Blooming

by Fletcher, Peyton

  The two car loads were packed up and due to leave, Todd was getting a ride to the airport from Marsh, so he tracked her down to say goodbye; he found Jen trying to hide out in the gym until the last possible minute.

  “Not avoiding me are you sweetheart?”

  “Yes,” she answered honestly.

  “Come here,” he demanded dragging her away from her fake scrutiny of the equipment.

  He wrapped himself around her, her face pushed into his chest when she resisted meeting his gaze; her voice came out muffled by his shirt. “Todd not to be weird, it’s none of my business really but when did you know you were going to Chicago?”

  “I got a call yesterday while you were gone, it’s just something I have to sort out and it’s an issue that really needs resolving face to face.”

  His hand came round and found her chin tilting her face up to him.

  “I’ll be gone a couple of days at most.”

  Her eyes half closed as he bent his face to her and his lips found hers. He began kissing her softly coaxing her lips apart, his tongue insistently demanding entrance. She sighed heavily and relaxed into his arms, he kept a tight grip on the back of her neck as if he suspected she’d bolt, and just to make sure she couldn’t he kissed her harder than he ever had before.

  He angled his head and plunged deep inside her mouth thrilled when she kissed him back equally hard, beating his tongue at its own game. When she found herself gasping for breath, he finally released her, stroking her back - soothing her, “I’m sorry - you just scare me half to death, I feel the urge to brand you like a sheep or something, prevent you from running off and escaping.”

  “At least you didn’t say steer I suppose.”

  “Do they brand sheep? I don’t even know, ah god you’d better go,” he said kissing her again softly and sweetly, gentle plucking kisses alternating between her top and bottom lip, little flicks of his tongue, giving her space to kiss him back. God it was so unfair he felt so amazing; she didn’t stand a chance of resisting him so she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him in tight. She’d even got used to his ever present erection and a hint of mischief crept into her brain, she’d have to give him something to think about while he was gone.

  She kissed his lust inducing lips once more and said, “Bye Todd,” before he could respond she squeezed him tighter around the waist, trapping him, while she dropped her hand and gave his crotch a subtle but definite squeeze. Then having seized the initiative she walked away without a backwards glance leaving him turned on and smirking in her wake.

  Jen sensed him follow her out to the car but Todd kept his distance, allowing her the little game. Watching her confidence grow was sexy as all get out; feeling comfortable enough to tease him sexually was definitely progress.

  He watched as his family kissed Jen goodbye and it pleased him more than he could say how right it all felt. She got in the passenger seat alongside Ben and finally turned to look at him as they drove away, the look that passed between them could have melted the car window.

  Ben grinned at her, “Oh he’s got it bad girl.”

  “Look who’s talking,” she responded.

  “We make the perfect foursome for a double date,” he teased, “my girl’s not ready for sex and his girl’s not ready for sex, ow,” he yelled when she reached over and gave him a noogie.

  “What the hell was that,” he groaned rubbing his head.

  “That my friend - was all I learned in school,” she smiled.

  ****

  After the uneventful and pleasant trip home Jen was initially glad to be back in her own apartment. She got down to work and returned some phone calls, managing much better than usual she mused to herself.

  She turned down an invite from Sean and Seb to dinner, pleading fatigue and the need for a nice hot bath. She was getting very adept at managing bathing with her cast on. Once she was nice and cosy wrapped in a big fluffy towel her gaze was drawn to the wording on her arm, “Property of Todd Baker,” and just like that she missed him, really really missed him.

  A thought occurred to her and she wondered if she had the guts to do it, just as she was thinking it through the phone rang.

  “Hello Jennifer it’s me.”

  “Who’s that,” she teased feigning ignorance.

  “Todd,” he replied sternly.

  “Oh so that’s why you sound familiar, hi Todd did you have a good flight?”

  “Yeah it’s only a short one, over before you know it. What are you up to?”

  “Not a lot, did some work, had a bath, started missing you an awful lot,” she said honestly.

  She almost felt his smile come down the phone, “I like that you miss me, I like that very much. I miss you too, that’s why I’m sorry the reason I’m calling is to say I’ll more likely be here an extra day – maybe two.”

  “Oh,” her heart dropped, absolutely ridiculous she thought to herself, what was two or three days? Not long really.

  “Any particular reason for the delay,” she prodded.

  “No it’s just I thought of something else I could get done while I was here and it might take a day or so to arrange.”

  “OK, well should you tell me where you’re staying just in case I need to get in touch with you?”

  “I’m at the Hotel Allegra Suite 7 but I’ll call you Jen, I’ll be in and out of the room - you might miss me. Ah hang on a second I’m coming,” she heard a muffled knock in the background.

  “Room service?” she asked

  He brushed off her question and said simply, “I’m sorry sweetheart I’ve got to go, I’ll call you tomorrow,” and before she could answer, the phone had gone down.

  She sat stewing for a few minutes, it wasn’t like Todd not to be up front and the secrecy was really bugging her, even though it was probably none of her business. She truly was missing him and that made her mind up for her. She could be a little bit brave – so she pulled up flights on her computer and formed her plan.

  ****

  The next morning whizzed by in a blur, she dredged up the nerve to call the spa and they squeezed her in for an appointment. She had her hair and make-up done and pretended she was the kind of person who undertook these kind of adventures all of the time.

  From there she went to the mall picking out a couple of items of clothes and pretty lingerie in a department store and then she went to the pharmacist and spent half an hour trying to decide what was the right kind of condom to buy. She had to mentally steel herself to complete the purchase because the idea of those gross little rubber rings inside really creeped her out.

  She hoped Todd would be flattered she’d gone for the XL size, his equipment certainly looked XL to her; maybe if she didn’t have to look at the damn things they wouldn’t even bother her so much.

  Mother Nature must be on her side too because so far her period hadn’t arrived, if she’d come calling that would have forced her to forget the whole thing and just be patient.

  Jen had kept her all her preparations secret from Sean and Seb. If she shared with them she wasn’t sure she could go through with it. But she had begged a favour of Sean, she’d asked him to shorten her white dress - the one Todd liked so much, and now it hit her legs mid thigh.

  So here she was, she’d survived a beauty salon, a plane and a crowded airport and was about to sneak past a hotel reception desk. It was a pretty swanky place and she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to ask anybody if she could go up to Todd’s room, but she didn’t want them to call ahead and alert him to her presence either.

  The lobby was fairly quiet at that moment so she decided to wait until there were a few more people about. Jen ordered a margarita from a passing waiter to try and steady her nerves; she’d been riding on adrenaline for hours which had just about kept her on her feet. As she sipped her drink in a cosy lounge chair she heard Todd’s voice and looked for him, it was coming from the entrance to the hotel restaurant, Jen couldn’t make out what he was saying but she could clearly
see who he was with.

  The woman he’d apparently been sharing dinner with was a tall vixen with a tight athletic body. Jen dismally registered the long tanned legs, beautifully tailored clothes and her hair a shiny naturally looking blond bob. More upsetting than the big doe eyes gazing up at Todd was the hand he had at her back. Jen immediately felt adrift and absolutely sick to her stomach, luckily they were so wrapped up in their conversation that they sailed through the lobby without Todd even casting a glance anywhere near her.

  The idea of having to sneak past reception completely fled her brain, she was purely on auto pilot now. Jen knew from the hotel website that as a boutique hotel it only had seven floors so she was guessing suite 7 was on the seventh floor maybe.

  God she was going to have to motor to get up seven flights of stairs. Luckily the woman stopped at a jewellery case in the lobby and directed Todd’s attention to it. Jen was up and on her feet to the elevators and was in jabbing the button for seven hoping they didn’t catch up to her before the doors shut. She was in luck - she had the head start on them that she needed.

  Jen’s fragile heart was in freefall, her pulse was erratic and she thought she might pass out before the doors opened again, she didn’t know what she was going to do if that woman went into Todd’s suite with him.

  The elevator doors opened at a snail’s pace and Jen ran down the hall looking for Todd’s door, when she found it she desperately looked around the hallway for a hiding place. Fortunately there was a storage cupboard that was recessed into the wall, and she could just about squeeze herself up against the door without being spotted by anybody who wasn’t bothering to look too closely. She tensed, waiting for the next elevator to come up, trying desperately to focus on controlling her breathing.

  A sharp ping announced the car’s arrival. Todd swept out first and the woman followed close behind him, her arm slipping casually through his in what Jen thought was a very possessive manner. There was no hesitation at the door to the suite, they both swept straight inside.

  Jen’s legs went from under her and she couldn’t care less anymore who saw her. That was Bravura girl – looking a little older and a little thinner, which meant it was Todd’s ex girlfriend.

  “Shit,” she tried to drag some measure of composure up from her stomach, it might not mean anything yet, the woman might only be in there five minutes, so she waited, and then she waited some more.

  An hour passed by and Jen was on her way to becoming apoplectic, she didn’t know what to do. She’d read a ton of romance novels in the last few years and had always been completely annoyed by heroine’s who jumped ship at the first sign of trouble, without giving the hero a chance to make his perfectly rational explanation for another woman in his bed, or in his house. A marriage he’d managed not to mention before etc, etc. But here she was and she didn’t know what to do, half of her wanted to run home to Bloomington, pack up and leave before he had chance to spot her, and the other half wanted to confront him, tear shreds off him, kill him in fact for doing this to her.

  Exhaustion was what really won through; she didn’t have the energy to move just yet, so she rummaged in her bag and found a tiny compact. Jen studied her face; it looked remarkably composed for a woman on the brink of despair. She forced herself to touch up her make-up, because if she was going to stay here and be dumped she was going to make sure she looked ok doing it. Her hair which the stylist had pinned in place at the salon was escaping down her neck in curly tendrils but who would really care anymore?

  After a little while longer she crept to the door to see if she could make out any noises or conversation, but it seemed like this hotel had good soundproofing. She crept back to near the cupboard and straightened her clothing, the cherry red cashmere cardigan was warm and comforting over her white dress. She’d bought it with the hopes that Todd would want to touch and stroke her, not be able to keep his hands off her. Now she looked down at her figure and called herself an idiot.

  That thought upped the anger factor, whatever Todd was up to in that room she wasn’t going to allow him to strip her of every bit of progress she’d made over the last few weeks. He’d opened her eyes to the idea of being loved. Sean, Seb, Lily, even Ben had shown her she could cope with having friends. She would not allow herself to go back to the way things were, one man had found her desirable for a short time and maybe somebody else would too.

  A plan began to form in her mind, she had options she hadn’t considered, things she should have handled better and now maybe she would.

  Jen remained on her feet and waited patiently, another hour passed before the door to the suite opened, “I want to make it work,” that was Todd’s voice.

  The Bravura Girl - all grown up and looking like a society heiress stepped into the hall. “Well don’t forget what I said, that’s not going to change, I’m still open to try again,” her hand went up to Todd’s face and cupped his chin. Jen wanted to fucking bite that hand off.

  Todd waited in his doorway as the woman got on the elevator. As soon as they slid shut he made to close his door.

  “Wait,” Jen said. To her own ears the voice didn’t belong to her, Todd did a 180 and his jaw literally dropped, he stood immobile.

  “Jen,” he said hoarsely.

  Todd looked at her; she was so heart stoppingly pretty, in a cuddly red button up sweater and his favourite white dress which for some reason now sat half way up her thighs. She was a little rumpled and dishevelled and looked pissed as all holy hell.

  “Why did you send her away? If it’s because you ran out of protection – here, I’ll save you running to the store.” She threw a brown paper package at his feet and a familiar brand of condoms fell out.

  Shit. “Jen it’s not what you think.”

  “Really, then tell me what it is Todd, I’m all ears here.”

  “Come inside; let’s not do this out here.”

  “I’m not going in there, do you think I want to smell that woman’s perfume either on you or in your room. Go to hell Todd.”

  Todd flushed red and ran his fingers through his hair angrily, “I admit it looks bad, but I can explain. I haven’t slept with her, she’s,” he shrugged helplessly.

  “I know exactly who she is, and exactly what she was wanting.”

  “Jen please come in here, the reason I haven’t been up front is that you probably won’t like what I have to say, and I didn’t know how to broach it with you.”

  Jen relented, not because she wanted to but because she wanted to act like the bigger person.

  Todd made to touch her as she passed him on the way inside but Jen ducked and smacked his hand out of the way sharply. She looked at the velveteen couch but remained standing; Todd was imposing enough without her sitting down giving him an extra advantage.

  “Let’s get it over with Todd; I have somewhere I need to be.”

  For a minute when she saw worry flash over his face she nearly softened, but she stood her ground.

  “That was Carly Frost - my ex girlfriend.”

  “Bravura Girl.”

  “Yes,” he nodded slowly. “We split up about a year ago, I was getting ready to ask her to marry me, but things just didn’t pan out we weren’t at the same place at the same time. I was ready for marriage and children and she wanted to wait.”

  Jen felt the dark cloud swirling behind her eyes signalling she was in danger of blacking out; this was going to be worse than she thought she suddenly realised.

  “A couple of months back before I’d even met you she called me out of the blue. She’d met somebody else and he wanted her to move in with him, but she wasn’t sure if she loved him. She thought she still had feelings for me.”

  Jen retched involuntarily, she could see the train wreck coming, “where‘s the bathroom?”

  Todd pointed in horror. She ran slamming the door before he could follow her and she vomited in the toilet, gripping the bowl her fingers as cold as ice, the chills spreading through all her nerve endings. When she c
ould finally stand she rinsed her mouth at the sink and pressed a damp wash cloth to her forehead.

  Jen dropped back to the cool floor and gave herself a few minutes to regain control, and then she pulled herself to the closed door still squatting in a ball.

  “Keep going,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Are you ok?”

  “No I’m not fucking ok, I don’t want to hear a word of it, but I don’t have a choice do I Todd?”

  “After she called me that first time, I came out here and the short version is we ended up sleeping together.”

  Jen scrabbled in her purse and pulled out the one item she’d not needed in a long time, she started breathing into the brown paper bag trying to bring the hyperventilation under control.

  “Jen please you’re scaring me, please come out, I need to see your face.”

  “Just finish,” she gasped.

  “Anyway I was really screwed up about it; I regretted it as soon as it was over but I didn’t know what to do so I said she needed to sort out her relationship without me hanging over them.”

  The door opened with a crash and a surprised Todd practically fell inside the bathroom.

  “You son of a bitch,” Jen roared, “no I take that back because it’s a slur on Bernie. You’re telling me that the same day you told me not to worry about children yet, one step at a time and all that bullshit, that same day your ex had called to arrange another rendezvous and you agreed?”

  She jabbed him hard in the chest with her finger then did it again for extra emphasis. She wanted to make sure it left a bruise he wouldn’t forget.

  Todd put his hands up to defend himself, and struggled to find the words - knowing he was done for, “I told her I’d met someone that things were different and I couldn’t see her again.”

  “It’s not good enough Todd, just not good enough. There should have been no question in your mind what the right thing to do was – I’m leaving now before I give in to the urge to claw your eyes out of your skull.”