The first novella in my Tool Belts & Heartbeats Series is dropping soon!
Fudge Me Gently will set the scene for Cherry Creek!
In small towns where every nail, beam, and badge tells a story, Tool Belts & Heartbeats explores the complicated dance between hard work and harder feelings. From construction sites to police precincts, romance takes root where duty and desire collide, twisted in the wires of ambition, responsibility, and the unpredictable lives of those who serve and build.
Each story in this series introduces a new set of characters—blue-collar workers who shape homes and futures, and cops who navigate the fine line between justice and passion. As love blossoms amid concrete dust and flashing lights, these couples must balance their growing connections with the weight of their demanding jobs. Can they find a way to build lasting love, or will the pressures of their worlds tear them apart?
Tool Belts & Heartbeats is a series where romance isn’t just constructed—it’s earned, with sparks flying between sweat and steel, duty and desire. Love might be a hard job, but it’s one worth working for.
I’ve been working on some short stories to get through some writers block. Enjoy
Old Mavis, the hedge witch, had lived in her cottage at the edge of the forest for as long as anyone could remember. She knew the ways of herbs, potions, and spells—except for one thing: WiFi. Her grandson, little Timmy, had come to visit with his shiny, mysterious “laptop.”
“Grandma, you just need to connect to the WiFi,” Timmy said, holding up the laptop. “It’s easy.”
“Wi-Fi? What’s that? Some sort of spell?” Mavis squinted suspiciously at the device.
“It’s not a spell, Grandma, it’s the internet. You can use it to look up anything! Even recipes.”
“Ah, recipes,” Mavis muttered, “I still trust the moon and a bit of thyme more than… whatever this is.”
Timmy tapped at the laptop’s screen, trying to explain the concept of “connecting to the network.” Mavis was having none of it. “Wait, you want me to talk to invisible spirits in the air?”
“Grandma, it’s not—” Timmy began before being interrupted.
“I knew it! Spirits, right! They’ve come for me at last!” Mavis cackled, rummaging through her dusty drawers for sage. She started waving the bundle around the laptop, muttering an incantation.
Timmy blinked, bewildered. “Grandma, you’re just supposed to type in the password!”
“Password?” Mavis paused, still holding the sage like a wand. “Ah, that’s what they call the magic words now, huh? I knew it was a password!” She turned toward the laptop and muttered, “I banish thee! To the realm of high-speed connections!”
Timmy sighed and finally typed in the WiFi password. A click. A chime. The laptop lit up.
“Ah! It’s working!” Mavis gasped. “I’ve summoned the portal!”
Timmy, facepalming, just grinned. “I think you mean ‘connected.’”
From that day forward, Mavis was hooked on “surfing the web”—though, she still insisted the WiFi was enchanted. But if you asked her how it worked, she’d give you a knowing look and say, “It’s all about the magic words. And maybe a bit of thyme.”
Writing is hard. I have the plot points and stories tumbling around in my head. However, getting them from my head to the page (either digital or pen & paper) is tricky. Then I worry over dialogue, does my character have enough growth, and why am I still stuck at 10,000 words?
Sadly, I’m stuck on 10,000 words on all four of my current WIP’s because I write like I’m on crack and chase the high, in this case whichever WIP has my interest. It’s not crack, it’s just ADHD and the dopamine. Still, I need to settle down and focus.
My shifter series, two of the current four books, is kicking my butt. Then again, so is my contemporary romance series, working title “Toolbelts & Kink.” Hopefully, as winter continues to send temperatures into the negatives I’ll curl up at my desk and the high will return. Especially, if I had some whiskey to my hot tea.
I do have a goal of finishing both introductory novellas to each series soon…
I’m finally getting my brain in order and working on a few WIP’s. I should probably just focus on one but I can’t focus anymore. I blame caffeine and ADHD.
Oh coffee…I need another cup.
Anyways, I decided to put a teaser out to see what people think.
This particular teaser is from my tentative shapeshifter story and is a flashback to when my protagonists meet. I like the freedom that the supernatural gives me in writing both a little fantasy and romance. I’m currently rewriting this and might make it part of the first chapter and not write it as a flashback. We’ll see!
Ally and Jason first meet when he’s moving into an apartment complex– what kind of werewolf would move into an apartment?
The protective kind.
Enjoy!
[Working Title… Ozark Shifters…] (yeah I know, it also does help that they are Red Wolf Shifters– I was inspired by my time at Arkansas State University).
I need to up my cover game…
“Jason had moved in a few weeks later. Her mind wandered back to the day he moved in. It had been a cold rainy day when he and some friends carried the boxes, furniture, and suitcases up to his new accommodations. There wasn’t an ugly one in the bunch, but Jason was mind-blowing, to her anyways. She just couldn’t help herself and whipped up a batch of cookies, fixed a pitcher of milk, and grabbed a few bottles of water. She wanted to be good neighbor and she was curious about them.
She had noticed while she was baking the cookies that nearly all five men would pause or look towards her kitchen window as they filed pass. It sounded like one of them growled around the time she pulled the cookies out of the oven. Odd. The guy must really like cookies.
Cookies, the ultimate draw to the dark side. She thought in a voice that sounded eerily similar to Emperor Palpatine. I’m such a geek.
“In other news today; two more young women have gone missing in the greater Jonesboro area. Investigators have begun to believe that the crimes are related and that there may be a serial kidnapper perpetrating these crimes. More at eleven.”
Well that’s scary; that makes a grand total of five missing women. Ann thought to herself. Glancing at the TV the small photos of the two women flashed on the screen. A slight chill ran up her back; whomever was kidnapping these girls had a type; petite and brunette. Maybe my sister is right, I should try blonde.
All well, time to take the cookies out to the new neighbor and friends. At first, she thought it was the fellow that had growled at her cookies that was moving in; he had been the first one to talk to her after he pretty much pushed his friend out of the way to get to the cookies.
He must really like cookies.
“I love cookies, almost as much as cute girls.” He said with a wink.
She gaped at him for a moment before responding, “I think you’re full of it, but you can have a cookie anyway.” She smiled and winked back him. Before he could grab a cookie, a deep rumbling sound came from the man that had been pushed aside.
Did the tall blonde just growl?
The friend that had been pushed, the tall drink of water that she thought was Greek god, glared at his friend. She noticed the scars around his eye, but quickly jerked her eyes away before he turned around to face her. Dear God, his eyes were the purest green she had ever saw, like emeralds.
“Excuse my friend, he’s a bit ‘of …rambunctious.” He seemed to pause over ‘rambunctious,’ she got the distinct feeling he had been going to say, ‘an ass,’ before deciding on the less offensive word. The friend in question seemed cowed but had a slight grin on his face.
“It’s okay, I wait tables over at the Watering Hole, and he’s not as rambunctious as some. He can still have a cookie. I actually brought them over for the new tenant.”
The blonde Adonis said, “That would be me, I’m Jason by the way.” His eyes seemed to light up on the cookies and that odd rumbling sound happened again.
“You okay?” She asked thinking he had a cold and really didn’t want to get sick, again. One week off because of a bug had really made things tight for her. Oh Ramen, I love you for being cheap, but I hate you for not being a burger.
“Oh, it’s nothing, I just have something in my throat.” He said matter-of-factly, “We’ll enjoy the cookies after we finish getting all my stuff inside.” He grabbed the plate from her hands, still looking her in the eyes. “I’ll wash the plate and bring it back to you when we’re done.”
The flirt grabbed the milk and the little bag with bottled water from her; the other three men nodded their thanks and went back to work carrying stuff.
She turned to go, but Jason’s voice stopped her, “What’s your name?”
“Oh, I’m sorry I totally forgot, Ally, Ally Hastings.” She said with a smile, half turning to face him again.
When I started this site way back in 2018, I didn’t have as much on my plate. Then 2019 happened and I had to put my writing plans on hold. Now, I’m able to return to my writing and I hope to show a bit here!
Bea Riley 