working girl » tommy shelby.

chapter seven

It was gone one in the morning when Tommy finally arrived at the brothel. He had been psychologically quarrelling with himself, uncertain on whether he should go and see Rosie. In the end, he made his way down the notorious lane until he reached the row of brothels. Rosie had been panicking all night, thinking that Tommy was not going to come over to the brothel like he had sort of promised. It was rather silly of her to worry, Tommy was completely and utterly in awe of the woman and had been spending all week thinking about her and Friday night, even if he did have his reservations.

He was dressed in his premium suit and looked beautiful, making Rosie's breath catch in her throat. She worshiped the man and had done for seven years but she wasn't going to admit to her true feelings, at least not yet. A lot had changed in the last seven years, which was transparently obvious from the way they acted, and Rosie wanted to make sure that she was comfortable with her emotional state before she confessed anything to Tommy. There was a lot of problems in Rosie's life, which told her that the connection that her and Tommy could possibly have would not be plain sailing - another reason why she wanted to delay. If Tommy really wanted her then she wanted enough proof before she made the jump.

"I didn't think you was coming," she said, her eyes skimming over Tommy's figure. He took notice of her gaze and grinned over at her, admiring Rosie's getup that she had put on just for him. "What took you so long?"

"I had a business meeting and then I got pulled along to the pub for a few drinks, but I managed to sneak away," he replied as he peeled off his jacket. Rosie sighed and the fact that he had been drinking and hoped that he wasn't pissed out of his mind. From what she could see, he looked clearheaded, but he did trip as he sauntered over to the bed.

"Are you smashed?"

"No."

"Good, I've had enough of drunken men tonight," she said, not grasping that the remark had affected Tommy. He felt resentful as he thought about other men touching Rosie with their disgusting hands – mainly because Tommy wanted her all to himself. This was Rosie's occupation and he had to accept that, even if the thought wounded him. Tommy already had plans to get Rosie out of this mess, it was just going to take a lot time and tough work. "Good day?"

Tommy pulled a face and moved his head from side to side, uncertain of the response himself. It had started off well but then Polly had kicked off when she found out about the development down London. "Could have been better, could have been worse. I'm sure tonight will brighten things up."

Rosie giggled before moving herself onto Tommy's lap, pushing him backwards by his chest. From his position, he admired her exquisiteness and everything else about her. There was more to Rosie than having sex with random men, she was smart and intelligent, she deserved the world in Tommy's eyes.

There was no movement from either of them as they stared at each other in admiration. Rosie wanted to kiss him more than anything, but she remained frozen apart from the one finger that ran along his chest slowly, rapidly turning into her whole hand. She could feel Tommy's heart beat against her palm as she rubbed over the white shirt. She could tell that it was luxurious, and she admired the material items on Tommy's body, including the ring on his little finger. She could briefly remember Tommy wearing it when they first met and had always wondered where he had got it from.

"Are you going to do anything?" Tommy asked, moving his hands to Rosie's waist. She leaned forward when he squeezed her waist. "Or do you want to talk for a bit?"