Sapphire Beautiful (9 page)

Virginia stares at Dante for several more excruciatingly long seconds before she finally says, “Come in.”

She steps away from the door to make room for the two of us to enter.

Virginia’s house looks lived in. My sister and her husband, Matt, have had the same furniture for the past decade and with three active kids it’s well worn.

Matt is seated on his lounge chair drinking a beer. When he’s not at work that’s typically where you’ll find him. He’s a sports fanatic and spends nearly all of his free time watching whatever sport happens to be in season.

As a builder Matt spends the majority of his days working outdoors. A decade of hard labor outside in the elements has definitely taken a toll on him. His weathered face makes him look like he’s a decade older than his wife.

Matt never got along very well with Doug. The two men didn’t have anything in common. Doug didn’t know the difference between a hammer and a screwdriver. When work needed to be done around our house he’d always say, “We’ll just hire someone to do that.” And he would have much rather listened to jazz or read a book than “waste his time” watching sports. I can’t remember Matt and Doug saying more than ten words to each other in the last ten years.

I anticipate things with Dante could be worse. I hold my breath when Matt rises from his chair and extends a hand to Dante.

“I’m Matt. Virginia’s other half.”

Dante shakes Matt’s hand. The two men couldn’t be more different, at least on the outside. Matt is slightly shorter than Dante, but easily outweighs him by fifty pounds of mostly muscle. And Matt’s dirty blonde hair and big blue eyes are a sharp contrast to Dante’s dark features.

“Want a beer?” Matt asks.

“Sure,” Dante replies to my surprise.

“Have any predictions for the season?” Matt points to the baseball game on television.

I remember like it was yesterday when Matt asked Doug a similar question the night they met. Only that night Matt was watching a basketball game. Doug didn’t even know what sport Matt was watching much less anything about
the season
.

“They may have a shot at winning the division this year,” Dante replies. “I like their starting pitcher. To me a great pitching performance can mean dominance in a game or even a series.”

“I agree,” Matt says, placing a hand on Dante’s shoulder and leading him into the kitchen.

“What just happened?” I ask Virginia when she approaches.

“It looks like Matt found someone to talk baseball with.”

I shake my head. That was the last thing I expected.

“So how old is Dante?” Virginia asks. She’s never been one to let an elephant just sit there in the middle of a room for too long. She always addresses it.

“Twenty-two,” I tell her.

“Wow, that’s young. Not that I’m judging.”

“Saying, ‘Wow, that’s young’ kind of is judging.”

“I know everything that happened with Doug messed with your head a little bit.”

I raise an eyebrow. “You think? And I haven’t had a chance to tell you that he drained every last cent out of our bank account and was two months behind on all of our bills, including the mortgage.”

Her brow furrows. “That’s harsh.”

I nod. I debate coming clean and telling her everything...the whole ugly truth about my arrangement with Dante.

“You can’t tell him I’m a college professor. Don’t even mention it.”

She eyes me suspiciously. “Why?”

This is it. The moment of truth. “Dante and I have a unique relationship.”

“You mean besides the fact that you’re ten years older.”

I nod.

“Care to enlighten me?” She eyes me expectantly.

“Remember what you said about not judging?”

“Just tell me...”

I take in a deep breath and exhale. “Dante and I have an arrangement.”

“What does that mean?”

“I didn’t want to lose my house and I had no money to pay the delinquent mortgage payments. I heard about this place called The Club. They make arrangements for wealthy men.”

As I continue with my story I see my sister’s eyes start to slowly widen.

“Dante comes from an extremely wealthy family and he’s paying me to be with him.”

Virginia is blinking so fast it’s like she has dirt caught in her eyes. Then she moves in very close and whispers, “Are you saying he’s paying you to have sex with him?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“How much?” she asks.

“A lot.”

“Ball park figure.”

“Ten thousand dollars a month.”

She chokes. “Did you say ten thousand? A month?”

I nod.

“Holy shit! I’d fuck him for ten thousand dollars a month. He’s kind of cute, in a nerdy sort of way. For that kind of money I think Matt would be okay with it. He’s counting down the days before Opal goes to school so I can get a job.” 

I know my sister isn’t serious. She would never cheat on her husband. But I’m glad to know that she’s willing to accept what I’m doing.

“Are you really thinking about going back to work next year?” I ask.

“I’m definitely not having another kid. Matt got snipped. So there’s no reason for me not to work once Opal’s in kindergarten.”

“What do you think you’ll do?” I ask.

She laughs. “Having sex for money sounds tempting. At least it’s something I know I’m good at.”

“I think I’m getting in a little over my head,” I admit. “I was under the impression that I’d just have to have sex with some old, horny guy once or twice a week, but Claudia, the owner of the The Club paired me with Dante. He’s obviously not old and he wants a lot more than just sex. He wants me to be like a girlfriend.”

“He’s definitely not old, but is he horny?”

I raise an eyebrow. “He’s twenty-two. What do you think?”

She shakes her head. “I remember the days when Matt wanted to have sex constantly. Then we had kids. Now we’re lucky if we can sneak a quickie in once a week.”

“You’re lucky you have three beautiful girls,” I tell her.

She sighs. “I know. I didn’t mean it like that.”

It’s taken me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I would never be able to have children, especially when my younger sister was able to pop out three with seemingly no difficulty at all.

“Speak of the devils,” my sister says when her three girls come charging downstairs.

Opal, the baby, is now four. Pearl, their middle child is six and Ruby, their first born, is eight. All three of them have long brown hair and brown eyes. They’re all rail thin, no doubt because they’re so active. And they all look like miniatures of me. Funny the way genetics works.

“Aunt Mary,” Opal screams before she gives me a running hug. Pearl and Ruby follow close behind and pounce on me.

For several moments I’m sandwiched between the three sisters while they squeeze me in a four-way hug. 

“We’re building a fort,” Ruby informs me. “It’s the biggest one we’ve ever made.”

“We want you to hide in the fort with us,” Pearl says.

“I have a friend with me,” I tell her. “Can he hide in the fort too?”

Pearl’s eyes grow wide. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

I nod.

She furrows her brow as if she’s giving this some thought. “Are you allowed?”

“What do you mean?”

“You were married,” she clarifies. “Are you allowed to have a boyfriend?”

“You know my husband, Doug, died. So that means I’m a widow. That’s the name for women whose husbands die. Widows are allowed to have boyfriends.”

“Are you going to marry your boyfriend?” She sounds extremely curious about this entire situation.

“No,” I tell her. When I glance up I realize that Dante has entered the room with his beer. He obviously overhead at least the last few lines of conversation because he looks like I just slapped him.

“Why not?” Pearl asks. “Why don’t you want to marry your boyfriend?”

Dante downs whatever is left in his bottle in one gulp. Then he stares at me, obviously waiting for me to respond to Pearl.

“It’s complicated,” I tell her. “Women don’t always marry their boyfriends.”

“I’m going to marry my boyfriend,” she tells me.

“Aren’t you a little young to have a boyfriend?” 

She shakes her head.

Ruby grabs my hand. “We want to take you to the fort.”

“Maybe after dinner,” I suggest. “Then we’ll have plenty of time to hide in there.”

“Is he your boyfriend?” Pearl asks excitedly as soon as she spots Dante. “He’s cute!”

When I move closer to Dante he gives me a cold stare that chills me.

“This is Dante,” I tell the girls, who have all followed me.

“This is Opal, Pearl and Ruby.” I point to each girl as I say her name.

“Beautiful jewels.” I’m surprised when he gives them a huge grin. I’ve never seen him smile like that before. Maybe he wasn’t lying when he said he liked kids.

“And how old are you?” Dante asks.

“I’m four,” Opal states.

“Six!” Pearl shouts.

“I’m eight,” Ruby says. “How old are you?”

“It’s rude to ask adults how old they are,” I say quickly.

Dante shakes his head. “I don’t mind. I’m twenty-two.”

Ruby seems to consider this for a long moment. “Aunt Mary is thirty-two.”

He nods. “I know.”

Pearl tugs on my sleeve. “Isn’t your boyfriend supposed to be your age?”

“Not always, Pearl.”

“Is that why you don’t want to marry him?” she asks.

When I glance at Dante he’s looking at me expectantly, like he wants the answer to the question just as much as Pearl does.

“Dante hasn’t been my boyfriend very long, Pearl. It takes time for people to get to know each other. Your mom and dad got to know each other for three years before they got married.”

That seems to appease her, at least for a while. Dante is another story entirely. He’s shooting daggers at me.

“Time to get washed up for dinner,” Virginia tells the girls as she tries to wrangle them towards the bathroom.

When we’re finally alone Dante corners me. His eyes blaze into mine. “I’m not too young for you.”

“Okay,” I agree, even though a big part of me feels like he’s way too young for me.

Then he kisses me. A hot and hungry kiss that leaves me a little dizzy. When he presses his body against mine I can feel him getting hard. “We’re great together,” he whispers in my ear. “Later tonight I’m going to remind you.”

My knees weaken a little thinking about having him inside of me again. I have to admit that every time we’re together the sex keeps getting better.

Dante and I jump apart when we hear a male voice clear his throat behind us.

Matt scratches his head uncomfortably. “Virginia wanted me to tell you that dinner is ready.” He looks like he wants to be anywhere on Earth other than catching us making out in the corner.

“Thanks,” I tell him. “We’ll be there in a minute.”

Matt nods and heads back toward the kitchen.

When we’re alone again I place my hand on Dante’s chest. “You’ll have to keep it in your pants for a little while.”

“Not easy to do when you’re around. I’m like Pavlov’s dog and you’re my bell. I’m now conditioned to get hard whenever I look at you.”

“They’ll probably only be at the game for a few hours,” I tell him. “They don’t like to stay out late. We’ll have the rest of the evening to ourselves.”

He gives me another ravenous kiss that leaves me breathless.

“Plan to stay up late,” he tells me. Then he grabs my hand and pulls me into the kitchen.

Virginia and Matt have an eat-in kitchen with a dinette table that barely fits their family of five. With two additional place settings it’s an extremely tight squeeze.

“Another cold one?” Matt asks Dante.

“Sure,” he replies.

I’ve never seen Matt so comfortable with another guy before. Of course my experience has been limited, mostly to his interactions with Doug, and those two men didn’t get along at all.

Matt hands Dante another bottle and pops one open for himself.

“Daddy,” Opal says as she bounces up and down on the chair next to him. “After dinner Aunt Mary and Uncle Dante are going to hide in our fort with us.”

I choke. How did he become
Uncle Dante
so quickly? 

Matt eyes Dante. “Have fun.”

“I’m sure we will.” Dante squeezes my hand.

“Kids are great until you have to live with them,” Matt teases. Then he tickles Opal’s belly.

She roars with laughter.

“No dessert unless you eat all your veggies,” Virginia announces as she places a spoonful of green beans on each of the girls’ plates right next to chopped up hot dogs and ketchup.

“Boo!” Ruby replies. Both Opal and Pearl join in with a chorus of “Boos.”

“Green beans have antioxidants, B vitamins and beta-carotene,” Dante tells them. “They make you smart and strong. You want to be smart and strong, don’t you?”

“Yes!” Ruby cheers.

“We want to be smart and strong,” Opal and Pearl shout.

“Better eat your green beans then,” Dante tells them.

All three girls dig into their vegetables.

“You’re a miracle worker,” Virginia tells Dante.

He gives a shrug in return.

Virginia gives each of the adults a plate with chicken, rice and green beans. It’s a modest meal and I’m a little worried that it’s not up to Dante’s standards. I’m not sure what he’s used to eating.

When I glance over at him he’s digging right in. Devouring the chicken like a starving man finally given a meal. I guess I didn’t have to worry about whether the food was up to snuff. He’s practically inhaling it. 

“Good?” I whisper to him.

He nods.

Once the kids eat most of what’s on their plates Virginia excuses them so they can go upstairs and play.

Virginia and Matt are quiet as they dig into their food. I’m not that hungry so I pick at my chicken and eat a couple of green beans.

“You’re going to waste away if you don’t eat.” Virginia gives me a disapproving look.

“I’m hardly wasting away,” I assure her. I haven’t really had much of an appetite since I found out about Doug screwing around with his students. His subsequent suicide didn’t improve my desire for food.

“Eat,” Dante whispers to me. When he finally looks up from his plate he stares at me.