Fashioned for Love

by Anna Hartman

  She decided to wear her hair up so she wouldn’t have to do anything to it, so putting on a shower cap, those ugly plastic elasticated thing that hotels offered to their guests she cleansed her face and put a mask on and had a quick shower, moisturised her body with a body lotion matching her favourite perfume.

  Just as she was ready to start removing the mask and start on her makeup, there was a knock on the door. That must be the tea she thought and went to the door, a very short towel wrapped around her body, her face hidden under the mask and still wearing that shower cap.

  It wasn’t room service, it was Brockley, wearing a tuxedo and carrying an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne and two flutes.

  “Oh, it's you”

  Brockley laughed, “yes I hope this is not your chosen look for tonight, although I like the dress, nice and short, intriguing”

  Rosalind blushed so furiously she was grateful for the mask hiding her face and pulled the shower cap off”

  “Let’ me just go and clean my face, I’ll be back with you shortly”

  Shit, why oh why had she decided to put a face mask on today of all days. She wiped her face with a hot flannel, quickly put on some moisturiser and then realised all her clothes were in the room so she had to walk back in wearing just the towel

  In the meantime Brockley had made himself at home, opened the bottle of champagne, switched the tv on and the room service tea and sandwich had also arrived.

  “Here have some champagne, we still have a good hour before we need to go downstairs”

  She took the glass and stood nervously by the wardrobe.

  “I need to get dressed”

  “I don’t mind if you don’t” he said and walked behind her, placing his lips gently on the nape of her neck.

  “mmmm” she sighed, this felt so good her body had been yearning his touch ever since that New Year’s day. She pushed her body closer to him and felt his hardness against her bottom.

  She slid her hand down and unzipped his trousers and he put both of his hands on her hips and pushed himself in from behind.

  They were both so turned on and clearly had been waiting for this moment for so long that it didn’t take long for them both to reach the climax.

  “mmm” he said, so here’s a little taster what’s available tomorrow night or maybe even tonight.

  He helped her get dressed, she needed minimal make up as the orgasm had made her skin glow and eyes sparkle, the kissing made her lips plump and ripe.

  He lead her to the ballroom in her black gown she still felt the wetness from their encounter between her legs.

  As soon as they arrived Alice could tell what had been going on. Despite not wanting Brockley herself she suddenly felt a bang of jealousy. She could remember the passion and the amazing sex they used to have and despite having moved on years ago she suddenly wanted to experience it one more time before letting go.

  All night she was flirting with Brockley, reminding him on all the fun they used to have, the all consuming lust they used to feel. She completely ignored Rosalind who didn’t want to make the situation difficult for herself so spent the evening talking to Nick and then at 10 pm, sneaked out and went back to her room, hoping that Brockley would soon follow. But he didn’t, she slept lightly and kept hoping a knock on the door, but it never came.

  At 7 she got up, showered and got dressed for the day and then went downstairs for breakfast. Her car was picking her up at 8.

  There was no sign of Brockley or Alice.

  But as s got into her car she saw from the corner of her eye Alice jumping into a yellow cab. What was she doing here, her apartment was way downtown.

  And then it dawned on her that she had spent the night with Brockley. Her heart sank. What was he like? Having wild crazy sex with her and few hours later sleeping with his ex-wife. She was upset and disgusted by his behaviour, if he thought she’d be waiting for him to pick her up tonight for a date he had another thing coming. She decided to call her old roommate and some other friends and plan a fun casual dinner somewhere far away from Brockley’s upper east side glamour.

  She arrived at the property surprisingly quickly and had some time so she popped in to the little Italian deli to pick up a coffee, she really wasn’t looking forward to seeing Alice, she’d find it hard to look at her in the eye and pretend she didn’t know what she’d been up to the night before.

  Nick arrived, looking a bit worse to wear.

  “How are you?”

  “It was a bit of a late one, I didn’t get to bed until 4:30 You were a smart cookie leaving early” he smiled.

  “Well you know jet lag, it’s a killer” she said not wanting him to know she had been pining over their boss all night.

  “yeah, I wonder where Alice is? She’s usually right on time but she was quite drunk last night, drunker than I’ve ever seen her”

  “Maybe she didn’t make it home?”

  “I doubt it, she takes her job seriously and today is a big day for her, the kick off of our first New York city property”

  The site manager and architect arrived and they all waited for Alice as she was the one with the keys”

  Finally, nearly half an hour late, looking sheepish she emerged from a taxi, her hair scraped back on a ponytail, wearing jeans and a leather jacket, not looking like the businesslike glamorous Alice she normally was. The sleepless night had left her looking all of her 38 years and Rosalind felt a pang of joy knowing she looked fantastic herself.

  “I’m so sorry I’m late, the traffic was crazy and the cabbie insisted on taking a weird route”

  She opened the door and they they stepped in through the double doors to this mansion that had once been a townhouse of a wealthy banker but since then turned into cheap rental block. It was dusty and dark but just the scale of the hallway told them this would be a fantastic hotel, a jewel in the BG Hotels American crown.

  “Right why don’t I give you a tour of the property, Nick said as the project manager” They followed him through the lounge, dining room, ballroom and back to the kitchen area. Upstairs there were bedrooms converted into small apartments, each looking unloved and unkempt, some of them still had some furniture left in them.

  So to begin with we’ll break all the portioning walls and then work with the original bedroom plan. The larger bedrooms in the first and second floors will probably be pretty much like they originally were but on the third floor where the servants used to live, we are looking to make 3 massive suites, 2 which will have interconnecting doors and they can be turned into a one massive suite with a huge lounge and 4 bedrooms. Ideal for the big families from the middle east traveling together, or even a pop star and entourage as it would be easy to take over the entire third floor and have quite a lot of privacy.

  They sat around the makeshift table in the dining room and Alice’s assistant turned up with a regular coffee round and for lunch they all went to the Italian deli.

  By 4pm, they were done and Alice and Nick headed back to the office.

  “Why don’t you go and enjoy New York, Rosalind? We’ll have a busy day tomorrow but for now there isn’t really anything to do.” Alice offered, “We’ll see you at 9am tomorrow”

  Rosalind took a cab back to the office and rang her friends. In fifteen minutes she had a fun evening planned, she had a shower feeling a pang of loss when she remembered how her shower had ended mere 24 hours before, pulled on jeans and her favourite top, high heels, red lipstick. She looked like her New York self. Feeling happy first time today she actually started to feel excited about tonight, for a moment she wondered whether she should be leaving a message to Brockley in case he did turn up to pick her at 8 and decided to leave a message with reception.

  She wrote a note on the hotel writing paper,

  Brockley, I’m sorry I double booked myself tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow at the office. Have a good night

  Rosalind.

  She took a taxi to the restaurant that used to be around the corner fro
m her old apartment, her friends were already there and so happy to see her.

  They ate, drank, talked about what they’ve been up to. One of her friends had just been appointed as the junior Designer to a major label and suggested that Rosalind should come and work there too, she could do part time while she finished her last semester at Parsons. It sounded so tempting, she had forgotten how much she’d missed New York, fashion and her friends.

  “Well I’ve got this massive project I am currently working on here in New York, so I assume I’ll be spending a lot of time here this summer and once this is over I suppose I could leave BG hotels and get back into fashion design.”

  They raised a toast for this brilliant plan.

  She finally got back to her hotel at 2am, found a bouquet of flowers delivered in her room with a note.

  Rosalind, I was really looking forward to our date tonight. I have to fly back to London tomorrow morning so perhaps we’ll try another time.

  All my love

  BG

  For a moment she felt guilty and sad but then she remembered what he had done the night before and pulled the flowers out of the vase and threw them on the wall, burst into tears and just collapsed on the floor.

  About an hour later she picked herself up, and crawled into bed almost too tired to set the alarm for the next morning.

  CHAPTER 11

  The next morning Rosalind got up with puffy swollen eyes and make up that seemed to be ingrained in her skin. She did her best to make herself look presentable, ordered breakfast in the room and made it to the office on time.

  “Rough night?” Nick asked

  “Yeah, caught up with some old buddies and it was a late one, fun though” she said, he or anybody else wouldn’t have to know that she had spent a lot of the night crying over Brockley Graham.

  She would be working closely with Nick today, she was glad she didn’t have to spend any time with Alice.

  In the afternoon Alice popped her head through the door.

  “Rosalind, are you ok to stay in New York for a couple of weeks? Nick needs to work with you on this very closely right now until we have the final designs approved by Charlie and Brockley. I know it’s last minute but it would really help.”

  “Sure, I just need to make a few phone calls”

  “Brockley has agreed a pretty generous allowance for you to get everything you need during your stay and we’d like you to move into an apartment nearer here on Sunday when it’s free”

  “Ok”

  “Great, Chantelle will talk you through the details. I’ll catch you later” And she was gone, looking more like the normal Alice today than the dishevelled walker of shame she had been the previous day.

  She worked the rest of the week in the office, spent Saturday with friends and after cheerful Sunday brunch packed her stuff and moved to the apartment only two blocks away from the office. She realised she needed some more clothes so she went shopping for underwear and a few tops for work as well as a lovely long cardigan.

  She rang her mother and Abigail telling her she was going to be away for at least 3 more weeks, maybe longer.

  There was no word from Brockley since the flowers in her hotel room and most of the time she could push him away from her thoughts at least during the day. She was very busy at work and tried to keep herself busy at night too but still she missed him every night and was hoping he’d turn up behind her door. She had never had such a chemistry with anyone, the passion had been all consuming.

  She sighed and pored over the designs on her desk.

  “What are you doing tonight?” Nick asked

  “No plans, might catch a movie or something”

  “Do you want to come for dinner with me and some friends?”

  “Sounds great”

  “Cool, we are meeting at China lounge at 7:30. I think you’ll like my friends”

  Rosalind smiled, she liked Nick, he was young, good looking, good in his job and great company.

  They had a fun night and Nick was right she did really like his friends, bunch of hard working New Yorkers her age. Nick walked her home afterwards, the perfect gentleman he didn’t try to kiss, just gave her a peck on the cheek and waited for her to get in before he left.

  After that night Rosalind became a regular fixture with Nick and his friend’s nights out and sometimes they hang out just the two of them, watched a movie and ordered a Chinese take away.

  They became friends although sometimes Rosalind thought Nick might be wanting to be more than just friends, but he never made a pass at her. He was one of life’s good guys, 100% reliable, kind, funny, available and Rosalind’s age. Sometimes at night when she was lying in bed pining after Brockley Rosalind thought it would be so easy to make the first move and live happily ever after with this lovely man, but she couldn’t do it to him, he deserved someone who loved him for who he was and not as a substitute for his boss, which Brockley ultimately was.

  The three weeks came and went and Alice asked her to stay for longer as the project was reaching its fever pitch and Rosalind and Nick worked so well together. They clearly understood each other and had a strong bond.

  Alice felt ashamed for her behaviour that night of the Awards dinner, she should have just let sleeping dogs lie. It was not her business to intervene and really she didn’t want Brockley back, it had been five years and she had a live in boyfriend whom she loved.

  But still she couldn’t somehow bring herself into telling Rosalind that nothing had happened and that Brockley had been devastated when she’d stood him up.

  Now she saw Rosalind and Nick get closer and she could tell the boy had feelings for her. They would be a good couple but still maybe better as work colleagues than lovers, he just couldn’t see it yet but he would do.

  She thought that it was her time to make things right. She dialled a familiar number in London.

  “Brock, it’s me”

  “Hi, everything ok?”

  “Yes, I just wanted to let you know we are keeping Rosalind here a little longer, she’s doing such a brilliant job and this is a critical time in the project.”

  “Oh, well Charlie would be free from next week, I could send her over”

  “Oh, no it would be really bad form to take this project off Rosalind now, I think she’d leave, but by all means send Charlie here, if for nothing else just to see how well her protégée is doing, plus I could use her with some new potential properties too. And why don’t you come along too to see the progress. Our young lady seems to be very fond of Nick and if we don’t intervene soon I think she won’t be able to resist his charms for that much longer”

  “Hmmm, is this one of your plots to get me there to humiliate me? Rosalind made it perfectly clear she’s not interested”

  “That’s not entirely true, Rosalind thought we spent the night together after the gala, she saw me jumping into a cab in my evening dress wearing yesterday's makeup”

  “Why the hell did you never say anything?” Brockley was fuming, so that’s why she’d stood him up because she thought he’d slept with his ex wife only hours after they passionate encounter in her room. Yes Alice had slept on the sofa of his suite, having been upset and drunk by the end of the night and wanting to talk through their marriage and impending divorce, but no they had not even kissed let alone done anything else.

  “Alice, I love you and respect how great you are in your job, but for Christ’s sake you can be a total bitch sometimes. Charlie and I will come over next week and spend a fortnight in the office. Before I get there you better get this straight with Rosalind”

  “I’m sorry Brockley, I never meant to…”

  “Of course you did, you knew we’d had sex just before we came downstairs, Rosalind had such an afterglow that you could spot it miles away. And you just couldn’t take it that your ex husband was moving on with somebody a lot younger than you and very brilliant”

  “Technically you are not my ex husband yet”

  “But I will be,
sooner that you can say divorce” Brockley hung up and immediately called his assistant in to brief her of his travel plans.

  Alice was not quite sure what to do next. She didn't’ want to speak to Rosalind about that night, because that would make it obvious that she’d done it on purpose. So to save face she decided not to say anything but let Brockley deal with it.

  Alice normally wasn’t a coward she wasn’t great with romantic relationships and found emotional women very difficult to deal with, and she had no doubt that Rosalind would be emotional when she found out. She just had to hope that Nick would hold off his seduction routine for a few more days so Rosalind wouldn’t fall for him.

  She decided not to even tell Rosalind that Brockley was coming, Charlie could tell her when they had their daily chat. In fact Alice decided to work from home and do site visits for the rest of the week just to avoid even bumping into her by accident.

  She called Chantelle and told her to cancel her plans until Monday and organise a car to take her to the Hamptons the next day, there was a few properties she wanted to see.

  Rosalind’s phone buzzed. It was Charlie.

  “Hi Charlie”

  “Hi Rosalind, how’s things?”

  “All good thanks, we are really getting somewhere with the project”

  “Great, you can tell me all that in person next week. I’m coming over, Alice wants my opinion on some new properties and I’m quite keen to see what you’ve done with the Manhattan townhouse”

  “Brilliant, I think you are going to love it!!

  “Brockley and I are arriving on Sunday night and thought it would be nice to see you for dinner that night unless you’re busy. So we could catch up casually before the busy working week, plus you must know some fantastic restaurants there!

  “Brockley?” Sure, I’ll book us somewhere, where are you staying? ”

  Gansevoort, but I think Brockley will be at the Plaza I’m not sure.”

  Ok, great, I’ll leave you a message at the hotel, look forward to seeing you

  Me too!

  Shit, Brockley was coming. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She had grown very fond of Nick during the past two months and started to think how much better she would be with a kind and loving man like him instead of the player that was Brockley Graham.