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Just a Kiss
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Collide A Night to Remember
Dani stared hungrily at Levi as he stripped away his shirt. She saw him watching her sprawled on the big feather bed like she was his prey, and she liked it. She could finally see all those muscles in his wide chest, the band of barbed wire snaking around one hulking bicep and, surprisingly, flames that licked across his right chest and trailed all the way down to the V cut of his abdominals. They seemed to flicker in the light and shadows of the bedroom. She knew there had to be a story to the art but at the moment all she wanted to do was touch it. She needed to touch it. To touch him. Her arms were slightly trembling when she raised them to him in supplication and request. As he saw her arms reach for him, he knew he was lost. In the blink of an eye, his hard body was settled between her thighs making the old iron bed creak in protest. He held himself up on his elbows and his lips quirked up slightly in a grin meeting her own amused expression with the sound but then he resumed his
Collide An Unwelcome Visitor
The next few weeks felt like a dream for Dani. The house was almost finished thanks to Maggie’s great design sense and Dani’s sticking to the contractors like glue. Nights and evenings were almost all spent with Levi. She felt like they were making up for the long years they had been apart. They talked and laughed and he even taught her how to make the best burger in Texas - so he said - and a passable chili. Every evening after dinner, they sat in the big swing on the porch rocking and watching the shadows over take the woods talking about their days and their dreams for the future. She couldn’t remember ever being as content or her heart being so free but, every once in a while, she still fought a little niggling thought in the back of her mind that it was all too good to be true. ***Maggie came out of The General with the lamp she had special ordered for Dani’s bedroom. She just knew she was going to love it and couldn’t wait to give it to her. On the way back to Common Grounds,
Collide An Unexpected Turn
Dani sat in the dark on the porch unwilling to turn on the light and hear the moths flinging themselves at it in their suicidal dance. She swung herself on the big swing sipping a glass of Moscato as she waited for Levi. She wondered if he really was going to see his mom. She didn’t like doubting him but couldn’t get what Maggie had told her out of her head. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sitting there when she finally saw the lights of Levi’s pickup coming down the lane. She looked at her watch. It was much later than she had expected him. “Hey, baby, ” Levi said, coming up the porch steps seeing her swinging and waiting for him. “Moths at it again?”“Yep. Want a beer?” Before he could say yes or no, she was reaching into the small Yeti cooler at her feet and digging her hand into the ice for one.Levi dropped onto the swing beside her and took the beer from her cold hand. “Now that’s how you greet a man after a long day’s work.” He grinned at her, but she could see the fatig
Collide A Secret Divulged
Dani fought to see the road as tears ran down her face. She knew it had been too good to be true. She knew she shouldn’t have trusted him. Now she was paying for her naivete. She wiped at her face as she made it to town and parked in the back alley behind Common Grounds. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this, but she had to see Maggie. She banged on the back door hoping someone would hear her since it was in the middle of the lunch rush. As her fist reached up to bang again, the door was wrenched open and she almost fell into JT’s arms.“What’s going on, Dani?” JT asked, grabbing her arms to steady her. He saw the mascara running down her face and quickly dragged her inside. “What’s happened? Are you hurt?”“Just my pride. I need to see Maggie.” She tried to rein in her tears and drew in deep, ragged breaths.JT put his arm around her and led her to the office. He sat her in a chair and squatted down to his haunches in front of her. “I’ll get Maggie but can I get you anything?
Collide Eleven Years Ago
Eleven years agoIt was a normal Friday night – normal for his family anyway- his dad drunk as usual, bellowing through the house. “Wanda, I told you a million times I hate fish sticks and what’s on my plate? Fucking fish sticks!”“I told you those were for Levi, Roger, not for you.” She stirred a pot on the stove. “Look, I’m making you that spaghetti you like so much. It’s just about done.”Levi winced as he heard the slap and his mother cry out. “Why isn’t it on the fucking table then? Is it too much to ask to have some goddamn dinner on the table when a man gets home from working all goddamn day in the hot sun?” His father took another slug from his bottle. He’d long since given up the pretense of drinking from glasses.“Here, honey, here it is,” Levi’s mother placed two bowls of spaghetti on the table and forced a smile. “Come eat.”Levi crept up the hallway to peek into the dining room as his father weaved his way to the table and sat down heavily, eyeing his dinner. “And why doe
Collide Flipping the Narrative
After he left Dani’s drive, Levi sat in his truck in the road between their properties with his head down on the steering wheel. He didn’t know what to do now, where to go. His life was coming unraveled just as it had all been coming together. He figured he needed to go back out to the woods and finish covering his tracks. Maybe the physical work would help clear his troubled mind and help him figure out what to do with Dani. Then, he had to go talk to his mom. He dreaded telling her that he had confessed what they had done to Dani, but he knew he had to. He had known if he and Dani had any future at all, he had to be completely honest with her. She didn’t deserve any less. By the time he was finished refilling the original grave and covering it with pine needle mulch and leaves and had covered the new hole he had dug to hide the old bones the same way, the first birdsong was starting, and a faint glow was starting to shimmer through the trees into the clearing. Levi gathered his shov
Collide Beginning of the End
Dani spent the next few days hopelessly trying to triage her emotions and figure out what she should do with the story Levi had told her. She spent hours rocking on the porch swing sipping wine, throwing pebbles into the water down at Avalon, and watching the ripples for some kind of sign. She also studiously avoided talking directly to Maggie. What could she say? She couldn’t share what Levi had told her. She was almost positive Maggie would keep the secret, but it wasn’t her secret to share. She was expecting her to show up in her driveway any time now, however, since she hadn’t replied to her calls with anything other than cryptic texts about not feeling well and not wanting Maggie to catch anything from her. If it was only as simple as an illness, she would be over in a few days. She was rather surprised she hadn’t heard a peep from Levi in the last few days either, but it was just as well. She still had no idea what she would say to him. At first, it had been truly shocking to le
Collide Love, Interrupted
After three days of waiting, Levi was crazed with not hearing anything from Dani. He and his mother had talked for hours after sending Debbie on her way. He had told her how he had confessed their sin to Dani and why. He loved her beyond reason and wanted to grow old with her. To make a life like Lu and Eustace had and that kind of love could brook no secrets. She would either accept him or she wouldn’t. He fervently prayed she would as he now understood there could be no other woman for him. He had cleaned the bunkhouse for hours trying to calm his nerves. When there was nothing left to possibly clean, he sat at the table with a beer in his hand. He had told himself he was going to give Dani all the time she needed to process what he told her, but he suddenly felt a foreboding chill up his spine. He decided he couldn’t, wouldn’t, wait any longer for an answer. Without even cleaning himself up, he got in his old Chevy and headed down the road. He was thinking so hard about what he wa
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