Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The Coffee Shop Ch 09 Teaser

The Coffee Shop 09 - teaser (unedited)


The Coffee Shop 09 - "Love Changes Everything."

Peyton woke up with a pounding headache, a stuffy nose, and a mouthful of the nastiest taste she had ever had the displeasure of swallowing. With a moan, she rolled over and peeked through one heavy eye, the pain of the movement making her eyeballs throb. The clock on her bedside table read twelve-twelve on the dot. With another groan she rolled back over and pulled the covers high over her head to drown out the light coming through the blinds.

The sound of her bedroom door opening was followed by a soft husky chuckle she knew well. The bed dipped in and Peyton made a noise of discontent when the covers around her face were peeled back.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Caleb murmured, chuckling when Peyton snorted in response. “Dany had to leave early this morning for an interview – but she brought breakfast. Do you think you can eat something?”
Peyton’s initial reaction was to shake her head in disgust, but her stomach growled at the idea of food.

When Peyton relinquished her hold on the blankets, Caleb peeled back the covers and slid his arms under her body. The next thing she knew, she was being carried like a kid out of bed. Peyton opened one eye at a time to get accustomed to the light and sighed when she saw he had taken her to the bathroom.

“Take a shower and I’ll warm up breakfast,” he told her as he set her down on her own feet, his hands holding her steady by her shoulders until she got her bearings. She grunted in answer and he gently tapped her backside to get her moving.

Peyton peeled off her clothes, stumbling a little with her jeans and underwear. After turning the water to as hot as she could stand it, she zombie-walked into the shower and rinsed away the hangover with a little success.

By the time she was showered off and had dressed, her stomach was growling like a heavy metal singer, and the smells coming from the kitchen only added fuel to the hunger. She smiled as she walked into the kitchen to find Caleb waiting for her with a coffee in one hand (which she greedily took) and a steaming plate of pancake takeout from The Griddle Café on Sunset Boulevard.

“Oh, Dany knows me well,” Peyton hummed in approval as she dug into the raspberry and lemon buttermilk pancakes. She gestured to the plate as she chewed. “Want anything?” she asked Caleb.

“Already ate.”

Peyton finished off her pancakes before attempting to talk again. “Do you want to head down to the beach today? I can show you around Venice Beach and the boardwalk, if you want.” Caleb smiled at her and nodded. “Cool – give me a second to change and we can go.”

A little under an hour later, the two of them were standing hand-in-hand on the boardwalk, watching the eclectic mix of people pass them by. Men and women were propped up against hotspots playing guitars, saxophones, or even ukuleles; singing their woes or about the California life. Peyton managed to convince Harry Perry to take a photo with Caleb, and afterwards had to explain to Caleb who in the hell he was. Teenagers zoomed by on bikes, skates, and skateboards and longboards; people adorned with tattoos, colored hair, and piercings admired beachwear through the windows of shops; there were street vendors selling everything from watches to pizza. Peyton took Caleb to Muscle Beach, where an extremely macho Chicano female put him in a headlock and posed that way with him for pictures until Peyton nearly died with laughter and Caleb nearly died from lack of oxygen. They had their fortunes told by ‘Stella Luna’, they watched a notorious snake charmer do his thing (and nearly get his hand bitten in the process), and they visited the canals over on Washington, where the homes could look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book or Spanish missions.

To take a break from the sun, they went to Joe’s on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, where once again Peyton indulged gluttonously in local red wine. Afterwards, they explored the inner parts of Venice, where Peyton somehow ended up getting a henna tattoo around her belly button and Caleb a Playboy bunny logo on his inner thigh. After searching for her car for about an hour, Peyton and Caleb got back to her place on Ogden just a little before midnight, smelling of hotdogs, sunscreen, and the sea.

Caleb collapsed back onto her bed with a heavy sigh as Peyton tossed the little souvenirs they had accumulated over the course of the day onto the armchair in the far corner of her room. He smiled at her and beckoned her to lay with him, which she did a bit stiffly.

“I’m getting old,” she told his shoulder as she collapsed ungracefully beside him. “My joints are creaking, can’t you hear them?”

Caleb chuckled into her hair and then sneezed. “Oh man,” he groaned. “Your hair reeks.”

Peyton popped up and tagged him in the shoulder before experimentally sniffing out her strands. Yep, they did need a good washing.

“Alright, I’m taking a shower,” she told him as she rolled off the bed.

“Mm, good idea,” Caleb sighed as he followed after her, stripping as he went. Peyton grinned over her shoulder at Caleb when he put his hands on her hips and helped her push down her tiny excuse of shorts. He turned her to face him and surprised her by falling to his knees on the bathroom tile. His fingers played with the wide lace hem of her white silk thong before pulling the skimpy material down her legs.

Peyton squealed in surprise when Caleb suddenly pushed her down onto the edge of the toilet and slid between her legs, his mouth claiming hers passionately as his fingers wove through her hair to keep her close. When he pulled away, she was gasping for air.

“Caleb…” she breathed, taken aback by his possessive touch to her inner thighs.

“Peyton,” he growled back. “I-I…”

Suddenly the hunger in his eyes faded a little and a tentative smile lightened the lines of his face. “Peyton,” he murmured softly, “I want to be with you.”

Peyton felt her breath catch.

After all the months of dreaming of what it would be like, it was finally here.

Peyton felt a smile cross her face as Caleb looked up into her eyes and she nodded. “You’re a little overdressed.”
~*~*~*~*~

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