Blooming (16 page)

“Todd?”                                                                                                                             

“I love it!”

“God, give me
a heart attack why don’t you!” she exclaimed.

“Well now you
know how I feel, my heart can’t take many more surprises. It just seems like
with every incident that occurs you get more beautiful and I liked the way you
looked to start with.”

 Jen looked
at him like he was nuts.

“Let’s just
eat while I can still stop myself ravishing you.”

He started
unpacking cartons and too hungry to wait for him to unpack properly, Jen
started gorging on a spring roll, “Oh this is lovely; I feel like I haven’t
eaten in a month.”

“Go find
something to watch on TV, I’ll plate up and follow you through,” he smiled - handing
her a coke.

Jen got comfy
on the couch pulling her feet up under her, and started flicking through the
channels. Todd joined her a minute later and handed her a brimming plate.

“Good grief,”
she said wide eyed.

“Don’t think
I haven’t noticed you’re still thinner than you were when you moved in,” he
said sternly.

“I wasn’t
complaining.” She was so hungry she forgot to be polite and started cramming it
in. Todd laughed at her - she’d managed to eat twice as much as him already,
“pace yourself or you’re going to fill up too fast.”

“I think I’m
getting there already.”

She put her
plate down to rest her tummy a minute, then was distracted when a trail for the
local 7 o’clock newscast flashed up.

“Tonight on
Bloomington Live, the round up on the scandal surrounding former boxer Todd
Baker, who was arrested for assault following his capture of the man dubbed the
internet rapist. We’ll have a look back on the footage captured at Silvio’s
restaurant and comment from citizens who witnessed events live. Join us then.”

“Oh my God,
should we watch it?” Jen flapped.

 “I think we
need to know what’s going on,” Todd’s face was grim and he set his plate down. Jen
shifted closer to him, her knees were knocking she was so nervous.

The news came
on and Todd sat further forward. “Turn the volume up.”

The anchor
introduced the footage taken at Silvio’s and unfortunately due to being filmed
in digital high definition, there was no mistaking the two of them. They were
clearly visible behind Grandma’s party table, as they came back from the dance
floor.

Jen’s cheeks
heated up at the look on Todd’s aroused face as he followed close behind her to
the table, his hands skating down her hips. The pair of them left the frame
briefly and then flashed back into view when Todd yelled her name - then the
footage showed him trying to catch the table before it fell on him.

At this point
it seemed the camera owner decided to keep the entire focus on them. There was
a brief snippet of her storming up to Lorenson and grabbing him, before Todd’s
broad back filled the frame and blocked her from view temporarily. Then every
minute detail of Todd’s punishing blows could be seen, Jen’s mouth dropped open
at the chaos that erupted around them, and then as if in slow motion she heard
her own voice, much higher than normal before she jumped onto Todd’s back.

“Oh my,” Todd
gulped at the sight of Jen’s surprisingly long silky legs wrapped around his
waist. There must have been a brief tiny glimpse of her butt cheeks but it was
pixellated out, and then her arm locked around his neck. “It looks a lot sexier
on TV than it felt at the time!”

Jen’s knees
started knocking louder and Todd put a hand on one to steady her.

He grimaced
at the sickening thunk of her arm breaking and then the pair of them laid out
on the floor, Jen’s legs akimbo and him blacked out on top of her.

“Is it wrong
of me to find that really hot?” Todd said scratching his head, he felt like a
massive pervert.

Jen’s hand
came on top of his, but she stayed silent. The footage moved on then and they
showed edited clips of them being carted off by separate ambulances, followed
by interviews with some of the restaurant patrons - some of whom pronounced
them as raving lunatics. Admittedly they were the ones covered in blood spatters;
others proclaimed them as either heroes or vigilantes. One comedian called them
Batman & Robin.

Following on
was a brief summary of the press conference where the chief of police confirmed
that Neil Fitzpatrick aka Philip Lorenson aka several other false names was now
charged in connection with 6 rapes, and conspiracy to rape the woman he was
with on the night in question.

“Wow I never
thought about the woman he was with Todd, we probably stopped him from assaulting
her,” Jen said in awe.

Film came on
then of Todd taken at his last professional fight. Jen grabbed a throw pillow
not knowing if she could watch. After she spent a minute wincing in
apprehension she realised she needn’t worry because Todd was like a machine his
opponent barely landing a glove on him. And then, watching him like that, she
got really turned on and her hand started squeezing his where it rested on her
leg. “Oh God you really were good weren’t you?”

A second
later something funny struck her and she started laughing fit to bust, holding
her ribs in simultaneous agony.

“Todd,” she
croaked trying to get a hold of herself, “where is all your body hair?” She
pointed at the screen where his beautiful and usually hairy chest was as smooth
as a baby’s bottom.

Todd stared
at her and he didn’t know whether to laugh or get offended, “ha ha, very funny,
so I used to wax, it wasn’t my idea.”

“Oh God Todd,
it’s not just your chest, you waxed your legs!”

“Do you mind not
laughing, you have no idea how fucking painful that was.”

“I do, I do,
but I feel much better about it now!” she chortled.

“Lots of
boxers wax, it looks better and you can see the muscle definition.”

“That sounds
like something Sean would say.” Jen wheezed, finally getting a grip and wiping
her eyes on a napkin.

“I didn’t
mean to laugh, you looked amazing, seriously, it just took me by surprise. I
like you much better with body hair, and you definitely had way too many
muscles before.”

Todd looked
only slightly mollified, and Jen smiled at his pouting lip. It was about time
he was the one off kilter.

The phone
started ringing in his apartment below them, and Jen asked if he wanted to
leave and deal with it. Todd groaned, “It’s only going to be a ton of people
who want to talk about the newscast, it can wait. Luckily my address is
unlisted so hopefully the press won’t catch up with us here, but I’ve a nasty
feeling we might have to lay low for a while.”

“What’s going
on with the charges against you?” she asked anxiously.

“Well in the
end they decided not to make anything official yet, they released me under my
own cognisance. I think since so much more has come out about Fitzpatrick, they
have enough to be dealing with. Seb doubts I’ll get in any real trouble.”

“I’m glad; I
was really worried about that.”

“Of course I
guess he could sue me himself, I did break his jaw and several ribs.”

Jen gasped,
“Seriously – you did?”

Todd nodded
with great satisfaction, then he stretched out on the sofa pulling her down
onto him gently, his hands roamed her soft cotton top and bottoms relishing the
lack of underwear beneath them, he cupped her ass gently.

“Todd where
are you going to sleep tonight?” she asked softly.

“Well I can
sleep in your spare...” then he realised, “Aargh this is the one bedroom
apartment isn’t it, I keep forgetting that.”

He eyed the
sofa about him and realised there was no way he could spend all night on there.

“You could
share my room if you like?” She wasn’t quite able to say the word “bed” he
noticed. Todd had a flashback to the previous night and knew he couldn’t cope
with a repeat performance of that.

“Jen what are
you asking me?” He was curious to hear her say it.

“I guess I’m
asking if you want to sleep with me.” She mumbled into his chest leaving a hot
breathy trail that made his nipples tighten.

He shook his
head, “It’s not sleep I’m interested in - that’s the problem and there’s no way
I’m having sex with you until your ribs are better. I’m not sure I even want
you to have a cast on your arm for our first time but I won’t rule it out. I’m
not sure I can wait 6 whole weeks,” he smiled ruefully.

“I don’t know
whether to laugh or cry, it’s like a stalemate and I don’t know whether to be relieved
or upset.”

Todd gave her
the full benefit of his deep green eyes, “We can play,” he said tantalisingly,
“Want to play with me Jennifer?”

Jen looked up
at him, big eyes wide and wary. “What were you thinking of?” she asked with a
dry mouth.

“How about a
tiny bit of reciprocal scrutiny along the lines of last night - although I’m
not sure it would make the game equal seeing as I’ll end up in exactly the same
condition I was before.”

“I wasn’t
playing with you last night, I wouldn’t do that - play games I mean. I’m just
anxious and I want to get comfortable with seeing you and touching you.”

“I know that.”

“Why did you
tell me you didn’t have sexy pyjamas, I find these very alluring,” he said while
pulling the elastic on her waistband.

“They’re
plain white jersey!”

“Anything
soft and vaguely form fitting that also clearly reveals a lack of underwear, is
highly sexy to any man not in a coma. I’d like to peel you out of them - how do
you feel about that?”

“I’m not very
sure,” raw honesty making her voice hoarse.

Todd pulled
her gently so she was draped out on top of him, and he kissed her softly as his
hands slid under her top and stroked her spine, “are you comfortable?” he
whispered.

“Not quite I
don’t think I can stay laid on my front like this.”

Todd sat up
and turned her onto her back, pulling her head and shoulders into his lap -
then he scooped her hair from behind her and laid it in a thick cloud over one
shoulders. When he propped his legs up on the coffee table it pushed Jen’s face
closer to him and he resumed kissing, stroking his tongue deep inside her
mouth, wandering and caressing, moaning in delight when she responded by grappling
him with her own tongue. He pulled back and nipped her lower lip, worrying it
gently between his teeth, and she chuckled nervously.

“Turn your
face,” he ordered, licking and sucking her neck when she complied. Then he
trailed his left arm under her top stroking her ribs softly, tracing the bones
until she thought she’d go mad. His breathing deepened as his hand closed over
her breast and squeezed more firmly than she expected.

“Oh,” Jen’s
body jerked, but he kept going.

“You ok?”

“Um yeah,”
God she looked fantastic he thought as her back arched, thrusting her up into
his waiting palm.

He teased her
nipple with his thumb and watched her face intently; her eyes were screwed
tightly shut, god he’d go mad if he didn’t see all of her.

Without
giving her chance to think, he lifted her top up and over her head, her cast
only snagged momentarily and it was his turn to gasp.

The scar was
there and couldn’t be ignored, but she also had acres of soft white skin and
lovely upturned breasts that were the perfect size with beautiful generous rosy
nipples, she was slender and her ribs were clearly delineated but she was in no
way scrawny. He loved looking at her straight shoulders, her toned arms and that
long pretty neck.

Todd ran his
palm all over her, learning her body. Over her ribcage to her waist which was
so neatly defined, he stroked her ever so slightly rounded tummy and all the
while he watched her, hoping she’d hold her nerve - willing her all the way.

“Jen, open
your eyes, I want you to look at me.”

Those
luminous eyes opened up wide and dark as he tapped her scar gently. “If you
want to hide this from other people, that’s your business, but you never ever
need to hide it from me, it’s a part of you and I love it. Are you hearing me?”
he said gripping her chin forcefully.

“Yes,” her
eyes swam into focus and she saw the sincerity in his and her heart swelled
hopefully.

He grazed the
back of his fingers over the side of her breast - up to her underarm, lifting
her arm over her head, asking for her surrender.

Todd’s hand
slowly trailed down to her waist and pulled her bottoms down to her ankles in
one smooth move. He swallowed hard, taking in her jutting hip bones, her pretty
little “innie” navel and her dark pubic hair. He began to stroke and knead the
muscles in her legs.

Jen, her
heart thundering in her ears, was wildly aware of his erection pressing against
her bare lower back, the fabric of his jeans only amplifying the sensation. She
quashed the errant urge to rub against him as she didn’t want him to think she
was teasing again. If it had been an unintentional game before, it felt deadly
serious now.

Todd’s hand
wandered further up her thigh and then he flattened his palm over her pubis and
cupped her, nothing more - no pressure in his touch.

Lazily he
picked up her hand and separated two of her fingers, then mimicking her actions
of the night before he sucked them deep in his warm mouth, only he chose to
slip his tongue between the digits at the base, sending erotic mental images of
what might be to come, straight to Jen’s brain.

Releasing
them, he said in his rich sexy voice, “If you ever do that to me again, I’m
going to expect you to be ready to go all the way, do you understand me?”

“Yes,” she
whispered.

While he
still could, Todd pulled her pants up, and then eased her top back over her
head.