Thou Shalt Not(51)

“Do I strike you as the type to do that, ma’am?”

“I am not entirely sure the type you strike me as,” she said. “You clearly are the type to continue calling me ‘ma’am’ even after I politely asked you not to.”

There was no anger or frustration in her voice, or her face. Light seemed to permanently dance back and forth across her eyes.

The tank top she wore was white, and the bra underneath was black. The straps of both made zebra markings on both shoulders. I’m not sure if women realize how distracting it is when they wear black bras under white shirts. Actually, I’m sure they do realize it. When she leaned forward on the island, it was difficult not to stare down at them. The difference between April and Gianna earlier at the restaurant was that I had no desire to stare at Gianna’s breasts, despite the fact that they were on display for all to see. I could stare at April for a long damn time.

Focus, Luke. The last thing you need is to become aroused in her kitchen.

My mind went back to the island, which was at least eight feet long and four feet wide. I was sure she and Marco had used the island for various sexual encounters. I knew I would have if April were my wife and this island were in my kitchen. As much as I hated thinking about that asshole doing anything with her, it helped bring my mind back from its state of arousal. I needed to find a better way of focusing in the future that didn’t require imagining them fucking.

“Come out here with me,” she said, grabbing my left elbow and leading/forcing me toward a door that led to the patio.

Patio wasn’t really the correct term, but that’s the only word that could come to mind. There were tables and chairs spread out along what seemed like the pinnacle of a ramp that led down on both sides to the pool below. Past the pool area, there was a large field with a playhouse and swings and slides. Beyond that, there was a small apartment unit that was most likely the nanny quarters.

She led me down the ramp to the only one of the tables by the pool. There were lounge chairs all around, which made it seem more like a hotel or resort pool than that of a family of four. This house and “patio” were clearly used often for entertaining. We sat down at the table, which looked out over the lit pool. From this angle, I could see that beyond the grassy area was a fence, and past the fence was a dock that stretched out into the Intercoastal Waterway. If you took a boat down a little ways, either way, the Intercoastal would feed into the Gulf of Mexico and you’d be out in the ocean.

“This is a beautiful house,” I said, feeling dumb for even saying it. It was like seeing a Mona Lisa and saying “Wow, that’s neat.” Of course it was, and it went without saying.

“Thank you,” she said as she set her glass down and leaned back. “This was Marco’s dream house.”

My dream house wasn’t nearly this big. I wondered if there was something wrong with my dreams.

“Did the one in Colorado compare?”

“Oh god, no. Not at all. I mean, our house there was nice, but he didn’t plan on staying there long, so he wanted to get something lower scale. When he got traded to the Rays, he flew down here before us to go house hunting. I got a call from him the second he saw this one and he said he had found the house he had always wanted.”

“I think this would be most people’s dream house.” Not mine. I wanted something that felt like a home.

“Thankfully, he has always been decent with his money. Unlike a lot of other athletes. So he doesn’t make many big purchases. Obviously this is the biggest one he could have probably made, but seeing as how the money is basically all his, I wasn’t going to throw a fit.”

“I can see why you need a nanny-slash-housekeeper.”

“Yeah. Even if I wasn’t working there’s no way I would be able to maintain the house by myself. Thank God for Paula. And thank God for my job.”

“You don’t like it here?” I said. Her tone made it sound like she could take or leave the house and not care one way or the other. I knew plenty of people who would trade places with her.

“Luke, I am not complaining, I promise. It’s just an enormous house for four people, two of whom aren’t even in elementary school yet. Plus, he’s gone half the year so it’ll just make things more difficult for us. But, it’s a nice house, obviously. And he loves having teammates and friends over for poker nights and parties.”

“He is a pretty lively guy off the field too?”

She laughed.

“Yeah, he is a passionate individual about whatever he does, from throwing a baseball to throwing a party. His whole family is that way. Those Cubans know how to have fun.”