Spooktacular Day 2: Short Story by Lauren Hunter

The Lamp

by

Lauren Hunter

This story has been deleted for copyright purposes. Thank  you.

Title:  The Coffee Shop

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.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12831355-the-coffee-shop

Buy Links:

Musa:  http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/The-Coffee-Shop-ebook/dp/B005VRZ1EM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319245215&sr=1-1

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Coffee-Shop-ebook/dp/B005VRZ1EM/ref=sr_1_26?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1319243981&sr=1-26

Amazon Germany: http://www.amazon.de/The-Coffee-Shop-ebook/dp/B005VRZ1EM/ref=sr_1_26?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1319674716&sr=1-26

Amazon France: http://www.amazon.fr/The-Coffee-Shop-ebook/dp/B005VRZ1EM/ref=sr_1_1?s=english-books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319674945&sr=1-1

Amazon Italy: http://www.amazon.it/The-Coffee-Shop-ebook/dp/B005VRZ1EM/ref=sr_1_22?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1331217761&sr=1-22

Bookstrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/the-coffee-shop-0

All Romance: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thecoffeeshop-614640-140.html
I'm not seeing a place to put in reviews on this page. Hmm...

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/99898

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-coffee-shop-lauren-hunter/1107218124?ean=2940032835868&itm=1&usri=the%252bcoffee%252bshop%252bby%252blauren%252bhunter

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Coffee-Shop/book-AyPpS0pLn0KiSBSE3uHoKQ/page1.html

Diesel ebook store: http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/SW00000099898/Hunter-Lauren-The-Coffee-Shop/1.html

eBook Eros: http://www.ebook-eros.com/item/SW00000099898/Hunter-Lauren-The-Coffee-Shop/1.html

Sony eReader Store: http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/lauren-hunter/the-coffee-shop/_/R-400000000000000542570

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 

Blog: http://laurenhunter-1.blogspot.com/ 

Web Page: http://www.lhunter1.wix.com/romance#!

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/LaurenHunter_1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/AuthorLaurenHunter

 In addition to our Grand Prize giveaway we are running, Lauren has donated a ebook copy of "The Coffee Shop" to one lucky commenter. This giveaway is international and runs until the end of the month.


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