It's been a while since I shared any of my work. I've been writing, but also editing and formatting. I thought I'd share from the work I've just completed for an anthology I'm participating in. This story is about a team building operation set in a vineyard in northern California. Remember this is completely unedited work.
Working Title: Team Vino
Jules Rosetti’s happy, quiet, far-from-the-madding-crowd life tumbled straight into the shitter in the time it took her assistant to utter eight fateful words.
“I thought you told her she couldn’t come.”
Marcus Jepson’s ominous words clanged through her consciousness like the foghorn at Point Reyes. Loud, blaring, caught-by-surprise scary.
Snapping her attention away from the team building activity schedule she’d been buried in for the past hour, she followed his gaze out the office window. Oh hell, an ostentatious Rolls Phantom glided to a stop in the vineyard’s parking lot. Not in a space, mind you. In the freaking center of the traffic lane. As if by divine privilege, this car wasn’t required to adhere to mundane traffic laws or niceties.
Gitta Grimes had disregarded Jules’ request to stay away from Team Vino. Probably should have told the woman to stay the fuck away, but that would have only earned Jules a scolding for using profanity. Her stomach clenched. That unreachable spot between her shoulder blades itched worse than when she’d had a cast on a broken wrist and the summer temperatures had soared. She’d kill for a knitting needle or chopstick or something long and sharp to ease the discomfort. Or maybe put her out of her misery.
The chauffeur hopped out then scurried around the front end of the car. Jules pressed trembling fingers against her lips, as if to hold in a scream to the driver to stop. Biting her tongue, she watched the driver lay his gloved fingers on the chrome-plated handle and yank the door open. He extended his arm toward the interior. Peyton Channing, Gitta’s glamorous assistant alighted, yeah that was the word Jules needed, from the back. Her cigarette-fit black jeans molded to the woman’s bulimic-esque frame. A fuzzy chartreuse sweater was the perfect backdrop for the waterfall of the woman’s long curly blond tresses. Peyton flipped her hair pretty-girl style as she pranced across the lot toward the office.
Jules peered through the darkened windows of the limo to see whether Gitta had accompanied Peyton. Maybe the planets were aligned harmoniously and she’d be lucky. Or maybe not. Movement in the rear compartment solidified her incipient dread into a giant sour melon in her gut.
So now, hop over to Kristina Knight's blog to see what selection she's featuring. I hope it's more from her super romance project. But what ever it is, it's bound to be incredible.