Lucky in Love Blog Hop

AFTER THE ENDING kindle book is FREE from 3/15-3/17 on amazon.com.

What does it mean to be 'lucky in love'? For Dani and Zoe, the heroines of After The Ending, it means that even thought civilization has crashed and burned--thanks to a really nasty virus--there's always the possibility of romance to brighten their post-apocalyptic days. Here are two short excerpts from After The Ending:

DANI

     When I rose and carried our empty plates to the sink, Jason asked, “What’re you doing?”

     “The dishes?”

     “Why?”

     “Because…huh.” I dropped the dirty plates into the sink. “I don’t know. It just felt right. Being here makes it seem like things are…normal.”

     Standing, Jason finished off the juice, drinking it straight out of the bottle, and said, “I know what you mean. I keep expecting my dad to walk in and lecture me about responsibility and ‘carrying the family torch’.” He raised his backpack onto the chair and unzipped it. “It feels normal…except for one thing.”

     “What’s that?” I cocked my head and leaned my lower back against the counter.

     “We’re here together—just us.” He looked at me, his electric blue eyes seeming to really see me for the first time. “The world’s not normal. Everything’s different…we’re different.”

     I nodded, shifting uncomfortably under the weight of his stare. 


ZOE

     “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice a mixture of anger and concern.

     “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said pathetically, refusing to look up at him. “Just leave me here…maybe the animals’ll drag me away.”

     He laughed despite his anger. “That’s not overly dramatic or anything.” Crouching down in front of me, he gripped my arms tightly. “I’ll help you up.”

     “Let me, please. I’d at least like to keep some of my dignity intact.”

     Jake let go and took a step back to let me rise on my own.

     Straightening, I looked into his eyes. They radiated an urgency I’d never seen in them before. I tilted my head, trying to decipher the meaning behind his intense expression, and began to feel extremely self-conscious.

     “Please don’t look at me like that,” I pleaded quietly. I balled my hands into fists at my sides but couldn’t stop them from trembling. Yearning and despondency floated in the air between us, and I was unable to distinguish his emotions from my own. Mentally exhausted, I closed my eyes and sighed.

     “Nothing’s changed, huh?” Jake’s tone willed me to think about everything that had transpired between us during the past few weeks. When I opened my eyes, he reached for my hands and examined the minute scrapes on my palms. The heat of his touch swept through me, banishing rational thought. 

     “For whatever reason, I know you don’t want to let me in…or maybe you just don’t know how.” He released my hands as he spoke, and I reluctantly let them fall to my sides. “I can’t read your mind, and I don’t understand you half the time…but I know what I want.” His voice sounded calm—confident—but I could feel both fear and hope welling within him.

     Jake’s vulnerability jump-started something inside me.

     He moved closer, and his jaw clenched. "What are you afraid of?"

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