The Secret About Time
Paranormal romance, 85k words
There was no one left to judge. She liked him. He liked her. The waves rolled in and the breeze blew.
In the dark, Caitlyn smiled to herself as she reached her decision.
The last exciting thing Austin did involved anti-aircraft guns and Japanese Kamikaze. Seventy years later and he’s just now worked his way up to a cramped office at Brightrock’s only school. He figures he has another two hundred years of middle age boredom stuck on the Island, guarding the secret that protects both him and his family from the outside world.
Caitlyn knows no one in her family has left Louisiana, but that doesn’t stop her from packing her bags. After her parents’ estate is eaten up by bills from cancer treatments that didn’t work Caitlyn must sell her beloved family’s home. Leaving town for good, she hopes to find a fresh start on Brightrock Island in New England.
Postcard perfect and better funded than any place Caitlyn’s ever been, she likes Brightrock and her new classroom, but struggles to fit in with the residents who aren’t interested in anything more than polite conversation with an outsider. The only exception is Assistant Principal Austin Brooks. Easy to talk to and easy to look at, attraction builds and turns into more, until he disappears for one night along with everyone else on Brightrock. Caitlyn wants answers, but no one’s talking.
The principal terminates Caitlyn’s position. Despite risking exile himself Austin breaks the rules to tell her the secret about Brightrock and it’s residents. Now, the only way to save their future together is to save Brightrock.
Gunpowder Falls
Contemporary romance, 87k words
“Hey-- woah you look normal. Did everything fit alright?”
“Yes, but--” He leaned into her and lowered his voice. “It’s different. Are you sure this is decent?” Jesse pinched the fabric of his shirt, showing Mel how little material made up the garment.
“Yeah, like I said you look normal. Nothing weird is showing.”
“I must admit it is a little strange.”
“Yeah, apparently that’s the theme of day."
As a public defender in Baltimore, Mel Reyes is caffeinated, overworked, and fiercely protective her clients. Jesse Gilmor, however, is no ordinary client. After being arrested Jesse is filthy, lean, and lacking documentation of legal presence. All signs point to ex-Amish until he quotes some law school Latin, piquing Mel’s interest. Convinced there is more to his story than what he is telling her, Mel searches for answers and finds a Civil War photograph of a lawyer turned soldier identical to Jesse at the Maryland Historical Society. At their next meeting, Jesse proves he’s the same man and begs Mel for answers she doesn’t have.
Civil War soldier or not, Mel approaches the case as usual for her own sanity. But after Jesse’s short stay in prison ends, a surprising feeling of guilt stops Mel from wishing him the best and walking away. Jesse is alone and needs to adapt to the modern world. Mel is the only person who knows his secret. She wants to help him, but Jesse’s life and values are a world away from her own. Inviting him into her life would cross an ethical line, even after their professional relationship is over, and would risk losing the only thing that ever defined her: her career.
Triggerpoint
Romantic Suspense, 75K words
Mara ignored the burning in her legs and focused on the cloud of light from the windows. It was getting closer. She could make out the outline of the small Cape-style house now. Stumbling her right leg refused to run any further and lagged out of step with the left. Her lungs seized and the tears streaming down her face mixed with her sweat. She could hear nothing but the blood in her veins and the pounding of her feet. Out of the dark, she was in the light of the house now.Rounding to the front porch, she tripped up the first two steps and punched the doorbell several times, hearing it ring wildly inside. She pounded on the door with her fist before assaulting the doorbell again.
Mara is trying to stay alive and get answers. Two men with ties to her late husband keep coming after her for incriminating evidence they believe she has. Trouble is she and her husband were about to split, and Mara has no idea what her husband did at the CIA before he died. With no other family or friends to turn to she gets help from her new next door neighbor Ben.
Undercover Agent Ben Warrin is supposed to be keeping an eye on Mara from a distance, so he doesn’t expect her to come running for her life into his. The assignment he thought was going to be a dull punishment gets interesting quick when two men shoot up his TV along with everything else in the house. Even though Ben knows he can’t get too close, playing bodyguard while using Mara as bait only gets more complicated the longer he is with her.
The two escape back to their roots on Cape Cod. While trying to find answers to who is hunting Mara and what they’re after, the pair gets even closer not realizing the enemy is closing in as well.