The Cosmic Law of French Toast by Meowser Hotchner
A/N: Not sure where this came from, but it came at least in part from Ch24 of GhostWhispererFangirl's fic, on here, called Their Little Family. What can I say, it inspired me.
Or maybe we're just having the same weather: rain, thunder, lightning...
Great, now you're in the mood. Just picture those things...and if you're having the same summer I am, that won't be hard.
And, one last thing, this brings us back to when Mel and Jim have only been dating for a few months and she is working at 'Mr. Jameson's' antique store. Where do they live? No freaking clue. Surely they weren't always in Grandview, but that part of their relationship escapes me.
The sky crackled with enough electricity to make Melinda's hair stand on end.
She was staying late at Mr. Jameson's shop finishing doing the inventory of a new load of furniture and books that had been acquired by the shop today.
When she'd seen the task ahead of her she'd immediately dialed up Jim to cancel.
"Jim, I'm sorry but there's a ton of work to do here and I think he'll give me a bonus, maybe even a percentage of the sales, if I get this all cataloged tonight," she explained after his carefree greeting. "Besides that, the weather is so nasty now and I don't think I want you driving in it."
Her boyfriend's laugh rumbled over the phone line, making her shiver. Yet another thing she was beginning to think she loved about Jim Clancy. "You're worried about me? We've gone farther than I thought."
"What do you mean?" She asked, tucking the phone between her head and shoulder to free her hands for cataloging.
"Nothing, Mel," he said. "What about you? How are you going to get back home to your apartment tonight?"
"Oh, I hadn't considered that," she mused. Liar. You were planning on crashing in the shop and you know it. "But I think I'll be here long enough to outlast the storm."
She could hear Jim's silence. "The forecast said until two or three...You're going to be up working that late?"
"Says the man who kept me up until four a.m. a week ago," Melinda scoffed, running her fingers over the list of items.
"God, I hope that wasn't work for you," Jim returned. "You're older than I thought."
"Jim!" She protested and again heard his laugh.
"That was a good night," he said and she heard the smile in his voice.
"Yeah, it was," she returned dreamily. "You know, Jim, it's kind of hot in here."
"Oh?"
"The AC is busted," she said. "But who knows, maybe that means certain articles of clothing will be removed."
'Don't you dare," Jim rumbled, his voice getting dangerously low.
"Oh? And here I'm already taking my sweater off," she said, her hands going to the buttons. "You hear that sliding sound? It's the buttons being unfastened. And the swoosh was it falling to the floor."
Her voice followed his, getting throatier as she spoke. "Hear that?" She whispered. "That pop was—"
On the other end of the phone, Jim cleared his throat. "I'm at work, Mel," he rasped. "Please no more phone sex."
"Fine," she sang. "I'll let you go before I remove my bra and work this thing topless."
She hung up before he could react, feeling smug, especially since she'd so ably distracted him from how late she'd be here and how she'd get home...or if she would at all.
"I can totally sleep here," she murmured, picking up her sweater and sliding back on. The AC wasn't busted.
But Melinda loved messing with Jim.
A few hours later, the rain outside had turned torrential. It was pounding like mad on the roof and Melinda had discovered two leaks that she placed antique vases underneath. "Let's see if you still work," she murmured. "That'd be a selling point."
Hands on her hips, she surveyed the back room she'd locked herself into on Mr. Jameson's urging. She was bored to tears, and she still had a few items to go.
For perhaps the first time in her life, antiques weren't enough and she was feeling a sudden urge to go out in the rain.
It was pitch black outside, she thought as she unlocked the door from the back room to the shop to peer out the front windows.
No one will see me, she convinced herself.
But you don't have any extra clothes here, a new voice in her head whispered but the first voice quickly countered it.
Take them off, then, skinny dip in the rain. Come on, Melinda, live a little!
She noticed that the first voice sounded like a mix between Jim and her Grandma, and the second, negative voice sounded like her mother.
Well. That settled that in a hurry.
She shut and locked the door to the front, and, taking a deep breath, yanked her sweater off again; not bothering with buttons this time, it just flew over her head. Her bra followed it and she shimmed out of her jeans down to her undies, but, after thoughtful consideration, removed those too.
She kept her shoes on and crept to the back door of the shop, creaking it open and slipping out into the alley.
The rain pounded hard, loud, masking all movement and noise from anywhere else. Melinda knew that she had total privacy and stepped out into the rain, squealing at the force and her hands went instinctively to cover her breasts.
"Total privacy," she scolded herself and threw her arms out wide, spinning in the rain and yelling.
The rain hit her skin, making it slick and smooth, and she welcomed its cleansing force. Rain was everywhere, she was so wet and now cold; goosebumps sprang up and her nipples were already pebbled.
"If this is going to mean pneumonia, maybe it wasn't such a great idea," she mumbled, just as lights from a car began to flood the alley with the warning that someone was turning into it.
Melinda shrieked and ducked back into the shop's doorway, praying harder than she ever had in her life that it wasn't Mr. Jameson or a rapist or anyone like that. She peeked to see who they were and what they were and where they were coming from and was promptly horrified when she realized it was parking in the alley. So not even someone turning around!
"Shit, shit, shit, I am so naked," she cursed, but then she managed one last peek through the rain to see if they were getting out. And...
"Wait, that's Jim's truck," she said, realization and relief dawning.
The engine cut off and she saw Jim, wearing a leather jacket.
"He came out in this to check on me? Instead of going home after work?" She wondered and dashed out into the rain to greet him, then changed direction and pretended she didn't see him, beginning to dance in the headlights to a tune that only she could hear, bouncing in the now slowing rain and hoping Jim saw her and freaked out.
The lights cut off and a door slammed and Jim was there, showering her with kisses and pressing her naked, wet body tight against his paramedic uniform. Their lips met and Melinda gave him all she was worth.
"You're late," she purred, jumping to wrap her legs around his waist when they broke.
"You don't need to say that twice," Jim groaned, feeling her slick skin under his hands that wouldn't stop moving over her back. "I've never seen anything so sexy, Mel. Were you trying to give me a heart attack?"
"That depends, did it work?" She asked, pressing her palm flat against his heart.
"Maybe, I mean, you giving me CPR while naked would also be pretty hot," he rasped and his head lowered and a moemnt later she felt his teeth and tongue on her nipple. "Jim."
"Be loud, no one can hear you," he said. "Make those screams you kept suppressing at my apartment."
"Oh, damn," she gasped, bucking against his touch.
"This is going to be fun," Jim said.
She concurred.
A/N: I realized, belatedly, that I've had almost no ghosts in this, (which was kind of the point; the moments Jim and Melinda had without being interrupted) but I realized I was also kind of ignoring Melinda's gift so I'll try to include a bit more about that. Laters!