So I’ve finished writing Angel Unleashed and have begun the hideous torture of editing. Yes, it is torture. At least for me. One of my critique partners likes the editing more than the writing. Clearly, she done lost her mind.

Anyway. I thought I’d share a little of what I am working on–it is, after all, Teaser Tuesday!

So without further ado, here’s your teaser.

“I need your help.” There. She said it. And it hadn’t hurt. Much.
“The mighty I-work-alone needs my help?” Joey busied herself wiping down the counter.
“Can you locate Jake?” She blurted.
“Locate as in find?” Joey stopped mid-wipe, lids narrowing. “You lost Jake?”
“No. Yes.” She took a calming breath. “I told him to stay put while I checked something out. When I returned, he was gone.”
“And you thought he’d listen?” Joey all but shouted.
“Of course I did!”
Throwing the dish cloth in the sink, she rounded on Liadin. “First lesson in human males—they have a penis.”
“I am aware of that particular trait.” Now she sounded like a frigid school-marm.
“And are you also aware that the brain and penis cannot work in tandem?”
“Enough about his penis!”

I think it’s a record–I’m actually posting a teaser on Teaser Tuesday for the second time. Whew! That’s a little too predictable for me.

The words are coming hard today. Not sure why, but those stubborn bastards just won’t pour out like they’re supposed to. Still, I thought I’d share a little of what I did write.  It’s a hot mess, but enjoy a little more Jake and Lia.

He was still smiling when he climbed in the driver’s side. “Don’t forget your seatbelt.”
“I’m an angel. Seatbelts are irrelevant for me.”
“That’s nice. Buckle is right there.” He managed to keep neutral expression even though hers said she wanted to slap him.
“Fine,” she mumbled, securing the strap across her lap. “But if it squishes my breasts again, I’m done.”
Jake felt his jaw drop. His gaze slowly rolled down her slender neck to her aforementioned assets. They didn’t resemble anything squished to him. In fact, they looked mighty damn plump and soft, tempting him to reach out and give the theory a healthy testing.
“Definitely get my nuts fried,” he muttered, jerking around to shove the key into the ignition.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
He threw his arm over the back of her seat and concentrated on guiding the car off of the drive. She crossed her arms and Jake bit back a groan. The position lifted rather than hid her chest. It took all his effort not to zoom in on them.
“Were you looking at my—”
“I’m a guy,” he blurted.
“Ah, yeah, I noticed that.”
“You’re not.”
“Noticed that too,” she said dryly.
Then she should realize the implications without him having to spell them out. He scraped a palm over his jaw and realized he’d forgotten to shave. He blamed her. If she didn’t walk around in tight jeans and an even snugger tank, he wouldn’t neglect such things.
A glower creased his forehead. “You can’t mention breasts in front of a man and expect him not to look. Unless you’re talking about chicken breast. And even that is pushing it when it comes to you.”
She blinked. “Did you just compare me to poultry?”

I love these two. How do you like them?

Yeah, I know today isn’t Tuesday, which in the writing world is THE day to post teasers. But today is Thursday and that also begins with T so, yeah, I’m working that angle. How about Throw You a Snippet Thursday? Or, How About a Taste Thursday? Or, even better, It’s Thursday and I’m Sharing a Teaser Because I Feel Like It.

Works for me.

I’m sharing this little bit because I’m trying to get the right feel for Jake, my Detective, in Angel Unleashed. He’s a little jaded and used to calling the shots. An female angel giving him orders? Uh-huh. Sure.

I would love to hear what you think of my newest hero. Personally, I adore him–he’s got a great ass and cuffs–how could I not?

Angel Unleashed, Chapter Six, First Draft

Jake turned off the main drag, planning to take the back way home and avoid the bumper to bumper chaos that was downtown Raleigh at quittin’ time. They rode in silence for several minutes, hitting the suburb areas,  when Liadin sat forward, her gaze narrowing on something through the windshield.
“What?”
She shook her head. “Not sure. Pull over.”
“Here? Right here, in the middle of… cows?”
“Now.”
His brows rose at the command but he did as asked and stopped along the side of the road. She was out of the car before he got it in park.
“Balls.” He jerked off his seatbelt and bounded after her, almost falling in the ditch he’d parked too close to. “Lia! God damn it, wait up.” Several cows lifted their heads from the grass and mooed at their intrusion on dinner.
She thrust her hand behind her, calling for silence, then turned slowly towards him. “Get back in the car.” She took off at a fast clip across the field towards the woods.
“Yeah. I’ll do that,” he mumbled, unfastening his holster and jogging to catch up.
“Thought I told you to go back to the car.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t hear you.” He winked at her skeptical look.
Her mouth formed a tight line, but thankfully she didn’t try to make him return to the side of the road. Not that he would have gone.
Her pace slowed as they neared the line of trees until she stopped to take in the woods. Her hands went to her hips. Her beautiful face took on an ugly frown.
“You going to tell me what’s up?” He asked, watching her closely.
“I don’t know what’s up.” She took a measured step forward and froze. Shock claimed her face and she lifted her hand as if to brush it over something. Jake, fascinated, edged closer, his breath quickening with anticipation.
She pushed forward and disappeared.
He blinked at the empty space beside him. Then at the air before him. “Well, fuck that,” he said, pushing in the same spot. A second later, he was gone.

Well, today is Tuesday. In the writing community, that means Teaser Time.  As this is only my second teaser in five years, it’s plain to see I’m not a good follower of rules.

Ask my mother.

Or my husband.

The poor sod.

Here’s my dilemma–do I want to share Angel Redeemed or my WIP (Work in Progress, ya’ll), Angel Unleashed?

I’ve missed climbing into Ursus’ head. Not only because I enjoy his broodish arrogance, but I originally wrote Angel Unborn in both his and Joey’s points of view. Returning to his perspective in AR was a treat I didn’t even realize I needed.

However, I’m falling a little in love with Jake, my hero in Angel Unleashed. He’s a homicide detective and not real keen on the whole angel/demon thing. Combine that with my heroine, Liadin, an angel warrior, who isn’t a big fan of humans, and I very much enjoy their head-butting.

Alas, I think I’ll go with Ursus. I do love him so.

Enjoy (with abs like that, how can you not?)!

Angel Unleashed excerpt:

His lungs fought to expand with each breath as he waited for her to acknowledge him. His limbs refused to obey the command to go to her, his mouth unable to even drum up the spit to speak. When she finally turned tears glistened on her lashes. Her chin quivered as she placed a hand on his chest.

“You’re real,” she whispered, tilting her face away in an attempt to hide from him. “Or the best hallucination I’ve ever had.”

Heat seeped from her small palm through his shirt to his skin, releasing a small bit of his tension. Several easy reassurances bounced through his mind, but “You’re definitely hallucinating,” came out instead, surprising him almost as much as her.

Her gaze snapped up, full of fiery challenge, and his lips twitched. There was his little fury, buried behind a layer of reservation and what he knew to be false docility. Damn, he’d missed that defiant temper. He wanted to snatch her up and kiss her senseless. However, he was no fool; not when that familiar spark was flashing in her eyes.

She crossed her arms, regarding him down the line of her nose with a haughty look. “I don’t know whether to kiss you or slap you for that.”

His brows lifted, and he couldn’t keep a smile from forming. And here he’d feared she would treat him differently. As tempted as he was to show her his preference for kissing, the crack in her voice and the rigid line of her back kept him rooted in place.

Ursus satisfied his craving to touch her by brushing his knuckles along her cheek, tracing the outline of one fading bruise. “I’m sure we’ll get around to both,” he said, his ribcage constricting as she leaned into his caress. He tugged her closer, until their breath mingled. “So which is it? Are you going to kiss me or slap me?”

Hope you enjoyed that little snippet of Ursus.

P.S. It’s snowing on my blog, ya’ll!

WINNING!

You just heard that in Charlie Sheen’s voice. You’re welcome.

I’ve never done teaser Tuesday.  Why? I don’t know. I like the idea. I like reading teasers from other authors. I’ve just never done it myself.  So, in celebration of because I said so, here’s my first teaser Tuesday excerpt. It’s even fresh from my demented mind via way of my fingertips–it’s far from perfect, or even good, since I’ve not edited it yet, but I wanted to share the characters to get a feel for how you take to them. Let me know what you think!

Chapter five excerpt of Angel Unleashed.

“I’m an angel.”
He blinked. His frown deepened.
“I’ve never revealed myself to a human,” I mumbled, swiping a hand over my face. “I don’t know the right words to convince you, or put you at ease. So…I’m going to show you instead.”
His brow lifted. Not with interest, but with amused curiosity that clearly conveyed he thought I was nuts.
My head dipped towards the patio doors. “Beautiful sunny morning, right?” I waited for him to acknowledge me, then said, “I’m going to blow up that flower pot sitting on the railing of your deck.”
He chuffed a laugh, repositioned himself to better see the deck, and gave me an expectant look.
I called the power with a snap of my fingers. Lightning surged upward, shattering the pot and sending pieces in all directions. Dirt and shredded flower littered the deck under the railing.
He jumped back with a, “son of a bitch!” Muscles flexed and tense, he inched closer to the glass doors and peered out. “You annihilated my petunia.”
“I thought it’d be quicker, and easier, to show you.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and stepped away from me. “Yeah, I, ah, got the message, loud and clear.”
His dazed expression left me feeling abashed. What did I have to feel guilty about? He needed to know, and I didn’t have time to coddle him. What was it humans were fond of saying? Rip off the band-aid? Unfortunately, my human was a big bleeding wound.
“Sorry.” My shoulders lifted in a jerky shrug. “I don’t know how to do this with you. Your kind baffles me.”
“My kind.” He ran a twitchy hand through his hair. “That’s what you meant when you said your kind doesn’t have last names.”
“Yes.”
“Uh-huh.” He pulled the gun from his waistband, and I tensed. He sat it on the coffee table, then walked past me into the kitchen. “I need a drink.”
A cabinet door slammed, followed by his muttering, “Ten o’clock in the god damn morning and I’m going drink this whole fucking bottle.”
I followed the sounds of  the slamming and cursing to find him pouring a glass of amber liquid. “Ryder—”
“Nope. I don’t want to hear another word out of you until I’m good and drunk.” He chugged the contents and refilled the glass.