In the spirit of “flip the book open and see what it sounds like,” here’s a short excerpt from Chapter Six of A Gift of Thought, which will be released June 12th.
Stop reading here if you hate all spoilers! (Also if you object to curse words that start with the letter “B”)
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She forced all of her weight against him, but her feet were already slipping on the smooth asphalt. “You shouldn’t get near strange women in parking lots,” she said. “You never know what they might do.” The words came out more breathless than she liked, and she tried to steal a glance at the ground. If she let him go, could she get the bag and retrieve whatever he’d been holding?
No, she decided regretfully. He was too close, she wouldn’t have enough time. Choke hold? No, the bastard was too big. And too tough.
She felt the snap more than heard it, but his scream of rage could have been heard halfway down the street if there’d been anyone around. Damn. She dropped his arm and then quickly kicked her bag and whatever was beneath it under the car as she danced backwards and dropped into a combat stance.
Had the break even registered with him? He turned to face her, his arm dangling limply at his side. Pale skin, hair in a buzz cut so short it was almost shaved, probably 280 pounds of muscle. She noted the details automatically, hoping she’d need them for a police report later.
This guy was big, fast, and too hopped up on steroids or something else to care about the pain of his broken arm. Her best bet was to get help. And quickly.
Ty would kill her for being so over-confident.
“Now I’m gonna kill ya, bitch.”
Okay, Ty would have to get in line.
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Last line revised courtesy of a wonderful beta reader, Mike Kent. Thanks, Mike!
Elaine Cristina said:
What a nice date for the realease!
Wyndes said:
6/12/12 — I liked it, too! If I'd been just a little more together, it could have been 6/9/12, which would be exactly six months after I released Ghosts and also a very nice date, but I think I'll still need those last few days.
platoshead said:
Oh Wyndes!Than/then confusion:"She felt the snap more than heard it."Oh yeah. Does the pavement really have to be "smooth"?
Wyndes said:
Thanks for the than! I believe I caught it in a recent round of edits, but I didn't bother to fix it here. And if that pavement wasn't smooth, there would be no slipping. Making it snow to give it that little extra loss of friction would be inconvenient. I'm surprised that bothers you more than regretfully, automatically, limply and quickly. Four whole adverbs in 250 or so words, shame on me. 🙂 (Five really, but one of those quicklys never even got considered as a cut.)