When he saw his daughter's new boyfriend come out of the car, Cole's breath caught in his throat.
His daughter, Kelly, had mentioned her new boyfriend so often, Cole felt as if he knew the man already. But Kelly had omitted one little detail: her new boyfriend had skin the color of bronze. He was tall, dark and handsome all right.
But he wasn't supposed to be there. Kelly had said she was spending the week end; she never mentioned she was bringing Tyrone along.
"Did you know she was bringing him?" Cole asked his wife, standing next to him on the porch of their suburban cottage.
His wife, Mandy, was as beautiful now as she had been on their wedding day, 23 years ago. Creamy skin, long strawberry blonde hair, big hazel eyes, plump breasts and legs for days. Kelly looked just like her, and it was a good thing. Cole was stout, not particularly handsome, had dark brown hair and pale blue eyes. What Mandy saw in him, he never really understood.
Mandy pursed her lips, shaking her head. "Prepare the guest room, will you, Cole? I don't want them sleeping in the same bed under my roof."
Our roof, Cole was tempted to say, but did not. Mandy was a lawyer downtown, and he was but a simple florist. She made three times his salary, but he suspected he was three times as happy as she was. Not that he hadn't tried to satisfy his wife, but she was very demanding and it seemed nothing he did was good enough for her.
Kelly squealed as she got out of the car. "Hey guys!" She ran towards Cole and his wife, and Cole hugged his daughter tight, keeping an eye on Tyrone who was getting the bags out of the trunk. He was wearing a tight t-shirt, his muscles bulging underneath the white cotton. The contrast of the t-shirt against his dark skin was mesmerizing, and when he grinned at Cole and Mandy, Cole's sex stirred.
The thought of the tall, dark man in bed with his daughter was enough to make Cole hard, but the thought of the tall man in bed with Cole's wife was just too much to bear.
For years Cole had been fantasizing about his wife in bed with a tall, dark stranger. The sight of Tyrone brought all those fantasies bubbling to the surface.
"Hi sweetie," he said to Kelly.
"Mom, Dad," Kelly said, turning towards Tyrone, "This is Tyrone."
"Sir, Ma'am," Tyrone said, shaking hands with Cole and greeting Mandy with a hug. His voice was thick and deep, and he smelled of orange blossoms.
"Let me take those for you," Cole said, taking the bags away from Tyrone and going inside the house as quickly as possible to avoid imagining what Tyrone looked like naked.
"Kelly's told us a lot about you, Tyrone. How do you like working for Gregory and Smith?" Cole overheard Mandy say as he climbed the stairs.
Gregory and Smith was a talent agency. Tyrone was a male model.
Cole placed Kelly's bag in her bedroom on the first floor. Her bedroom had remained unchanged ever since she'd graduated high school and had gone off to College three years ago. The red comforter, the frilly white curtains and the numerous posters of Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. She was now living in Portland with a roommate, and would most likely never come back to live at home, but Cole and Mandy had agreed to keep her room intact. Nostalgia was a powerful motivator.
Cole had already arranged a bouquet of sunflowers for his daughter. Sunflowers were her favorites. He had placed the vase on her old wooden desk.
Tyrone's bag, a manly black leather duffel bag, Cole put in the guest room at the end of the hall. Since he was in there, he dressed the bed with clean sheets, hurried to the backyard to cut a few fresh peonies and arranged them in a crystal vase, which he placed on the dresser in the guest room.
Cole came down the stairs to get the bubbly from the kitchen, and carried a tray with the bottle and four glasses into the living room.
"Champagne?" Cole offered cheerfully.
Mandy smoothed a strand of her hair and gave him a warm smile. "Yes, thank you, Cole."
"So, Dad, did you watch the last Mariners game?" Kelly asked.
"Sure did. I have a good feeling this year, what do you think Tyrone?"
Tyrone's grin illuminated the room. "Got a good feeling, too."
The remaining of the afternoon was spent talking about baseball, Kelly's internship at Valve, Tyrone's latest gig in Milan, steak, and movies.
"Speaking of which, we're off," Kelly said.
"You're not having dinner with us?" Mandy asked.
"Nah. I told Tyrone the hamburgers at the Schiller's brewery were to die for. And we're catching a movie after so don't wait up."
Mandy called it an early night, and Cole stayed behind, in the living room, reading.
When, at one o'clock, Kelly and Tyrone still weren't back, he decided to call it a night.
He made sure the front door was locked but the porch light on, secured all the windows on the ground floor and went to the kitchen, where the back door was, to make sure it was locked as well.
