Bring on the Holidays

So, I have one last FGB Eclipse Auction thingy left, and it's for a wonderful and loyal reader named acinad. I came to her with an idea and said 'There's no way in hell I can do it in one chapter, are you good with a short story?' Needless to say, she was all for it.

The next thing I decided was that I wanted to do something in Third POV, a writing exercise of sorts for me, since I'm generally all EPOV or BPOV. I'll be honest, the story doesn't have a name yet... I'm on the fence about a few of them. However, it will be posting daily in the days leading up to Christmas. It's my gift to both acinad and all of my lovely readers. Of course acinad gets it first LOL.

Since I've been so AWOL lately, I thought I would give you a little peek into the new short story of Bella and Edward, who my beta has dubbed skiward. You'll know why in a second.

Enjoy! A second teaser of this upcoming story will be posted on the Twi Girls Next Door blog!
*~*~*~

“Why does she need to be overprotective of you? I mean, you’re a young twenty something guy who looks like he could clearly handle his own. Does she think the big bad woman is going to come and hurt you?” Bella laughed at the image herself being some sort of succubus to the younger man, and though the image was somewhat appealing, it was far from the truth.

“I’m 22 actually, and yeah, I can handle myself. I’ve been out on my own long enough to know better than to do something stupid.“ Bella laughed again, unable to think of Edward as being old enough to know about anything other than skiing and women. Wasn’t that what Aspen ski instructors lived for during the busy season anyways?
“Wow 22, huh? Yeah, you’ve lived life alright.” Edward frowned slightly as Bella laughed again, clearly mocking his age. Rosalie came over a moment later with Bella’s dinner and slid it in front of her as Edward watched her curiously.

“Are you laughing at me, Bella? Yeah, I may be 22 years old but my life has been far from normal. How old are you?”

“Didn’t you learn never to ask a woman older than you her age?” Bella queried as Edward let out a small laugh of her his own. Yes, he was younger than she was, though he couldn’t venture her age based on the short conversation they had shared. He would guess based on her looks that she wasn’t any older than 35, but even then it didn’t deter him. Bella was beautiful and though she called to his body and his mind, he just wanted to get to know her. She was intriguing.

“Yeah, my mom told me that once. I rarely paid much attention to her.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to eat something? I mean, I feel kind of bad eating my pasta while you sit there.” Bella was ignoring Edward’s question, not really wanting to get into more personal details about herself. She was enjoying their simple conversation, but discussing her age, Seattle or her daughter Charlie was something that wasn’t going to happen.

“I’m sure. I already ate. Anyways, I thought I could take a few minutes and pick your brain.”

“About what?” Bella questioned as she was about to spoon some penne noodles into her mouth. She clamped her mouth shut down around the fork and watched Edward keenly. He knew that she was deflecting answering his question about her age, but it wasn’t important to him. He was curious about her and why she was here in Aspen.

“You.”

“I’m not that interesting,” Bella replied as she finished her fork full of dinner and reached in her bowl for another.

“I beg to differ,” Edward claimed confidently as Bella blushed and took another bite. “I think you are a lot more interesting than you give yourself credit for. For instance… why are you in Aspen three days before Christmas?”

Oh Happy Day!

Guess what? Most of my RL fuckery is over, so I am happy to say the latest chapter of Room 15 will be posted in the next 24-48 hours. Awesome huh?

So, I thought I would post a lovely teaser for all of you patient readers. There was a teaser two weeks over over on the Twi Girls Next Door Blog, since I am their author of the month, so if you want, head on over for some more insight by clicking here.

Onto the new teaser:

“She’s certainly a pistol,” my father remarked acerbically as I felt my stomach roll as I watched Bella walk out the door. I wanted to get up and bring her back to the table, all the while insisting to my father that she was important to me, that she was someone I saw in my future, and someone who actually supported my dreams, but I was silent. “I don’t mean that in a positive light, Edward.”

“You don’t have to like her, Dad. She’s not a part of your life; she’s a part of mine.”

“That’s ridiculous, Edward. She’s hardly a part of your life. How long have you even known the girl… a few weeks?” My father twirled his spoon in his coffee slowly, my fingers watching with too much focus as I fumbled with the words I wanted to say. They were on the tip of my tongue but nothing came out. “Come on, Son, you need to be reasonable and realistic. She’s a competitor for the internship and obviously a distraction. Girls like that always try and take away your focus from the task at hand and we’ve worked too hard for you to get where you are, for you to just throw it away.”

“We’ve worked for nothing, Dr. Cullen… I’ve done the work. The continuous string of reports, the medical journals I’ve read, I did the extra credit work and sucked up to your friends looking for great referrals in the future. You didn’t do anything.”

“Don’t act so ungrateful. You know for a fact that you wouldn’t be where you are right now if it wasn’t for me. Who do you think got the rules bent so you could get admitted to medical school here? Your grades in undergrad were mediocre at best. Don’t fool yourself, Edward. You have me to thank for where you are.”

Room 15 Chapter 15 - Teaser

Well, I managed to write a chapter this week and it's with the FGB pre-reader. It will probably go up in a few days, but I thought I would send something to tide you guys over. Thanks for being so supportive when RL kicks my ass.

~*~*~

Almost an hour later Edward and I had finally managed to get dressed, after another quick session in the shower, and were just about to walk outside when there was a sharp knock at the door. Edward quirked his eye brows, clearly not expecting anyone and went to answer it as I grabbed my purse from the counter. “Maybe Jasper forgot his keys?” I offered as Edward just shrugged his shoulders and opened the door.
“Shit,” Edward remarked with frustration in his voice as I turned around and noticed an older man standing the door.

“Well, that wasn’t exactly the kind of reception I was expecting,” the man said as he extended his hand to Edward who shook it tenuously. Whoever the hell was at the door, Edward didn’t look pleased to see him.

“Well perhaps if you had called in advance, rather than just showing up, I wouldn’t have been caught off guard like I was,” Edward replied as the two men stared each other down and I tried to figure out how I knew the gentleman who had just arrived. He looked somewhat familiar, but I just couldn’t place where I had seen him before until he spoke.

“If you ever answered my calls last night, Son, then I wouldn’t have had to come over unannounced.”

“I was a little busy last night.”

“Too busy to answer a phone call from your father?”

“I didn’t answer the phone, so obviously yes, I was too busy.” Edward glanced over to me briefly as I stood there in my skirt from the night before and a button down shirt of Edward’s. I wouldn’t have usually felt self conscious, but the last thing I wanted to do was make a bad first impression with Edward’s father. Carlisle Cullen was world renowned and if I was on his bad side, I didn’t even want to think of how that would go over in the next few months with the internship and my eventual residency.

“Oh well, I see why you were busy. I’ll just wait until you say your goodbyes to your umm… guest.”

Room 15 Chapter 14 - Teaser

I know, I've been a wee bit AWOL, but work is super busy for me until mid-November, so the time to write has become a little less constant. I've also been working in FGB one shots, outtakes for MIFFY and ABM and writing, as per usual, for PIC's FF Corner. That being said, even though my updates may be more sporadic, don't ever think I've given up a story because I didn't update for 2 weeks. I'm not crazy. LOL

Onto the teaser:
“Are you gonna get up and go to class today?” Bella questioned as she tried to roll away from my grasp and I wrapped my hands tighter around her, pulling her back against me.

“I’m considering it,” I mumbled into her neck as I began kissing her softly, wanting a repeat of our night before where we spent hours in bed forgetting the fact that I should have been prepping for a quiz that was due in class.

“You know, you wouldn’t have to consider it if you just dropped out,” Bella replied as she smacked her hand over her mouth right after she gasped. “I can’t believe I’m encouraging someone to drop out of school.”

“You just want me ineligible for the internship, don’t you?” I questioned as I ticked her side and Bella squirmed beneath my touch. I rolled her over until she was on my chest and kissed her chin as I held her against me.

“You know that’s not it,” Bella admitted as she nuzzled her head against my chest and I felt buoyed just holding her close. I didn’t want to admit to her that when we were apart I seemed to be less… alive. Bella, in such a short time, really had brought out the best of me and as much as I wanted to quit school, I wanted to be more for her. I didn’t think I could do that just squeaking by. “Well, that’s not it anymore. I just want you to be happy, Edward.”

“You make me happy.

“But medicine doesn’t. I seriously think you should just bite the bullet and follow your heart.” I grumbled as Bella suddenly sat up, her legs on either side of my waist, as she straddled me and I withheld the urge to reach up and touch her bare breasts. “Don’t make me do something like withhold sex until you do something for yourself.”

“You wouldn’t dare…”

“Try me.”

Additional Note: There will be a second, different teaser, posted on the PIC Blog later today! Whose excited now? LOL

Thank You So Much!

I just wanted to wish a sincere thanks to all the lovely readers, authors and friends, who donated to my 5k walk today for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Through your generosity I was able to raise $865 for my walk, and my team as a whole raised almost $2,600! It was cold and rainy, but we persevered and finished with a smile on our faces.

So thanks so much for being such wonderful people and supporting my efforts! It means the world to me!

Room 15 Chapter 12 - Teaser

“So… this is like my first real date in a very long time and I might screw it up completely and you may never want to talk to me again, so just keep that in mind as I awkwardly fumble through this entire night. I’ve never even eaten at a restaurant this fancy in my entire life. When I lived back in Forks, my dad would take me to the diner in town for special occasions and my ex boy… um… the guy I used to date would take me into Port Angeles for pizza, but this is just like… way over my comfort level.”

I reached my hand across the table and pulled Bella’s hands away from the hem of the tablecloth that she was clutching furiously in her hands. “Just be you, alright? I don’t care if you haven’t dated in a while, because this whole thing is kinda new to me too. If it makes you more comfortable, on the next date I’ll take you to McDonald’s or Panda Express, how about that?”

“Let’s try and get through this night before we plan a second date, okay?”

“Fine, but I have faith you will agree to another date with me. I’m sorta irresistible.”

“Aw… there’s the pompous ass I’m used to.”

“Well, you didn’t think I would shelve him for the rest of my life did you?”

Room 15 Chapter 11 Teaser

Just so you know, Chapter 11 is still with the beta and won't be posted tomorrow. Hopefully sometime this weekend though. RL is kicking my ass lately, so I may have to throw out the friday update schedule until things ease up. Have a wee bit of patience with me!

“Bella, all I want is a chance to talk to you. I think you care and you are scared shitless to admit it. Am I right?” I leaned back until my body was flush against the wall right behind me. Edward’s hands pressed on either side of my head, keeping me in place, as he stared me down, trying to break my resolve. I was ashamed to admit it was working.

“I don’t know what you want from me,” I said, my voice not hiding the fact that I was scared about how I was feeling about him.

“All I want is a chance.”

“You scare me.” My heart was aching in my chest, as I felt so open talking to him about this. “I don’t want to be hurt and with you, I can’t see this… us… ending well.” I motioned between us with my hands, hitting his chest in the process, but Edward didn’t back down. In fact, I felt him close the space between us and lean in closer to me. “Your persistence scares the shit out of me, Edward.”

“But that’s not the real me who you are scared off. Just one date… one dinner where we talk and I tell you about my life, my family, my misgivings and fears. If you still can’t stand me, I won’t bother you again.”

I had to admit, the offer was tempting, but the thought of never seeing him again wasn’t something I wanted to consider. Hell, on Thursday when we were finishing up our research project, if I hadn’t had plans to spend time with Alice, I would have definitely stayed in Room 15 with him. I would have used any excuse I could have to spend more time with him, but I didn’t. I probably could have blown Alice off, and if she had known I was with Edward, she would have been fine with it, but I wasn’t fine.

This shouldn’t have been happening. I should have been fighting against it with every fiber of my being, but I couldn’t anymore.

I didn’t want to.