Defying the Odds by Kele Moon Read Free Book Online Page B

evil, something he was forced to indulge in when his body became a little too demanding to be denied. But most days his hand was a perfectly fine companion, and he rarely if ever sought out something more than that. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was making him aggravated and itchy in a way he found decidedly unappealing.
     
    “I usually mop the kitchen.” Hal interrupted Clay’s internal musings. “You don’t gotta do that.”
     
    “I do gotta do it,” Clay assured him as he attacked the kitchen floor with manic vengeance.
     
    It was either mop the floor or drag Melody into a corner and find a more carnal release for his tension, which was something he wasn’t sure either of them were ready for. She had issues with men. He had issues with women. Sex could end up ruining something that had become beautiful and perfect to him.
     
    But that simple fact didn’t stop his body from throbbing for it or his mind from replaying images of how willing Melody had seemed a few minutes before. God, he was going to have to stop by the Cellar on the way home and kick the shit out of a few punching bags just to get her out of his system.
     
    “Well, dang, boy, you do a mighty fine job, I’ll give ya that,” Hal said with a laugh as he finished the dishes and started working on the flattop. “I’d hire you if ya didn’t already have a job.”
     
    Clay grunted, knowing anything he said would come out surly and intimidating. He had a hard time talking to people when he wasn’t pent up with blinding sexual frustration. Now he knew it was best to just keep his mouth closed.
     
    Someone walked into the kitchen and Hal asked, “Why are you doing the silverware?”
     
    “’Cause I like doing ’ em ,” Melody explained. “Judy’s marrying the ketchups and filling all the shakers and sugar trays.”
     
    Clay turned, hungry just to look at her, which was sort of pathetic, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. He watched Melody reaching into the blue water, pulling out handfuls of silverware and dropping it into a white strainer.
     
    Clay leaned against the mop as he admired the way Melody looked bent over the sink, still elbow-deep in the steaming water. He couldn’t help but ask, “How do you marry ketchup?”
     
    “You perform a little condiment marriage ceremony and then fill out a buncha paperwork in triplicate,” Melody said without missing a beat.
     
    Clay laughed, his gaze running over her, hot and hungry, and he didn’t give a shit if Hal was watching. “Sounds exciting.”
     
    “Oh it is,” Melody assured him, dropping another fistful of silverware into the strainer. “You haven’t lived till you’ve seen ketchups marry. Hang around long enough and you’ll see a few mustards and barbecue sauces get hitched too. It’s a party here every night after y’all leave.”
     
    “I gotta stay after close more often,” Clay agreed.
     
    “You keep mopping like you’re doing and you’re more than welcome,” Melody said with a laugh. “Hal, did you see what he did with the front? I can see my reflection in those tiles.”
     
    “I don’t doubt it.” Hal laughed, his big arms straining from the effort of scraping the flattop in hard, fast movements. “You ever get tired of the UFC, you got a job ready and waiting for ya .”
     
    “I’d be a horrible waiter. People piss me off more often than not,” Clay assured both of them. “And I sure as hell can’t cook. All we got to eat back at the house are a buncha microwave meals and protein drinks.”
     
    “How come you live with Wyatt and Jules?” Melody asked.
     
    Clay started mopping as he thought about the answer. “I guess I just never bothered to move out. The house was real lonely after Big Fred died, just weird feeling without him. I didn’t have the heart to leave ’ em like that even if I could afford my own place. Now I suppose I stick around to keep the two of ’ em from killing each other. Habit mostly. Not so