Picking up a pencil, Viv began with her first line, outlining posture, positioning, expression— And a soft knock at the door startled her. She frowned and ignored it. Whoever it was should know better than to disturb her when she was making her notes after a day’s filming. But the knock came again, firmer this time. With a tight sigh, she got up, crossed the room, and yanked the door open. “This had better be bloody import—oh.” Viv folded her arms across the front of her shift and arched a brow. “Rowan. Everything all right?” Rowan’s stance was casual; her script rolled loose in one hand. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said, with just enough edge that Viv suspected she wasn’t, at all. “I knew you’d be working notes after today’s shoot, and I wanted – can I come in for a second? It’s about tomorrow’s scene.” Viv hesitated, but then curiosity got the better of her. “Of course.”

Viv already knows Rowan is trouble. That's hardly going to stop her inviting her IN, though... 😂💘

For this week's #lesficfri prompt, #sorry, here's a little excerpt from #AThousandReasons
(Now Available on Amazon and KU!)

#RowanAndViv

Beyond the penthouse windows, the city glittered like nothing had changed. In the black glass, Viv’s reflection stood with her – poised, perfect, solitary. The empty coffee cup was still on her desk behind her, long since faded into the background of her awareness. She held her phone loosely, her expression schooled into perfect neutrality as she browsed. There it was, again and again, on a score of different websites. The photo of her and Rowan. She’d known it was a problem before she’d even tapped the first link – and she was right. Because the photographer had caught something rare. Something real.

This is my very last snippet for #WIPSnips from this novel - because it's no longer a WIP...

It's officially available on Amazon and KU 🤗🌈🥰

So, here's the swansong from #AThousandReasons for today's prompt, #city.

(Don't worry, though, I have about ten other WIPs for future prompts 😂)

On set, Viv channelled every ounce of her emotion into her performance. Every movement was polished; every line sharp, weighted with an agony and regret that didn’t all belong to her character. Rowan met her, stride for stride, beat for beat – her drive electric, charged with something far more dangerous than Lyric’s rebellion. Charlie praised their chemistry again and again, but Viv hardly heard. Rowan’s focus on her had grown relentless, her proximity deliberate, each brush of movement blurring the line between script and something dangerous. “You’re losing your touch, Selandra,” Rowan goaded, thrusting a dagger at the Queen. She was a shade too close, and Viv had to take a step back to parry according to the choreography. But Rowan didn’t meet her on the counter thrust. Instead, she spun in a fluid pirouette, ending behind Viv with her blade pressed to the curve of her throat.

#WIPSnips prompt #belong

Excerpt from #AThousandReasons

By the way, this is the book in question...

If nothing else, it's pretty 😂🎥🎬❤️😶‍🌫️

#ComingSoon
#AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

Viv dropped her gaze to her wineglass, considering. Part of her burned to discuss it – and even more ill-advisedly, to repeat it – and Rowan being so gentle and thoughtful about it all wasn’t helping in the slightest. At last, she looked up and said carefully, “I… don’t want to pretend it didn’t happen.” Rowan released an explosive breath, and her lips curved so brightly it made Viv’s chest contract. “Thank God – because I’m quite sure I’ll be thinking about the way you kissed me every day for the rest of my life.” Viv smiled despite herself. “It wasn’t that spectacular.” Rowan raised both eyebrows. As high as they could go. “Fine,” Viv conceded after a beat. “Kissing you was… mind-blowing.” “I still can’t quite believe you did,” Rowan said with a slow shake of her head. “Stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” Viv sighed. “Was it?” Viv caught the falter in Rowan’s voice and replied softly, “Not because I regret it. Only because it could have disastrous consequences. You don’t need a tangle with Vivienne Vale on your CV, Rowan.”

#lesficfri prompt #thank

Excerpt from #AThousandReasons (releasing soon!!)

#RowanAndViv

Viv turned on her heel, retreating fast, her composure fraying with every step. By the time she reached her trailer, her hands were shaking. She slammed the door, leaned against it, and counted her breaths – one, two, three – but the tremor in her hands wouldn’t stop. She tried again, but her pulse refused to settle, and after a few seconds, she stalked to her mirror, lifted a sharp finger at her reflection and snarled, “Stop it. Damn you – STOP IT.” The sound split the small space, brittle and intimate. She stood there trembling, chest heaving, the echo still hanging in the air – and then a voice, smooth and quiet, cut through the static. “Viv.” She spun. She hadn’t even heard the latch click. Framed by the light, Rowan leaned against the doorframe in full regalia – calm, breathtaking, entirely unreal. The world tilted under Viv’s feet. “You can’t be here,” she managed – too sharp, too fast, as if venom might substitute for control. She recoiled until the makeup station caught her spine. “It’s— not a good time.” Rowan stepped inside. Her voice came steady, low. “It’s never a good time with you, is it?” Gently, she closed the door.

#vss365 prompt #reflection

excerpt from #AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

#Excerpt from #AThousandReasons

for #lesficfri prompt #chill

Her pulse skipped brittle beneath the aftermath of their exchange. She found her mark, lifted her chin, and waited for her cue. But her focus wasn’t on the director; it was riveted on the woman in front of her, close enough to touch and yet impossible to reach. Viv looked so fragile, suddenly. As if she were the furthest thing from ready for this scene. “Action!” Charlie called. Rowan reacted instinctively, drawing from Lyric’s anger to give Viv something to push against. “I told you this would happen,” she snarled. “I told you your pride would spawn your fall. You burned the last trace of grace between us and now there’s nothing left but ashes.” Viv responded, “You think you understand the stakes, Lyric – but you don’t. And I will never forgive you for choosing your temper over me.” Her voice came softer than it should have, not with the Queen’s fury, but with a quiet tremor that didn’t belong to Selandra at all. As the take progressed, the undercurrent of strain in her every move began to match the shadow behind her eyes.

#WIPSnips

prompt 15/11 #progress

Excerpt from #AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

Viv gestured lamely toward the armchairs. “Shall we just… sit?” Rowan nodded and crossed to the one by the window. The rain tapped against the panes, steady as a heartbeat, and she sank down with a small sigh – the first real breath she’d managed all day. Viv settled opposite, tucking one leg beneath her and fussing with the cushions; a small, ordinary motion that hit Rowan with an ache of affection. She watched, absorbed by the way Viv’s hair escaped from behind her ear, by the faint furrow of concentration on her brow as she attempted to get comfortable. When Viv finally stopped fidgeting, she glanced up and caught Rowan staring. “What?” “You’re… beautiful,” Rowan said. Viv blushed, ducking her head.

#lesficfri prompt #leg

Excerpt from #AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

Rowan tipped him a jaunty smile, strode across, and found her spot. She settled her feet, limbered her shoulders, and let the tension inside her build. She was in better spirits, and more than ready to work. Viv stepped to her mark opposite, her expression carefully neutral, and they began. Rehearsal ran. Lines they’d fumbled yesterday suddenly found purchase, an undercurrent threading between them that neither of them acknowledged, nor denied. Rowan met Viv’s gaze on a cue and felt it land, clean and true; Viv held it, effortlessly, and the moment between their characters practically caught fire. When Charlie finally called, “That’s it – we’ve got it! Thank God.” relief rippled through the attending crew like a change in the weather. And throughout the rest of the morning, the work held. Nothing overt, nothing reckless; only the sense that the wire between them was live again. Rowan did her job. So did Viv. But the space they’d been living in wasn’t empty anymore; it had a shape. A hum. A promise.

#WIPSnips prompt 13/11 #build

Excerpt from #AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

Rowan’s pulse fluttered. She tilted her head free to brush her lips along Viv’s throat, tasting the faint sweetness of her skin. Viv gasped, the sound fragile and human, and Rowan felt it echo somewhere deep inside her. The rush of heat it brought with it made Rowan pause, and she bit at her lip to steady herself. “Something wrong?” Viv whispered, a faint hitch of fear beneath her words. “God, no,” Rowan murmured, smiling. “I’m just… trying not to lose it.” Viv smiled back. “Maybe… we can? Just for tonight…” Her fingers skimmed higher, tracing fire beneath Rowan’s shirt. Gentle. Sure. Rowan closed her eyes, leaning into the scorching certainty of it. She wanted to let go – to stop thinking about cameras, endings, the ticking clock on their impossible little world – and beneath Viv’s touch, she almost could.

#WIPSnips prompt 12/11 #shirt

Excerpt from #AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

Viv looked up over the rim of the reading glasses and accepted the sticky chocolate treat Elaine held out. Elaine licked her fingers after its release and bustled back into the seat beside her to see the screen again. “That’s a powerful picture of Rowan,” she said. “Queen in the making, that.” “Mmm.” Viv handed the tablet back and turned her attention to the cake. “Rattled you already, has she?” Elaine continued, in her gruff, entirely too candid way. “You got that from ‘Mmm’?” Viv said, raising an eyebrow as she handed back the reading glasses. “It’s obvious to anyone with eyes she’s caught your attention,” Elaine replied. “And we both know how that kind of scenario ends. But the series is nearly over, and – well, just… keep it together, all right?” Viv sat back in her chair and fixed Elaine with a bland expression. “You do know you’re the only person in the world who can get away with saying things like that to me.”

#WIPSnips
prompt 09/11 #picture

Excerpt from #AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

“Heavens,” she said, reaching tentatively for her sense of humour as Rowan took another huge mouthful, “acting opposite me all day really took it out of you.” Rowan snorted – and choked – and the last slip of wary ice melted as Viv rose to thump her on the back. When she’d recovered enough breath to respond, Rowan gasped, “It’s having to carry your performance that knocks me.” And Viv laughed, finally. “Cheeky bugger.” Rowan schooled herself to seriousness. “You know, Viv… If you want any pointers…” Viv threw a cushion at her. Grinning, Rowan ducked and then got up to rinse their bowls. When she’d finished, she topped off their wine glasses and dropped back into her chair, and then her face settled to something a little less sassy. At length, she gently said, “I’m glad you came back tonight… Part of me feared you might sleep in your trailer.” Viv almost blushed. “I’ll admit I considered it.”

#WIPSnips
prompt 08/11 - #little

Excerpt from #AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

#lesficfri prompt #smooth

Excerpt from #AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

#WIPSnips
prompt 07/11 - #movement

Excerpt from #AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

Somehow, in my 64k-word sapphic romance wip about TWO CELEBRITY ACTRESSES...

The word #famous doesn't even appear once 😂

#vss365
#AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

Opening her eyes with an irritable expression, Viv vainly attempted to settle herself. “You are insufferable.” “I think the word you want is irresistible,” Rowan corrected, jovially. She turned toward her seat, deliberately letting her fingers trail across Viv’s shoulder – a feather-light touch that sent heat chasing down its path – and Viv gave in to the tide rising inside her. She caught Rowan’s hand and tugged, and Rowan lost her balance and tumbled sideways into her lap. “The word I want…” Viv said, her voice low and loaded as she looked down into Rowan’s wide eyes, “…is most definitely irresistible.”

#WIPSnips

prompt 05/11 - #trail

#AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

Viv poured into two mismatched mugs, carried them across, and set one beside Rowan. She settled opposite with a soft sigh, pulled her reading glasses down from her hair, and lifted her script from the coffee table. It was ridiculous, how natural she looked – as though this were simply a quiet evening at home. Rowan dropped her gaze into her mug, seething. Why did she have to look so relaxed, so domestic? Damn her. After a beat of brooding silence, Viv tried for a truce. Lightly, she said, “Only two weeks, Rowan. And then you’ll be rid of me.” Rowan looked up, met her mild gaze, and bit back all the things she’d like to say. Swallowing hard, she rose with an easy smile and offered a sarcastic toast with her mug. “Won’t be soon enough.” The joke was thin, and she could see on Viv’s face that it landed that way. Reminding herself to be more polite, she added, “Thanks for the tea. I’m going to turn in – get an early night, head start on tomorrow.”

#vss365
prompt 03/11 - #domestic

(WIP excerpt from #AThousandReasons)

Rowan gave a short, humourless laugh. “You were right. They’re always watching.” “They are,” Priya agreed carefully. “But like you said, the media only tells half the truth. Fans see what they want to see. You’re two brilliant women, trading fire on screen – that’s bound to stir any pot.” “Nice of you to skip over the fact they caught me clear as day, staring at Viv before we started,” Rowan said with a self-deprecating smile. “And – Christ – seeing it from the outside… I really must learn to control my bloody face.”

#WIPSnips prompt 03/11 - #nice

#AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

“All hail the Queen!” Nick repeated, throwing himself to his knees. Others shouted, “All hail the Queen!” And Viv, braced against the tree with her eyes locked on Rowan as if nothing else in the world existed, found herself whispering… “All hail the Queen.” Over the heads bowed at her feet, Rowan caught her gaze again. Softer, this time. Coloured by a strange kind of sadness. Against the subtle ache she saw there, a fierce longing surged in Viv’s chest – and she nearly pushed off from her vantage, nearly closed the distance between them, tortured by the urge to claim her, take her, keep her. “CUT!” The sound cracked through her like thunder. She blinked, and the spell was broken. The world was abruptly too bright, too loud. Crew chatter spilled in. Someone swore about a faulty camera.

#WIPSnips prompt #spell

#AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

Mid revisions for #AThousandReasons - I thought Rowan and Viv's story was gonna be a cute, holiday-read-romance type of book...

Boy, was I wrong.

Currently deep-diving into the female psyche 😂

#SendHelp

Reminded of what she was supposed to be checking on – the update on the fan chaos from last night – she pushed her unfounded musings about Viv aside and hit refresh. The site took a beat to reload, and then Rowan froze in unpleasant surprise. Yesterday’s candid was gone, replaced by a new headline. Something hot and uncomfortable tangled beneath her ribs, and she sat forward, her hand shaking as she stared down at a sleek montage of photos. Surely not. Surely that couldn’t be Viv – in high-resolution and cruelly clear – stunning in black silk and diamond-drop earrings, her hair swept into those old-Hollywood waves that always made Rowan think of red-carpet royalty. It couldn’t be, but it was… and fan comments were howls of disappointed rage at the all-too-quick dismantlement of their dreams of #ValeHart. For a split second, Rowan shared their pain.

A little excerpt from #AThousandReasons for this week's #lesficfri prompt, #hand

“Dammit, Rowan,” Viv snapped, and her voice broke. “I’m trying to protect you.” “From what?” Rowan shot back. “From joy? From connection? From love?” Viv flinched as if she’d been struck, her fingers clawing for the pillar behind her to stay upright, and Rowan almost stepped forward to catch her. With her back pressed to the wood, she swallowed – hard. Breathless, she caught Rowan’s gaze and whispered, “From… me.”

I swear to God these two are going to be the end of me.

#AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

Currently editing #AThousandReasons and y'all are not prepared for the level of EMOTION in Chapter Twenty-Four...

Holy hell. I'm DRAINED 😭😂

...she caught Viv up in one more kiss, full of impossible promise.

Viv let her, and Rowan poured all of her unspoken feelings into it, in the hope that Viv might *know*.

And maybe she did, for her arms tightened around Rowan’s waist as if she couldn’t #bear to let go.

#WIPSnips
#AThousandReasons

Behold, a fucking miracle.

#AThousandReasons
#WIP

a woman with a surprised look on her face is holding a piece of paper in front of a purple background . ALT: a woman with a surprised look on her face is holding a piece of paper in front of a purple background .

The slowburn in #AThousandReasons has been driving me crazy, but I've FINALLY reached *that* part, and I just...

#WIP
#AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

Things are heating up over here 😳

#WIP
#AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv

A little fluff, anyone?

#WIP
#AThousandReasons
#RowanAndViv