Chapter 21

Jasmine stood by the doorway to the bedroom with her arms crossed against her chest and a frown on her face. She watched Richie staring into the wardrobe with his hands on his hips and a smile the size of the grand canyon on his face. To Jasmine it looked like he was thinking hard about something, especially when he began to chew on his bottom lip and his eyebrows lowered.

Richie jumped at Jasmine’s faint touch on the middle of his back. He hadn’t been aware of her presence, which was strange because lately he had been very acutely aware whenever she was close.

“Hey, you looked like you were away with the fairies. Is everything alright?” Jasmine asked, rubbing her hand softly on his back.

“Everything’s great. I was just thinking how normal it seems to have your clothes in with mine, like that’s the way it’s always been ya know?” he said, moving Jasmine so that she could see what he saw. He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her chest then bent down to rest his chin on her shoulders. He nibbled gently on her earlobe and breathed down her neck, inducing a shiver from her.

“You’re so sneaky Sambora. You know I can’t concentrate when you do that.” Jasmine protested but didn’t move away from him. Richie just chuckled in response and nibbled a little harder.

“I don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind about moving in here permanently have you?” Richie asked, his warm breath on her neck making her tingle.

“No. I’m sorry. I know you really want it to happen now but like I said before, we need to find out whether we are where we are because of the situation we were put in, or whether it’s because we want to be here.”

Richie nodded, he wasn’t going to push her into changing her mind. He wanted her to agree because she wanted to, not because she wanted to please him. In any case he was certain that they would live together eventually so if she needed a little time to make sure she was sure, then he could live with it.

Richie dragged a reluctant Jasmine into New York City the next day to shop for the wrap party. She had complained about Richie paying until he could take no more and made good on his threat to call Jon. In a way he wished he hadn’t called Jon once he heard the mouthful he gave Jasmine. There was no way now that Jasmine could be under the impression that Richie was paying for the dress after what Jon had said to her. Jon could be very convincing when he wanted to be.

When their feet began to hurt and Richie’s stomach complained that it was being ignored, they stopped for sustenance then continued the search for the perfect dress for Jasmine. They had no luck on 5^th or Madison so Richie suggested heading for somewhere a little less pretentious and a little more ‘Jasmine’. He got his driver to take them to SoHo; he had a shop in mind that he was sure would have at least one thing that Jasmine would like. They were dropped off outside Dean & Deluca and after a heavenly coffee Richie took hold of Jasmine’s hand and led her the few blocks to the next shop.

Jasmine hadn’t been happy with anything she had tried on earlier, there was something stuffy and too formal for her liking. She loved getting dressed up but needed comfort as well as style. The dresses she had tried on in the other shops had left her feeling on edge and scared to move. That may be okay for the type of woman who wouldn’t hit the dance floor but instead would work the room; however Jasmine was not that woman. If there was a dance floor then she would be on it and considering the music that would be being played on this particular dance floor, she needed room to move.

The door bell clanged as Richie held it open for Jasmine then followed her inside. She instinctively went to her right and began looking through the rails. She was glad to see that the clothes were arranged in colors, it annoyed her that she had to traipse around so many shops looking for the right garment in the right color and had always attested that it would be so much easier to shop if things were arranged in colors rather than in the seemingly random ways that they tended to be.

Richie headed over to the men’s section while Jasmine perused the dresses before her. Richie already had his pants but had decided during the drive into the city that he wanted a new shirt to wear. His options were usually limited thanks to his colorblindness but he thought he would take advantage of having Jasmine with him today and get himself something that wasn’t purple or black.

Jasmine first looked through the yellow dresses and found a few that she liked the look of but when she tried them on she realized that the color made her look more washed out than she was already. Although the color wasn’t right, she had found the style of dress she wanted and hoped that the shop had it in other colors and in her size. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found the dress in red, lavender, sage and royal blue.

Richie looked over for her and smiled when he saw her hands full of clothes and a pair of silver strappy shoes hanging from one of her fingers. Then she disappeared into the changing rooms.

Jasmine was becoming ever more frustrated because she couldn’t decide between the royal blue and the red. She really liked the other two colors as well but had decided on making a statement and going for a bold color now that the bruises had gone and she didn’t mind drawing attention to herself.

“Richie?” she said, reentering the main shop, peering over the racks trying to locate the tall, dark and handsome man that she still couldn’t believe was hers.

“Yeah darlin’?”

“I need some help.”

“What can I help you with?” he said looking her up and down and liking what he saw.

“I can’t decide between this one and the red one, which do you think?” she said, holding up the red dress in front of her.

“Uh, Jas?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m colorblind. I can’t see the one you’re holding up. Well, what I mean is I can’t see the color anyways.” He laughed,

Jasmine didn’t laugh. “You’re kidding?”

“Nope. I can’t see green or red. So, my choice is the blue. It makes your eyes look like sapphires and your hair looks even more shiny and blonde, if that is even possible.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t know you were colorblind! You do well to hide it. So, the blue it is then?”

“Yeah the blue one. Now can you come help me pick out a new shirt? I don’t want purple or black this time.”

Jasmine’s laugh followed her into the changing room and Richie fought the urge to follow her himself. 

Soon enough Jasmine was at his side with her choice of dress and shoes hanging from her arms. They looked through the shirts together, Richie keeping his hand on Jasmine’s back and stealing glances at her when he thought she wasn’t looking.

“Rich, do you trust me?” Jasmine suddenly said, turning to look at him,

“Of course. Why do you ask?”

Jasmine held up a deep red shirt with triangular black buttons. Richie squinted at it then looked questioningly at Jasmine,

“What color is it?”

“A deep scarlet red. It’s a beautiful color.”

Richie took the shirt and slipped it on over his t-shirt and buttoned it up half way. “Well?”

“It really suits you. Your eyes look like they have dark chocolate swirling in them. In fact you’re pretty damn hot.”

“That settles it then. I’ll take it!” he said, dipping down and planting a kiss on Jasmine’s lips. She kissed him back, standing on tip toes to reach him. Her eyes automatically closed and she took a deep breath.