Purple Prose + Novel

Sweet Saturday Sample-- SAINT SLOAN

Read more Sweet Saturday Samples HERE...
First of all, do you like the new colors/background? It feels funny to have color here again lol, but I like it! I may keep color here. My husband says there are more colors than black... I'd like to see these colors. I told him black was slimming, maybe I'm subconsciously trying to 'slim' my blog... Hmmmmmm...

Anyway, it's been an exciting week. I had the Thanksgiving giveaway and celebrated Thanksgiving. :) (And I saw Breaking Dawn pt 2... )

I've also been eyebrow deep in edits for Saint Sloan which will be out late winter/early spring of 2013 by Astraea Press. This book has morphed and I'm loving it! For your snippet today, I'd like to give you a sample of the new and improved (though not perfect) SAINT SLOAN...

“Is this seat taken?” Sloan looked up and saw Ray looking down at her with his tray in his hands. He’d gotten the chicken and salad as well. “Yeah, that’s fine. I don’t think Mackenzie is coming back.” “Mackenzie? Mackenzie Woodard? Wasn’t she in our Kindergarten class?” “One and the same. My one and only friend who can’t seem to standtalking to me right now. Can’t really blame her.” Ray sat down and took a sip of his coke. “You seem to have that effect on people.” “Tell me about it.” She sighed with her head resting on her hand. “I can’t seem to say anything right today.” “Well third times a charm. Try talking to me.” As appealing as having a conversation with Ray sounded, she didn’t know if she should, with the roll she was on. “I don’t know. It appears I’m dangerous and can’t be trusted with words.” “I don’t mind. I’m used to it. Aaron can’t be trusted with words either.” She had a feeling he wasn’t wrong. With her mind swimming with questions, Sloan wanted to ask him why he was really back, and why he’d left in the first place. She wanted to ask more about his mother and Aaron, who she owed big time for taking her home. But instead, she pushed her salad around her plate. “I take it your day hasn’t gotten any better,” he said, his deep blue eyes locked on her. Sloan wished she knew the secrets behind them; then again, maybe she didn’t want to know. She definitely had plenty of skeletons in her own closet. “Not much, and I hate it because I have nothing to be upset over. I woke up this morning, I’m able to go to school, and tomorrow’s my birthday. But there’s something about today that just feels wrong. I feel wrong.” Sloan didn’t have a piece of lettuce on her plate that hadn’t been scooted to the other side, yet she hadn’t taken a bite. “Maybe that Darcy girl is starting to get to you.” “Maybe a lot of people are.” “That guy with her is looking at you.” He pointed with his fork to the football table. Sloan looked and saw Ray was right. “That’s Boyd,” she said as she pivoted back to face Ray. “My ex.” “Fun.” “Always.” “And Darcy’s all over him.” “Yep.” “She’s a bit of a handful, isn’t she?” Sloan laughed bitterly. “Handful is a nice word for what she is.” Ray grinned and ate a bit of his salad. “I sense some tension.” “You have no idea. It’s been a hard few months. Darcy used to be my friend, and Boyd was the ‘love of my life’,” she overemphasized. He smirked through chews. “And then?” “And then… they weren’t any more.” “Because of the Jesus thing?” “Because of a lot of things,” she sighed. “Ah. Did he dump you for her?” “No, he dumped me because I wouldn’t sleep with him anymore.” Well, that just flew out before she could stop it. She figured it was for the best, though. Might as well get it out in the open. “Anymore?” “I… changed. And I told Boyd that I was over it and didn’t want to sleep with him, or any guy and he didn’t take it well.” “So he broke up with you.” “After one particularly bad fight.” Ray’s eyes had a softness in them that drew her in. She felt like she could talk to him. It felt nice to talk. “Sounds rough.” “It wasn’t the high point of my life. He said he could get any girl in the world to sleep with him…” “All but you.” “All but me.” She shook her head, not wanting the thoughts from that night to bring her any farther down. “Sounds to me like he’s a real upstanding guy.” “That’s what Aaron said.” “That a fact?” Ray’s eyes fixed on hers. The softness faded, and a hardness she didn’t like took its place. “I’m surprised he stopped to pick you up. He doesn’t usually care so much.” “Maybe he felt generous.” She shrugged and hoped it was true. “Maybe he saw a pretty girl standing on the side of the road and thought he could get something from her.” “He never tried to do anything like that. He just talked. I appreciated it.” Ray put his fork in his plate and leaned over the table. His voice was a low whisper, but she could tell he meant every word he said. “Don’t get me wrong. I love my brother. He does what he can to take care of us. But I also know him. Trust me when I say you don’t want to get involved with him.” It upset her that Ray felt the need to butt into her personal life and tell her what to think about Aaron, then she had to laugh at herself. Wasn’t that exactly what she was doing to Mackenzie? Irony stung. “I’m not getting involved with anyone.” Her mind whirled with his warning mixed with what Travis told her on the way to school. The rumor is that Aaron made the drugs that killed his mother. Pretty messed up if you asked me. “Anyone? Ever.” “Ever.” And she meant it… well mostly she meant it. If Ray stopped being so cryptic about his brother she might could see herself getting involved with him. He was cute which used to be her only criteria for a date. “Hmmm… You know, not all Hunter men are bad news.” “Says the one who mysteriously appeared behind my seat in Biology a few days after I talked to his brother.” He wrinkled his nose. “Yeah, I guess that is a little weird.” Sloan put her elbows on the table and leaned her face on them “So, tell me Ray Hunter. Are you like your brother? Are you only being nice to me to get in my pants?” Ray leaned back in his seat and fought to stifle a laugh, clearly not expecting that question.“I’d never dream of it.” “Good.” She was so ready to be over with the sex talk. Between Ray and Mackenzie she was burned out on it. “So, when do you want to get started on this Biology project? We have till Christmas break, so about three weeks.” “I’d rather get started on it as soon as we can then. I don’t like having things hanging over my head.” “Another thing we have in common.” Sloan grinned, extremely happy Mr. Lawrence had made Ray her partner. “I wished we had something more interesting than animal cells. Blah.” “If only we could make animal cells somewhat interesting…” “How by having a presentation full of sparklers and loud explosives? Or what about a powerpoint slideshow with cool effects, graphics, and music.” Sloan giggled. “It’s a thought.” Her face fell. “I was kidding.” “I’m not.” “Fireworks?” “No…” he scoffed. “The other.” “A powerpoint with graphics and stuff?” Ray tapped his fingers on the temple. “You’re a genius.” “I was kidding.” He’d already zoned out. Like a poker chip, he twirled his fork around his fingers, and she saw the wheels turning in his brain. “I say we work on it over dinner.” “Tonight?” “Sure. You got other plans?” “Well, tonight, I hadn’t planned on cooking anything big. Just spaghetti. My mom won’t be home until way after nine, and I’ll have to run it by her first.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Darcy drapped all over Boyd as they walked behind me toward the hallway doors. Travis and Mackenzie were holding hands and chitchatting next to them. Darcy took a precious second from her life to wink at me as she passed then laughed her annoyingly superior laugh. Someday, she’d get hers. I just hoped I was around to see it. It probably wasn’t the most Christianly way to think, but I couldn’t help it. I’d had enough. “I can cook.” I heard Ray say and quickly focused on him again. I spent too much of my time thinking about Darcy and Boyd anyway. It wasn’t healthy. “You can come to my house.” “What about your brother?” “He works third shift. He always sleeps until about ten. If you come over after school, you can be gone before he wakes up.” She smirked. “Ashamed of me meeting your family, eh?” “As I recall, you’ve already met him.” “Well, let me call my mom and see if it’s okay with her.” He raised a brow? “She doesn’t trust you now.” “Oh, she trusts me. Just not the guys.” “Very wise of her.” He smiled, and his gorgeous eyes shined. It made me get chill bumps down to my toes. “Tell her I promise to be on my best behavior.” “I’ll be sure to let her know.” The ten minute bell rang, letting Sloan know she didn’t have much time to get to English class. “I’d better go. How can I get in touch with you to let you know if I can come over or not?” “I’ll wait for you outside at the flagpole after school. You can tell me then.” “How very 1950s.” She stood with her tray. “You don’t own a cell phone or anything I can text?” He shrugged. “Maybe I’d like to see you again in person before I go home.” “Maybe you aren’t the shy type I thought you were.” He laughed and picked up his tray. “Looks can always be deceiving.”

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Sweet Saturday Sample-- SAINT SLOAN + Novel