Chapter 10
Brandon didn’t have a key to the new house yet, so he had to ring the bell. Despite having two meetings set up for the following day in DC, he had decided to cancel those and return to Alice. He knew he was doing this purely out of guilt, but he had to do something to absolve himself of his desire for Jo.
Alice opened the door herself, her face was flushed and she looked excited.
“Bran! Guess who’s come to visit!” Alice said, throwing her arms around his neck. When she hugged him, he felt his whole body stiffen. He couldn’t stop himself from comparing her to Jo.
She stepped away from him, beaming still and Brandon realized that he found her voice annoying. He hadn’t noticed this about her before, or had he? Was he only allowing himself to think about it now?
“My daughter. She’s come down to see us. The moment she heard of the wedding and the house…she said she had to come and see it for herself!” Alice was still talking in her screechy voice and leading the way towards the living room.
Brandon gritted his teeth as he draped his coat on the hanger by the door. The last thing he wanted today, was being forced to make small talk with Alice’s daughter, whom he had never met before.
“Bran!” Alice screeched from the living room and he took in a deep breath and walked to the door.
“Meet my daughter, Jolie,” Alice gushed and clapped her hands excitedly like a toddler.
Brandon remained at the door, as his wife’s body shifted and he laid eyes on her daughter for the first time. For a moment, he thought he was going crazy and he was imagining it. But when he saw Jo’s face, and the look of confusion and nervousness on it, he knew this wasn’t a dream. She wasn’t thrilled to see him.
“Jolie, go on, give your new stepfather a hug, honey,” Alice urged her daughter, standing by and watching the two of them staring at each other.
It was Jo…with her luscious red hair flowing behind her shoulders. Her dark jeans shaping her long legs perfectly, and she was wearing a red silk blouse with a V neck that teased him. He had those breasts in his hands, he knew what her pussy tasted like. Brandon was stuck to the spot.
“Go on, Bran!” Alice’s voice split through the air and he had no other choice but to step towards Jo.
“Hello, Jolie,” he said, holding her fiery gaze. Their bodies were inches apart again, but, this time, under very different circumstances. She looked like she would have given her arm to be anywhere else but in this room.
“Hello, Brandon. It’s nice to meet you,” she said and they shook hands, instead of hugging as Alice had suggested.
Just that handshake was enough. The touch of their hands sent shockwaves down his body. For the first time in his life, Brandon felt like he had lost complete control of himself. Despite the fact that Alice was standing right there, in the same room as them, he wanted to pull Jo into his arms.
“The news must have been very surprising to you,” he managed to say and she stared back at him, her pupils barely even moving.
“Yes, I’m still in shock. I didn’t know mom had remarried before I called her last night,” she was quick to say, and Brandon noticed how desperate she was to tell him that she had no idea. He nodded his head, and she tugged her hand away from his grasp.
“I was hoping that I would get to meet Alice’s daughter soon,” he said and he watched her gulp.
“And now you have!” Alice snapped through the moment and rushed towards her daughter to try and pull her into a hug. He watched as Jo struggled in her mother’s arms, averting her eyes away from him.
“We haven’t seen each other in two years! This girl works too hard, you know,” Alice cooed, pinching Jo’s cheeks together like she was a little girl.
Jo managed to escape her mother’s grip and she walked around to the back of the couch, in an attempt to put as much distance between herself and Brandon as she could.
“Mom, I’d like you to show me to the spare room now, please,” she said, keeping her face firmly turned away from him.
Brandon could feel his mind racing. Just when he thought he would never see her again, that he could start afresh with Alice…here she was, right there in front of him.
“Okay, I’ll show you upstairs so you can settle in,” Alice said, already leading the way out of the living room.
“I’m not going to settle in. I’m not staying. I just want to freshen up before I leave,” she said and he caught her cheeks flushing.
“Really?” Alice turned to face her daughter, and pouted her lips. Jolie glared back at her mother and Brandon clenched his jaws.
“No, you should stay. Spend some time with your mother. If my presence here makes you uncomfortable, I’ll leave,” he said and both the women turned to look at him.
“That’s silly! Why would you make Jolie uncomfortable?” Alice whipped around to look at her daughter with crossed brows. Brandon saw a streak of Alice’s short temper, he got a taster of the kind of mother she might have been to Jolie. She was the kind of woman who liked to get her way.
“Jolie? Is Bran making you uncomfortable?” Alice’s voice had hardened and she was glaring at her daughter now, shooting daggers from her eyes. Jolie looked at her mother and then at Brandon again, and a half-hearted smile formed on her face.
“No, of course not. Sure, I’ll stay. Maybe just a couple of days,” she said and Alice clapped her hands again; her good mood returning quickly.
“Come upstairs with me, honey. I’ll take you to your room,” Alice said and for a few moments, after she had left, Jolie and Brandon were alone in the living room again. But she said nothing, she just walked away without giving him a second look.