I picked up one that I recognized. A group of men, arms and beers slung over each other's shoulders, Frankie on one end next to the man I now knew as Mateo. Two others were on his right—dirty blonds, with a brotherly resemblance.
“I knew it.” I laughed to myself at the glossy photo I’d seen on his dating profile.
There wasn’t much down the hallway. Closed doors that I surmised were more storage closets. Further down there was another wider one I knew was Mateo and Nat’s. Then Frankie’s bedroom, and the bathroom next door where I could hear the soft stream of a shower head running.
In the living room a sliding glass door opened to a lush, green backyard, and I slipped out into the thick Floridian air.
It had to have been mid-morning, but my phone was dead and still stuffed between the couch cushions inside so I couldn’t check. I hovered a hand over my eyes like a shade; the sun was high and bright enough to burn my poor, overused retinas on impact. It was already too warm for Frankie’s sweater and socks I had on, even for December, and I had to laugh thinking about the people back home at that moment in Pine Ridge slogging through two feet of snow. It was like I was on a completely different planet, never mind just in a different state.
I took the socks off, walking around on the warm pavers that provided a significant patio space in the backyard. There was a stainless-steel grill to one end, right next to a beautiful six-seat wooden dining table with comfy cushioned chairs that I gave a squeeze as I walked by. Opposite that, a big, covered hot tub sat under an oversized turquoise blue hanging umbrella. The rest of the fenced-in backyard was landscaped in grass, so short and manicured it looked like it was rolled straight off a golfing green, and then a large shed in the far corner.
“Giving yourself a tour?”
I didn’t hear the sliding glass close behind me, but Frankie was standing quietly outside holding two hot mugs of coffee. He was fresh out of the shower in board shorts and no shirt, the curling ends of his hair damp and dripping at the nape of his neck. His skin was beautifully tan. A soft trail of hair swirled his belly button and disappeared beneath the peak of his boxers that made my throat feel like a desert floor.
“It’s really nice,” I complimented, taking the second mug from him as he came closer. “Not bad for two men, I gotta give it to you. You even have a hot tub.”
“We like nice things, too. It’s not an inherently feminine trait.”
“What do you do for work?”
“Cybersecurity.”
My eyebrows knitted together. “Cybersecurity? Seriously?”
“It’s actually Cap’s gig; he runs it right from home most days. Installing secure access software for larger companies in the area, monitoring the activity across all their channels looking for threats. I’m just his donkey.”
“Fitting.”
“I set myself up for that one.”
“You did.” I smirked.
Frankie snorted and took a sip of his coffee. “Uncle Sam paid for college so we did everything online when we got out. Honestly, it’s nothing spectacular, but most people are technologically illiterate and think Cap’s some kind of computer hacking, dark web surfer.”
“So then why were you looking for jobs in Colorado?”
“I make out well doing this, but it’s not mine. You know? It’s Mateo’s. Sitting behind a computer all day isn’t what I envisioned myself doing. I’m good at flying, and I miss it.”
“I get it.” I gave him a soft smile. “I couldn’t imagine doing anything but teaching. Seeing the passion in those kids and knowing I’m making a positive impact is worth every late night grading the same multiplication table over and over again.”
“I wish I had teachers that looked like you in school.”
I shoved him with my shoulder. “We were having an adult conversation for once and you had to go ruin it.”
Frankie took another sip of his coffee and scanned my body. “There’s a lot of things I want to do with you, O. Having adult conversations isn’t exactly on the top of the list.”
He was unabashedly checking me out, from the unruly frizz of hair to my bare legs poking out of his borrowed boxer shorts. Suddenly, I felt self-conscious despite knowing he clearly found me attractive.
“What?” I asked.
“You look really good all disheveled in my clothes.”
“God, what happened to, ‘I felt myself getting too selfish’ from last night?”
“I took a shower and changed my mind.”
I tilted my head, challenging him and taking a few steps closer. “Well, I didn’t.”
He smelled so infuriatingly good up close, clean like his soap, and I could count the freckles on his perfectly smooth chest. His skin practically begged for my fingers.
I liked Frankie.
It was hard to admit to myself, but I knew if the circumstances were different, and he’d done a little more groveling, I wouldn’t be fighting it at all. It was extremely entertaining to take him down a few pegs, though.
Over Frankie’s shoulder there was movement in the backyard next door. An older man was watering a crop of tomato plants and stealing glances at the two of us out of the corner of his eye. I waved tentatively, causing Frankie to turn and look as well.
“Shit.” He sighed under his breath. “Come here.”
“Huh?”
“Come here,” Frankie whispered more aggressively at me, pulling me closer and wrapping a forearm around my lower waist. He dialed on a smile and waved over the fence at the graying man. “How are you this morning, Mr. Barry?”
“Oh, just fine Francesco,” the man shouted back in an accent I couldn’t place.
Frankie squeezed me harder, until I was tripping over my feet and steadying myself with a palm on his stomach. “What are you doing?” I complained.
“All right, you have a great day! Tomatoes look fantastic!” he yelled over me, and then steered the both of us back in the direction of the sliding glass door.
“What was that about?”
“Let’s just say our neighbor thinks Cap and I are more than buddies. You’re a good decoy. Gino’s probably already on the phone with the rest of the geezers from clubhouse bingo telling them about the ten in my backyard.”
“So, you owe me one.”
“What’s that saying? You touch my dick, I’ll touch—”
“What is it with you and dicks?” I laughed. “Gino might be onto something.”
Nat and Mateo were sitting at the kitchen table nursing their own coffees when we got back inside.
“Good morning, good morning,” Mateo said cheerily, glancing at me and then tilting his head at his roommate as Frankie took the seat next to him.
Nat pulled me down to her eye-level by my baggy sweatshirt sleeve. “Did you…” she whispered.
“No!” I swatted her hand away. “I did not, thank God.”
Natalia smirked at her boyfriend, who was watching our exchange closely, and then put her hand out toward him, palm up.
“Fuck me.” Mateo sighed, pulling a leather wallet out of the back pocket of his shorts and sifting through it to slap a crisp fifty-dollar bill in his girlfriend’s hand.