Title: The Coffee Shop
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Release Date: October 14/11
Blurb:
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Musa Publishing
Release Date: October 14/11
Blurb:
If Derrick thought experiencing
alternate timelines and glimpses into the future was strange then he had no
idea it was about to get far more strange than he ever imagined.
When Derrick Sloane meets Annie
Maddock and falls madly in love, he believes he's met the girl of his dreams.
Only he then awakes to discover she is exactly that...nothing more than a
dream. Disheartened, he goes to the first coffee shop he can find. There he
meets Annie. She is at the same table, reading the same book, and he fast
realizes his dream has shown him his own future. But when a misstep alters that
perfect future he tries to fix it, every attempt only making it worse.
Can he fix what he has changed?
Should he even try? Given the opportunity to see two alternate futures can he
choose one over the other? Could you…?
Excerpt:
There was a rap at the door.
“Your hot chocolate is ready.”
“Thanks, I’ll be right down.”
There was a pause. “You sure
you’re all right?”
“Why do you keep asking me that?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I can hear
something in your voice.”
“In my voice? What are you, part
dog or something?”
Derrick chuckled.
“There might be a girl from college that may just agree with you on
that.” Again there was a pause. “May I come in?”
“Actually, I was about to get
dressed.”
“So, you’re saying you’re not
decent?”
“No, I’m wearing a bathrobe.”
“Well good, because I’m coming
in.”
“No, Derrick…” But he had already
opened the door, and setting the cocoa
aside he came over standing
before her as she sat on the bed.
“Okay, now I know something’s
wrong. Annie, why didn’t you tell me how bad you hurt yourself?”
“It’s not that bad. I’m not about
to make a big deal out of nothing.”
“You don’t need to be brave for
me. If anything it’s really important that you be as honest as you can, with
both yourself, and me, about this. I don’t want you doing any more damage
because you are trying to force yourself to do something you shouldn’t be.”
“All right, I’ll admit, my ankles
are a little sore. I must have stretched the muscles or something.”
“It looks like they are a lot
more than a little sore.”
“Well you know what they say. A
sprain is a lot more painful than a break. Although that would obviously depend
on the break. But I’ve sprained something, and I’ve broken something, and I’d
have to agree with that assessment, the sprain was much more painful. But as
far as that goes this isn’t even that bad.”
“Pain is our body’s way of
telling us we are hurt.” Derrick looked concerned.
“You do realize you sound like
Mr. Rogers?”
“Those people that feel you have
to be in pain to accomplish something.” He shook his head.
“Well, I’ll agree with you on
that score.”
“If they hurt you need to stay
off them. You don’t want to make it worse.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Well, look at it this way, by
using them while they’re sore you will probably lengthen the time it takes for
them to heal.”
The idea of experiencing what she
was now for any longer than she absolutely had to, was not an appealing
concept, to say the least. “I’ll try to take it as easy as I can.”
“Try?”
“Well I am not going to spend the
remainder of the weekend in this bed.”
“No need.”
“What are you saying?”
Before she had a chance to reply,
Derrick had slipped one arm beneath her knees, the other around her back and
under her arms.
“Whoa! What are you doing?”
“Well, I would have thought that
was obvious.”
“Oh, you have to be kidding me.”
“What makes you think that?”
“You are not serious.”
“Completely.”
“What? So, you’re going to carry
me everywhere?”
“Pretty much.”
“Oh now that’s just too much!”
He was already lifting her into
his arms as though she was nothing, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as
he carried her out the door and onto the balcony. He was wearing a sweater but
she could still feel his taut and rippling muscles beneath it. The muscles in
his arms flexing against her as he carried her carefully down the stairs. The
heat from his body reached through her bathrobe as she held her face close to
his, the scent of soap and aftershave wafting up around her as he grasped her
tightly to him. Setting her on the sofa next to the fire, he turned his face to
hers. For a moment they just stayed like that, holding each other, their lips
close as his eyes moved down her face to her mouth.
Bio:
Lauren Hunter is a writer of
Regency and paranormal romance novels, with plans to write in a variety of
other genres, including time travel, angel, ghost, and contemporary romance.
Besides novels, she also writes poetry and short stories, with her poems
appearing in anthologies from England,
Holland, and the US.
Appearing in a number of The International Library of Poetry's anthologies, she
has received the Editor's Choice Award and was published in The International
Who's Who of Poetry 2004.
Contact Links for Lauren Hunter:
1 comment:
Great excerpt! The alternate futures sound really cool!
Post a Comment