“This is a really nice place you got here, Elise,” Brandon states once he stops laughing.
“Thank you. It isn’t anywhere near the size of yours, but it’s home,” she nods.
“This is perfect for you. It’s nice and cozy. I’ll admit that I thought you would live in the rougher area of town but I did a house not too far from here a while back. It’s a really nice area,” he confesses.
Elise tries to read his expression, “I don’t know exactly how to take that, coming from you. But, thank you, I guess. I know you asked me what I want to do back at the restaurant. I feel like we should continue to get to know each other and take it from there. Nothing too serious. Let’s just take things as they come while we grow through this process.”
“Grow through this process, huh?” he stares into her eyes, “Okay. If that’s what you want. And what about the fun stuff?”
“It was fun wasn’t it?” she takes the mug from his hand and sets it down on the table. Elise places herself on his lap. She’s facing him with a devious smile spread across her lips, “We can still have fun here and there.”
Brandon runs his hands over the curvatures of her backside, up her spine, and into her hair. He gets a good handful of her curls as he yanks her head back for access to her elongated neck. His lips and tongue glide over her soft and supple skin until they find their way to her mouth. Their kiss is long, deep, and passionate as things start heating up between them once again. Elise straddles him; swaying her hips over his bulging erection. Releasing her hair, Brandon grabs her cheeks from under her dress pushing it up around her waist. Her black lace panties reveal just enough to get his primal urges swelling. He moves her hips over his shaft as she tries to unzip his jeans. He lifts up slightly to let her pull his jeans and boxers down fully unsheathing his engorged cock.
Elise stares at it hungrily hopping off of him and dropping to her knees. She takes the entirety of his manhood into her mouth until it touches the back of her throat. Her lips slide up and down while her tongue flicks over the tip of his head with every pass. She opens her mouth wider so none of her teeth graze him. She can feel his body stirring, writhing to the rhythm of her motions. He’s holding back a moan. He doesn’t want to fully give into her magical tongue play. He isn’t ready to climax.
Brandon pulls Elise up to kiss her and removes her dress before laying her down onto the couch. He spreads her legs to see her brown and pink flesh; anxious to dive into her. His lips press against her inner thigh traveling to her wet center. She shudders with anticipation. And when the wetness of his tongue glazes over her clit, she climaxes. Brandon laps up her juices stroking himself with a ready eagerness. He pauses for a moment to retrieve the protection in his pants pocket. He slips the prophylactic on and slips into her slit. Brandon closes his eyes as he thrusts into her cavern of pleasure. He nearly succumbs to the pressure of her walls but slows down to enjoy the feeling. They rock, sweat, and move together in unison. Orgasms laced with kisses in between takes them over the edge of ecstasy. Finally, the climax comes.
“I swear you feel better every time I’m with you,” Brandon plops down at the other end of the couch.
“I assume that’s a good thing,” Elise chuckles as she gets up from the couch.
“Where are you going?”
“To take a shower,” she smiles at him, “You coming?”
Brandon doesn’t waste any time hopping off the couch and chasing her into the bathroom.
Chapter 3: Revealing the Mural
Majestic mountains stretch across a sunlit sky. The trees begin far off in the distance and continuously grow fuller and larger until a large pine tree trunk stands floor to ceiling. A family of bears and moose animate the scene with bright loving eyes and seemingly sweet animal smiles. A stream that flows with its paint strokes separates the two animal families, but peace and tranquility exude from the portrait.
“I like it,” Brody Jr. states definitively. Brandon looks to his brother who is near tears with disbelief that all of this work has been done for them. Elise stands by watching their reactions to the completed bedroom for the young boy.
Elise’s voice is soft spoken when she tells him, “I’m glad you like it.”
“Did you paint this?” the little boy’s curiosity is growing for the artist.
“I sure did,” she happily declares.
“What else did you do in here?” his smile widens.
Brody leaves the room in a hurry while Elise takes the little boy’s hand to walk him around the room and show him all of the cool things that went into creating it.
Brandon stops his brother a few beats away from the door to ask him what’s wrong. Brody confesses that this is the first time in months that Brody Jr. has been so expressive and even smiled. Seeing him so comfortable with Elise reminded him so much of his late wife that he could barely tolerate it. A wave of emotion crashes over him as he sobs uncontrollably into his brother’s arms. Brandon slowly moves him away from the room to prevent Brody Jr. from hearing his father break down in the hallway. He shows him to his room, and the rest of the extension.
“I can’t thank you enough for this, Bran,” Brody utters through his tears.
“Thank me by getting to that grief counselor and taking the reins back over your life. I don’t wanna tell you how to grieve, but that boy in there, needs his father. You can’t be no good to anybody if you ain’t no good to yourself. So just take your time and get better. Don’t worry about nothing else but getting you and my nephew into a good head space.”
“Alright,” Brody agrees, “Is she okay in there with him?”
“She’s fine. She’s good with kids,” Brandon assures his brother. Truth is … he didn’t know how good Elise was with children. He knows she did work with the school but this is a first for him to actually see her interaction with a child. He lets his brother settle in and heads back to the room checking in on Elise and his nephew.
Brandon watches them from the bedroom door. Elise is kneeling down next to the boy as he points out all of the different flowers and trees in the painting. He smiles at the two of them together, wondering whether it was a good idea to let her make the decision for them to keep things casual. He believes they should be more, but he can’t force a relationship on another person, so he lets the idea go and leaves them to bond. He knows they’ll end up together. He just needs to convince her of that.
A few days go by with Elise continuously stopping by the house at the request of Brody’s son. Brody Jr. likes talking to Elise about many things, including his mother. All she does is listen and ask him questions. She doesn’t tell him everything will be okay or how to feel; all she does is listen and let him talk. As it so happens they’re grabbing a snack in the kitchen, Donald comes in looking for Brandon. He has an inquisitive expression on his face, undoubtedly surprised to see Elise still around.
“Hey Brode! How ya doin lil man?” he greets the youngster, “Miss Saunders.”
“Mr. Grainger,” Elise replies nonchalantly.
“Come on, Mr. Donnie. Come see what Miss Elise painted in my room!” the boy grabs Donald by the hand tugging him away from the kitchen. He follows him, and as suspicious of Elise as he is, he cannot deny her talents. The room looks amazing.
“This is great Brode,” he pets him on the head, “Can you do me a favor and show me where Uncle Brandon is?”
The little boy leads him down the hall to his father’s room, where Brandon and Brody are in a heavy conversation. The tension in the air is palpable as Brody Jr. exits the space to finish his snack in the kitchen.
“Everything came out really nice. She’s really something, that girl,” Donald begins stepping into the room, “But uh, I figured you’d be done with her after it was all finished?”
Brandon’s expression is one telling Donald to proceed with caution when he says, “That ain’t none of your concern. I do what I want and keep who I want in my house.”
“Okay,” he raises his hands backing off
a bit, “But when something turns up missing, don’t say I didn’t warn you. And do you really think it’s a good idea letting the little guy get so close to her when she won’t be around for much longer?”
Brody never liked Donald, he merely tolerated his presence because of his relationship with Brandon. He glares at Donald coldly, “You know what? How about you worry about yourself and leave worrying about my son up to me!”
Brody excuses himself from the room no longer able to be in Donald’s presence.
“I think it’s time we keep these impromptu meetings at the office,” Brandon sighs, “What are you doing here, anyway? I mean, besides pissing everybody off?”
Donald chuckles, “I apologize. I know I have a knack for pushing people’s buttons.”
“That’s what you call it?”
“Yeah, but anyway, I came here with great news,” he reveals with a jovial slap to Brandon’s back, “You remember Stephanie Woodson, right?”
A brief smile flashes across Brandon’s face, “Yes, I do. Why?”
“Well, she’s back in town scouting out land to buy. She’s going to move her business out here. Something with her parents or another.”
“So what does that have to do with me? We haven’t seen or spoken to each other in years.”
“She requested to meet with you personally! Wants to get some ideas going for the structures to be built on her property. Did you hear me?! STRUCTURES!” he shakes Brandon by the shoulders.
“Okay,” Brandon pulls away from his grasp, “Well once she gets the land, have her give the office a call and we’ll set something up.”
“You know she does the restaurants right? She’s already got millions of dollars set aside to build it, a greenhouse, the barn, the ranch house. She wants a whole sustainable whatever she called it and she wants us to build it! Don’t let your attitude with me get in the way of a great business opportunity.”
“Alright, you’re right. Coordinate with Logan and set something up at her earliest convenience. Get the details straight before I get in there, Donald. Make it make sense,” Brandon demands.
With Brandon’s go ahead on the meeting, Donald practically skips out of the house knowing his commission off the deal is going to be a hefty one. He sees Elise in the living room reading to Brody Jr. on his way out but he doesn’t let it affect his mood. He makes a mental note to dig up some dirt on her to get her out of the picture permanently.
Stephanie Woodson is a 5’10”, red headed, blue eyed woman with nothing but ambition and success on her mind. Entering Fairchild Homes & Construction doesn’t alter her mission one bit. Heads turn as she walks by swaying her hips in a skin tight pencil skirt suit. Her red hair is slicked back into a sleek ponytail. Her briefcase is Hermès. She means business. She doesn’t wait for Donald’s secretary to show her in but heads straight into his office unannounced and takes his seat behind the desk.
Donald steps into his office, looks at Stephanie sitting in his chair and walks back out again. He laughingly reads the name tag on the door, nods his head, and steps back into the space.
“Good morning, Miss Woodson. I’m glad you found my office okay. May I offer you a seat?” he asks gesturing toward the chair opposite the one she’s occupying.
“I’m already sitting. Have a seat Donald,” the woman commands with a subtly raspy voice. Donald is very uncomfortable with assertion of dominance. “Where is Brandon?”
“Well, like I was trying to explain to you over the phone, his assistant and I were trying to negotiate a time that worked best for your schedule and he was supposed to get back to me today,” Donald explains.
“Have you reached out to his assistant yet?”
“No not as of yet, I was managing some projects that were already in motion-” he gets cut off by her well-manicured hand.
“Enough! Get Mr. Fairchild on the phone right now. Clearly my business isn’t worth your time, but I’m sure he feels differently. Especially considering our history. Let long money speak to long money. Dial the number and then leave!”
Instead of arguing with her, and possibly risk losing out on her money, Donald does as he’s told. He huffs a bit before leaving the office, giving Ms. Woodson one last glance, she shoos him away with the receiver to her ear.
“This is Logan,” the assistant answers.
“Ugh! He didn’t even give me his direct line. I hate speaking to the help,” Ms. Woodson says into the phone uncaringly.
“Excuse me, may I ask who’s calling?” Logan dismisses her snobbish insult.
“This is Stephanie, Stephanie Woodson. Please put Mr. Fairchild on the phone. He’s late to our meeting!”
“Pardon me, Ms. Woodson but Mr. Fairchild is in a meeting right now and I don’t recall him having a meeting with you. I recall trying to set up a time for tomorrow with Donald but Mr. Fairchild has yet to okay that, so if you can please just be a little patient, I will get back to you in two shakes of a coon’s tail,” Logan puts on his most patronizing voice placing her on hold. He looks into his phone’s camera adjusting his hair, and smoothing down his tie before clicking back over to her, “Yes, Mr. Fairchild has an opening tomorrow at 11 am.”
“You are surely incompetent. I know how things work which is why I fired my last assistant. You have the say so and plan that man’s day so if you don’t tell Brandon to get down to his office and speak to me within the next hour, you can tell him this eight figure project is going to find another company who cares a lot more about their customers! I’m in Donald’s office. He has one hour!”
She hangs up before Logan can protest. He snarls and stomps off through the house in search of Brandon. He finds him in his bedroom trying to put together his best blue jeans, boots, and suit jacket. Brandon can sense his energy before he sets foot inside of the room.
“Whatever it is, Logan, take a breath. I can feel the steam coming off your head from in here,” his suggestion stops him at the door.
Logan inhales deeply and releases, “Some She-Devil with a nasty attitude is waiting for you at Donald’s office. She said if you don’t meet her within the hour she’s taking her eight figure deal to another company.”
“Ah yes, privileged and entitled, Stephanie Woodson. What a lovely reminder,” he mocks looking at his watch, “I’ll never make it there that fast driving. Tell George to fire up the helicopter. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”
“Okay and what would you like me to do with the rest of your meetings today?”
“Attend them,” Brandon laughs.
“Me?” Logan’s face sulks, “Surely you’re joking. They’re not going to take me serious.”
“Well you don’t have to say anything. Just show up and say you’re there for me. Take the camera and record everything. I know they would hate to reschedule because of this minor hiccup. Tell them I don’t have anything available for another five to six weeks and they’ll let it slide.”
“But you don’t have anything available for another five to six weeks,” Logan replies.
“Ha! Even better, now you don’t have to lie. Get going now, George is probably out in the stables taking a nap,” Brandon waves him out of the room.
As Stephanie sits at Donald’s desk, rocking back and forth in his chair while he sits in his own waiting area, she hears the chopper coming in for a landing. With less than ten minutes to spare, Brandon Fairchild walks into Donald’s office.
“How nice of you to join me, Brandon,” she states sarcastically, rising from her seat. She greets him with a kiss on the cheek; a kiss that is a tad too close to his lips for Brandon’s liking.
“Nice to see you too, Ms. Woodson.
“There’s no need for such formalities,” she giggles lightly touching his lapel, “You act like we’ve never seen each other naked.”
Brandon’s face turns red at the awkwardness behind her statement, “Yeah, but that was when we were kids. Let’s get on with this meeting. You had me rush down here and you didn’t wanna wait for Logan to give y
ou a hard set date, so let’s-”
“Hold on, hold on, hold on. If I’m going to be spending millions of dollars with your company, I think I can be treated a lot better here. I deserve a little pampering.”
Brandon sighs with a roll of his eyes, “Okay, fine. What can I get you?”
“How about you have that servant of yours,” she points out to the waiting area.
“My assistant?” Brandon questions.
“No, not that buffoon I spoke with over the phone, the one out there waiting to get his office back. Why don’t you have him go find me a bottle of sparkling water?”
“Is that it? Is there anything else we can get for you?” he reluctantly asks.
“No, that’s it for now,” she waves him away.
Brandon pokes his head out of the office telling Donald to find Stephanie some sparkling water. The attitude she’s exuding is not that of the girl he used to know. Money has changed her. However, Brandon feels his demeanor is changing for the worst and he doesn’t want to lose out on this deal; even though every fiber in his being is telling him to kick her out of the office. She reeks of trouble.
“How about we start over?” he offers, “It’s lovely to have you here, Stephanie. I apologize for making you wait. Donald will be right back in with some refreshments. How’s your family doing?”
“Well, now that’s more like it. That’s the Brandon I used to love. Such a nice boy … such a gentleman,” her voice softens, “Well, you know Poppa’s sick. Mom’s there with the horses. I send back money to help out. So everything is alright for now while we wait to see what’s going on with Poppa. They would love to see you.”
“They actually see me fairly often, considering,” Brandon chuckles lightly, running his fingers through his long blonde locks. “I still go over there, once or twice a month, to help out with the stables.”
“You still do that?” she questions.
“Yeah, it lets me get away from my land for a bit, and it’s a habit I’d rather not break, especially with your Pops not doing so well.”
The Art of Love Page 4