Just three paragraphs

[TheWritingGroup]

Got it!

Dropping eyelids blocked out the report from Minerva Labs as Liz leaned back. She became aware of stinging eyes, of shoulders raised almost to her ears, feet pulled all the way back under the chair, neck tight.

Deep breath, hold. Loosen all those tight muscles. Put her feet flat on the floor in front of the chair. Hold, hold … breathe out slowly. Hold, hold, breathe in. And all the while, a smile on her face that wouldn't stop getting bigger.

I'd love to include more of the scene here.

This is my oldest Literotica character, Liz, expressing an actual experience of mine. When I work on a spreadsheet I do find myself in turtle pose, shoulders lifted, legs pulled back, head hunched forward. And I can end up very stiff and sore if I don't catch myself. She just got lab data supporting her scientific hypothesis.

This particular WIP is part three of what should end up as a seven- or eight-part series. Parts 1-4 are done in first draft, part 5 is moving along nicely, except I'm too busy to spend as much time as I'd like writing.

 

[EmilyMiller]

How many other English words end in "rpt"?

Herpt

 

[TheWritingGroup]

From a WIP tentatively titled "Under Her Wing".

"Charmed," I replied. "Mister Dawson, surely the sun is now low enough to make reading by its light a strain? And reading by these dim lamps, I know, is less than an ideal pastime. The flickering quite gives me a headache. Would you prefer to eat your supper in restful solitude, or be accompanied?"

"Why, I would not presume to ask, for fear of giving offense. If offered, however, I am hardly likely to reject a beautiful and charming woman's offer of companionship. May I call you Abigail?"

"I fear not, sir." I dimpled at him. "Instead, I must insist on being known as 'Abby'. I confess, the full length of my given name raises in me the memory of a strict Virginia governess, the terror of whom still freezes my heart."

"I will with pleasure, then, call you by the mellifluous <i>Abby</i>." He retrieved a watch from the pocket added to his waistcoat for that purpose. "And, to prove it: Abby, my dinner service begins shortly. Would you be so generous as to accompany me to the dining car? I fear I am restricted to the second class car, but the fare there is filling and hearty, if not refined."

Takes place post-Civil War. Abby is seducing Oscar. Pardon the four paragraphs, but it's literally seconds from one conversation, nothing like a complete story.