Sneak Peak Sunday: Miles and Michelle

For the last few weeks, I've been using my 'sneak peeks' to introduce you to some of my favourite characters from my first book, 'Desperate Bid'.

Today, my heroine Sarah isn't the happiest person in the world: she's just home from the pub, where she ran into her friend and colleague Michelle, which would have been lovely if it weren't for the fact that Michelle was sitting happily chatting to Sarah's arch-rival Miles. 

"On Saturday, Sarah was itching with impatience to find out whether they’d won, but she was still smarting from Michelle’s accusations. Not to mention finding her so cosy with Miles in the pub after work. She knew she shouldn’t take it personally, but she couldn’t help seeing it as a kind of defection. 

To work off her annoyance, she started cleaning and brushing and scraping at wallpaper, the first step in her lounge redecoration project. There was something very satisfying about ripping off large sheets of it by hand. Peel. Tear. Rip. Destroy. 

It felt good. She put on an old heavy metal CD she hadn’t listened to since...since when? Probably her teens. It hadn’t been designed for decorating to, but its throbbing anger suited her mood, and at least she could hear the music over the persistent scraping, ripping noises. 

She hadn’t sung in a long time, either, and her voice was hoarse and a little off key, but that suited the song. In between scrapes at the paper she howled into the scraper like a microphone and danced around the stool. It felt crazy, almost a little dangerous, and so right. Miles and the other stuffed shirts would freak if they saw her now, but she was loving it. She felt alive. She wondered if they’d ever felt that way. It was hard to imagine.

Of course, the euphoric feeling didn’t last forever. Sarah went to bed exhausted, but she couldn’t sleep. 

The smell of paint dizzied her, and an ache throbbed through her arms and shoulders, adding to the tension she’d been feeling since scrambling through the treetops on Wednesday. She wished for a moment that Neil was there to pummel out the knots. She’d always hated his roughness but had to admit that it did work, unlike her own helpless and entangling efforts to reach round and massage her own shoulders."

Will Sarah forgive Michelle for fraternising with the enemy?  You can find out in 'Desperate Bid.'  As for whether anything comes of Miles and Michelle's apparent closeness, for that you'll have to wait for the sequel, 'Desperate Measures' - still a work in progress.

While you're waiting, why not have a look at some more exciting excerpts on the Sneak Peek Sunday blog.