Ten Things pt. 3

“The criminal? That’s a brutal drink it has put better women than you under the table. I have to say I am impressed.” Brian did not for one minute believe that she had one last night. The Criminal was a toxic mix of vodka and gin with a shot of absinth in it that the bartender added with a syringe to give the glass green rings in it. It came in a martini glass with a set of handcuffs around the stem at the bar in Su Casa, the key was at the bottom of the glass and most imbibers were on the floor before they got to the bottom. If she had downed that drink she would have been on the floor and not really able to get up this morning, much less trick and handcuff a strong college student into a closet for an overdue lesson. “Don’t be. I work with men. When you do that you have to get to know bartenders. Men like to drink to celebrate. I much prefer a box of chocolates, but they celebrate every business trip with drinks. I scope out the bar ahead of time find out what the worse drink on the menu is and then ask the bartender ahead of time to dumb it down for me. What I had last night was mostly water with a little vodka and green food coloring. Juan was very nice too. A woman who can hold her liquor will be much more challenging to get drunk and naked.” Brian was impressed most women used alcohol as an excuse to get in bed with a man this woman used the idea of it as a tool to stay out of bed with them. “Do you often need to stay sober?” Bell thought about it for a minute. “I don’t like to give my coworkers a chance to make a fool of themselves. I simply remind them in subtle ways that I am not interested. To date I have not had any problems that couldn’t be easily remedied by a gentle reminder.” Bell felt that was a good answer. It was true she only took off the diamond a few days a month depending on her schedule, but that was all the time life seemed to give her. Brian clenched his hands on the wheel and a cloud of heat crept its way up Bell’s spine. This man was so interesting and very good at getting information without giving anything valid. Bell observed the inside of the car and her keen observational skills took in each little thing trying to piece together this attractive man. Several electronics and a wallet made up all the info she could glean from him. His wallet was leather and the smell of it was mild but still heavenly. He had the same phone as her and a separate Mp3 player which was attached to the car but not playing music at the moment so she couldn’t browse through his playlists. While he was paying attention to the road Bell subtly picked up the phone and looked up the number and committed it to memory before putting it back where she got it and smiling up at Brian as he turned to look at her. “How long have you lived up north?” Bell asked. Brian’s wry grin gave more away than his answer, “A month.” Brian didn’t really live anywhere he went wherever work told him to and stayed there until the job was done. Bell recognized the look of a person who doesn’t have roots laid down anywhere but the distant look on Brian’s face told her to leave it alone and change the subject.

Bell looked up and saw the exit to the airport coming up. She looked at her watch and gave a small sigh of relief that she was going to be able to make her flight.

Bell got out of the car and laughed as she realized she still wasn’t wearing shoes. That would take care of having to take them off for the security check. Brian was polite enough to park in the hour parking so she didn’t have to juggle all her stuff at the curb. He opened the trunk and noticed her bare feet as she walked up to him. “Well that’s one way to do it.” His arm flexed and he pulled her suitcase out of his trunk. “Do you have another pair in here?” Bell raised her eyes from his nicely sculpted arm and laughed mentally cataloging her suitcase and what shoes were closest to the top. A maniacal grin spread across her lips and she unzipped the outer pocket and lifted out a pair of black stilettos. “Just my work shoes.” Bell bent over giving Brian a nice view of her curves then stepped into her shoes gaining four inches and bringing her up to eye level with Brian who looked like he wasn’t going to be standing for much longer. “You poor thing bringing me out here when you don’t feel so good. Thank you so much.” Brian was a little lightheaded but it didn’t have much to do with his lingering cold and more to do with wondering what kind of work she did in those shoes.

Brian watched Bell walk away towards the terminals and enjoyed the retreating view. He turned back to his car thinking how the good ones are always taken. He got behind the wheel and drove home thinking all the while about how interesting Bell had been and how much he had enjoyed chatting with her. It was a treat to be attracted to a woman, have her know it and there be no pressure at all. The pleasant memory soothed him as he got home and collapsed into bed to get some much needed sleep before he started working agin in four hours.

Ten Things pt. 2

Bell bent over sideways to take off her sandals. She wrestled them off and held them up by their straps, glaring at the broken heel. It would cost more to repair than the shoes themselves. Taking a deep breath and straightening up, Bell pasted on her best sales smile and walked up the rest of the pebble path barefoot. The sharper stones cut into her feet and she ended up hotfooting it up the path to the smooth safety of the cement porch. She rang the doorbell and prayed for a little old lady or sympathetic gay guy. She wasn’t certain she could stave off another attack of testosterone. There was no movement in the house, Bell rang the bell again and knocked politely on the door. When there was still no answer she glanced over at the car parked in the driveway then she stood on her tiptoes to look through sun shaped window adorning the top of the door looking for life inside. She saw a light on in the kitchen and what looked like light from the TV bouncing around the doorway just to the left of the kitchen. She leaned on the doorbell, “I know you’re in there, just answer your damn door.”

The door opened a crack and an attractive eyeball, an eyebrow with a sexy arch to it, and half a mouth peeked out at her. “What do you want?” a gravely and unfortunately male voice asked her. Bell smiled her best dazzle ‘em smile and chirped “I need a ride to the airport. Your neighbor was giving me a ride but he is incapacitated now and can’t take me. I am going to miss my flight.” There was silence from the eyeball. “Please?”

The eyeball blinked and continued to stare at her. “I’ll pay for gas!” Bell’s smile brightened even more and put a slightly begging look into her eyes. ‘Come on! Everyone goes for this look,’ she thought scathingly. The door open a bit more and now the other eye, a nose, and tousled light brown hair studied her from head to toe, oddly not lingering on her breasts or short skirt, but wincing when he saw her shoes. Bell’s smile became genuine. Thank god! A gay guy, god’s gift to traumatized women. When his gaze wandered back up to her face he looked startled and then mumbled, “Yeah I’ll take you,” and walked away from the door leaving it open behind him. Having only heard a part of what he said Bell leaned in the doorway and called after him, “Was that a yes?”

Twenty minutes later Bell was in the very comfortable sedan with a handsome thirty something named Brian. Brian had a cold, a very bad cold that he was just barely getting over and had been asleep on the couch when she rang the doorbell. Brian knew how to jimmy a lock and had gotten her luggage out of the incapacitated Jake’s car. Brain was a good-looking guy with a body that spent more time in the gym than in front of the TV. Brian was a saint. Unfortunately, what Brain wasn’t, was gay. Though he hadn’t made a pass at Bell, she could feel the attraction that seeped out of him and quietly filled the front seat as if the heater was on and slowly creeping over her body. It was too bad, but he was a nice guy and as long as he ignored it, Bell was going to be polite. “I really can’t thank you enough for this.” She smiled her warm motherly smile and Brian looked at her oddly when he saw it. “You should be there in time to get through security before your flight.” He glued his eyes to the road and the car lapsed into silence again. Bell just smiled and looked out the window. The landscape was beautiful. Up North as her momma always referred to this area had so much green stuff. Having been raised in the suburbs, where houses and yards ate up the land, parks were the most green she had seen growing up. She knew there were parts of the world where just the earth stretched out until the trees cluttered the view and cut off the sky but she much preferred seeing them from her car. Bell loved the closeness of people and the spread of roads that tied them all together. She liked listening to the traffic on the freeway and the sounds of people living. Camping in nature and hiking were activities that she would leave to her little sister Mea. A real smile slid the corners of her mouth up towards her cheekbones as she thought about the antics of her life loving little sister.

“Ah, so that’s what it looks like.” Brian was focused on Bell’s lips. She had shown him about a hundred and one fake smiles today and that was the first genuine emotion he had seen grace her face. Whatever she was thinking about must be a nice memory. Brain liked nice memories much better than the spell enchanting sales woman who harangued him with a doorbell while he was having a very pleasant cough medicine induced dream involving a faceless blonde dancing naked. Bell turned away from the window and looked at him quizzically the smile dimming only slightly as if her pretty lips couldn’t hold on to the emotion once she was distracted. God her lips were beautiful. Brian glanced down at the diamond on her left hand and felt a moment of jealousy for the man who came home to those lips every night. “I’m sorry, what?” She asked as she shifted her body so that her shirt strained against her chest and he lost his train of thought for a moment. He blinked and looked back at the road, “Your smile. That was the first time I have seen you smile without having a purpose. It felt like you were trying to sell me something back at the house.” Bell chuckled and looked down at her hands, “Most guys don’t notice. I work in sales so no matter how you feel you have to always be upbeat about the product.”

“I’m confused. Are you the product or my car?” He smiled and seemed to relax. Bell joined him laughing felt so good right now. “Whatever it took to get me to the airport and home to my house on 9^th street.” Brian felt his blood race at the sound of her laugh. There was something about that woman that made him unable to focus on anything. “Is it our landscape here that made you smile?” Brian’s hand shifted on the steering wheel as he watched Bell. She looked out the window and said “it reminds me of my sister Mea. She loves the outdoors. She hikes, canoes, climbs, any thing that nature put on this earth my sister will attempt to experience.” Brian nodded as if he cared about her sister. Though if she was as interesting as Bell and single it might be worth it. “I am more for the clutter of cities myself.” Brian said, “They distract, and combine at the same time. So much is going on that you can focus on any one thing and that is great but at the same time everything touches and mixes together.” Brian caught himself before he became too sentimental and asked, “Out of curiosity, what happened to my neighbor?”

Bell smirked and a look of gleeful mischief darted his way. “He is handcuffed in the closet contemplating his actions and the consequences of upsetting a goddess.” Brian nodded, “Should I go untie him when he gets home?” Bell gave him a sympathetic look; “I called his mom she said she would get to it today.”

“And goddess? Pretty high opinion of yourself there.”

“Always selling the product.”

“So it’s all hype?”

“Ouch! No, I am just something to be worshiped.”

Brian nearly swerved off the road as he thought of ways he would like to worship her. Bell bit her lip to keep from laughing as Brian got control of the car again. Men were easily led down a road to dirty thoughts. She had been enjoying the content quiet on the drive to the airport, but she was incapable of missing a chance to tease and incite desire. It just wasn’t in her genetic makeup, to be demure. She liked attention and sexual tension is a great way to get it, though not quite fair to Brian who had noticed her ring and was being quite a gentleman. Bell reigned in her pheromones and gave him a real no teeth smile. “Your neighbor didn’t pay attention to the ring on my hand and made a horrific attempt at a pass before mauling me in his house. I handcuffed him and left him tied up in the closet. To answer your next question; no, I do not always carry handcuffs in my purse. They came on a drink at the bar last night and I kept them.”

Ten Things pt. 1

"God Dammit!" Bell's heel of her new sandals snapped as she walked down the pebble path. Who the hell had a pebble path without pavers anyway?

It had just been one of those days. She had come to San Francisco for a conference and the associate who worked out here was suppose to give her a ride back to the airport had gotten sick. Lisa had asked her brother to pick Bell up and that was how she had ended up walking up a stranger’s path and snapping her heel. Bell looked down at her button down white shirt and perked up the girls who had gotten her into this mess.

Jake had shown up at her hotel and checked her out from just about every angle in the mirrored hotel elevator and it had just gotten worse from there. Even though Bell tried very diligently to give off a cold not interested vibe her breasts always trumped her. Bell couldn't suppress them to save her life. They were perky, cute and d cups and she lavished them with expensive bras that made them even more perky and cute. As much as Bell wanted to be taken seriously she couldn't hide her best attribute. She loved them, almost as much as most guys. Lisa's brother didn't offer to take her luggage or even open the car door for her, where had chivalry gone? He watched her as she bent over into his trunk trying to wrestle her suitcase in the two feet available. He even whistled, WHISTLED dammit, when she stood back up and straightened her jean skirt. Bell took a deep breath and just accepted his behavior and got in his low rider Civic. Wow that car had brought back memories. Yummy memories about dating racers. Memories about speed and short shorts. Bell had sighed and dropped her purse between her legs.

She was leaving extra early but liked the time at the airport in case her flight was canceled she could scope out the other flights and be prepared. She was also half way through the new book and couldn't wait to get some free time to read. She had started the series a while ago and now couldn't wait until the paperback was out. She scoured the Internet and read all the online stories. She didn't participate in the role players though; a girl had to drawn the line somewhere. Bell leaned her head back and savored the air conditioning brushing over her lips; she licked them and then leaned forward between her legs to grab her lip-gloss. She couldn't maneuver around the car very well and finally gave up and just reached down between her legs and rummaged around her bag. Cell phone, compact, tampons, pen, what was that?? She smiled as she recognized the cool texture. Bell reached her other hand down and propped her head on the dashboard and tried to find it with both hands. Finally she found it stashed in a pocket on the side, she seriously needed a smaller purse. She sat back up triumphant, "Ah ha! Found it!" She dabbed some on her bottom lip, smacked her lips then smiled and ran her tongue over her teeth to make it even.

Jake glanced at her at a stoplight. "Do you mind if I stop at my house first? I need to pick up my cleaning since we are going right by them?" His eyes dropped down to her boobs again and Bell rolled her eyes. He was setting her up. What an ass. Did he really think she was that stupid? "I really want to get to the airport early if you don't mind." Oh no, she had said if you don't mind. That pretty much guaranteed that they would be going to his house. "Well I am doing you a favor, and I really need to get my cleaning done by this weekend." That was the worst line ever. Ever. Bell rolled her eyes, "Fine just please hurry I need to get out of here."

Jake's house was nowhere near the airport and was only 'on the way' by a long stretch. Bell pressed her lips together and waited for the line. She glanced down at the girls and swore she was going to invest in shapeless cotton bras. Then he did it, he draped his arm over the back of her seat and leaned into her. His hand inched down until it was resting on her breast with his fingers not touching her nipple, barely. Okay someone needed to teach this boy a lesson. "You want to come in? Get a drink while you are waiting?" Bell slanted a look his way and smirked. "Yes. Yes I would." Jake nearly jumped out of his car and up the cement pathway. Wow he was holding out to get a piece and he still didn't open her door. Bell grabbed her purse and got out of the car hoping she didn't flash anyone in her straight skirt and walked up the path to the front door, which was open. As she walked through the door, she shut it behind her. There was a side table and then a closet and a then a fairly tidy living room with a big screen TV and the newest game system hooked up to it. Ah bachelors, there had to be two of them, this was at least a two bedroom town house and Jake was young. He came out of what must be the kitchen holding a glass of ice water. So young he didn’t even think to ply her with alcohol first, tragic really.

She put her purse on the side table and then leaned against it. She slid a hand into her purse and started fumbling through it again looking for what she needed. Jake came right up to her and into her personal space, his hand holding the glass of water moved close to her collar bone and a finger brushed against her necklace. His finger traced the three swirls, this guy had balls you had to give him that. "So where is your roommate?" Jake smiled and brushed his lips against her ear, "I knew you wanted me."

Bell saw red and a grey shiver brushed over her skin as something meaner took over her. "Really huh?" after Jake smiled in response, Bell pulled out the handcuffs she had finally found in her purse, "I have to warn you I am kinda kinky." He laughed and said "Oh baby you can tie me up whenever you want." He put the glass down on the table and yanked his shirt over his head. Bell gave him a look of pity while he was caught in his t-shirt. He dropped it on the floor and grabbed her breasts. Bell snapped a cuff on him and glared at him. Before she could even say anything he had his pants off and was groping her. Bell snagged both his hands and clicked the cuff around his other wrist then pushed him towards the closet and opened the door and shoved him in. Before he could say anything she pushed her foot against his abs and pressed until he sat on the floor looking up at her. She squatted down besides him and held up her left hand where a wedding band and diamond were slung around her ring finger. "Do you know what this is?' Jake started to look nervous and nodded. "But I don't care" Bell slapped him, "You should care Jake. You should care because this means I am off limits. The next time you think to use a woman for a couple hours of sex think about the fact that asking her is a good idea. And NEVER mess with another man's woman. It makes us cranky." She put her face against his ear and grabbed his crotch and squeezed hard "We Clear?" Jake nodded and she released him. As he crumpled against the back of the closet she closed the door and turned the key locking him in the closet. She walked to the door and grabbed his pants and searched the pockets for his cell phone. Once she found it and realized she wasted an hour with this detour she screamed and then looked for his keys but couldn't find them. She searched through the phone until she found the number she was looking for she hit send and waited for the number to connect.

'Hi Sweetie!" an older excited woman’s voice answered.

"Hello, this is Bell James."

"Oh I am sorry I thought this was my sons number. Must have misread it"

"No, this is Jake's phone. I am Lisa's co-worker and she is sick and asked Jake to take me to the airport. On the ride home your son groped me and whistled at me and checked me out in a very rude manner and finally diverted me off my schedule by an hour." Bell nearly shouted that last part into the phone. "To teach him a lesson he is handcuffed in the closet in the living room, and would probably appreciate it if someone came and let him out. I can't find his keys otherwise I would be taking his car to the airport. I am headed to the neighbors house to see if I can get a ride."

"How long has Jake been in the closet?"

"About 15 minutes"

"Well he can stand a few more hours then. Have a good day Mrs. James."

"You too ma'am.” Bell snapped the phone closed and headed over to the neighbor’s house.

Hmm I might be a bad mother

Am I a bad person if i watched my children and my brain figures out how to kill some one off. Is it odd that i understand more about life from watching them interact?

not fair!

I hadn't realized it was midnight already! no fair! that counts as Tuesday's post!

Brian has a brain too!

Brian walked up the pebble path and added that to his to do list on the house. What kind of house didn’t have pavers? He had been at the house for a little less than a month rehabbing it, but it was moving along nicely. The workers had finished on time and under budget, which was a first, and Hannah was arriving soon to start the decorating and making the house a home. The city had asked that a family from the area be offered the chance at the home before they went down their list and had specifically asked that it be a noted member of the police force. Hannah had interviewed the family and offered them the home. The officer who had been injured and was in a wheelchair had accepted. It threw a wrench in the plans though because now the house had to be restyled to be more accessible to the officer. He fumbled in his pocket for his key and then looked up at the door when he noticed the basket on his porch. It was stocked with goodies and had a big green bow on it that reminded him of Bell’s eyes. Even after a week he still hadn’t been able to prevent his mind from wandering to the memory of her curvy frame and piercing eyes. As he laid alone on the mattress in the bedroom he chose it was a comfort to him that someday he would get to rehab his own house and have someone with him. Maybe she would have the green eyes of a woman who worked in sales. Brian picked up the basket and fingered the card before taking it inside the house and setting on the card table that was his dinning table.
He read the card and he experienced a moment of acute shock. The card said, “Thank you for the ride. Hope this helps you feel better. –Bell.” Inside the basket was Egyptian cotton sheets, a bottle of Nyquil, menthol cough drops and variety of fruits and veggies with a recipe for chicken soup. “Wow.” Brian was surprised and a little shocked that the married Bell would send him a personal gift. A thank you card would have been fine. Women were hard to understand. Brian left it on the card table and went to work on his pet project; the kitchen.
His team had turned out to be little superstitious and no one had wanted to take on the kitchen. Brian had been happy to do it himself, he usually took on the rooms were the most tragedy had happened. Brian loved building houses and had subcontracted under a lot of great contractors and some really horrible ones. It was when he was remodeling Hannah’s bathroom that she had approached him about working for Changers. At the time it is was just her and she was bringing in a different contractor for each project and they all had tried to take advantage of her. She offered him her then current project if he would just be honest with her about how much it would cost so she could do the fundraising. When he got to the house to check it out the house had pieces of the wall ripped out of it and fire damage in two rooms not to mention that the stench was horrible. Changers had bought the house, which had been on the market for three years to transform it into a home, and it took him 9 months to get the house ready for her to come in and decorate. Sometimes Changers bought houses sometimes, like this house; agencies came in and asked them to do it. Hannah not only decorated she and her best friend approached companies and independents to donate the money for the construction and then negotiated with banks on behalf of the new owners to get them a fair lender to pay for the remainder of the mortgage. Hannah also offered ongoing support groups for what she called the New Loves, most of whom were first time homeowners, to help them deal with the process of maintaining a home. She had convinced him to teach a few classes on how to do easy fix it things and if they have a bigger problem he usually recommended the men who worked on the house originally, he liked to think of the houses as being taken care of by the people who had saved it and he also liked to throw work back to the guys who helped build it. Changers had started out as one house every four to five months and had grown to having several projects running at once. Brian would start out living in each house, to see the house from someone who would live in it and then build the plans from what needed changing. Once the house was fifty percent done he would move to the next house and get it started. Hannah had offered him a partnership after his third house for her when she had started being overwhelmed by the growth rate of business and had realized that construction was as much work as her fundraising. Brian had taken the offer and enjoyed helping Hannah build the business into a very successful non-profit.
He heard the only other key to the house in the lock and jogged into the entry way to meet Hannah who had come to take measurements of the finished rooms and get a feel for what rooms would be what. “Hey Lazy.” Hannah smiled and embraced him as she walked in. “Just because I have a team of shoppers doesn’t make me lazy, it makes me practical. How’s she coming?” Hannah winced as she stepped over the blood stain in the entryway. “The floors get ripped up tomorrow and the hard wood guy will be here in the afternoon to install the new floors. It had to be done after the majority of the work was complete Han.”
“I know it just bothers me to look at it. The wife wants to have it blessed by a priest before they move in to make sure that no demons remain.”
Brian nodded “Could be worse.” They had had homeowners ask for much odder things, including one woman who had brought in an ‘evil sniffing’ dog. The dog had seemed more interested in one of the workers sandwiches than any potential evil but it had made the woman feel safe about the home. “I know I was almost happy until I saw the bloodstain. When will they be able to do their first walk through?” Brian squinted one eye and looked upto the ceiling with the other one while his mouth scrunched up mentally reviewing his schedule, “five days the floors should be done and the only thing left will be the kitchen.” Hannah laughed at that, “Still installing cabinets? You always take on the challenging projects yourself.” Since the other team had come in under budget he had redirected the money into the kitchen and expanded it out. What was supposed to have been done a week ago was almost halfway though. “I couldn’t resist, I like the idea of them having home cooked meals and a table to eat at as a family.” Hannah smiled sympathetically at Brian she knew that he was ready to build a house of his own and hoping from one house to another for work wasn’t helping his two story in the country get built. “This is the last one before the wet season. Maybe it is time to take on an assistant.” She was hesitant to offer because Brian was excellent at this. He loved each one of the houses but he really needed to start his own life he was thirty three and she had been keeping him too busy to date or even look sideways at a woman.
“Maybe after this one. The wet season will give me a chance to interview contractors and look hard at the guys we have been working with to see if one of them could step up. It isn’t an easy job and I wouldn’t want a guy who had a family to do this.” Hannah had been walking through the house while they talked seeing how the house was developing. As she walked into what was going to be the dinning area she saw the gift basket and walked over to it and looked at the card. “Hope you feel better. Bell?” Maybe Brian did have time to date. “Do not think about matchmaking Hannah, she is married. I gave her a ride to the airport a week ago while I was sick, and she is just thanking me.”
“Sheets this nice do not come from a happily married woman.” Hannah untied the bow that held the cellophane together then pushed it down with a crinkle and dug deeper into the basket. “Why hadn’t you opened it? Ooo there are some nice things in here.” As she began removing stuff from the basket a wonderful scent wafted out to greet her. The smell of orange peel and allspice filled her nostrils and reminded her of Brian and she understood why the mysterious Bell had chosen the potpourri that was at the bottom of the basket. “Yum Brave Soldier hand cream. Nice Egyptian cotton, little jealous there. Hmm what is this, oh nice throw!” Hannah pulled out a blue and tan throw with a cream tag attached that said, “For the sofa.” Hannah looked at the beat up leather recliner, the only thing that could even loosely be defined as a couch, that was the only piece of furniture that traveled with Brian, mostly because it fit in the back of his truck, and laughed at putting this beautiful thing on that beat up ‘couch’. “You should call her and tell her thank you. This is the gift of someone who wants you to get in touch.”
Brian raised one eyebrow and reminded Hannah, “She’s married.”
“Doesn’t mean you can’t be friends”
“That woman is too beautiful for me to think of her as a friend for very long. She is temptation in a short jean skirt.”

Halloween 2008

In another attempt to procrastinate out of my daily goal I cleaned the desk and found the cable for my camera yay!! I uploaded the kids halloween pictures and to see the whole set you can go to here. To see them. They are very cute. the pink princess and the white knight are mine and they had a great time. My knight enjoyed defending things with the other kids with shields and even posing for a quick parent paparazzi flash fest. my princess allowed her teacher to escort her all over the school grounds so that the peasants and parents may gaze upon them. Afterwards they went trick or treating but needless to say I was prepared and it wasn't nearly as bad as last year's samurai sword vs. couch incident.