Excerpts from future novels by Lorelai Huffman

WHEN DID I FALL FOR YOU

Neena sat the stack of folder's down on her bosses' desk, "I hear Annabeth's position has been filled."

"Oh really," Cara said not looking up from her paper with her black framed glasses sitting on the end of her nose.

"Yeah, Mike says he will start after the holidays. Did you happen to see Jeremy Tyler's article this morning about the holiday season?"

Caralee flipped to the next page. She was trying to finish her project before she left for the holidays, "You know I stopped reading that ass hat weeks ago." Cara pushed her long black hair away from her face. Her long thick eye lashes flickered as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, you would have loved this one, he practically said a woman's place is in the kitchen and only men can rule the business world. He might as well have said 'women bake your cookies'."

Cara circled the picture she wanted to use in her article, "Someone should kick that male chauvinist's ass."

Neena smiled, "You said it boss."

"So where's my office?" Jeremy Tyler said slamming a box of his belongings down on Cara's desk.

She looked over her glasses, "Excuse me?"

"I wasn't supposed to start until after the holidays, but I wanted to find a place to hang all my awards," Jeremy Tyler said with an ear to ear smirk.

THE WAR WITHIN

"I was hoping to be able to say something to you in a dream that I couldn't say…face to face." He put his head down and Ari waited for him to collect his thoughts. "Ari…I…"

Before Ari knew it she could hear Angelina screaming. Her eyes flew open and she jumped out of bed and ran into the living room. Angelina was on the floor and the blood that she had removed from the refrigerator was spilled all over the place as Angie held her stomach.

"Angie what is it?"

"Something…something wrong…with the blood." Angelina started convulsing and Ari didn't know what to do.

"Angie I have to take you to a hospital."

"No! They can't help me! Get Daniel!"

"Daniel? I don't understand."

Angie screamed with the pain, "Please Ari…please."

Ari ran down the stairs in her night shirt and started banging on Daniel's door. He opened it wide without thinking and Ari rushed in. Her heart stopped when she saw Ferrin sitting on the couch.

She felt so many emotions blazing through her at that point, but she had to deal with Angie now. She looked at Ferrin and said, "I will deal with you later." She looked at Daniel not knowing what to make of Ferrin being there and said, "Angie needs you I think she's been poisoned."

Daniel and Ari raced up the stairs with Ferrin close behind them. Daniel went to Angelina's side. She was unconscious and he picked her up and carried to Ari's bed and put her down. Ferrin picked up the blood and smelled it. Quickly taking it away from his nose he knew the exact poison that was used. Lycans had used it for many years to get rid of vampires. The poison didn't affect the human host, but it was deadly to the vampires. He just hoped that she hadn't drank too much.

Daniel yelled from the bedroom, "Ari I need something to absorb the poison."

"Like what?" she said with tears streaming down her face.

"I'll find something," Ferrin said and rushed toward the kitchen.

Ari sat on the end of her bed and looked from Angie to Daniel with confusion and dread.

"Ari, do you trust me?" Daniel said looking very serious.

"I did until five minutes ago," she whispered.

"When I get the poison absorbed she is going to need to feed on fresh blood."

"Fresh blood? You mean human blood?"

"Yes, if she is going to survive."

KIRKLAND FALLS

From where El and Rufus were sitting they could see everyone coming into the room. Most people turned toward the coffin in the front and didn't even notice her sitting there. Her mother and father had just walked in and they made their way to the front of the room.

El rubbed Rufus' head as she thought about standing and joining her family when a face that she knew all too well came walking in the door looking exactly the way he had the last time she had laid eyes on him.

You have some nerve Alexander Masterson.

He didn't see her sitting in the corner. She watched him walk up and talk to her family. He hugged her mother and shook hands with her father. People were starting to funnel in now. It was five and everyone was flowing in to pay their respects for her Nana.

El wanted to leave. She wanted to take Rufus and runaway, but her legs failed her. Alex walked up and knelt down to pay his respects and El watched him from where she was sitting. His lips were moving and El wondered what on Earth he would have to say to Nana. But Alex and his family had been her neighbors forever so El figured he had the right to say goodbye.

She watched him the entire time he knelt there with his dark black hair and muscular shoulders. El wanted to look away from him in his tailored suit and his perfect posture. El found herself holding onto Rufus when she saw him stand. As he turned around his eyes met hers...those deep brown and hypnotic eyes. They looked at each other for a few seconds and then El looked away.

She spent the next two hours talking to old friends about her Nana and getting a lot of hugs. Warren stood next to her in case she needed any support. All of El's friends from high school came and talked to her and told her to call if she needed anything.

El had been putting it off, but it was almost seven and she knew it was time for her to say her goodbyes to Nana. She took a deep breath and walked down the center row of folding chairs toward the coffin.

As she reached the front of the room Alex stood up from his chair and they were face to face.

Their eyes met and he nodded, "El."

She didn't even attempt a smile as she nodded back, "Ass."

El walked passed him and knelt down next to the coffin. She ran her fingers along the cold skin of her grandmother's fingers. 

"Hey, Nana I am so sorry that I went away. I should have stayed here with you, but I wasn't strong enough. I miss you and so does Rufus and no matter what I will take care of him. I love you so much Nana." 

El could feel someone standing behind her. She patted her Nana's hand one last time and stood so the next person could pay their respects. When she turned Alex was standing there holding out a tissue to her. He had been watching her and listening to her talk to her Nana.

"I'm sorry for your loss El. She was one of the most incredible women that I have ever met." His eyes were genuine, but she didn't want his sympathy.

"Don't talk to me. Go have sympathy for your wife. She needs it more than I do." El walked passed him and took her mother's hand.

(The thing I believe is most interesting about this book is I started with -  Their eyes met and he nodded, "El."-She didn't even attempt a smile as she nodded back, "Ass." And then wrote an entire book around those lines) 

RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME

So I came out of the restroom and was headed across the lobby when I just happened to notice the elevator door open and out walked one of the Wilson brothers with a woman who was neither Beck nor Melinda. I stood frozen and watched because it had to be some sort of old friend or cousin or something. But, then I saw him give her a kiss and let me tell you not even in West Virginia do they kiss like that with a relative. My heart was beating out of my chest. Not only because of what I saw, but because I didn't know if it was Raymond or Ronald because unlike Melinda and I they are identical.

Well at that point you wouldn't have thought it could get worse, well you would be mistaken. I watched the Wilson brother cross the lobby and walk outside. I figured I would wait for the valet to get his car and then I would get mine. But he just stood there a minute and I saw a car I recognized pull up and he hopped into it. It was Jason, my Jason picking up the culprit from his secret rendezvous. What the hell?

So you would think that my problems would be solved because obviously Jason knew which brother was the scum sucking lying cheating liar. But, as you will see when I get to it he wouldn't tell me which brother it was. So at this point I am standing in the lobby of this fancy hotel in my new dress and perfect shoes staring into space because my world had just been turned upside down. What do I do? What would you have done? It was my sister and my best friend and one of them was married to a...well to a whore-man.

Well, I guess I should get to what I did do. I finally got my legs to move and the valet retrieved my car. I drove to my house and sat in the driveway for a few minutes wondering if I should drive to Jason's and make him tell me or if I should have sped over to Beck's or Melinda's house to see which husband was missing.

DOUBLE VISION

He had needed some air and went walking in the park. He was drawn to the cascading fountain with the iridescent stone fish statue. He heard her before he saw her. She was crying sitting there cross legged on the edge of the fountain looking down into the water.

Thomas Casovere didn't know if he should disturb her or if he should just keep walking. Then she heard his footsteps and looked up and saw him standing there.

Wow...

She was breathtaking with her flowing blonde hair running down her back and her ice blue eyes mesmerized him even though they were full of tears.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to disturb you. I heard you crying and...are you alright?"

"No, no I'm not." She gently wiped away the tears from her face, but they were instantly replaced by more.

Thomas walked over to her, "May I sit for a minute?"

He was surprised when she patted the empty stone place on the fountains rim next to her. Thomas wasn't sure he could sit with his legs crossed like she was so he sat with his feet on the ground and his back to the fountain as he turned to look at her.

"Such a beautiful woman shouldn't be sitting out here crying in the night."

"I don't seem to be able to stop."

Thomas didn't know why he was drawn to her. There was something magical in her eyes. He stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and he helped her down off the fountain edge.

"Walk with me."

They walked for two hours talking about their dreams and their wishes and she had made him laugh and he had kept her from crying. Thomas didn't even realize that he had no idea what her name was or why she had been crying.

He felt as though they had known each other forever. They stopped and got a coffee at the small coffee shop around the corner from his hotel and then they found themselves right back at the fountain.

"Hey this place looks familiar." He laughed and that made her laugh. She was incredible. He knew that she was an interior designer and that she had wanted to be a space pirate when she grew up. He knew that her smile warmed his insides like no other woman he had ever met.

He did notice that she let him talk a lot and she just smiled and listened. Thomas tried not to have any awkward silences because he noticed that she started to fade away and look sad again.

They finished their coffee and he sat on the edge of the fountain with her. He wished he could freeze this moment in time because he never wanted this night to end.

"It's very late," she said touching his leg. He felt electricity all through his body with her touch.

He was surprised at himself when he said, "Don't go." He reached out and touched her hair. That long soft mane that surrounded her, "Please, don't go."

For the last few hours she had almost forgotten the pain that ravaged her mind.

How could David have done that to me?

She had found something in this stranger's eyes and the sound of his voice. His gray eyes were full of mystery and warmth and she liked the way his auburn hair wrapped around his ears. For a few hours she had escaped the pain that she knew had destroyed her marriage. She knew she would never forgive David for his betrayal.

This stranger tantalized her senses had asked her not to leave him and had taken her hand in his.

What are you doing? Two wrongs don't make a right...but...

She found herself drawn to him as he lightly touched her hair. She leaned in toward him and he pulled her close and kissed her with a passion that she had never felt. She felt an electricity down to her toes that David had never given her. She felt as though he was willing her to stay with his mind and she had agreed and never said a word.

She floated on a cloud of passion and desire that she didn't want to stray from.

Her lips parted and he found her tongue and possessed it with his own. All the words of warning in her heart faded as he kissed her over and over. For a few minutes she wasn't Mrs. David Monahan woman betrayed.

Her lips and body were on fire for him as he broke the kiss and looked into her eyes. He was going to say something witty like 'I don't even know your name', but before he could say anything she said, "Make love to me."

He pulled her to her feet and took her by the hand and led her across the street to his hotel room. She didn't say a word as they crossed the large lobby and rode up in the elevator. She just held tight to his hand and smiled every time he looked at her.

Thomas opened the door to his room. It was cool and dark. He reached for the light switch, but she pulled him close to her and pulled at his clothes. Her kisses were wild and loving and they were both naked and still kissing as they reached the bed.

She fell on the bed and pulled him with her. He had never been with a woman so hungry and wild. He could tell that she was fighting demons, but each time he tried to slow down or talk to her she would kiss him or touch him. His mind was filled with only her. Entangled in her long hair he touched and kissed every inch of her body as she moaned with pleasure.

The sounds she made filled his stomach with a loving fire. He was already exhausted from the foreplay before he even got a chance to feel how incredible she was. He was on top of her and she moved with him as though they had made love a thousand times. Her finger nails clawed at his back and he liked it.

When he was finished he lay on top of her trying to catch his breath. He had never felt this way before. She was a total stranger, but she made him feel things that he wanted to feel every day for the rest of his life.

He rolled over and tried to talk to her, but she started kissing him again. She was kissing him and touching him and she didn't want to talk or think. This time she took control and as he lay there on his back with the moonlight coming through the window. He saw the eyes of the woman he loved, this total stranger that he had known for a few hours and he wanted her forever.

Her ice blue eyes glowing in the night as she kept eye contact with him the entire time she made love to him. Her smile and the little breaths she took as she orgasmed was embedded in his mind forever. When they were both exhausted and soaked with sweat, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her shoulder as he fell asleep.

Tomorrow he would ask her to go back home with him.

Thomas slept soundly and happy after the erotic sex with this incredible woman as he locked her in his embrace, he didn't wake up when she slid from the bed or when she silently dressed. He didn't wake up when she left the room. He didn't wake up until his phone rang with his buddies looking for him to join them for breakfast and that was when he knew she was gone.

Thomas didn't know her name or where she was staying. He just knew he had to find her. He loved her no matter how fantastic or crazy it was. He loved her...

THE EYES OF NATHAN STONE

"He stole my fuckin' life Eleanor!"

Ellie leaned in toward her brother and lightly touched his arm, "Yes...yes he did, but she didn't." Eleanor looked up into her brother's eyes, "She is pregnant with our niece or nephew and she is in danger...all she did Nathan was fall in love with...well Nathan Stone."

"He wasn't Nathan Stone...and I know that...well because...," he said waving his arms up and down around himself.

"Again...Nathan...she didn't know that. Anything that Ethan did to you he did worse to her. Their entire life was a lie...he used your name, but can you imagine what she is going through right now?...She thought her husband was dead and then saw who she thought was him walking through the dam door."

"Alright stop preaching to me what she didn't know...what do we do now?"

"How about if we start acting like human beings," Vickie Stone-Grainger said from behind them holding her coffee cup and muffin that she had purchased from the cafeteria. "How about we mourn our brother no matter what he chose to call himself and how about we start caring that she is a part of our family. We have all been betrayed, but there is an innocent baby in danger."

Nathan and Eleanor turned to look at their baby sister and Nathan reached out and took her coffee from her hand and took a sip of it and handed it back to her.

The evening shift nurse walked up and placed her hand on Eleanor's shoulder, "She's awake."

Eleanor looked at her siblings, "I'll go."

Eleanor walked up to the hospital room door and looked in. Her brother's widow looked lost and sad as she stared at her with empty eyes. Eleanor could see Clea's extremely high blood pressure on the monitor.

"My name is Eleanor Stone-Bennett may I come in?"

Clea nodded and attempted to move her pillows into a comfortable position.

"Let me help," Eleanor hurried over to the bed and moved the pillows as Clea shifted.

"That is much better...thank you."

Eleanor pulled up a chair next to Clea's bed and looked at the pale exhausted young woman. "We could have handled this better, but my brothers have always been...well like a drunk bull in a china shop."

"Am I going crazy?"

IN THE SIGHTS OF A KILLER

Jezebel heard the bathroom door open and spun around, "Are you out of your god damned mind?" She pointed down to the tight skimpy outfit that she was wearing. It was gold and the front showed off her ample cleavage. The bottom of the short dress hugged her body like a glove. "Is this how you see me? With my tits hanging out and this dress so tight on my ass that I imagine if you looked close enough you could see my damn spleen?"

He walked over to her without saying a word and that was really pissing her off.

David didn't try and touch her. He did tower over her and look into her eyes and say, "No Jez...I don't see you like that. That's the point. You aren't supposed to be you." She rolled her eyes and tried to adjust the dress so that so much of her cleavage wasn't showing. "We are going to get you out of the hotel by hiding you in plain sight. No one would think that you would ever wear something like that and even if they notice you all they are going to remember is..."

She cut him off, "My winning smile."

"It's important."

"Well if it's important for me to look like a dime store whore than you might want to fix your bulge."

"What?" He was confused. Bulge...she couldn't mean."

She was amused at his confused face. She said slowly and emphasizing each letter, "Your gun." You're stupid. 

THE ACCIDENT

The air bags had deployed in Brandon's car breaking his nose, but he didn't seem to have any other injuries from the accident. He was a little confused and light headed, but when a police officer came to his window and asked if he was alright he nodded yes. They helped him from the car and he stood there and looked at the aftermath of the accident still dazed from the collision.

The tractor trailer was on its side and had taken out a couple hundred feet of guardrail and a few cars. There was a car on its roof and a policeman kneeling down talking to one of the people in the car.

Then there was a gunshot and that cleared Brandon's head and brought him back to reality. He raced around the car to where the officer was talking to Amanda.

He heard the officer call on the radio that they needed a paramedic. He knelt down by the window, "Amanda are you alright?"
She couldn't talk. She had tears running down her face and then he looked in the car and could see that the bottom of her shirt and her shorts were soaked with blood.

Brandon tried to pull open the door, but the officer took his arm. "Sir, help is on its way. We need to leave her exactly the way she is."

Brandon nodded that he understood. He gently opened the door and knelt down next to her and held her hand, "I love you Amanda."