Welcome to the Wednesday Briefers flash
group. The short stories have a maximum of a 1000 word count plus links at the
bottom to the other flashers. The prompts for this week are:
Your character receives
a strange email
or use: curtain, TV, box
or "When is Spring
going to come?"
or "You can't hurry
love"
or use a whining diva in
your story
or do something creative
with raisins
or use crushed ice in a
sexy manner.
All
That He Desires #15
“Go take your shower, Jules,
and stop thinking so much. I swear, I can hear your mind going a mile a minute,
even out here.”
Jules put his hand on the door.
That didn’t sound like an evil man, either. “Yeah, okay. I’ll be out shortly.”
“Take your time.” Anslee shrugged. “I’m not
going anywhere.”
Jules finished stripping and
got in the shower. Neither, apparently, was he.
* * * *
Thirty minutes later Anslee heard Jules
shut off the shower. He’d been debating knocking on the bathroom door, just to
see if Jules answered.
“Finally.”
Anslee fully expected to see something
resembling a prune wander out of the bathroom. He was well aware Jules was
wasting time in the shower and, as annoying as that was, he did understand. Jules
needed some time. He wasn’t the only one. While Jules emptied the hot water
heater, he’d spent the time thinking about what Jules had said—and still didn’t know how he felt about the ideas Jules had
thrown out.
Eventually, he’d shoved all thoughts out
of his head. They could wait, but the human who was currently stalling in the
shower couldn’t. He’d closed the curtains in the bedroom and switched the TV
on, but turned the sound down low. Jules needed to sleep, and Anslee was
determined they rest in the bed, together.
A sound at the door drew Anslee’s
attention. There stood Jules, dressed in night pants and rubbing his damp hair
with a towel. But the look on Jules’ face had Anslee’s heart clutching. Jules
looked so lost.
Anslee held out his hand. “You need to
rest, Jules. Come.”
Jules hesitated by the door. “I, ah…
There’re some extra night pants in the dresser, if you want them.”
Anslee could read between the lines.
“Would that make you feel… safer?”
“God, yes.” Jules eyes widened. “I mean,
ah… shit.”
“I understand.” Anslee stood and folded
the bedspread back. “You do realize that thin material wouldn’t protect you,
right? That is, if I wanted to mate you.”
Jules scowled. “Are you trying to get me to sleep in the
bathtub? Because I have to tell you, when you say things like that—”
Anslee stood by the bed, waiting. What
had he said this time? Even if Jules were dressed in armor, it wouldn’t stop
him if he wanted to mate the human. “I was just stating a fact.”
Jules threw the towel at Anslee. “Yeah,
well, mind keeping your little factoids to yourself?”
Anslee snorted and threw the towel back.
While his human was occupied, he stripped out of his shirt and pants. Maybe
seeing his body would help loosen Jules up. Before the thought had time to
fade, a pair of night pants wrapped around his head. Okay, maybe not. Someone
certainly had good aim.
Anslee changed and sat on the bed. When
Jules didn’t move from the door, Anslee patted the empty space next to him,
trying to lure Jules. He hoped if he was already in bed, Jules wouldn’t feel
boxed in by him. Maybe that was wishful thinking on his part. Maybe this whole
damn thing was a waste of time. He should just grab Jules, throw him on the
bed, and have done with it. Just take what he wanted and to hell with it all.
Simple and direct. Then all this silly tiptoeing around, worrying about
feelings, would finally come to an…
“Don’t hog the sheet, okay? I can’t
stand a sheet hog.”
Anslee’s jaw snapped closed. Damn, he
hadn’t realized his mouth had been hanging open. Jules was there, in the bed—and
he gotten there all on his own.
“I will certainly endeavor not to.” Anslee had to
admit having Jules come to him was much better than using force. He actually
felt… good. With a sigh, he lay down next to Jules. Moments later, the light
next to the bed went out.
“Can we watch TV for a little while?”
“If you wish.”
Up went the sound on the TV. Maybe a little mindless
entertainment might help. He certainly hoped so; Jules was stiff as a board
next to him. Time crawled by, but finally Jules relaxed and started flipping
through the channels.
“Want to watch this?”
Anslee looked at the TV screen. It was some cooking
show, but who cared. “That’s fine by me. I don’t watch much TV.”
“I really like the show. This guy comes across as
such an ass, but I think he’s a nice guy. That niceness just may be buried a
bit.”
Anslee focused on the show. Ah yes, he knew that
so-called chef. “Buried quite a bit deep, I would think. He certainly doesn’t censor
his words.”
They listened to a long beeping sound before the
chef launched into another verbal attack. “I think it’s all an act for TV.”
Anslee snorted. An act—ha, his ass. Should he tell
Jules the guy was actually a Lord? Granted, he wasn’t a dark lord—his hair was
blond—but he was still a lord. And he was
an ass, until one got to know him. Part of his bad attitude may have to do with
the fact he was still looking for his mate. And the guy could cook, there was
no denying that.
As they watched the show, Jules snuggled down in the
bed, yawning. By the time the program went off, Jules was fast asleep. Anslee
found the remote and turned the TV off. Jules was sound asleep, so Anslee
wrapped himself around his human. He did have to admit it was nice having Jules
next to him, all sleepy and snuggly. Hopefully, Jules wouldn’t freak out in the
morning. Smirking at the thought, he allowed himself to fall asleep.
He wasn’t smirking for long.
