Your Dimension Or Mine?
Read Your Dimension Or Mine? Online
Authors: Cynthia Kimball
Tags: #romance,fantasy,paranormal,suspense
Praise for Cynthia Kimball’s writings
Chapter One - A Jane-Approved Date
Chapter Two - The Discriminating Single
Chapter Three - Interdimensional Dating Service
Chapter Five - The Shift Bracelet
Chapter Six - Interdimensional Shift
Chapter Seven - Interdimensional Culpability
Chapter Nine - Magic, not all it’s cracked up to be
Chapter Eleven - So Much Worse Than Doomed
Chapter Thirteen - Dating Was Easy
Chapter Fourteen - Magical Defense
Chapter Fifteen - Decision Made
Chapter Sixteen - The Contract
Chapter Seventeen - A Great Start
Thank you for purchasing this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
“Yep. Chocolate can be used in all sorts of food.
This”—she grabbed the cake—“is the one I talked about in my email.” After taking the closest utensil and filling it with the warm, gooey center, she handed him the spoon.
The moment the food hit his tongue, she knew he loved it. His eyes closed and a small moan left his throat. “That is divine. There is nothing like it on my planet. What does it come from?”
“A plant on Earth. I know there is a lot they have to do to the cacao bean to make it into chocolate, but whatever they do, it is so worth it.”
They talked and laughed their way through the tremendous amount of chocolate. The only thing he wasn’t sold on was the bowl of chocolate-flavored cereal, but that was fine with her. She ate them all. As the last plate was cleared and she leaned back, basking in the sun—it might not be as harsh as the Arizona heat, but it was still nice—a shadow crossed over her. She looked up at Terrian who was staring intently at her mouth. “What?”
“There is a spot of chocolate you missed,” he said, his voice taking on a tone that made her heart beat a little faster.
“Can you get it off?” she asked a little more breathily than she would have liked.
He leaned in and his lips softly touched the left corner of her mouth, his tongue sliding softly over her skin. There was a pause and then he kissed her again, this time, his lips slid a little further over hers. His soft lips were like velvet, and with a sigh, she wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him back.
Praise for Cynthia Kimball’s writings
“A feel-good, happy-ending story for those who believe in that and need to read it once in a while. I couldn’t stop smiling the entire time I was reading it, and I look forward to the next few times I read it.”
~*~
“I like being led down the path of exploration into a whole other way of finding a soul mate. The twists and turns of trusting what one wants... even if you think you are doing so to shush another. Great tale, wonderful spin on a new idea in finding love!”
~5 stars
~*~
“It’s a good read when I feel like I have returned from a journey rather than finished a story.”
~5 stars
~*~
“Bursting at the seams with great characters...”
~*~
“There’s a real kinetic sense to this, both in terms of the narrative and the ideas.”
~5 Stars
Your Dimension or Mine?
by
Cynthia Kimball
The Dating Service Series
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Your Dimension or Mine?
COPYRIGHT © 2014 by Cynthia Kimball
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc. except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Cover Art by
Tamra Westberry
The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
PO Box 708
Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708
Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com
Publishing History
First Faery Rose Edition, 2014
Print ISBN 978-1-62830-239-4
Digital ISBN 978-1-62830-240-0
The Dating Service Series
Published in the United States of America
Dedication
To those who believe there is more out there
than just dust particles, I dedicate this novel.
After all, who’s to say there aren’t different dimensions,
and your perfect mate
might just happen to be in one of them.
Chapter One -
A Jane-Approved Date
“…and of course there is the effect on the economy…”
Sighing, Ari blinked her eyes and stared at the man seated directly across from her. He was still talking. And eating. From the moment they were seated at the private table for two in the neighborhood’s newest restaurant, Jay had been stuffing his face. Or talking. Sometimes he attempted multi-tasking and did them both at the same time. When that happened, Ari wanted to ask their waiter for a splatter guard but worried it would come across as rude.
“These damned politicians just don’t know anything,” he finished his newest rant, taking a big gulp of wine before letting out a belch.
If only Ma Nature would choose this moment to send a tsunami our way, she thought. Of course, the possibility of that happening was less than zero. The closest they got were flash floods in August. It was January.
“Have you noticed the price of gas?” Jay asked, munching on a breadstick as the waiter removed his salad plate and replaced it with a large bowl of soup. Without waiting for her to acknowledge his question, he launched into a diatribe about fixing prices and the state of pigs…or at least that was what she thought he said.
Letting her mind drift, Ari tried to remember why she accepted this date in the first place. Oh, that’s right—her sister Jane set it up without asking. Well, it wasn’t the first time. Ever since she entered college, Jane had taken it upon herself to introduce her little sister to men just like her husband Tony.
First, Jane set her up with Sebastian. The main thing Ari remembered about him was he looked like Rambo and giggled like a girl when someone passed gas. Then there was Erin, though he went by Igor. He had an unnatural obsession with Frankenstein even going so far as to take upon himself the appearance of a prometheus—neckbolts and all—to prove whatever point he was trying to make. Ari did not care enough to find out what that point was.
The waiter removed Jay’s empty soup bowl and placed each of their dinner plates in front of them. Ari might have been seeing things, but it seemed as though the boy in black trousers and a crisp white shirt glanced at her pityingly.
Looking at her plate, she was pleased to find the meal on the smallish side. Maybe if she was lucky, the date would end soon. She glanced up at Jay, noting the rate he was eating.
She took a couple bites, relieved when he started talking again so she could go back to ruminating. Her mind went back to her catalogued list of Jane-approved, Ari-disgruntled men. After Igor, she had been set up with gary. That’s right, he spelled his name lowercase. Then Paul and Steve—all sports enthusiasts with a combined IQ of the University of Arizona’s wins for the season.
For two years after college graduation, while she was getting her master’s degree in library science, things were quiet because Jane was too busy taking care of seven children, including three babies. The moment she got her master’s degree and got a job at the University of Arizona Library, the dates started up again. She was never asked to go on a date. Instead, she received an email with a place and time, as well as a list of acceptable outfits.
Pierce, the yeah-man, was her first post-graduate date. After every sentence, he would add the phrase, “yeah, man.” Then there was Devon, the sanctimonious I-work-for-God-so-you-are-so-lucky preacher dude. And now, Jay.
Wait. Of course, there was also Edward.
When Jane first told Ari about Edward, she had just read the Twilight series and visualized a tall, pale, sexy redhead. Unfortunately, Edward turned out to be short with a beer gut who also punctuated each of his phrases with an eyebrow wiggle and pelvic thrust. She had not been able to read Twilight since.
“So, Arrrrwin,” Jay said, growling the ‘r’ like a pirate while pronouncing her given name wrong. Against her better judgment, she tuned back into the conversation. “Jane tells me you were a bit crazy in college.” He winked at her and leered.
As she fought back the food threatening to come back up her esophagus, she caught the look of pity from a woman one table over. Obviously, Jay’s voice carried. Taking a deep staggering breath, she sat up straight. What had Jane told him? “Aren’t all college students?” she hedged.
He chuckled, shoving the last of his linguini with clam sauce into his mouth. Her stomach heaved at the sight, and she started mentally repeating the phrase “It will soon be over” to herself.
The phrase stopped when he added, “Yeah, but most coeds don’t write and produce their own—”
Whatever he was going to say was stopped as the sounds of a non-musically inclined singer came from his pocket. To Ari’s surprise and amusement, he blushed and stammered, “I-I’ll be right back. Have to take this.”
He jumped out of his seat and ran out of the restaurant, walking around to the glass side of the building where he talked on the phone while finger combing through his almost thinning brown hair in the glass—seemingly unaware he could be seen from the other side when he picked his nose. Snickering at how stupid he looked, Ari wondered what he had been about to say. What would Jane have told him?
Unconsciously, her eyes fell to his lips. As a child she had such bad ear infections that hearing went from difficult to near impossible, so she had learned to lip read. For the next five minutes she ate her meal, her eyes flipping to his lips every so often to see if he was done yet. After swallowing the last piece of chicken on her plate, she looked up and as her mind made a connection with the words formed by his lips, she slowly set her fork down. Well, now she had an apt description for the newest Jane-approved loser.
“Are you okay?” The woman from the next table leaned forward with a mixture of concern and interest on her face. She probably thought this would be a fun thing to relay to all her friends. Ari figured her expression must look as murderous as she currently felt.
“Fine,” she lied with a well-practiced smile. “Blind date.”
Nodding, while not able to hide her disappointment that there was no gossip to be had, the woman turned back to her food. Less than a minute later, Jay sat back down.
“Sorry about that,” he said with a smirk. Objectively, Ari wondered how he could call the woman on the phone “sweetie”, “honey”, and “love” one moment and look down her cleavage the next. With the lower-than-average intelligence of the men she had dated, added to this newest of lows, Ari began to wonder if any man was worth dating, let alone anything else. “What were we talking about?”
Part of her wanted to just walk out, but curiosity kept her in her seat. Okay, she thought, we’ll play this game a little longer. “You were mentioning what Jane told you about me…in college,” she added at his blank expression.
The blank look left, the leer returned, and his eyes fastened on her chest. “Yeah, she told me that…” He lowered his voice and leaned across the table so far he was practically in her face. His breath reeked of garlic and the fake mint used in breath mints. Ari leaned back as far as she could without actually tipping the chair legs. “You made adult films.”
Mouth dropping open, she stared at him unblinkingly. “What?” she squeaked after a few seconds, fully aware of how understated that reaction was.
Snickering, he sat back, finally giving her room to breathe. “Yep. I was not about to turn down the chance to date a porn star. I know what you
ladies
can do.” The inflection in his voice when he said the word ladies made her skin prickle, and she finally understood the phrase
it can make your skin crawl.
Rubbing her palms furiously over her upper arms, trying to get rid of the feeling, she looked everywhere but at the man across the table. Porn? Adult films? There had to be a misunderstanding. Maybe the Jay she was supposed to meet got there late, and she ended up with the wrong one. “I think you have the wrong girl,” she started to say.
He chuckled again. “Are you saying
The Widow’s Revenge
and
Take it All
aren’t yours? Jane told me about them.” Leaning back, he continued to leer as the waiter removed their plates.