Fowl Things

EXCERPT

I knocked on the door.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hold on a second, will ya?” Merle yelled from somewhere inside the apartment as if I had been hounding him to open the door.

I didn’t suppress the smile that crossed my lips. I could already picture him with his hair mussed, and his eyes bright with intellectual fervor.

The door flew open, and he was mightier than I had expected. I had to blink a few times and change my focus, looking up. His hair was wet. And there was skin. A lot of it. A line of dark curls trailed down from his bellybutton to vanish beneath the towel that clung to his hips. He had a physique that caught me off guard. I hadn’t expected defined muscles layered over defined muscles to be hiding under his clothes. I always expected him to be, well, generically thin, not cut. And definitely not in possession of that hip bone divot.

“In!” He demanded.

I clutched the bundle of documents tighter and stepped inside. I couldn’t find words. In my eyes, in my heart, tall skinny, nerdy Merle was already lovely to look upon. Now to add on super human ideal physique, I had to fight hard not to swoon at his feet. And maybe snag that towel to follow me down as I crashed to the floor.

He skimmed past me to close the door. He stood close and breathed hard, flaring his nostrils. Damn, he was sexy. Any professional detachment I might have had was gone. I was here to deliver books for the library, and documents from the Archives. The ogling needed to wait for after hours at the bar. But at the bar he was always fully dressed, and frequently had a long dark frock coat over everything.

Merle turned away from me and crossed the room in a few stomping steps. He muttered something about getting dressed.

I carefully unwrapped my scarf from my neck, and sat in one of the few chairs that weren’t covered in stacks of papers. I left my coat buttoned, and continued to hold the bag of documents for delivery close to my chest. My knees glowed orange through my tights. They seemed obnoxiously bright in the dim light of his apartment.

When he returned, he didn’t say anything. It was hard for me to imagine that all that skin and hard muscle lurked beneath his loose jeans and baggy shirt.

He thrust a hand out to me. “Here.”

I handed over the delivery. In my stunned state, still reeling from the eyeful of his body, I barely noticed his abrupt choice of words and actions instead of his typical distracted, unfocused, but polite self.