This one's short and sweet and more of a scene than a full blown one shot but a bit of western fun.

The Twilight Twenty-Five
thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: Hunger

Main Character: Bella
Rating: M
Word Count: 1,000

Stifling hot, humid winds swirled around, kicking and twisting Bella's heavy skirts until they nearly tripped her as she trudged toward the town jail, a laden down picnic hamper hooked over one arm. It was nearly sunrise and Charlie would be expecting his biscuits, eggs, fatback, and gravy with a fresh pot of coffee. If there happened to be a prisoner in the jail, he would get a stale biscuit and blackstrap molasses and water but that would be after Charlie ate.

She closed the door behind her and began to lay out the small metal boxes breakfast was housed in onto Charlie's desk, sighing when she had to shuffle around the piles of wanted posters and other pieces of paper that always seemed to multiply once they entered the jailhouse. A few minutes later, she turned toward the potbellied stove to check on the coffee pot. Sure enough, it had boiled dry so she began to prep another pot.

"Thanks for letting me stay overnight, Sheriff," came a deep voice from the next room.

Bella froze, not expecting anyone other than her father to be in the building. She slowly turned toward the door, coffeepot in hand. She spied a young man standing in the doorway, shirtless, pants perched perilously low on narrow hips, with a towel thrown over one shoulder. His face was freshly shaven and Bella could only assume he had just finished a quick spit bath in the wooden bucket provided for prisoners.

"You are not Sheriff Swan."

Bella shook her head. She knew the proper thing to do would be to look away or at least divert her eyes from the stranger's chest but at that particular moment, she found she could not. It was finely muscled with a light smattering of auburn hair that trailed down toward an unfastened belt buckle. After a moment, she pulled herself from her thoughts and took a step back, tripping on Charlie's desk. Suddenly, her elbows were caught and she was gently but firmly held in place.

"Easy there."

She looked up and saw humor sparkling in the green eyes that stared at her and a little bit of something that looked like hunger. She had seen some of the men come back from California, their failure in the gold fields weighing them down. Some had not eaten in weeks and Charlie would order her to stand in the upstairs window, doors firmly bolted and shotgun at the ready, to keep the men away from their garden and their one lone milk cow. That was close to the look she saw in his eyes. That and something a little more. Immediately Bella felt a blush creep up her cheeks.

"I brought Charlie his breakfast," Bella finally murmured, waving a hand toward the desk.

The man took a step toward the desk and picked up a scrap of paper.

"Sheriff got called out to a Sue and Harry Clearwater's place," he said after reading. "Guess he's still there."

Bella nodded and took a step back, trying to create a little distance between herself and the man even though she felt this indescribable pull toward him. Finally, her senses returned.

"If you want his breakfast, it's all ready except for the coffee. No use in it getting cold. Eggs, biscuits, molasses, fatback, gravy," she blurted out, hurriedly unlatching the locks that held the lids on the boxes.

His eyes widened at the feast. Bella could swear she heard his stomach rumble.

"Unless you'd rather go to the saloon or the hotel or…"

"This would be just fine," he said softly. "Let me just get a little more respectable."

The man strode confidently into the other room and returned a moment later with a fully buttoned up, long sleeved work shirt. Bella noticed the dull silver badge fastened over one pocket.

"I never really introduced myself." He held out a hand to shake hers. "Name's Edward Cullen. I'm with the sheriff's office in Seattle. I've been out on the road for three weeks hunting down an escaped convict and Sheriff let me sleep here over night on my way through," he explained, taking a seat behind Charlie's desk. "It was a nice change from the ground even if it was in a jail cell."

"Three weeks! Goodness! That's a long time to be away from your family, Mr. Cullen."

"Not much family. My parents died a few years ago back in Chicago so my brother Emmett and I moved out here for a fresh start."

Bella brought the freshly brewed coffee over and poured a single cup.

"You don't want any, Mrs. Swan?"

"Miss."

"What?" he asked around a mouthful of biscuit.

Bella smiled broadly. She had always liked men that enjoyed eating, especially when it was her cooking. Maybe it was time to try and get her father to agree to letting her open a small restaurant since the trains were coming through on a more regular basis.

"Charlie's my father, not my husband."

"Do tell. Well, if every biscuit you make is like this one, you won't have any trouble finding a husband, Miss Swan." He waved around the last bite to accentuate his point and she wished she had brought more for him to enjoy.

Bella shook her head with a wry smile, thinking about the short but very colorful line of suitors she had faced and rejected.

"I do think your hunger has gotten the best of your ability for rational thought, Mr. Cullen."

He shrugged and returned to his meal with a zeal that pleased Bella.

"Well, if you ever think of moving to Seattle, my sister-in-law runs a tea house and she would be mighty glad to meet you and kick that cook she has to the curb. His biscuits are more suitable for lining the street."

"You flatter me, Mr. Cullen."

"Edward."

She rewarded him with a broad, genuine smile as her mind began to imagine what life in Seattle might be like.

"Edward."

I prefer country ham on my biscuits to fatback, but to each his or her own, lol!

Hope you liked my birthday present to y'all!

DeJean