title: Unexpected
author: Lane, Nevea
description: It’s funny how the smallest details can get you into a world of trouble. For Dinah Jacobs, it was a small cat. No problem, she didn’t fear stray cats, especially not as beautiful as the Siamese that was always waiting for her when she got home. She fed her, gave her a name, and even bought her a flea collar. That is where things went terribly wrong. The darn cat dashes into her mysterious neighbors home as she was trying to get the collar around his neck. Trying to get the Siamese out of the neighbor’s house, she discovers the cat mislead her. It wasn’t a stray. It belonged to the very dark, very brooding, very handsome next door neighbor. Galien was more than what he appeared at first glance, but did she want to stick around to find out what made him so unique? Galien wasn’t going to give her a choice. She broke into his home, she was about to find out what happens when vampires get unexpected guests.
  
  EXCERPT:
  
  “Look, I am so sorry. I don’t know why I hid under your desk. I was trying to put this flea collar on Doll and she ran in here and I thought…” She finally got herself turned around and faced the source of the voice. She stopped mid-rant.
  
  What she was staring at was the most surreal-looking human being she’d ever laid eyes on. She’d seen the sculptures at the Louvre in Paris, and this man was nothing near comparable. His skin was pale like the marble of those statues, but the statues didn’t glow like his skin did. She shook her head. That was impossible. People didn’t glow. She looked at his square, firm jaw-line, back to his face and swallowed. No, his flesh was glowing. It reminded her of staring at the moon after a fall rain. His inky black hair shone like wet tar, striking a sinister yet appealing contrast to his porcelain-like skin. It looked soft, and she felt immediately drawn to it, her hands itched to touch it. Yet, it was his eyes that made her lose her knack for babbling. They were a strange shade of blue, a hue stuck somewhere between midnight and dawn. Dinah had a master’s degree in English, and made a living off having a way with her words, and just his presence had robbed her of speech and thought. She only stared at him, wide eyed, because all her language skills had left.
  
  His dark brows knitted together, and she swore she could feel his anger. This man had an aura of authority and anger. She started to inch around the desk, glancing at the door and judging the distance she’d have to make up. I’m going to make a run for it. Ten feet to the door and damn the cat.
  
  “Don’t even think about running until you tell me why you’re here. Then I might let you leave.”