Today’s snippet theme is First meeting Between Character and Villain. Below is a scence with the antagonist from my book. It is long so placed it behind a link. Enjoy
An snippet from Conquering Jazz….
Jasmine’s mind raced with the presentation to come as she opened her office door and stepped in. Her hand fell limply to her side as she came face to face with the one man she never wanted to see again.
Jasmine recognized him, even with his back to her. He stood looking out of the window.
Derek Christopher, her ex-fiancé and scumbag extraordinaire. She must have made a noise, because he turned and pierced her with lethal gray eyes that took in everything at a glance. His gaze speared through her, as if he could see into her soul.
Jasmine saw that he hadn’t changed. His sun-kissed skin depicting his Italian heritage still looked kissable and delicious. He still wore his hair long and tied back in a ponytail, as it fought to get loose and fall in curly waves around his sharp features. His body was still all lean muscle, while magnetism oozed out of his pores.
She felt a rush of heat consume her before it turned to deadly ice. Her head was going to explode. She took a moment to compose herself before she spoke. Her voice sounded cutting.
“Well, well. Look who blew into town. What the hell are you doing here? No, never mind. I don’t want to know anything from your arrogant ass. Get the fuck out of my office, before I drop you where you stand. You have the utter gall to show your face in front of me? You must think…”
“You haven’t changed a bit, Jazz,” said a smooth whiskey voice from behind her.
“You still come out swinging. Come on. Tell me what you really think.”
Jasmine turned and looked at an identical face to the one in the window. Then, she glanced at the woman standing next to him. She could feel her eyes narrow and her throat ache as she fought to control herself. Before she could say anything, the man in the doorway spoke.
“Leave us,” Derek said, in the same demanding tone he’d always used when he wanted something done.
Jasmine watched as the man by the window, who she knew now wasn’t Derek, smiled arrogantly at her and walked out of the room, taking the woman with him. The silence in the room echoed as Derek closed the door and turned to face her.
Why is he back after all these years? Hasn’t he done enough? He can’t hurt me, she thought.
Derek appraised her with a hungry gaze before his face closed up. “It’s been a long time, Jazz.”
“Not long enough, Mr. Christopher.”
“Why so formal, Jazz? What happened to ‘Derek’?” He smiled that crooked grin that used to turn her insides to mush. Now, it just made her lash out.
“Oh, I can call you something else if you’d like, but I don’t want to insult your mother.”
Pain flashed across his face briefly, before a cold mask slipped into place. “Still speaking your mind, and to hell with the consequences,” he said in a chiding tone.
Ignoring him, she walked away to look out the window blindly. She couldn’t take this today. She thought she was over the pain he’d caused her. Jasmine felt the burning 1knot in her stomach bubble. She could feel the intensity of his gaze. She felt so cold. Taking a deep breath, she decided to change the subject.
Turning, she said, “I didn’t know you at all. You said you had no siblings, that it was just you and your mom.”
She noted his surprise. “I didn’t until four years ago.”
She frowned, as he didn’t continue. “Is that all you’re going to say?”
“Yes. Why don’t you ask what you really want to know, Jazz?” She steeled herself as his expression softened.
“What rock did you slither from?”
His look changed to disappointment, then hurt, until finally a mask of indifference covered his face.
“I’m here on business, Jasmine.”
“I figured that, but that still doesn’t answer my question. Why here Derek?” She gestured, indicating the office around them.
Emotions raced across his face. Regret shone in his gray gaze. This was the most emotion she had ever seen him show. Jasmine couldn’t help but notice that mixed with his normal arrogance was an air of sorrow around him. Before she could think about it further, her thoughts were interrupted by his quiet answer.
“I’m proud of you, Jazz. I knew you would make Visions a success. We had such big dreams, and we’ve both done it.”
“That’s why you’re here? To tell me you’re proud of me?” She couldn’t keep the sound of disbelief out of her voice.
A look of discomfort flashed in his eyes. “No. I just wanted you to know that. I didn’t see Mia. How are she and the girls?”
Jasmine knew he was stalling, and she couldn’t figure out why. The Derek she knew would have gotten straight to the point.
“Let’s cut to the chase. You don’t care about knowing how the girls are. Why are you here?”
His gray gaze sliced into her, unblinkingly, as if looking for something. Whatever he saw caused his face to cloud in pain before smoothing out.
“I’m here on business, Jasmine. Christopher Enterprises is moving its base of operations here to New York, and we need a grand opening event planned. We want the best, Jasmine, and like it or not, that’s Visions. We want you to plan it and also want you to prepare a proposal. We would like Visions to be the company that will handle all our events in the future. We’ll require that one of my people be in direct contact with a Visions representative at all times.”
“You really think I can work with you and that woman out there? The same woman you left me for? You rotten son of…”
He cut her off as he said tiredly, “Yeah. I know. I’m a royal bastard. So much for not insulting my mother, huh? That woman, as you referred to her, is here to look over the presentation. You won’t have to see her or me after today. Damian, my brother, and Randall will be handling everything.” He paused, glancing at her uneasily. “I’m sorry,Jasmine, but Damian wants to be involved in this and he refuses to compromise.” He stopped, and seemed to be weighing a decision. Finally, he said, “Jasmine, please let me explain what happened…”
She put up her hand to stop him. “I don’t want to hear it. I’m way past it. Let’s get this meeting over with.”
Jasmine started to walk past him, but Derek grabbed her arm.
Jerking away, Jasmine leveled a furious glare at him.
“Don’t you ever put your hands on me,” she hissed.
Derek dropped his hand, backing away, laughing sarcastically. “I won’t. I know I lost that privilege a long time ago, Jazz. I want you to promise me you’ll give the same presentation you had planned before you knew I was the client.”
She looked at him incredulously, then laughed. It was a harsh, cold sound.
“Promise?” she asked. “You don’t even know the meaning of the word. Get out of my face.”
“Jasmine, please.”
“Please nothing. Unlike some people, I know the difference between personal and business. I don’t need you to tell me how to do my job.”
“Okay. I’ll meet you outside.” He walked to the door and left, closing it quietly behind him.
Jasmine glared at the closed door while tears burned her eyes. She blinked hard to clear them. Taking a deep breath, she went outside.
Copyright © McKenna Jeffries, 2008.
All Rights Reserved, Liquid Silver Books.
Go to the following sites to check out these other great authors snippets:
Leah Braemel
Shelley Munro
Anya Bast
Cynthia Eden
SJ Day
Jaci Burton
Michelle Pillow
Juliana Stone
Moira Rogers
Sacha White
TJ Michaels
Lacey Savage
McKenna Jeffries
Jody Wallace
Eliza Gayle
Kelly Maher
Vivian Arend
Taige Crenshaw
Beth Williamson
[...] Eden Jaci Burton Michelle Pillow Juliana Stone Moira Rogers Sasha White TJ Michaels Lacey Savage McKenna Jeffries Jody Wallace Eliza Gayle Kelly Maher Vivian Arend Taige Crenshaw Beth [...]