Blooming (3 page)

She raised
her hand and gave a timid knock, and then knocked more firmly, loud enough so
it was actually audible this time.

The door
opened inward and Jen’s heart thumped louder; Todd was standing in front of her
looking even better than she remembered. Taking him in and comparing him to her
own size she figured he had to be about 6ft 3 or 4. He was dressed casually
too, dark jeans and a thick well worn leather belt with a big brushed chrome
buckle, a v neck black t shirt clung lovingly to his chest and biceps and showed
a delicious shadow of dark brown chest hair.

Looking down
afraid to be caught staring she noticed his large feet were bare and with a
flush she remembered what they say about men with large feet, which in turn
brought her eyes up to involuntarily scrutinize the area of his belt buckle.

“Hello
Jennifer – feeling better?” he asked warmly. Stepping forward he pulled her in
for a hug, leant back and lifted her almost off her feet before setting her
back down quickly. He released her before she had time to react in fear.

“Please come
in – sorry that was a bit over familiar. I don’t know what it is but when I see
you I just want to scoop you up each time. You’re just a little poppet.”

Not sure
quite what the correct response to that statement was, she squeaked out a hello
and practically fell inside.

Todd closed
it behind them and put his hand to the back of her, guiding her into the room.
“Come meet Sean and Sebastian – they live on the top floor.”

“Obviously
Todd this
is
a three story building,” quipped Sean, warmly taking Jen’s
hand in both of his.

Sean was
slightly taller than her but only by a couple of inches, he wore his dark hair
close cropped and his jet black eyes twinkled with barely suppressed energy,
his skin was Mediterranean golden. Jen was immediately wary of his confident
clipped sarcasm.

“Wow Lily I
see what you mean,” he lifted Jen’s right hand above her head and guided her
into doing a twirl.

“Look at you
darling.”

“What do you
mean look at me?” she stammered trying to snatch her hand back unsuccessfully.

Another man she’d
not spotted before got up from the couch. He was nearly as tall as Todd and
looked like a gorgeous blond Greek god, but in that kind of a way that you knew
he couldn’t possibly be straight, he was far too glamorous.

“Forgive my
lesser half,” he smiled at her, his soft blue eyes crinkling at the corners as
he offered his hand. “I’m Sebastian, and Sean here always shoots first and
responds to questions later.”

Lily came
through from the kitchen, “Jen!” she trilled, “I have another confession to make
about inviting you to dinner. “Sean majored in fashion and is starting his own
clothing line for petite women, and he’s been brooding for ages looking for a
muse to inspire him. He says I’m too tall and too dizzy to be of any use.”

Jen stood
there silently, feeling like the only person in the twilight zone that wasn’t
clued in, and looked from one to the other of them.

Sean spoke
drawing her attention back to him, “You just might have something here Lily,
and I do not brood I just occasionally pout.” Taking Jen by the shoulders he
shamelessly looked her up and down, “for a small woman your proportions are
perfect.”

“What?”

“Well look at
you honey,” the swarthy little man said. “You are a perfect hour glass with a
defined waist; breasts and hips that are not big, but definitely not scrawny,
and your legs again for a small person are of a good length, and those
shoulders nicely balance out the width of your hips. You are absolutely
intriguing.”

Sean tapped
his fingers to his lips, “Yes you might just have muse potential. Of course, a
muse in need of a full body makeover, but I have a good feeling about this,
hmm.” He jiggled off to recover his wine glass, humming happily to himself.

Todd looked
Jen over. She was stood in his living room, her mouth opening and shutting like
a goldfish, and swaying on the spot. With her tatty dark hair piled up on her
head like that, the line of her jaw and long neck were revealed and he was
struck by her fragility. She had that fight or flight look on her face again,
and he didn’t want her to be forced to embarrass herself in order to make a
quick getaway.

Gently taking
her elbow, he guided her into a comfy chair and plied her with a large glass of
wine, which she grabbed from him and took a huge gulp.

“Back up
Sean,” Todd grumbled, “Jen’s hardly settled in yet give her some space, and
there’s nothing wrong with the way that she looks.”

“Oh Todd, you
are a gentleman, but it’s quite obvious Jen is in need of a little TLC, mainly
her hair which is a nightmare. The rest only needs some minor tweaks here and
there.”

As they
continued to speak about her as if she was invisible, Jen found herself quietly
seething, she had not asked any of these people to butt into her life and here
they were discussing her as if she were their commodity to be traded. It didn’t
help that she seemed incapable of stringing together two words to extricate
herself, and the addition of a third glass of wine was starting to make the
room swim slightly.

Eyes drifting
she realised that she might be able to survive this dinner simply because
between all these large characters she wasn’t needed to speak much at all.

“Dinners
ready,” Lily called and they all went through and sat at the small dining table
set up in the kitchen.

Todd sat
himself in the seat next to Jen so that he could better study her. The table
was fairly small which meant they were all in close proximity, and everybody’s
knees were bumping as they talked and gesticulated.

As everyone
except Jen ate their pasta with obvious relish, Todd became aware that she
found it easier to speak when addressed by Sean and Sebastian, and that when he
asked her anything she flushed and struggled to reply. This intrigued him
deeply but also scared the hell out of him, because he could see that if he
followed this strange instinct to pursue her she was not going to make it easy
for him.

There was
something off about her. She was afraid of him and he didn’t like that at all.
But he could also tell she found him attractive. Teasing Jen by forcing her to
look him right in the eye when he addressed her, he allowed his leg to brush
against hers with more intent and regularity than his other leg which was next
to Sean’s.

Jen, for her
part, was in hell. She felt her skin must be glowing like a tomato. Ok she was an
emotional dummy, but her body and brain was intensely aware that what Todd was
doing was not innocent and she was both excited and petrified by it.

“So Jen what
do you say? When you have some free time will you come upstairs for me? Obviously
I’m not interested in you as a photographic model but I would love for you to
be a fit model for me, and let me use your body as an inspiration for some
designs.”

Jen didn’t
know where to put herself, and was surprised when Todd spoke up for her with a
rueful smile. “Sean please behave yourself. Jen has her own business to run and
I doubt you’re willing to pay for her time until you get some decent
commissions. I’m sure she’ll think about it, but don’t harass her anymore. And
what do you mean you couldn’t use her as a photographic model? She’s definitely
pretty enough.”

Jen shot up
and excused herself to use the bathroom, she couldn’t take much more of this
scrutiny, and the idea of stripping off for somebody, even if they were gay,
had sent her into a tailspin. She also was starting to feel decidedly sleepy
and wasn’t sure if she would be allowed to leave before suffering through
coffee and dessert.

She left the
bathroom and found them still arguing about it in a good natured fashion.

“Here she is;
Todd has insisted I apologize for my rudeness,” Sean laughed waving his fork at
her.

“That’s ok,
I’m just surprised that’s all. Nobody has ever told me I had anything going for
me before, so really I should be flattered.” Oops did that just really come out
of her mouth?

The four at the
table looked at her in shock. Lily was the first to recover. ”Jen you’re
lovely, that’s why I thought of you for Sean straight away.” 

“Anyway it’s
beside the point, I’m very busy at the moment so I don’t think I can be
available for you, I have to work all the hours I can while I’m still getting
established.”

She plonked
herself back down at the table, steam fairly coming off her in waves. Somebody
had filled her glass again and she tossed some more down her throat and felt
herself smiling woozily.

About ten minutes
later she realised that she hadn’t heard what anybody had said for a while, and
that she was slumped on Todd’s shoulder. Her open mouth had left a little trail
on the sleeve hugging his tight bicep, she looked at it and giggled.

“I think I drooled
on you.”

Todd looked
down and laughed into her eyes, his green eyes sizzled, “no problem sugar I was
enjoying the attention.”

She giggled
again and snuggled back against him and began snoring softly. When it was clear
she was out for the count, he tucked her under his arm and pulled her in to his
chest to support her better.

They all
lowered their voices, “Todd, where did your agent find this girl she’s a bit of
an enigma,” this came from Sebastian. “Hardly tells us a thing about herself all
evening, but even so she’s utterly charming.”

Sean
fluttered his lashes at Todd, “Seb darling don’t encourage him, given his penchant
for falling for difficult women in need of a big strapping man to lean on. Don’t
you remember the last debacle – too needy altogether and a fortune hunter to
boot?”

He turned his
attention back to Todd, “why not date a regular girl for a change? This girl’s
gun-shy; she’ll make your life hell.”

Todd tensed
ready to tear a strip off Sean for bringing up a forbidden topic but Lily
interrupted, “There’s no such thing as a regular girl, the three of you can
behave, I don’t want you scaring her off. Give her some time, she’s obviously
got some kind of past and I probably haven’t helped encouraging you Sean, but
she’s nice and seems a quiet tenant. Plus it’s really nice for me to have
another girl around.”

Todd
stoically took a deep breath and resorted to scowling at Sean, as he continued
holding Jen while they lingered over dessert and coffee. He was getting serious
cramp but he was reluctant to move her, she fit under his arm beautifully and
the breast curved against his ribs was firm and warm. Given Jen’s penchant for
slamming doors in his face he wasn’t sure how long he’d have to wait to hold
her like this again, still they’d have to make a move to wake her up soon.

When Sean and
Sebastian said their Goodnights and got up to leave, he scooped Jen up under
her legs and carried her upstairs after them. Sean shook his head in mock
despair as they left him on the second floor and climbed the stairs together.

Standing Jen
up outside her apartment and leaning her against his body, Todd tried to rouse
her gently. “Jen sweetie where’s your key?”

She turned
her head in to his abdomen, bunched his t shirt in her small hands and blew her
nose on it loudly. Then she started snoring again,

“Jen, your
keys,” he said a little louder. She teetered away from him and fell backwards
against the door - patting herself all over, her eyes still firmly closed. Todd
looked down following the path of her hands and noticed the bulge in her back
pocket. He grinned to himself. He wasn’t one to take advantage of a drunken
woman, but surely this counted as having a genuine excuse to cop a feel?

He batted her
hand out of the way and scooped his big hand into her tight back pocket, giving
a cheeky little squeeze before pulling her keys out. Very nice - it had
definite potential.

Tossing her
gently over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift, Todd unlocked her door and crept
across her apartment in the dark. The layout almost as familiar to him as his
own, he carried her into the bedroom.

After he
pulled the throw aside and settled her down, he removed her shoes and covered
her back up.

He touched
her brow gently and spoke aloud to himself as much as her, “You and I are going
to get to know each other a lot better sweetheart, whether you like it or not.”

Todd
seriously considered removing more of her clothes in a pretence of making her
more comfortable, but he made do with undoing the knot of hair on top of her
head and threading his fingers through it to loosen the strands. It was
surprisingly strong and every bit as dense as it looked, without realising what
he was doing he played with it longer than was necessary.

As he
straightened up to leave, he decided one little kiss wouldn’t hurt, and as
gently as possible he leant over and gave her the softest brush of his lips
against hers. He was rewarded with the cutest little chuckle from deep in her
belly, as if she knew exactly what he was up to, and then she turned over and
sighed in her sleep.

Todd left her
keys on the side and let the deadbolt drop in place as he left. When he got
back inside his own door Lily gave him a funny look, “What happened to your
shirt?”

Looking down
Todd laughed, “would you believe she actually wiped her nose on me?”

“Ugh and that
didn’t freak you out? – hmm very interesting,” she said stroking her chin
theatrically and laughing when he swiped her gently over the back of her head.

****

Jen woke up
the next morning with a furry tongue and a blinding headache. Pulling back the
covers she scratched her head and wondered why she’d slept in her clothes.

Putting her
feet to the floor gingerly - she remembered being at dinner last night. She
really hadn’t had all that much to drink had she?