Blooming Read online

  Jen was almost home and turned to look back for a second, giggling madly, when she stumbled into a solid wall of resistance. Before she even looked up she knew who was there, and strong arms came about her swinging her up and around.

  “It’s so lovely to see you laughing, maybe one day you’ll drop your guard enough to let me make you laugh like that.” His deep voice hummed in her ear.

  “Hi,” she couldn’t say much more because she was afraid of how nice it felt to be held by Todd, and the residual envy she’d felt in the coffee shop drained away and the first stirrings of something else trickled in - a little pleasant flutter in her stomach.

  “Hi yourself,” he replied and set her down. His arms came up to cup her face and then he stroked her hair back with his large hands, flattening it against her skull so he could look at her face clearly, drinking her in while she looked happy.

  Lily and Ben caught up to them and broke the spell, “God Jen you can run fast for a short chick,” Ben gasped, putting his hands on his knees to get his breath back.

  Todd looked quizzically between Ben and Lily as his hand lowered to rest on Jen’s hip. “How’d the date go?” he asked.

  When the mood immediately shifted and nobody said a word his face became thunderous, “Ok Lily inside, I want to hear all about it.” He shook Ben’s hand, “thanks for walking them home,” effectively dismissing him.

  Jen waved at Ben as he turned to walk away and then tackled Todd, “did you have to be so rude, he got us out of a tight spot earlier.”

  “Tight spot,” he fumed his voice growling louder. “You, inside,” he said pointing to Lily who looked mutinous. Then he bent to Jen’s ear sending her pulse through the roof when he said, “You and me - upstairs, 7pm, and bring your tongue.”

  “Shit,” she squeaked and shot away.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” she said running upstairs and hearing Todd and Lily slam the door behind them.

  Jen bounced into her room, threw herself on the bed and thrashed her arms and legs about in a panic, “Oh God, oh god, oh god, oh god.”

  She sat back up her hair stood on end, and started pacing the floor. She looked at the clock - she had three and a half hours to go, until what?

  “Shit!” Well she’d better at least make herself look decent.

  Downstairs Todd was pacing too, only he was balling his hands into fists at the same time.

  “I’m not blaming you Lily, but don’t ever arrange to meet somebody like this again.”

  “I’m sorry Todd but you don’t need to yell at me I feel stupid enough as it is. He said all the right things over the net, he’d obviously done a bit of homework. He knew where I lived, where mom and dad lived, things about some of my school friends from back home.”

  “Christ Lily what have I told you about putting too much crap on the internet. We’re going to the cops tomorrow and filing a report, there’ll be fuck all they can do about it, because no doubt he gave you a fake name but we’re doing it anyway. And don’t think of going anywhere without me for a while.”

  “What! I can’t do that I have to go to college and I’ll climb the walls if I have to stay in the house all the time.”

  “I’ll take you to school and pick you up. Fuck Lily you’ve just said this bastard knows where you live, and don’t think I haven’t noticed that hand print on your wrist.”

  She looked down at her arm and the tears she’d bitten back earlier started to flow. In a trice Todd had his arms round her.

  “Lily sweetheart I’ve been worrying about you since I left this morning, while you’re staying with me I’m responsible for you - in fact forget that, I’m always going to be responsible for you. It would kill me if anything happened to you, I love you honey.”

  “I know; I know you do.”

  ****

  At 7pm Todd stood outside Jen’s door, he wasn’t sure this was a good idea anymore, his head was all over the place, and he was having trouble keeping a lid on his temper.

  “Are you there Jen?” No response, so he knocked, the door opened and he caught his breath.

  She’d blown her hair out again, and although there was still far too much of it framing such a small face, it was beautiful and fell nearly to her waist in dark waves. He was gratified that she’d taken trouble over herself for him.

  She had on a little make-up, her eyes with mascara looked wide and dark and she had lined her eyes with navy pencil which matched the colour of her irises, some kind of blush highlighted her cheekbones but she’d left her lips bare. She’d obviously put some thought into this, for him, he thought again with pleasure.

  “You have a dress on,” he said simply, still a little stunned.

  “Yes, but I don’t really know why.”

  It was a plain white shift with a scoop neck and fell to her knees. It wasn’t the least bit revealing but he found it absolutely enchanting.

  He looked down at her feet, “still no shoes?”

  “It’s been so long since I wore a dress, that when I moved I trashed all my heels because they were about ten years out of date anyway,” she shrugged.

  “Footstool?” he said, afraid to say anymore.

  “Ok, but there’s something I need to show you when I come back.”

  She disappeared into her living room, and was visibly shaking with nerves when she returned. He took the stool from her and put it on the floor, then took her hand while she stepped up.

  “What do you want to show me?”

  “I told you about the accident,” he nodded at her. “I told you I was hurt,” another simple statement. Her fingers began tentatively tracing the neckline of her dress and he suddenly figured out what she was going to show him. Idiot that he was he’d not given any thought that there would be lasting physical repercussions of her accident, and he suddenly understood that there was another reason she had a right to be nervous.

  Jen gently pulled the neckline of her dress down and revealed a raised cross shaped scar on her breastbone. It wasn’t white like most old scars but pale pink.

  He didn’t move or speak just looked closely at her skin.

  “Please speak to me.”

  “Is this supposed to change something?” he said tracing the scar with one large finger.

  “You needed to know about it.”

  “Were you hoping I’d take one look at this and run screaming down the hallway,” he smiled gently.

  “Yes, that’s what I want.”

  “Jen the other two guys you went on a date with, when you gave them the brush off didn’t they fight for you, at least try to make you go out with them again?”

  “No,”

  “And I’m guessing you didn’t show them this either?” He traced the puckered skin again.

  She shook her head, and he bent to her and quickly kissed her right there, his lips parted and his tongue slid out and licked her soft skin. “I like it, it’s like a little x marks the spot.”

  Jen gasped and released her collar so she was hidden again.

  Todd lifted her chin with his hands and slid his fingers back into her hair, “look at me Jen,” he demanded. Her eyes came up, and he fixed her with a stare, “those other guys weren’t worth your time.”

  His hands were moving in her scalp scooping handfuls of her hair, his thumbs moved to massage behind her ears gently, “do you know why I ask you to bring the footstool?”

  “I imagine because I’m a short-ass and you can’t reach me otherwise,” her voice hitched and she was struggling to focus.

  “Partly,” he laughed, “but mainly because without the stool I’d be tempted to grab your little short-ass and haul you up against me, and I don’t think you’d like that just yet.”

  “No,” she admitted.

  “Can I kiss you now?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “No and I’m going to expect you to kiss me back.”

  She sighed heavily - resigned to her fate.

  One of Todd’s hands caressed her neck, and Jen st
ruggled for a minute not sure whether she should keep her eyes open or closed. Then the next second it didn’t matter because his lips were on hers and he knew what he was doing.

  Todd shut his eyes and slowly sucked her top lip pulling it out gently in encouragement and then he rested his tongue just inside her parted lips before sliding it inside her mouth to flick against hers. He angled his head to the right and tilted her to fit before stroking in and out, coaxing her tongue to respond.

  He pulled back and whispered into Jen’s mouth,” try anything, or just follow me. You can’t go wrong I’ll like it whatever, I promise. Her tongue gently came out and licked across his lips before he finished the sentence, surprised he latched on and sucked it deep inside his mouth. They tangled back and forth, mouths open and Todd’s breath grew choppier. He pulled at her bottom lip, thrust his tongue in for a long sweep then pulled out and kissed her hard on her chin, following behind with a long luxurious lick, which swirled down her throat to her collarbone.

  Jen was struggling to keep up with him, he felt hot and intense, and everywhere he touched her she felt scorched with heat. Todd’s fingers made to pull her dress lower again but Jen found her voice, “No, please no, I’m not comfortable with that yet.”

  Todd’s hands stilled, his thumbs slid down to rest on the underwire either side of her breasts, and he tipped his forehead to hers as they breathed in tandem.

  “I promise you it doesn’t bother me,” he said and dropped his lips to brush the scar through the fabric of her dress, before letting his head rest along her neck where his silky hair tickled her skin.”

  Jen squeezed the muscles of his broad shoulders in wonder, and traced up the back of his neck, causing him to sigh with pleasure.

  “I can’t promise anything more tonight or even soon, I’m sorry.”

  Todd’s head came up and he kissed her brow, her cheekbone, and the corner of her mouth, softly licking inside. Then he pulled away, “Goodnight Jennifer.”

  He took a step or two away and gave her a slow sexy smile that took what little breath remained to her before he disappeared down the stairs.

  ****

  The next morning Todd looked at Lily over the breakfast table, noting the top she wore that showed a modest amount of cleavage.

  “Lily, can I ask you something?”

  “Yes.”

  “If something happened to you, an accident or an illness and you needed surgery that left a scar here,” he said touching his sternum, “how would you feel about it?”

  She was quiet for a long minute.

  “Hmm, that’s tough to say, I would like to think that the first thing I’d feel is glad to be alive, after that I don’t know,” she looked uncomfortable.

  “Does Jen have a scar there?” she questioned, Todd nodded.

  “It’s not a good area to have a scar Todd, the skin is so delicate there, generally the chances of it being a raised keloid scar are higher and there’s not much can be done after the fact, other than silicon type dressings to try and flatten it.

  “So how would you feel?”

  “This area,” she said touching her own chest, “the décolletage - think about it for a minute Todd. It’s a very feminine area, a woman dresses to attract the attention to it. We wear necklaces to make it look pretty. I think if I had a scar there and it was very noticeable, I think it would ultimately affect the way I felt about my femininity.

  I’ve seen people with mastectomy scars and that is much more of a loss, but this thing is a little similar. I wouldn’t feel as confident about myself if I had a scar there, and If Jen hasn’t come to terms with this and is covering it up all the time, well she probably struggles to find pretty clothes that aren’t too low. And the more she wears bag lady clothes the crapper she feels about herself I’m guessing.

  Even if she felt braver and could show this scar off in strappy tops, every time she met someone their eye would be naturally drawn there, it’s unavoidable. She’d always have to explain how she got it, which if it’s from a traumatic incident, well you can imagine?”

  Todd pondered for a while - deep in thought. From a male point of view he had to admit that if a man had a scar anywhere nobody thought twice about it. If anything it was a badge of honour, women would find it sexy even. But he knew it would be different for a woman, and the fact Jen’s scar didn’t bother him probably made little difference to Jen’s feelings.

  “Did that help any?” Lily asked.

  “Kind of,” Todd smiled. “You’re pretty astute you know Lily?”

  “What can I say,” she said, “I rock!”

  Todd laughed, “I should call Sean; he definitely needs a reminder to look elsewhere for his inspiration unfortunately.”

  Upstairs a short phone conversation later, Sebastian caught Sean looking contemplative.

  “Bad news babe?” he asked.

  “Intriguing really, it’s kind of given me some ideas. Are you finishing work early today?”

  “Yeah I should be done by three, why?”

  “Because you and I need to go visit my muse.”

  ****

  Jen was deep in work designing the layout for one of her new clients, a jewellery designer, when somebody knocked at her door.

  Her heart raced before she checked her watch and realised it was only 4 o’clock, and anyway it shouldn’t be Todd because they hadn’t arranged another date when she’d last seen him.

  She opened the door cautiously to find an overexcited Sean and a slightly sheepish looking Sebastian lingering there.

  “Darling, have you got glasses, I know it’s a little early but Seb and I are really in need of doing a shot or two,” he thrust a bottle of tequila and a plastic bag full of limes at her.

  “Have you had a bad day?” she asked, her face creasing in confusion.

  “Oh my angel, I’m about to have a fantastic day, where are your condiments?”

  Sean hurried through to her kitchen, searching in her cupboards until he found what he was looking for. “You haven’t any shot glasses Jennifer, these will have to do,” he admonished while brandishing her high ball glasses at her.

  He bustled about, locating a sharp knife and chopping board and set about slicing up limes.

  “Er it’s a little early for me to be drinking Sean; I’ve still got some work I need to finish, and I don’t even know if I like tequila.”

  “Oh bull – I won’t take no for an answer.”

  Jen looked at Sebastian for back-up but got an apologetic shrug in return.

  “Jennifer my angel,” Sean said – “a little birdie has been fluttering in my ear that you have something to hide.”

  Jen’s heart sank, Todd was responsible for this.

  “So then you know I can’t be any kind of model for you, so why are you here?”

  “Can I see it?”

  “No!” she said vehemently.

  “Have you done shots before Jen?”

  “No,” she said with a degree of trepidation.

  “Right lick just here,” he indicated the back of her hand between thumb and index finger, she did it and laughed when he used her sea salt grinder to season the wet spot. “Right now shove this lime between your fingers, take a breath and let it out and before you breathe in again your gonna lick your hand, drink this straight back, and then suck the lime OK?”

  She went with it and licked her hand, he pushed the shot towards her, oh what the hell she thought, try a new experience why not - except she forgot the breathing and accidentally snorted tequila through her nose and in the eye watering seconds that followed forgot all about the fruit.

  “Seriously why do people do this for fun?” she coughed spattering the front of Sean’s exquisite shirt.

  “You’ll have to have another go, you totally messed that up. That was the worst attempt I’ve ever seen!”

  “Not before you two do it.”

  “Hurrah,” Sean said, “no arguments there.”

  Fifteen short minutes later all three of th
em were feeling the party mood and grinning like idiots.

  Todd got back from the store and started unpacking his groceries, a burst of music from upstairs made him look up. Motown was blasting through the floorboards, funny it was the first time he’d heard any kind of music coming from Jen’s, she had great taste he thought smiling to himself.

  The next second he registered that it was Sean’s voice belting out the Temptations “Ain’t too Proud to Beg” and Sebastian appeared to be harmonizing. Then he heard the sound of furniture being pushed back, what the fuck was going on up there?

  His curiosity peaked and feeling honour bound to rescue Jen if necessary, he shot up the stairs at double time, and paused at the door momentarily before trying the handle. It opened on its own to his relief, a short minute later his mind registered what his brain was seeing.

  Sean and Sebastian were opposite the door, wedged together in Jen’s only armchair, her sofa pushed back against the living room wall to allow room for manoeuvre. Seb was waving a nearly empty bottle of tequila in time with the music.

  “Do it again baby, walk for me,” Sean yelled.

  Todd’s eyes lit on the vision in front of him. However the hell they’d managed it, Jen was stood there with her back to him, almost close enough to touch, clad only in the briefest stretchy white boy shorts and a lace bra that had seen better days.

  As he watched she strode away from him, all elegant limbs and swaying hips, in perfect time with the music, Christ she was stunning; she turned around and failed to see him in front of her and his jaw dropped as he registered the view from the front. Her hair was drawn up in a high ponytail on top of her head and it bobbed about perkily, her face was relaxed and smiling as it so seldom was and he let his eyes trail down her long neck.

  Sean was right her shoulders and hips were fantastically matched and she had a tiny immaculately delineated waist.

  The crappy bra was doing little to cover her small high breasts, allowing a hint of her perky pink nipples to show through. As she turned in front of him again it was with the elegance of a natural born dancer and he caught a view of a lovely firm bottom, her butt cheeks peeking out of the shorts as his eyes followed her toned thighs and calves all the way to her feet, which were clad in outrageous five inch leopard print heels which must have come from Sean’s personal collection.