Betrothed to the Gloxinias

Chapter 2: Girls Night Out

"Well what do we have here? A pretty little bird has fallen from her nest."

Rose sucked her teeth. "I don't appreciate being called a bird, Theodore."

"Would it help if I said you were a beautiful, carnivorous bird that feeds off the dead?"

"Keep this up, and one of us is going to be dead, all right."

"I don't doubt it!" Theodore chuckled, watching as Rose scaled the fence until her pant leg got snagged on something. When she felt her shoe fall on Theodore's side, Rose began a grumbling, cursing tirade under her breath.

"All this sneaky fucking nonsense!" Rose cast a scathing look in the direction of her lost shoe. "Because of my father!" Rose gasped, when she heard her pant leg rip ever so slightly. "Might as well put a fucking ball, and chain!"

"Do you need a hand, doll?"

"A hand. A shoe. Maybe even a cigarette." Rose sighed as she wilted over the fence she straddled. Usually sneaking out from the back of her apartment went smoother, but she just had to get tangled up at the exact moment Theodore decided to randomly pass this street.

These pants are too cute to ruin so screw my pride.

"Yes. A hand. Please."

Rose heard the sound of Theodore shuffling behind her. When she looked over her shoulder, he was reaching towards her from the ground. She didn't miss the playful glint in his baby blue eyes.

"Come. I have you."

Rose carefully braced her hands on his solid shoulders. Just as she felt herself slip from the fence, she squealed. "Don't you drop me!"

Theodore secured her against him with ease, careful to hold her up until she shook her leg loose from the fence. When her full weight dropped on him, Theodore's stance remained strong.

Guess his arms aren't just for show. He smells familiar. The beach maybe?

"Never," Theodore murmured like a promise. When Rose rolled her eyes, he laughed again. Rose brushed a blond wave that had come loose behind his ear.

"My hero. Now put me down."

"As you wish, Miss Gloxinia."

Rose adjusted her sweetheart blouse, and brushed off her high waist pants, which thanks to Theodore's intervention, weren't ruined. When the Fratto Heir kneeled beside her, and waved her lost shoe, Rose used his shoulder to balance herself on one foot. He gently slipped it back on her. By the time Theodore got back to his feet, he was beaming until something caught his eye. Rose followed his line of vision to her hair.

"W-what? My hair? God, is it a bug?"

"No, no, nothing like that. Just — may I?"

Theodore's large hands hovered near the crown of her head, waiting. Rose nodded. Theodore cradled the side of her head with a feather light touch — softer than she expected for a man in his line of work. Rose felt his other hand loosen one of her silver hair combs before he speared it back in, above her ear.

"You always wear these. They're nice against your hair color."

"Thank you," Rose cleared her throat, not realizing she'd leaned into his palm until he pulled away. "They were my mother's. And my grandmother's. Anyway, hair all fixed? Both combs good?"

"Perfect."

"They had better be because if I look in the mirror, and see you sabotaged my hair on purpose-"