Chapter 22
A mention of Alice; was the last thing Brandon had expected to hear from Jo. His hand flew to his tie, which he fixed without any real need to. He didn’t know if she could tell that he was nervous.
Seeing Jo after a month had knocked the breath out of him. He wasn’t lying, she was just as beautiful as he remembered her, if not more. She was wearing fashionable looking black slacks and a floral blouse with matching black stilettos. Her hair was done up in a neat bun to suit her professional environment. Thin silver earrings dangled from her ears and her face was perfectly made up. She looked radiant.
“Alice is in Boston,” he managed to reply and he watched as Jo folded her arms over her breasts. Those breasts…why couldn’t he stop looking at her breasts? Was it because he knew how they tasted? How perfectly they fit in the palms of his hands?
“So what are you doing here?” she asked him and Brandon took in a deep breath.
“Are you going to offer me a seat?” he asked and Jo gulped, but managed to keep her head held high. Her lips were firm and her blue eyes were icy cold. She seemed mad at him, and he couldn’t blame her. For a month, they had completely cut off contact and now he had turned up here, throwing himself at her. Anything could have happened in these weeks. She could be seeing someone. Brandon could feel himself panicking.
“I want to know what you’re doing here, Brandon,” she said and he noticed how her lips were quivering. It was all a front, she was only pretending to be strong.
“I wanted to see you. I wanted to know how you were doing,” he said, and Jo licked her lips and looked away from him.
“I thought this was working perfectly well, Brandon. I was fine…you didn’t need to enquire about my well-being,” she said and he took a few steps towards her. When Jo stepped back, he stopped.
“I’m sorry. I know I’ve barged in on your life here, but I wanted to talk to you,” he said and she shook her head some more. Her nostrils were flared and he noticed how the tops of her cheeks were turning red.
“You don’t need to talk to me, Brandon. We don’t talk! That’s not something we should be doing. You’re married to my mother, or have you forgotten that already? Is that the man you are?” she was spitting her words out at him and this was the first time that Brandon was seeing her lose her temper like this.
He clenched his jaws and stuck his hands deep into the pockets of his pants. She was right. She was right about everything, but the last month had been painful for him. He couldn’t stop thinking about her.
“No, that is not the kind of man I want to be, Jo,” he began to say and she had interrupted him. Jo took a few determined steps towards him, glaring up at him so that she could meet his eye.
“Then what are you doing here? We decided to part ways. We decided to keep out of each other’s lives. This is not you keeping out of my life! You’ve come here to my work place. You sat and had a chat with my boss!” Jolie’s hands had come away from her breasts and now she was rubbing one hand over her face in exasperation. Brandon wanted to reach for her and pull her into his arms. He wanted her to stop feeling the way she was, even though he knew that he was the one at fault. He was the one who had caused her to feel this way to begin with.
“I know. I know all that and I’m sorry”
“You keep saying that. That you’re sorry. Well, sorry doesn’t cut it. That doesn’t help me one bit, does it?” she snapped and now Jo’s shoulders were heaving.
Brandon shook his head and pursed his lips together.
“No, you’re right. I shouldn’t make empty apologies. I shouldn’t have come here and disrupted your life. I should go,” he said and took a step back.
Jo was glaring at him now, her shoulders still heaving with anger. When he looked closely, he could see that her whole body was shaking.
“Yes, you should,” she said, in a quieter voice now.
“Okay, then I will,” he said but didn’t make a move. Their gazes were locked. He was searching her eyes and she was searching his. Brandon needed some sign, something from her that would tell him that nothing had changed between them. That it wasn’t too late already.
“I promise I’ll leave you alone now. This was a mistake,” he said and Jo just stared back at him. The fire in her eyes had dimmed, and now the blue looked calmer. She parted her lips to speak and Brandon felt like he was holding his breath.
“Yes, you should go, Brandon,” she said and he felt his stomach drop.
“Goodbye, Jo”
“Goodbye, Brandon,” she said and just when he was about to turn and place a hand on the doorknob, she threw herself at him.
He caught her in his arms and she pressed her lips to his. They were kissing wildly, her hands were framing his face and he was lifting her up by her waist. His tongue pushed into her mouth, desperate for a taste and she kept her mouth wide open, welcoming her in. Brandon felt like his mind was finally released, like he could finally think. His hands roamed her back, feeling the shape of her bra underneath her blouse. She was bunching up his shirt to pull him closer to herself.
This was exactly what he wanted. This was exactly what he had come for, but was this what she wanted too? Was she going to regret it again?