Welcome to Snippet Saturday, where authors share snippets of their work.
This week we’re doing emotional scenes. And hey, isn’t that what romance is all about? Emotion? Fun stuff!
Here’s a scene from RIDING WILD, the first book in my Wild Riders series. Mac and Lily have a past…and ten years of emotional baggage to wade through together.
Hope you enjoy!
He pulled away from her embrace. “You have to trust me on this, Lily.”
She hooked her thumbs in the belt loops of her jeans and blew out a breath of utter frustration. She’d held enough inside. “I want to trust you. God, you have no idea how much I want to. After what Jessie told me about you, I know you care about people. I know you wouldn’t deliberately do anything to harm millions of people.”
“You’re right.”
“Then why can’t you have enough faith in me to talk to me? Why is that so hard to do? Why has it always been so hard for you to be straight with me?”
He brushed his fingers through his hair. “It’s too dangerous for you to know.”
“Bullshit. It’s too dangerous for me to be with you. You didn’t have any trouble dragging me along, though.”
He didn’t answer her. Of course he didn’t, because there was no answer. “This is just like ten years ago.” The reality of it slapped her across the face like an ice cold hand.
He frowned. “What?”
“Ten years ago, you pushed me away. You didn’t trust me.”
He shook his head. “No, you’re the one who thinks I’m going to sell the virus to some terrorist organization. The issue of trust is with you, Lily.”
“Is it? Ten years ago you didn’t believe in my feelings for you, or my faith in you. You didn’t trust that I knew what I was doing when I said I loved you and wanted to be with you. You always thought you knew what was best for me. You thought you knew better than I did. Just like now.”
“That’s not true.”
His voice went low and he looked away, no longer meeting her eyes. She knew Mac. That meant he was lying.
Why did this have to happen? Every time they got close something happened to pull them apart. Maybe they weren’t meant to be together. Her head knew that. Logic told her that. She was on the good side of law enforcement. Mac was…God only knew what he was, but he wasn’t eager to share it with her, and that meant trouble.
Maybe it was time her heart caught up to cold reality. They had great chemistry together, but beyond that, they couldn’t sustain more than a couple hours worth of happiness without it dissolving into an argument. They were polar opposites in thinking and values.
Maybe her father had been right all those years ago. She and Mac didn’t belong together. They had nothing in common, no shared belief systems.
He didn’t believe in her.
And right now, she didn’t believe in him.
She went to the door and threw open the dead bolt. Mac’s hand covered hers.
“Where are you going?”
“Out. The air in here is stifling.”
“Then we go together. I don’t want you to go out there alone.”
She half turned, making sure he could read the expression on her face.
“You don’t trust me. You’re not being solicitous or looking out for my welfare. You just think I’m going to find the nearest phone and turn you in.” She pivoted all the way around. “I could have done that the night at the museum, you know.”
At his wide-eyed look, she nodded. “Oh yeah. I saw you break in. My hand was on my cell phone. I could have had the cops there waiting the moment you stepped out of the museum with the artifact in your hand.”
He stared at her, a dumbfounded expression on his face.
“Why didn’t you?”
She blinked back the welling tears, refusing to let him see her cry. “Because instinctively I knew it was you. The sounds of the motorcycle, something about the way you stood. My heart told me it was you. I compromised my job, probably my career, for you. Because I couldn’t bear to see you fail. How stupid was that?”
She turned and walked out the door.
This time, Mac didn’t follow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
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