Eternal Blossom

Three days later, Aiyana pulled up to Brian’s house and text him from her jeep. As soon as he climbed in the car, he threw his bag in the back seat and leaned over to kiss her hello.

“Ready to deliver my paintings, handsome,” Aiyana asked after returning the kiss.

Brian pressed one more kiss to her lips before leaning back in his seat and putting his feet on her dash, arms behind his head.

“Put your damn feet down. If I wreck, the airbag will shatter your legs, and I happen to like your chicken legs,” she told him with an eyebrow raised at his offending feet.

Brian laughed, knowing that was the reaction he would get. He put his feet back in the floor board and looked over at her with a wink.

As they drove to the man’s house, he let her know that Matt and Kristy would be coming to her dad’s bar b que the next day, but that Johnny and Lacey couldn’t make it because Lacey had a stomach bug. Aiyana then let him know that Rayne was coming, and dragging Zack along with her.

“So, what’s this guy’s name,” Brian asked as they pulled up to a large grey house on the opposite side of town.

“Angus Parlow,” Aiyana replied as she got out and began pulling the wrapped canvas from the back.

Brian helped her with the paintings, carrying two of them for her as he followed her up the steps to the house. He couldn’t put his finger on why, but the house seemed ominous to him.
Aiyana looked at him, nodding her head sideways to the knocker, which was one of the gargoyles from The Labyrinth.

“I need one of those,” she laughed softly before raising her free hand to use the knocker.

A moment later, a dapper looking man with short salt and pepper hair that was slicked back severely opened the door dressed in a pair of linen pants and a white button down shirt.

“Ah, you must be Ms. Deer,” he cooed at her while raking his dark blue eyes over her frame before catching Brian out of the corner of his eye. “And this must be the hired help,” he added dismissively.

“No, that’s my boyfriend, Mr. Angus. He offered to help me to deliver these to you since it’s a rather large set,” she said with a big smile.

Angus didn’t even seem fazed by her calling Brian her boyfriend, and instead invited them inside. The moment Aiyana entered, he slid his arm smoothly around her lower back, ushering her into the living room.

His hand rested a little too close to the swell of her hip for Brian’s liking, but he was trying to keep his mouth shut. What he couldn’t miss though, was when they stopped, Angus’ hand slid over a rounded cheek ‘accidently’. Aiyana took a few steps away from Angus to the wall to lean the painting in her hands against it.

Brian felt his jealousy rising, and placed the paintings that he was carrying along the wall with the one that Aiyana previously put down. Quickly, they noticed the sparse amount of expensive furniture in the living room. There was next to nothing in the room other than the basics, and no decorations adorned the walls.

“Mr. Angus, let me know what you’d like, and I’m sure I can come up with something to help you decorate these walls,” she said easily, immediately running ideas through her head of what would look good with his furniture.

Angus smiled at her and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear as he looked into her eyes,
“You could paint something trivial and I’d hang it, beauty.”

Aiyana blushed and looked down, she’d had flattering clients before, but this guy took the cake. Brian bit his tongue and stepped beside her, gripping her hand in his own larger one. He was staking his claim on her in a way that he hoped wouldn’t jeopardize her future commission.

“Babe, if we don’t leave soon, we’ll be late,” Brian bit out, his eyes never leaving Angus.

Aiyana smiled up at Brian, and she took in his hard eyes and chiseled jaw line. He was pissed, and as bad as it was, the whole situation just made her want to die laughing. It felt very flattering to see him so jealous of the older man, but she was uncomfortable with the attention Angus was showing her, so she squeezed Brian’s hand in reassurance.

“You’re right babe,” she told Brian, backing away from Angus, she spoke quickly, “email me a list of your hobbies, likes, and dislikes, and I’ll see what my muse pulls from me.”

Brian turned on his heel and marched them out the door, nearly pulling her off her feet in his haste to get her out of the older man’s home and away from the arrogant ass himself.

As soon as they were in the car, Aiyana fell into a full on fit of giggles. Brian looked over at her, completely puzzled. He saw absolutely nothing funny in what had just happened. He knew he’d been right, and that the guy was a creep.

When she stopped laughing, she wiped the tears away that had been sliding down her cheeks, and looked at Brian. One look of his non-impressed face was all it took to make her start up all over again.

“What is so funny,” Brian asked, exasperated.

Trying to pull it together, she looked out of the windshield, and then at the steering wheel. If she was going to speak instead of giggle, there was no way she could look at that house or Brian’s far too serious face right now. Finally pulling it together, she bit her bottom lip, and looked at him.

“That twunt seriously thought he was so charming, and all I wanted to do was deck him. But, he paid me sixty thousand for three paintings. Then I looked at you, and I thought you WERE going to hit him,” she rushed out, trying like hell not to laugh at the whole situation.

He smirked a little and felt himself relax more into the seat. Knowing that she found him just as repulsive as he did made him feel a little better. That’s not to say that he still didn’t want to get out of the jeep to go kick his old ass, but he wasn’t going to.

“Well,” he said as she began to drive back to her house, “if you paint anything else for that….. what did you call him? A cunt?”

Aiyana laughed, and enunciated, “A twunt. It’s a mixture of twat and cunt.”

Brian actually cracked a smile at that one.

“Alright, if you paint anything else for that ‘twunt’ I’ll be the one to deliver it while you sit at home and wait for me to get back,” he informed her, making it quite clear she could work for the man, but would never be in his presence again.

She giggled again at Brian using her word, and just nodded. Knowing that the whole male ego thing was a fragile and unique thing, she kept her mouth shut. She also didn’t mind never going to Angus’ house again. The guy was a creep and made her wildly uncomfortable.

Really, she thought, it’s best that Brian is so controlling about some things. It was kind of endearing, and really … sexy. She had never thought before being told that she wasn’t going to do something (outside of the bedroom) was sexy, but with Brian, it just worked.

Looking over at him, she saw him with his hand out the window, enjoying the feeling of the wind rushing around and past his digits. Correction. Brian was sexy. And sweet.

Notes

Mmm. Jealous Brian is a sexy Brian.