My poor, neglected blog. Between work, the nonsense that is my immune system, and my overall laziness, I’ve been away far too long. *wags finger and give self a stern look*

Anyway, back in August, my Crescent Moon sister, Jennifer Wells, tagged me in the Look Challenge. Here are the rules:

• Find the first usage of the word “look” in your work in progress and paste the surrounding paragraph(s) into your blog.
• Invite as many people as you want to take part in the challenge with you.

So, here are a couple paragraphs of my romantic horror novella, Salt In the Cupboard:

As I take a step forward, the door bursts open. My heart leaps into my throat. I cry out. My cheeks heat at the surprised face of Ian Reese, my chemistry lab partner from last year. His hair has been shaved into a buzz cut, accentuating his sharp cheekbones and those blue eyes that shoot static to where my heart should be. A black t-shirt hugs every dip and curve of his muscles, and his jeans hang from his hips in a sexy peel-me-off kind of way. Holy. Cow.

“Alexis,” he says with a smile that could melt the sun. “How are you?”

“Ian.” I look away to mentally fan myself. “I’m great. You live here, too?”

“As of yesterday.” He juts his chin to his right. “Apartment twelve.”

“Twenty-six.”

He nods. We stand in awkward silence because I can’t think of anything else to say. Our date that never happened mixes through the cool air and hangs heavy with the clouds.

Not many people have seen this story, not even my beloved critique partners! I’ll explain why in an upcoming post, along with some BIG news!

I’m inviting everyone who sees this to participate in the Look Challenge. I’ll be LoOkInG for your post!