Bellann Summer

Today's snippet comes from Never Too Old To Live Again (Lubirea Mai1) This was my first attempt at a paranormal romance. I loved writing a crabby character and laughed through most of the story.  I've included two snippets as the characters met and re-met during their lives.
A small noise caught his attention and he saw the kit standing about four feet from him. The little boy was covered from the top of his head to his tennis shoes in dirt, having spent all afternoon digging a hole in the backyard. Stephan had heard him tell his mother he was searching for China.
In one hand he held a bunch of dandelions. He must have smelled them because his nose and cheek held the telltale fuzzy stain on them. In his other hand, he held a dead lizard by its tail. From the smell, Stephan figured it must have been dead for several days.
“Are you a crabby bastard?” the child asked. “My dad says you are.”
What could he say? So Stephan decided to go for the truth. “Yes, I am.”
Little Todd’s dark eyes sparkled as he looked at Stephan through the bangs of his messy hair, smelling like the rich dirt of Minnesota mixed with dandelions and dead lizard. The stain on the front of his shirt added a spicy sugary apple scent into the assorted aromas, overpowering Stephan’s nose, making him want to sneeze.
The little boy scrunched up his own nose and a frown creased his forehead.
“My grandpa says if a person lives life to the fullest, they don’t have time to be crabby.”
 “Do you believe that?” Stephan asked. A look of confusion crossed Todd’s cute little face. Clearly the conversation had taken a turn above the small child’s head.
“I don’t know,” he finally answered.
“Todd, come home now. You shouldn’t be bothering Mr. Analdo,” Todd’s mother called.
“Bye,” Todd shouted and ran across the thick grass to his mother, yelling at the top of his lungs that he had flowers for her.
That was the last word Todd spoke to Stephan for over twenty years.

This next snippet is when they first met as adults.

 The clock sitting on the mantel of the redbrick fireplace said that one hour had passed since the man-versus-cat sit-off had begun. Todd studied the golden brown majestic animal before him. Even sitting, the cat towered over Todd and he estimated that it weighed at least one hundred and fifty pounds. For the whole hour, the cat’s yellow eyes never wavered from its observation of him. But Todd couldn’t honestly say it looked hungry or angry.
He also took note that it hadn’t attacked him and viciously ripped him to pieces, yet. Bravely he tested his theory by wiggling the fingers of his right hand. Not seeing any reaction, he took a calming breath before he lifted the same hand and scratched his nose.
The cat watched, but didn’t tense or react in any way. Now Todd put both hands on the floor, palms down and moved his feet back and forth. The cat yawned widely, showing off large white teeth and a long pink tongue.
Taking a deep breath, Todd bent his knees and tried to get up and run out of the room. As his reward for attempting to gain his freedom, Todd found himself lying flat on his back, with a huge cat now lying next to him, with one of its dinner-plate sized front paws across his waist holding him down. At this point Todd knew he was totally screwed.
“Nice kitty?”
Shit, he hated that he said that out loud. It wasn’t like it was going to help or anything. But he was getting desperate and had to try something.
The cat leaned forward and its long, flat, rough tongue licked a path from his bare shoulder up his sweaty neck and over the side of his face. Then the huge feline started to purr. Breathing hard, Todd tightly closed his eyes and waited for the cougar to start eating his head off. Nothing happened. Opening one eye just a slit, he looked over at the cat. It was just lying there holding him down, with what Todd could swear was a happy look on its furry face. Not knowing what else to do, Todd started talking to it.
“Hi, my name is Todd Jacobs and I just moved into this house.”
The cat didn’t react, it just put its wide nose in the spot where his shoulder met his neck, took a deep breath, and continued to purr.
“Let’s see, um, well, I actually use to live in this house a long time ago.”
That got a reaction. The cat’s head swung up and looked right into his face. Todd wondered if cats could actually frown, because it sure looked like this one was.
“I was only five when we moved away, but I still remembered this place and now I got lucky enough to be able to buy it. It was like I was drawn back here by an unknown force.”
The cat beside Todd let out a small growl, and then its mouth opened to reveal huge snow-white fangs. The cat shifted, moving its big body on top of him, and the next moment it was replaced by a very large man. For Todd, that was when the world disappeared into nothing.