Absolute Write

Instructions:

Show a character’s approach to relationships in a short scene. A harmless exchange between mother and daughter? A submissive character overwhelmed by a dominant partner? A passionate lover’s quarrel? A forlorn, unrequited letter?

Use your characters’ interaction to show the dynamics of their relationship, show how they’re growing together or growing apart, or just have silly fun. Character descriptions at the beginning are forbidden this time around–let them speak or act for themselves!

Now, I can’t tell you about my characters, except to say these two come from Hide & Seek, a novel that is just waiting for publication. 🙂

The excerpt:

The thought of Tripp’s name brought Lexi both pleasure and pain. That their separation came at her own hand grated. Pride, morals, ethics, even her own code kept her from reaching out to him. The phone should have been the easy choice. Instead, she left the confines of home—the guardianship Ian and Emma had on her. They, too, brought a measure of guilt—Lexi had gone without a word to her sister.

With the wind across her face and the ocean in front of her, the only person she wanted had failed to find her.

“Need some help?”

Lexi whirled. So lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t heard him approach.

“What’re you doing here?”

“I came to find you. May I?” Tripp aimed a finger toward the spot next to her.

“Sure.”

He sat beside her, pulled his knees up and dug his shoeless toes into the sand.

“How’d you find me?” The wind blew hair across her face.

Tripp moved it behind her ear, a gesture she recognized from their very first introduction.“Wasn’t hard, what with my secret ability to find stuff.” He chuckled.

“You don’t find stuff, you just don’t get caught.” She turned back to the ocean.

“Point taken.” Tripp kicked up sand with his toes. “Wanna talk?”

“What do we have to say to each other? I mean, you’ve got your thing, I’ve got mine. I thought you were getting married.”

He shivered. “Jill and I are not getting married. You and I, Lexi, we’re connected by a powerful force.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“I do actually.”

She raised one eyebrow. “What do you know?”

“Pretty much everything.”

Lexi pulled her hair back over her shoulder. “The journal?”

“Ian made a copy, mailed it to me. I’ve read it in its entirety.”

She shifted toward him. “George and Marge’s real identity?”

“Missy told me the whole story.” He kicked up another clump of sand.

“The guy that came after me in the farmhouse?”

The muscle in his cheek worked overtime as he clenched and relaxed. “One of Jack Sloan’s guys from Savannah.”

“Why’d he want the pendant?”

Tripp stopped. “Well, shit. I forgot to ask. I’ll have Jill find out. I’m sure —”

Lexi stood, wiping sand from her jeans. “I’m not in the middle of you two … ever.” She started back down the dock.

Tripp caught her wrist, pulling her into him. “Stop and listen for one damn minute.”

Lexi blinked at his tone — forceful and commanding. “I—”

“It’s my turn now.”

She stepped away. “No, it’s not. If you know all the rest then you know that.” Tears welled at the corners of her eyes.

Tripp pulled her against him and crushed his lips to hers.

She wanted to refuse the emotion he poured into the kiss. An internal plea, beg or scream to respond grew within her.

“My turn,” he said.

She didn’t move.

Tripp laid his lips against hers again but with a softness that undid her. “I had no doubt what I needed to do, but it all took so damn long to get done.”

“Why didn’t you just call? Why did you sic the dogs on me and leave me to nothing but my thoughts?”

“I’ll show you why, once a few more pieces and parts are settled.”

“Like?”

He shushed her with the touch of a finger to her lips. “Do you trust me, Lexi? Will you, just for a moment, or a few days, even a week, set aside the moral compass against which you measure me day in and day out and just trust me?”

She bit at the side of her lip. Can I? Wasn’t that exactly the problem that brought me here?

“I’ll try.”

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