Sweet or savory? Salt and pepper? Hot and spicy? Pick your flavor as we play #1lineWed with today’s THEME of **FLAVOR**. I actually didn’t think I have much flavor in this WIP, but guess what? I found some. 😉 This scene occurs very shortly after Cooper and Britt meet in Chapter 1. Remember, there’s a hurricane raging around them. She’s about to get trapped by the storm and shows up on Cooper’s doorstep, in a fashion.
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She followed him to the office he used when in town. A thick air mattress, almost the height of an actual bed, sprawled in the open space between door and desk. It even had sheets and pillows. He grabbed a pillow and turned to leave. Britt blocked the door. Coop arched a brow, confused.

“Stay.” She sounded insistent.

“Not a good idea—” he began before she cut him off with a breathy, “With me.”

Oh, yeah. He wanted to do that. Which made it a really bad idea. “Look, Britt…”

She fumbled with the hem of the T-shirt she wore, twisting it in her fingers before she huffed out a breath, as if she’d made up her mind. She met his gaze. “I don’t want to sleep alone. Okay?”

She was adamant, despite the nervous movement of her fingers, and she sounded almost angry. Honestly? Coop didn’t want to sleep alone either. Which made him feel like a big ol’ wuss but those were the breaks. Curious about her reasons, he asked. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you want to sleep with me?”

She blinked at him—several times before a speculative look slid across her features. “Why not? You’re a good-lookin’ guy. I’m not exactly coyote ugly—”

That startled a burst of laughter from him. She was definitely not ugly. Her face suffused with color as her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned out. “Go ahead and laugh but…dang it!” She threw her hands up, beginning to pace the narrow confines of the office. “I watched my cameraman get slammed by flying debris today. He’s in the hospital. He could have died. I’ve reported the death toll and that number is only going to rise before this witch of a storm goes away. People have lost everything. Ev…ery…thing.”

She stopped right in front of him. “People died.” Her voice fell to a husky whisper, the edges still sharpened by anger. And fear. “There’s so much bad out there tonight. Is it wrong that I want something good? That I want to feel strong arms around me? To be kissed? To…” Her voice trailed off, her cheeks no longer pink as reality seeped back into her.

“I’m…scared, okay?”

His hand caught the back of her neck and tugged her against him. “I’m scared too, Britt.” Coop wasn’t sure why he could admit that to a stranger—no, not a stranger. To her. To Britt. Her forehead planted against his chest and her arms circled his waist.

“I’m not crazy. I’m not a…I don’t go pick up random men and proposition them.”

“Shh. Didn’t think you did.”

“Just so you know.” She was nothing if not persistent. Cooper smiled into her hair. Strands of the blonde silk caught in his scruff as she tilted her head back to look up at him. “I just want to feel something…real. Something life affirming.”

Cooper didn’t answer—not with words, anyway. He lowered his head, capturing her mouth. She tasted of grape jelly and peanut butter, and he swore that would be his favorite flavor from now on.
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And who doesn’t love PB&J, right? Now I’m hungry and wondering if peanut butter goes with potato chips? Because I don’t have jelly, and I normally use celery sticks to eat peanut butter. What about y’all? Favorite flavors? And have any flavorful words to share?