[Paused] Dear Bloodhounds...

3. You're distracting...

A/N

Hello everyone.

It's been a while.

Have you missed me?

I must apologise for my lack of communication over the past 8 months –you have all been very loyal and caring (and sometimes downright scary (!), but I know you mean well) despite my sudden departure.

Truth be told, I have been on my own adventure of sorts... and now I'm here to tell you, my loyal Bloodhounds, the whole story.

It all started 8 months ago in my favourite little café...

--------

Mid-October

"Another one, please, Michael."

I folded my legs under myself, repositioning to get comfy for the hundredth time this evening.  It was Thursday night and I was holed up in my usual haunt, in my favourite chair, drowning in festive gingerbread latte's.  I had no idea why they were supposedly 'festive favourites' when they were sold in every coffee-related shop from about July onwards.

My followers were baying for blood, my sequel to the sequel of my hit "Wolf Blood" was usually updated every Friday and Wednesday and I'd missed one!  For the first time in forever I had been unable to post on my usual schedule and let me tell you, when you miss one you'll live to regret it.  My inbox had been blowing up all day.  Some of the messages were querying my health (thank you!) and others were threatening various degrees of injury with laptops and smart phones to places I'd rather not have a large electrical item lodged.  Thus I found myself with two chapters to write for Friday... possibly three if I included one as an apology.  Yes, I know, I'm probably too soft and should miss Friday's too for some of the cheek I received, but I truly love every one of my 'Bloodhounds' and I know they simply love my wolves and can't handle a cliffy for too long without going bat-sh*t crazy.

That is how I found myself mainstreaming caffeinated drink upon caffeinated drink in the homely little café only a block from my apartment.

I liked how my chair near the roaring fire was always vacant, waiting for me, how the staff actually remembered my name and weren't afraid to dive right into a conversation with patrons, and I especially loved their homemade tomato and basil soup which radiated warmth and love.

It was like being 5 years old again and receiving a big hug from grandma when she picked you up from school.

Yes, I adored this little place.

Michael, the cheery lad who worked every Thursday night, bounded over to my little sanctuary with piping hot coffee and a slice of their devilishly-decadent hot chocolate fudge cake.

"One more monstrosity of an excuse for coffee."  Insert cheeky grin. "One slice of your very favourite treat... On the house."

I raised one eyebrow and smiled lightly.  "Hm, either I've done something wrong and you're trying to soften the blow before you ban me from ever coming here again, or you've done something naughty and you're going to ask for my forgiveness."

"Haha.  You always see through me Lil'."  He chuckled before rubbing his hand over the back of his neck.  "I was hoping maybe the 30th time might be the charm and you'd finally give me your number?"

I inwardly sighed.  Michael was cute in a straight-out-of-college type way, but he just didn't ring my bells.  We'd got to know each other well enough over the past few months since I moved here and started frequenting his family café that I knew he wasn't the guy for me.  He actually was straight out of college at only 22, still had his Mom do his laundry and had no intentions of searching out other work when the café was here.  Not that any of these things were deal breakers, but at 26 I was done with casual dating, sneaking out of houses before parents woke up and cheap bottles of wine on a Friday because we couldn't afford top shelf.  I wasn't going to lead someone on because they were 'a good enough guy'.  It sucked when girls done that.