Today's prompt is author. We left Levi and Melody at the kitchen table. 

Excerpt


“How did you know I didn’t make the sandwich for you as, um, appreciation?”

He snorted, then laughed, before answering. “The slam of your door probably echoed through the neighborhood. I don’t claim to be good with women.”

You were good with me. She kept the thought behind her teeth where it belonged.

“Even I knew that you were truly pissed. The best thing I thought I could do was take Charmer for a walk. Thought he could give me some advice.”

She finished constructing her sandwich and turned to catch his shrug. He had to be unaware of it, still it was endearing. Reminiscent of the old movie heroes making a similar gesture in respect to a woman that read: Dames, what can you do about them.

Charmer trotted into the kitchen and waited until Melody slid into her chair before he plopped down between Levi and her.  One part of her considered the canine a diplomat, but another part recognized him for the scavenger he was. His best bet was to sit between them.

“Did he give you any good advice?” She bit into her sandwich rendering herself silent as she chewed. It was just as well because she never knew what other witticism she might author. The overhead light threw yellowish light over the two of them rather like a modern painting. If titled, it would be Late Supper or more appropriately, Awkward Snack by Two Strangers forced to Share a House.

Levi finished his bite and chased it with a swallow of water. “Actually, Charmer didn’t have any advice. I suspect he was owned by a man, which explains his lack of knowledge.”

Another funny, the unexpected poke at men surprised a laugh out of her causing her to spew food across the table. Good God, what had she done? Using her hand, she tried to brush up the crumbs. Her eyes stayed trained on her hand, afraid to see Levi’s disgusted look.

His hand covered her hand she was using to corral crumbs and ridding the table of the evidence of her descent into adolescence table manners. “Leave it. No doubt, I’ll leave my own share of crumbs before I’m finished.”

He sounded normal, not pissed, not disgusted, rather a matter of fact.  A quick upward glance revealed his eyes soft with understanding. At least, she thought that was what it was. No knowing smirk or superior attitude, Levi never struck her as being that way. Her lips parted to speak, but then closed when no words came to mind. Could she say, I don’t always spit food when eating, but when I do, I make sure to pick the person that my social gaffe would do the most damage.

They both sat under the yellow light saying nothing. Being silent was nothing new to her. It was often her only recourse in living in unstable circumstances. Early on, she discovered defending herself with the truth never helped. Those who chose to accuse her had already made up their mind. Any defense on her part was backtalk and that never worked out well. Silence conveyed guilt, acceptance and even contriteness.

The hallway clock’s ticks filled the space around them.  Melody envisioned numbers tumbling around them as if in a cartoon. How long could they sit saying nothing? Talk about a pregnant pause. The expression took on more meaning since she was in it. What would the silence give birth to? All she wanted was for Levi to return to eating his sandwich. Maybe he couldn’t after her stomach turning display.

Charmer’s whimper broke the stillness. The tension could have affected the canine too. Levi lifted his hand allowing Melody to pour her crumbs nearer to her side of the table. Her Intention was to sweep them into her hand and offer them to Charmer. Her eyes stayed on her hand that was almost at the edge of the table, Levi spoke, causing her to forget to put up her other hand to catch the crumbs.  Luckily, the dog was ready for such an incident.

“It really wasn’t anything that bad. Consider I’ve had soldiers blown up beside me. I saw something flash across your face. You were with me, then, you weren’t. If you were a combat veteran, I’d say you were having flashbacks.” He angled his head and stared. His expression became contemplative before he spoke softly. “You are a combat veteran, not from the war, but life.”

Summary:
Today's excerpt starts after Melody has spent some time in her room filling out her dating profile after a hot interlude with Levi. 

Hunger eventually sends her out into an empty kitchen where she makes a sandwich.








Excerpt

A low voiced conversation drifted through the screen door.  Could be her neighbors enjoying a respite from their parenting duties on their picture perfect porch. Melody strolled into the shadowy living room to check her assumption. The light from the surrounding houses illuminated the man and the dog.  Charmer pranced by Levi's side showing much more energy than when she walked him.  The stubborn male used his cane more now that no one was around to observe. Almost to the stoop, the last bit of conversation drifted through the screen.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do about your owner, boy. That woman ties me in knots. Probably won’t even talk to me now. I did the one thing no man should ever do. I was honest. You’d think I’d know better.”

Melody darted back to the kitchen hoping she hadn’t been spotted.  The screen door slammed as Charmer barked  announcing his return or delivering some canine advice. It made her  wonder how she missed their departure. Neither one of them was quiet.

Levi walked into the kitchen with the empty leash in his hand. He acted startled seeing her in the kitchen.

“Hello. I took Charmer for a walk.” He hooked the leash by the back door.

“I see.” She leaned against the counter, watching.

Levi lifted one expressive eyebrow.

Grabbing the plate, she held it up. “I made you a sandwich for walking Charmer.” His other eyebrow shot up joining the other.

She placed the plate on the table. “Go ahead and sit. What can I get you to drink?”

“Water.” 

 Even with her back turned, she could feel his eyes. Now, that she offered him her sandwich what was she going to eat.

Placing the glass in front of him, she noticed he hadn’t taken a bite of his sandwich. “Don’t you like ham and Swiss?”

“Yes.” He winked, and added, “But, I’m waiting on you to fix another sandwich before I eat yours.” 

Today 's prompt is mother. See if you can find it.




My feelings, exactly. Charmer’s tags jingled indicating an enthusiastic greeting, which meant at least one resident enjoyed the prospect of an unexpected visitor. The dog was a guard dog failure. Levi straightened and put his hand against the wall lifting his weight off her. Greeting the lawyer would fall to her, no doubt.  Smoothing her hair, she tried to make herself look as if she hadn’t been getting it on with her brand new roomie before she greeted Oliver. Levi shook his head before putting an index finger to his lips.

Keeping silent, she listened as the lawyer questioned Charmer. “Where’s your mother?” The canine chose silence for which she was grateful. The screen door slammed shut followed by a car door and the purr of an expensive engine starting. Levi took a few soundless steps to see if the lawyer was gone. The man could be stealthily when he chose.

“He left,” Levi announced the obvious. He turned with a wide grin. “Where were we?”

Melody slammed her bedroom door and locked it. What had she been thinking? She was just a convenient female and a horny one at that. A part of her psyche she didn’t know existed chose to make an appearance. C’mon Melody, what would it matter? It would do you both good. You could be friends with benefits.  Just think you could help Levi with his self-esteem. Getting him to the point where he could try dating women.

That’s all she needed was a bad girl persona that gave dubious advice. “I don’t want him dating other women.” The hard thing was she didn’t know what she wanted. Didn’t want to be a convenient bootie call that much she did know. What did a woman do with a randy male besides the obvious? The only thing she could think of was to avoid him as much as possible.

It would be similar with how she dealt with tempting junk food. She usually didn’t bring any into the house, but since Levi was already here, she should leave. How could she do that?  Picking up her camera, she dropped to her bed. The abrupt motion caused her laptop to bounce to the edge. A panicked lunge captured the device before it hurtled to the hard wood floor.

The birds were singing outside in the tree by her window.  Not much had changed in their world while hers had undergone a seismic shift.  If it hadn’t been for the helpful lawyer, she wouldn’t be thinking so much, but rather feeling how well she and Levi would fit together. 

Today's prompt is free.  We left off last week at an especially tense moment when Levi commented that Melody was horny. He admitted he was attracted to the distant woman, but the next move was hers. Let's see what happens.









 
The words made her legs react more like wet noodle than muscles and bones. The only thing that kept her upright was the wall. He wanted her, but did he want her, or any woman? Her breath caught as she fought the desire to turn and look at him. What expression was on his face? Was it calculating, fierce, lover-like? Her hand against the wall anchored her in place to prevent turning. Her traitorous body showed signs of betraying her and breaking free of her good intentions.

His voice came again, low, seductive and close.

“I won’t make it easy, in fact, just the opposite.”

He was behind her. How did he move without her hearing him, without Charmer setting up some sort of sign. The dog was in cahoots with him. She turned slowly and met his confident gaze. Many times, she wanted to be the focus of such a look. It spoke of longing, certainty, but hinted at something else.  Now, I have a man hot for me I’m not even sure what to do with him.  The lack of birth control was a problem, but mentioning it would make her sound like the prude he thought she was. How could she put the brakes on the situation?  Was stopping even what she wanted to do? She had to be practical. Falling into bed together on the first day of the house sharing would not work out well.

My God, they hadn’t even known each other twenty-four hours. The realization made her firm up her resolve to resist Levi. I almost jumped into bed with him without a thought, running on pure chemistry. In nursing school, she often overheard other students’ confessions about one night stands, claiming overwhelming chemistry. At the time, she rather harshly labelled them sluts, probably because she’d never experienced such a connection until now.

It was time to deliver a zinger, which would humble his male arrogance.  Knew more than a half dozen she could choose from, but she didn’t.

Her eyes held his. “Go ahead. Show me you worst, I’m very strong as you mentioned.” The sound of her words pleased her making her sound like one of the tough heroines in the black and white movies, back before canned laughter and air brushing.

A gleam appeared in Levi’s eyes right before he pushed her to the wall pinning her with his own body. He landed a kiss on her so hot she melted from the lips down. Dear Lord, could the man be any sexier.

Her arms tightened around his torso holding him in place as he peppered kisses down her neck. His scent wrapped around her, enveloping her in a cloud of pine and male musk.  Beard stubble rubbed against her face teasing her already heated skin.

Husky whispers against her skin set off explosions inside of her. It felt as if she’d swallowed a fireworks factory and Levi was definitely the match. Her heart was beating so loud it sounded like knocking.

‘Hey, is anybody home? I brought the papers by like I said I would. The copier was out of toner, so I copied them at home. Did you forget I was going to bring them by?”

Levi’s lips stilled, except to murmur, “Shit.”