Earth Blend (24 page)

Eli stood, “As expected, really.”

Austin joined them, putting his arm around
Julie. She looked up at him and smiled. “Your dad was looking for
you.”

“
Oh, okay. I'll be back.” She said and
went off in search for her father.

“
I guess we are going to be working
together.” Austin smiled.

“
I wasn't sure if you would be okay
with that.” Eli replied.

“
This is how I see it. I love Julie
and I know that you do, too, but that doesn't make you a bad
person. It just makes you competition.” Austin joked.

“
I'm not competition.” Eli smiled.
“You didn't see her... when she thought you were... not
awake.”

“
You mean not alive.”

“
Awake, alive, same difference.” Eli
and Austin both laughed.

“
Her world crumbled. She was in
pieces.” Eli continued. “She loves you. I will never get in the way
of that love.”

“
I look forward to learning from you.”
Austin stuck his hand out.

Eli shook his hand.

Julie found her father.

“
Hey, Pumpkin. Gregg has given me
permission to stay with him at the apartment so I can be closer to
you, spend more time together.”

“
I'd like that.” She
smiled.

“
Julie, I know it is probably too
soon, but we need to talk about what happened yesterday.” Gregg
said.

“
Way too soon, but, yes, I know we do,
and we will. I know this is something I need to deal with,
control.” She said and looked toward Austin and Eli and saw them
shaking hands. “But not tonight.” She smiled.

Marcus joined them, looking glib.

“
Any luck?' Julie asked
him.

“
The naked ones totally shot me down,
they must not like anything partly human. I got the number of the
scantily dressed one. She was more receptive to my
charm.”

Julie shook her head.

“
Anyway, I'm out of here. Anyone need
a ride?”

No one accepted, so Marcus left.

Julie walked over to Austin, who was now
standing by himself looking at the charred remains of Anthur and
Crysa.

“
You okay?” She asked rubbing his
arm.

“
Yeah, I'm fine.” He said, looking at
her, then back at the remains. “I never even got to know anything
about her.”

“
I think Eli knew her. Maybe you could
ask him some things.”

“
Maybe.” He said, taking her in his
arms. “So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?”

“
I want to take you home.” She said,
kissing him with a soft, lingering kiss. “Any
objections?”

“
None.” He said, kissing her again. “I
do have one question.” He trailed the kiss down her
neck.

“
What?” She breathed.

“
How fast can we get there?” He
asked.

Their kissing paused, “I think we need a
ride.” Julie said and they both laughed.

“
One of us needs to get a car.” Austin
said.

“
One of us? That would be
you.”

“
Why does it always have to be the guy
that has the car? What happened to your feminist
argument?”

“
Shut up and kiss me.”

“
Yes Ma’am” He said,
obliging.

###

Acknowledgments

They say with each book you write, your
thank you list get longer. I am once again thanking everyone who
was mentioned in Human Blend but have a few names to add.

Earth Blend took about 10 months to write
and over those months, many friends have stuck by me, cheering me
on.

My first thanks has to go to my amazing
editor, Tiffany Castle. While working her way through law school,
she has taken the time to make me look presentable. Tiff, I cannot
thank you enough for all your hard work and dedication, not only
for giving Human Blend a better look but for the amazing amount of
time you put in on Earth Blend, especially near the end. If there
are typos in any sentence structure, it is because I didn't let her
see this before I printed it. I love you, thank you from the bottom
of my heart, shell sister.

Thank you to my family. My husband, Mark,
Thank you for your support on book 2. Marko, thanks for allowing me
to use your image for the book cover. Christopher, my buddy, thank
you for all your help in cover design and formatting. I could not
have done any of this without you.

Thanks to my cat, Tiny, for making sure
that I did not forget to feed her, even if I was in the middle of
an intense scene.

Thanks to my two constants, Melissa Pinto
and Anne Marie Shour. Melissa, forever my muse, thanks for keeping
the pressure on as to when the next chapter was coming. Annie,
we've been through a lot, and although this past year has been
rough, let's look to the future. I love you both.

The next thank you has to go to an amazing
new friend I met while writing Earth Blend. She is many things to
me; a reader, a writer, a blogger and most of all a friend. Lucy
D'Andrea, thank you for you words of encouragement. I looked
forward to your emails with the pep talks and words of support. You
made writing this book a pleasure with your feedback and precious
input. Thanks for keeping the excitement up about this books
publication. Thank you for being my friend. You can find her at:
http://moonlightgleam.blogspot.com/

Thanks go out to all of my online friends,
some of whom should have been thanked in the first book. Thank You
to Debra Norris and Nicole Stevens. Thank you Twi-gals.

I am a proud member of the Paranormal
Romance Guild. This is an amazing group of writers, readers, and
reviewers. The friends I have made there are very near and dear to
me. The dedication that goes into the site shows in the quality and
integrity it has. Here is a link:
http://www.paranormalromanceguild.com/

Check them out, you won't be sorry you did.
Some special shout outs to the friends there; Lea Ellen Borg, T.
Lynne Tolles, Clarrissa Lee Moon (Zamora), Catie Vargas, EJ
Stevens, Jill Campbell, Karen Fuller, Laurie Jenkins, Maggie James,
Marianne Morea, Melanie Nowak, Regan Black, Shalini Boland, Judith
Leger, Shannon Butcher,Tracey Mitchell, Keta Diablo, GrannyLaLa and
of course Gloria Lakritz (Grammy). My apologies to those I
missed.

Thank you to my High School Gals who've
been behind me the whole way. Thanks to Joyce Brennen, Kimberly
Elwanger, Denise Long, Colleen Paxton, Karen Mercurio, Christine
Worstall, Patti Stahmann, and all my other supporters.

One last thank you to the most important
people of all, the readers and bloggers. I thank you for your love
and support and I hope you get as much enjoyment out of this book
as I had in writing it. HUGS!

Lori Pescatore

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