Blooming by Peyton Fletcher Read Free Book Online Page B

her, while
she’s with me I’d rather lock her up in a chastity belt and ban her from dating
entirely.”
    “I’m afraid
she’s too full of it to let you do that.”
    “I know,
she’s a pain in the ass isn’t she?” he laughed, pleased Jen agreed with him on
something.
    “Look Jen my
hour’s up soon, but I want you to do something for me without questioning it.”
    “I can’t
promise that.”
    He growled in
frustration, “What are you wearing?” She looked down at herself.
    “My jim jams
and a bathrobe.”
    “Are they
sexy ones?”
    “No,” she
shrieked, “I don’t own any sexy ones.”
    “That’s good,
for now anyway and the purposes of this experiment. Do you have a footstool or
something you can stand on?”
    She wracked
her brain picturing where she kept one, “Er yes?”
    “Good, come
on out here and bring it with you.”
    Jen made a
noise as if she was going to refuse him, and Todd barked, “Just do it will you,
you’re driving me nuts.”
    A minute went
by and then the door cracked inward, Jen stood there in fleecy pink checked
pyjamas and a robe just as she’d told him.
    Todd drank
her in, she looked tiny and super cute, her hair was piled on her head again
and her face was scrubbed and shiny as if she was all washed and ready for bed.
He just wanted to sweep her up and cuddle her.
    She held a
small footstool out to him with a shaky hand and he set it down next to her
bare feet.
    “See we have
something in common we both like to walk around barefoot.”
    She looked
down at her bare feet and wished there was polish on her lacquer free toenails,
“I guess so.”
    “Remember no
questions allowed just do as I say, you think entirely too much.”
    She opened
her mouth to speak and he silenced her with a finger to her lips and spoke
again.
    “Just nod for
me,” she gulped and gave him the briefest nod, it was taking all her will power
to stand upright because she suspected what this was building up to.
    “Stand on the
stool,” he ordered and took her hand to steady her.
    Jen stepped
up, balancing on the stool a little precariously, it added a good few inches to
her height bringing her forehead in line with Todd’s jaw.
    Todd looked
her right in the eyes as he closed the gap between them. She was struggling
with herself to obey him and he wasn’t quite sure he was playing this right but
he wanted to try.
    “I’m not
going to do anything to hurt you, or anything more than you want to do, but I
think it’s a crying shame for a pretty girl to go her whole life without
kissing somebody she’s attracted to.”
    Her eyes
dropped so he couldn’t read her anymore, but he could swear he heard her heart
pounding fit to burst.
    “First though
just put your arms round my neck and pull me in close then I’m going to put my
arms round you and we’re going to snuggle for a while.”
    Seconds
passed and her body wasn’t going to give, so Todd took the initiative and
circled her waist with his solid arms, then his hands gently stroked up the
middle of her back to comfort her, he held off from pulling too close, he
wanted to see what she’d do.
    Jen was
concentrating on breathing deeply in through her nose and out through her
mouth, just as she’d been taught to do by countless therapists, trying to bring
her racing heart to heel.
    Todd was
holding her steady and as she breathed she took in the scent of him, he smelled
like sea spray and lime and all sorts of good healthy things. His fingers
softly traced patterns through her robe.
    “Your turn,”
he said softly.
    Todd didn’t
know whose heart was beating faster, he was holding his breath now to see if
she would meet the challenge he’d given her.
    Slowly but
surely Jen lifted her arms from by her side and moved them up his arms, her
hands tracing the path to his shoulders, over his t shirt sleeves until he felt
them clasp behind his neck. Then before he had to prompt her again she drew him
closer and rested her head in the crook of his neck,