Continuing with stops along my read-thru of my “By Moonlight” dark shapeshifter series, I’m pausing at book two, CHASED BY MOONLIGHT as the heat index rises as high as the stakes when Max’s implication in a high-profile murder case forces Cee Cee to step back from their relationship in order to prove him innocent . . . which would be easier if he wasn’t hiding something . . . or someone from her. As promised, here’s a glimpse at the NOLA detective through Max’s jaded yet inexperienced eyes.
He’d been in love with her for almost half of his life, though he’d barely spoken a handful of words to her for eight of those twelve years. Since the first fateful time they’d crossed paths, she’d become one of only three people he’d ever trusted.
She’d hit him like a locomotive while he stood frozen on the tracks, unable to move out of the way even as the whistle shrieked in warning. His emotions had been a train wreck ever since. Not prepared for her, he’d been startled, then amused when she got in his face, that sassy, sexy mouth ripping into him as if he was some small-time pick-pocket rather than the power behind the most powerful criminal in New Orleans, and he could think of nothing else but how those lips would taste.
She was a cop, the antithesis of everything he’d been since Jimmy Legere took him out of the swamps, grooming him from the time he was led away from the decomposing body of his mother to be the perfect weapon to wield against Jimmy’s enemies. Fierce and emotionless, Max had been feared since he was a teen. He’d heard them say he killed without conscience, but that wasn’t true. He hadn’t measured the right or wrong of what he did against the tremendous need to repay the man who’d rescued him, doing whatever was asked of him, without question, without pause.
Until Charlotte Caissie.
As absence makes hearts grow fonder, the unlikely couple is forced to see their budding relationship for what it is – an impossible yet irresistible challenge to overcome, if they can as the past as well as the present endangers their future together.
As next week leads into a loooong holiday weekend, I plan to get busier on RISE BY MOONLIGHT, following up on the progress made at last weekend’s day long Write In with a posse of Mid-Michigan Romance Writers of America pals in a Holiday Inn Express conference room. Here we are hard at work . . .
Whoops! Or rather enjoying a reward at the end of a prosperous day.
Lifting a glass (or a coffee cup) to all my fellow Warriors this weekend. May the Words be with you!
Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly hop for everyone who loves to write! Share an 8 to 10 sentence snippet of your writing on Sunday. Visit other participants on the list and read, critique, and comment on their 8sunday posts.
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I love that she is not afraid of him regardless of his power. And her fearlessness seems to intrigue him.
ReplyDeleteFlint on steel. Exactly.
DeleteI love revisiting the early days of their relationship. I also love how you delve into his psyche, explaining how/why he could kill. Looks like you all had a great time at the write-in. Enjoy the holidays, esp. with the family.
ReplyDeleteReally good time at the Write In! Holidays are extended through New Years w the grand guy showing up for a week's visit on the 28th! Can't wait.
DeleteInteresting point he's at, now having to consider maybe something else matters more than repaying this debt he feels. Enjoyed the excerpt!
ReplyDeleteIndeed. Love and honor, it doesn't get much stickier.
DeleteThey say opposites attract, but this relationship is going to test those boundaries to the extreme!
ReplyDeleteAnd you don't get more opposite than these two! That's what makes them so fun to write about.
DeleteThere is just so much to love about this excerpt! Fabulously written, Nancy! Great pic of you and your RWA pals, too! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julie!! I adore these character (you can kinda tell) and these pals aren't so shabby, either.
DeleteLove changes everything. Wonderful dynamic you've created between these two strong characters.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alexis! So different, yet so alike in all the ways that pull them together.
DeleteI kept waiting and waiting for some remark about her classy caboose, but it never came. Sigh. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI know. He just has no class at all.
DeleteThese two are such opposites a future together will be difficult.
ReplyDeleteBut not impossible.
DeleteSubtle line - just kinda in the narration - lead away from the decomposing body of his mother - whoa!
ReplyDeleteTweeted.
Kind of a life altering sidebar.
DeleteFantastic, romantic snippet!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amy!
DeleteI bet his boss isn't too pleased with this sudden attack of conscience. o.O
ReplyDeleteNo, he certainly wasn't.
DeleteIt sounds as if she could either put him on the right path, or break his heart and leave him colder than ever. That's the trouble with powerful feelings of love.
ReplyDelete