'You are so mean!' the girl cried. She crossed her arms, pouting, and even went so far as to stomp her foot.
Nice.
'I'm not mean.' Brandon's voice, implacable. 'Just taller than you.'
'What do I have to do to make you give them back?' The girl's tone turned wheedling, sounding like she'd done this often before.
Brandon, his dark hair hidden beneath a battered baseball cap, didn't relinquish the package. 'What are you offering?'
'A kiss.'
'Pah.' He laughed again. 'I've already had one of those.'
'You're such a jerk!' The girl sprang towards him, slapping at his broad chest.
She didn't look to be doing much damage, but Brandon swatted her hands away and lowered his arm to hand her the package. 'Fine. Take it. Blacken your lungs, see if I care.'
The girl grabbed the pack of cigarettes from him with a triumphant look, but then she paused. 'You don't care?'
Neither of them had noticed her before now, though if she wanted to get to her car Leah would have to go right by them. Unless she ducked back behind the SUV and went around the front of it to avoid him. She didn't. She walked, slowly, but with certain steps, towards her car at the far end of the lot.
'I . . . ah . . .'
'Jerk,' the girl muttered. 'You're always so mean.'
He looked contrite and snaked out one long arm to pull her closer to him. 'I'm sorry, Crissy.'
Crissy looked mollified. She tipped her face up towards him, her mouth pursed. She wanted that kiss. Leah couldn't blame her.
But Brandon didn't kiss the girl in front of him. He looked down at her, yes, and his big hands settled on her waist, but at the last second his attention swerved. He looked straight at Leah. Then he let go of Crissy, even took two steps back from her, his hands falling from her waist as though he'd never touched her at all.
'Hello, Brandon.' His name felt smooth and rich on her tongue. She hadn't said it aloud in a long time, though the beat of its syllables had been on her mind often.
He didn't reply with words, just a nod. Crissy gave him an expectant smile, but he wasn't looking at her. He was looking at Leah, who kept her face carefully neutral despite the triumphant grin trying to leap on to her lips.
A few weeks might not have been long enough to mend a broken heart, but Leah's heart hadn't been broken. Not even bruised, really. If anything had taken a beating it was her sense of self, her understanding of what she wanted and what she did not. How could she have ever thought she didn't want him?
She didn't want a string of anonymous fucks, or an occasional play-date with some EmoGothSub boy she met on the internet who called her 'mistress' without asking if that's what she wanted and was really only interested in being tied up and stepped on by someone in stiletto boots. She wasn't interested in the 'scene', such as it was in Harrisburg, or even the larger D/S culture in Philadelphia. She didn't want what she'd had with Mike.
She wanted what she already had been lucky enough to find, but had been stupid enough to toss away because going after what she wanted in her personal life hadn't been as simple as it was in business.
She wanted Brandon.
'How have you been?' An innocuous statement with anything but an innocent intent.
Crissy looked back and forth between them, her face crunching into an extremely unflattering look. Brandon didn't notice. His attention had focused squarely on Leah.
'How's work?' she prompted. 'Still taking care of business?'
The ghost of his smile warmed her. The step he took away from Crissy might have only been half a foot, but it might as well have been a mile. 'Yeah. I guess you could say that.'
'It's good to see you,' she said finally.
He nodded again. 'You too.'
She drew in a breath that made her taller. Stronger. He gave her that, she realised, with nothing more than a nod. A glance. That smile. With Brandon she had been stronger, and two weeks had passed, but that hadn't changed.
'I'm going home,' she said quietly, not looking at Crissy, or the passing cars or the setting sun. Looking only at him.
She saw the gleam of understanding wash over his face. He really couldn't hide anything. Leah passed him by without even a second glance, though she felt the weight of his gaze following her and she was desperate to turn back to see him looking. She dug in her purse for her keys and her keyless remote. The welcoming 'boop, boop' of her car unlocking covered up her slow, hissing exhale as she let out the breath she'd been holding.
'Who was that?' she heard Crissy say, but Leah got into her car and closed the door before she could hear the answer.
Then she drove home to wait.
It took him two hours to get there.
Leah, her appetite replaced by anxiety, hadn't been able to eat the sushi after all. She'd showered and changed from her work clothes into a pair of soft cotton lounge pants and a tank top. She'd pulled her hair up on top of her head in a loose ponytail and replaced her workday make-up with no more than a dusting of powder and a smudge of eyeliner and mascara.
She opened the door as soon as he knocked. He took up more space than she'd expected, filling her doorway from top to bottom and side to side. He didn't move towards her, just waited for her to step aside so he could come in. They didn't waste their time or breath with trite greetings.
She closed the door after him. They turned to face each other. Leah meant to speak, to say something cool and collected. Witty, even.
'Oh, Brandon,' she said instead when he held out the flowers.
A bouquet of daisies and colourful wild flowers she couldn't name, tied with a wide bow of scarlet ribbon. She took them and pressed them to her face, her eyes closed so she wouldn't have to blink away sudden tears. They smelled like summer and anticipation.
She looked at him. 'I was crying that night.'
'I know you were.'
'Come into the kitchen with me while I put these in some water.'
She filled a vase and tugged the ribbon free so she could put the flowers in the glass container. The soft red satin coiled in her palm and she closed her fingers over it before facing him.
'I've spent a long time trying to make myself believe what I really wanted didn't exist or, if it did, I shouldn't want it. I fooled myself pretty well too.' Leah ran the ribbon through her fingers, back and forth, relishing the softness. 'Until I met you.'
He licked his mouth before he spoke, his voice husky. 'At least you knew what you wanted.'
Heat bloomed inside her. 'I'm sorry.'
'Don't be sorry.' He shook his head. 'I just didn't know. Now I do.'
'Well, that's something,' she said too brightly and looked into the puddle of crimson in her palm.
'Leah,' Brandon whispered, like speaking louder would have cost him too much, 'I want it with you.'
He was uncertain. She saw it in his eyes and every line of his face. But he was here anyway, offering himself the way he'd offered the flowers.
She reached for him and he was there. His mouth, as sweet and hot as she had been unable to forget. Her arms went naturally around his neck, the red ribbon dangling, as his hands settled on her back and he pulled her closer.
She broke the kiss to breathe. 'There's more to a relationship than hot sex, you know.'
He slid a hand up to cup the back of her neck, easing the pressure of her having to tilt her head to look at his face. 'I already know how you like your coffee. And bagels. I can't forget that.'
She laughed, slightly self-conscious and let him kiss her some more before she managed to say against his mouth, 'Are you sure?'
'Are you sure?' he murmured as he nibbled at her lips and moved along her jaw to nuzzle her throat.
'Not really,' she said with a sigh as his hand found her breast. 'But I could be persuaded.'
He chuffed lightly against her skin, then pulled away to look at her, his expression serious. 'I want to try at least.'
Leah hopped up on to the counter and drew him closer, between her l
egs. She wanted to be able to look him in the eyes. She put her hands on his face for a moment, holding him still so she could look at him. His flesh heated beneath her palms as he blushed, but he didn't look away. She let her fingers trail down the sides of his neck, over his shoulders, down to his chest. His heart thumped under her hand. The red ribbon dangled.
'Me too,' she said.
'I'm not wearing a belt,' Brandon said, smiling.
Leah held up the red ribbon with a grin of her own. 'That's all right. I'm quite convinced you're good at improvising.'
'Can we start right away?' His eyes gleamed.
'Oh yes, Brandon,' Leah said, pulling him closer as she slid her hand down to his wrist to wrap it with a loop of scarlet. 'Now.'
* * * * *
Lauren Dane, Taking Care of Business
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