I'm excited to announce that I've just published a new ebook! It follows Karina as she navigates here custodial job and her mega-crush on Arturo, one of the Project Managers. When she accidentally ends up shrunk in his lab, how will it affect their relationship?!

Links are below. Here is Chapter One as a preview:

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Karina wrinkled her nose as she stared at the porcelain bowl in front of her, the thick, murky appearance of the water evidence that the previous occupant hadn’t seen fit to remove his business as a courtesy to the next user.

“Oh come on,” she said, sighing as she pushed down the handle. The bowl immediately began to fill up with water and the short woman’s eyes went wide.

“Oh no you don’t!” she shouted as she slammed her plunger down into the bowl, situating the rubber cup over the center and pushing the handle up and down in a frenzied motion. As the water neared the lip her pace increased until, at last, the water began to subside, draining away in a swirling motion. She exhaled in relief as the bowl filled with clean water, shaking away the dirty residue before removing her tool.

“That’s right…you’re the last one for the day and I am not cleaning up an overflow.”

She exchanged the plunger for her scrub brush and chemicals, getting down on her knees as she scrubbed the toilet clean, her arms aching from the last seventy three toilets she had cleaned that day. Normally she would have help, but her coworker who she normally worked beside on second shift just had a baby and wouldn’t be back for a couple months…if she ever returned. Karina knew that she wouldn’t want to go back to cleaning floors and scrubbing toilets if she had a fat, happy baby waiting for her at home….

“Finished,” she said, standing up as she stared down at the blue color of the water. She exited the restroom, removing her ‘Being Cleaned’ sign as she situated her supplies back on her cart. The door opened up across the hall and a tall man wearing a winter coat and a backpack exited. Karina smiled.

“Have a good night,” she said in her sweetest voice. The man passed by without a word, his metallic earbuds flashing as he strode past. She sighed again.

“Why do I even bother?” she said softly to herself as she checked her maintenance list for the night. The next task was trash removal and cleaning in a few of the labs.

“Third floor,” she said absentmindedly as she pushed her cart down the hall toward the elevators. The long trek to the other side of the complex gave her more than enough time to contemplate her current situation and how she had ended up here. It wasn’t that she was miserable, but she wasn’t content with the way things were either. Obviously, she hadn’t dreamed of being a cleaning lady when she was a little girl, but when her mother fell ill, she had to drop out of high school to care for her. That set her behind on her education plans and unfortunately put community college out of practical reach. After taking a couple jobs as a private nanny and pizza delivery girl, she finally got a job with TechCorp in the facilities department as a member of the custodial staff. It still wasn’t what she wanted to be doing, but TechCorp was a large company with quite a few opportunities for mobility. Now that she had her foot in the door, she could soon apply for a job in the mail room, or possibly even in one of the reception areas. From there, after showing her work ethic for a year or two, she was hoping to get a job as a lab tech, and then, if she impressed one of the managers, she might be able to get the coveted position of lab assistant. That was about as far as she could go without a degree, but as a lab assistant she could finally make enough money to further her education.

The elevator dinged and she rolled her cart down the hall to the first lab. She buzzed her keycard and the door opened, allowing her access inside. Everyone had gone home for the night, so she gathered up the trash, placing new bags inside the receptacles before proceeding to wipe down the work desks and consoles.

“Next,” she said as she made her way to the next lab. Almost no one was around by this time of the day, which was fine because it meant that she could finish up her tasks quicker. She buzzed her keycard absentmindedly at the next door, stepping forward as it slid open…and almost ran into the person standing there.

“Oh!” she cried out, jumping into the air with surprise. She looked the tall man up and down, her eyes eventually settling on his as she put her hand on her chest.

“Oh my gosh, Arturo! You scared me!”

“Likewise!” he said, copying her motion. He hadn’t jumped like she did, but it was obvious that he had been just as startled. She laughed nervously as she felt her cheeks warming a bit. She hoped they weren’t too red.

“I’m sorry,” he said, backing away and waving her in. She stepped inside, craning her head to look up at him as she passed.

“I didn’t expect to be celebrating Halloween again this year!” she said, her voice still high and nervous from her surprise. She instantly regretted the pathetic joke the moment it left her mouth, and even more when Arturo lifted an eyebrow.

“Ha ha, yea,” he said, a smile crossing his face. She couldn’t tell if he actually found it funny or if he was just being nice.

“Any plans for tonight?” she blurted out, quickly trying to steer the conversation.

“Not really…a little dinner…maybe a little reading,” he said, still smiling down at Karina, whose head only came up to his shoulders. “How about you?”

“Oh you know…dinner…maybe Netflix….” she responded.

“Netflix and chill?” he said with a smirk. Karina giggled but couldn’t really fabricate an answer. Arturo looked at the door awkwardly, scratching his head.

“Well uh…I’m going to go, then. Good night, Karina,” he said, smiling again.

“Oh! Good night!” she said as he exited the laboratory space, the sliding door closing behind him. Karina immediately slapped her forehead.

“You’re like a little girl…get a grip!” she said to herself, shaking her head as she walked across the room. Arturo was one of the Project Managers and they got along in general. At least, when she wasn’t giggling like an idiot…and those moments were getting more and more rare as she had developed the hugest crush on the tall, dark haired man.

Beyond her interest in Arturo, she found his lab almost just as fascinating. Unlike many of the other labs, which were filled with old equipment or lab benches, his had state of the art electronics and machinery. It was practically space-age in some places, with strange metal devices which looked like giant ray guns placed against rows and rows of glowing lights. It was more like something out of a weird, science fiction film than an actual, working lab, but she figured that whatever they were researching here was important.

“Well…he won’t be able to do his important work with a full trash can!” she said, priding herself that she was somehow helping in her own little way. She made her way to the bigger can which was situated beside a large console with various lights and controls, bending down and pulling out the bag. She turned to carry her acquisition out to her cart when the weight suddenly shifted and she felt the bottom open up, spilling the contents out onto the floor.

“Oh great….” she groaned, looking at the variety of trash that had fallen on the ground. She sighed as she trudged back outside to get her dust pan, paper towels and a couple extra trash bags. She returned and immediately set to work cleaning up the floor.

“Well, I guess it could be worse,” she said as she cleaned up the mess. As she stood up, her head struck the bottom of the console.

“Ouch!” she shouted, grabbing her head before standing up fully, rubbing the impact point with her hands as she felt the pain pulsing through her skull. “Ow ow ow!” she said again, sniffling a little bit, less from the pain and more from the culmination of general stress that the day was bringing.

“Great…what else can go wrong today?” she said as she opened her eyes, spotting the last bit of trash on the floor. She leaned down and picked it up, accidentally pressing up against the console with her bottom. The console emitted an electronic beep.

“Whoops!” she said, turning and staring at the console. Many of the lights were blinking now and electronic beeps could be heard as various subroutines began to run.  “Crap…oh crap…what did I do?” she said as she watched it come to life, the screen turning on for a moment as letters appeared: TARGET SEEK

As the words appeared, the lights seemed to calm down, and the beeps were replaced with a low, dull hum which seemed to reverberate around the entire room. Karina stood completely still, not daring to even breathe as she looked around, deathly afraid that she had accidentally ruined some critical experiment. After what seemed like forever, she finally exhaled, drawing air back into her lungs. Nothing else was happening…it seemed that the console had frozen in its current state, except for the occasional blink of a light, so she finally concluded that no damage had been done.

“I hope I don’t get in trouble for this,” she said, crossing her fingers. She crouched back down and grabbed the last piece of trash before walking back across the floor, passing back in front of the strange ray gun device, not noticing the tiny crackles of electricity that were now dancing across the tip.

“Hmm…what’s that?” she said, looking down at her feet. There was a small stain on the ground that looked like someone had spilled their drink. She knelt down, pulling out a paper towel as she rubbed at the stain, completely oblivious that the screen’s text had changed to TARGET LOCK

“Probably coffee,” she said. She suddenly became aware of a low-pitched whine that was beginning to fill the room: the sort of sound that you’d hear near electrical wires, or that she’d experienced in her uncle’s auto shop from time to time when she was growing up. She raised an eyebrow, looking around, but ultimately couldn’t see any reason to be worried as she continued trying to clean the stain. One second later, the tip of the device directly in front of her began to glow a bright yellow as she continued to focus on the floor.

“Wow, this is a hard one,” she said as she chipped away at the stain. She contemplated going outside to grab a spray bottle, but she was making progress and she didn’t want to lose her momentum. At the exact same time, the internal interlocks of the device opened up and a countdown appeared on the screen she could no longer see.

5…4…3…2…

She stood up, smiling at the clean floor.

“There we go!” she declared with triumph

It was difficult for her to describe exactly what happened next. All she knew is that, in the next moment, the room was filled with a blinding white light, forcing her to shield her eyes. At the exact same time, her body was filled with an intense, tingling sensation that seemed to permeate every single one of her cells.

“Wh…wha….” she said weakly as she was overcome with extreme vertigo, holding her head as the world swam around her. The tingles and dizziness were so intense that she barely felt the other changes that were happening to her…how her shirt sleeves were slowly starting to climb their way down her arms…how here waist was beginning to get smaller and smaller, causing her jeans to sag on her diminishing hips and, eventually, give up entirely. The flash only lasted for about ten seconds before disappearing just as suddenly, taking the tingling away with it.

“What…what was that?” she said groggily as her dizziness began to subside. She took a step forward, her leg catching on something on the floor as she lost her balance.

“Eek!” she screamed in her high voice as she hit the floor, her knees catching on the soft fabric of her shirt. She shook her head, looking down at her feet, noticing the blue denim that she had tripped over.

“Huh?” she said as she squinted, focusing hard on the object that had caused her to lose her balance. There was something incredibly familiar about them…from the color of the fabric to the belt which lay still clasped around it…to the light blue underwear which lay inside.

“What? N-no way…” she said, hearing herself more clearly. Her voice was high…higher than it had been in a long, long time.

“What? What’s….” she said, staggering to her feet. The fabric of her shirt hung down over her body like a dress, reaching just past her knees as she felt her bra cups hanging on her, much larger and much more uncomfortable than it had even been. As the pieces began to come together in her brain, she raised her eyes up to her surroundings…to the laboratory room that she had often frequented…a familiar room which now looked to be many times larger than before.

Her eyes went wide as her jaw dropped open.

“No way….”