Hey! I wrote a thing!
Uh, surprise?! Totally didn’t plan it, but it’s been occupying my time in entirety the past two days.

Here’s the skinny with Reinstated Bond. The original idea–a bounty hunter romance–was sparked by a call for submissions. Ellora’s Cave, I think. I started plotting it out, then decided, “Nah, no way is this story going to be long enough to submit.” I put it aside.

Then there was another call from another publisher (Musa) for second chance romances. Lower word count requirement. I worked up an 11,000-word piece and sent it over.

Well, the longer it sat in the slush pile, the more I started to worry that the two main characters were too similar to Marcia and Nat in Love by Premonition. Personality-wise, they’re different people, but aesthetically, they might confuse readers (or at least make readers think I’m a one trick pony. I’m not!!!!! I swear!!!). They both feature mixed-race heroines and heroes with red hair.

This wasn’t intentional. Generally, when I write stories that feature a woman of color, she’s mixed in some way because that’s what I know. It’s my thing. (I’ll talk about that one day. Probably before I introduce you formally to Marcia.) The red hair thing, though? That’s just a fetish of mine. (Shut up.) When I wrote Reinstated Bond, red was my color of the day.

So, I pulled the story, edited it, and put a cover on it. Boom. $0.99 everywhere.

Now, I’ll freely admit this is one of those stories loosely based on real life. Not the “oh shit, I’m going to jail” bit, but the “we can’t tell anyone about our relationship” part. That happened to me in high school. Playing secret lovers makes for a very tense relationship. Back then, it even felt like a finite thing. When you’re in love, you’re supposed to feel like it’s going to last forever, right? Even if it’s a delusion.

Anyway, the story’s a little silly, a little serious, and a little sexy. It’s a story I HAD to get out of my system. Hope you like it!

Sometime next week I’ll be offering a Smashwords coupon so you can get a free copy. When? *blows raspberry*

Whenever I get around to it. I’m on deadline!

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