a shot at keeping things even.

Nero narrowed his gaze again. "You need to get groceries, don't you?" The sly twist to his lips gave away his teasing.

She snorted. "No, but I was thinking we could maybe get the dart game out of the way after dinner." Mainly because she wanted to see him in his own space to get some ideas for the layered hexes.

Nero shrugged. "Let's say seven for dinner." He got up and started for the door. "Don't be late."

She grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it. See you then."

Having a lot of fun with this one. Competing as a get to know each other outside of their professional setting is a hoot to write.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye