Chapter 73

"How much did you tell him?" Krissi asked the following Wednesday as they picked through the remains of a coffee and Danish at the coffee shop across the street from campus.

"Most of it."

"Most?"

"I left out me and you, and I left out Emma's."

"All right, I can see me and you, but Emma's? That was a major part of what you did; that was where we met."

"I told him about Cindy's, instead. That was a lot more controlled, a lot more... well, it was uninhibited, but in a controlled way. I did that because the people at Cindy's had reasons to keep what we did quiet, reasons he'd understand."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess so." She smirked. "Emma's is open to everyone. How do you think he'd take that?"

"A lot more negatively. Instead he could see my reason for going, or at least I hope he could see my reason."

"How did he take it?"

"Pretty well, better than I thought. In the end we agreed to let our pasts be past."

"'Our pasts'? What did he mean by that?"

"He told me what life was like as a professional athlete: women throw themselves at them all of the time."

"You mean you didn't know?" Krissi threw her head back and laughed. "You've got to be kidding me! You hadn't heard the stories?"

"I'd heard a few things from some of the Team Wives, but I didn't put it all together, not until when he told me."

Krissi continued to laugh. "If you weren't so sweet I'd swear you were naïve. There's supposed to be some NBA players who've put it to as many as 20,000 different women. I don't know what the numbers are for other sports, but the stories are there."

"So I've learned." Devlin picked at the crumbs on the plate in front of them. "He said he'd toned it way back when he and I began to get serious, and pretty much gave that sort of thing up when he made the Show. He realized that he was there to pitch, and so he concentrated on that. He was the only Triple-A pitcher they brought up in mid-season who stuck."

"So he has brains, too, which you sort of knew. He must be as horny as... well, as you are. Did you two... ?"

"We got in some hot and heavy kissing," Devlin said. "In high school it would have been called a 'make-out' session."

Krissi's eyes twinkled. "How far did you go?"

"We kept our clothes on."

"You can do a lot with your clothes on."

"Well... true. All right, we both had wandering hands. We had to keep it down, my mother was in the next room with my baby sister."

"And your hands discovered... ?"

"You're awfully inquisitive."

"I've got a dirty mind, and wouldn't mind doing what he did to you, but with our clothes off."

Devlin took a sip of her coffee, and gave Krissi a smile. "I wouldn't say no."

"But before we do," Krissi said, "you have to satisfy my curiosity."

Devlin drained her cup and poured herself a refill, dragging out the moment. "All right, if you must know, he got well acquainted with my breasts; through my bra, of course."

"He probably had a raging woody."

"It felt more like an iron bar, not something made of wood."

"But nothing more?"

"I kept my legs together, if that's what you mean. That was... well, I was going to say hard, but that was him, not me. Let's say it was very difficult."

"Let me guess, you're as horny as hell."

Devlin smiled again. "That's a pretty accurate description," she said softly.

"Is he comfortable with not getting in your pants until your wedding night?"

"We talked about that."

"... because then you'd be like all of those other guys, the ones I met at the parties."

"In what way?"

"Forgettable." She put her hand on his. "One thing you are not, Evan White, is forgettable. I hope I'm the same way to you."

"I don't see how I could get you out of my head," he replied. "The only time I can, I guess, is when I'm pitching."

"You'd better be thinking only of pitching when you're on the mound. If your mind starts to wander..."

He chuckled. "That's partly why the coaches don't want us fooling around with women. We'd get too distracted."

She leaned over and kissed him, softly, gently, but with just a touch of tongue to spice things up. He kissed her back, a little firmer. The heat of their kisses quickly rose, but after a few seconds Devlin forced herself to pull back. She looked at the door to the baby's room by way of explanation.

He nodded, straightened, and brushed back his hair.

"I do want to," she breathed, "but I want to make a complete break with my past. I don't want you to be 'just another guy.' You aren't, not to me."

"I can see that." He slid a hand over onto her knee. "I wish we could just hop into bed, but it'd be the same for me as it is for you." He grinned wryly. "I've had too much of that in recent years."

"And so have I. I was hoping you'd understand."

"I think your friend was right. We're going to need fire extinguishers in the room on our wedding night. In the meantime we can do a little exploratory work."

"Kissing and fondling doesn't quite count," Krissi said.

"Even with you?"

"Not tonight; Aunt Flo and all that, but you don't have to return any favors."

"I thought we shared."

"Steve came down from Chicago, arrived on the same flight as Evan, apparently, and it was just to see me. He wanted to talk, and so we did. We got a lot of things worked out."

"But your period... ?"

"Started yesterday, so it wasn't a problem. But that was me, and we need to take care of you."

"Only for a bit. I've got wedding preparations to take care of. I have a dress fitting tomorrow afternoon. I have no idea how that's going to go."

"The dress fitting is only the second most stressful day for a bride."

"I take it the wedding is the first."

"It wouldn't be if people didn't want everything to be 'perfect.'"

"It's the girl's special day, one she dreams about as a little girl. Of course she wants it to be perfect."

"That reminds me: did you decide on where you're going for your honeymoon?"

"We're taking a cruise." Devlin took a brochure out of her purse. "A travel agent here in town is taking care of everything."

Krissi glanced at it. "Are you sure you can wait that long? I don't mean between then and now, but from the wedding ceremony to the cruise ship?"

Devlin laughed. "I think so. I mentioned that it was our honeymoon, and the travel agent found a cruise that spends the first three nights at sea." She played with a few strands of hair, deliberately not looking up. "And they have room service."

"Good, you'll need it. How does the rest of your afternoon shape up?"

"I have a class in 30 minutes, but that's it for the day. I do have a ton of homework to get through, though."

"Fair enough. Then I'll introduce you to Ernie's replacement for drill-do."

"Replacement?"

"Yeah. It doesn't spin, it sort of undulates. And it's got an attachment that massages everything else down there."

Devlin felt the heat between her legs. "I'm going to race through my homework."

"When's your first class tomorrow?"

"10:30. The dress fitting is at 3:00."

"Good. You might make your class. Now what else did you do besides grope each other. Did you do any more talking?"

"Sort of."

"What do you mean 'sort of?'"

"I like Tom," Evan said when they got back to Bloomington. "He didn't bombard me with a lot of questions." He grinned. "You should hear my dad."

"Toms's a pro football fanatic," Devlin said. "Mom says he spends Sundays glued to the TV."

"Let me guess. 'Da Bears.'"

"Yup, 'Da Bears, ' though he'll watch St. Louis, too. He said after having his heart broken by the Cubs, he swore off baseball."

"I don't see why," Evan said. "They've nearly finished their 100 year rebuilding program."

"A rebuilding program that lasts a hundred years?" She couldn't help it, she started to laugh.

"They've almost made it a couple of times," he said. "They were in the World Series as recently as 1945. Of course it took a world war to dilute the talent pool enough so that they could get that far, but they were there. It'll happen, you'll see. It may be more difficult for them, though. The Cubs aren't quite like other teams."

"Because they lose a lot?"

"No, because of their attitude. I heard a story in Spring Training a couple of years ago. A veteran player said that when he was with the Yankees, guys would check the paper to see how their stocks were doing. When he was with the Cubs, guys would check the paper to see if Hulk Hogan had won the night before."

"Hulk Hogan? He's that professional wrestler guy, isn't he? And they think professional wrestling is an actual competition?"

"Let's not get into what professional wrestling is or isn't," he said. "But if your friend the writer is looking for a job, I hear that professional wrestling is always looking for good ones."

"Oh, you... !" She didn't know what to say, and when she saw his grin she knew he'd been pulling her leg. "Well, anyway," she said, regaining a little of her composure, "Tom's a pro football fan. As far as he's concerned, no other sport exists."

"Not even college football?"

"He calls it the minor leagues of the pro game."

"Well, he's probably right about that. They just don't get paid as much... or at least that's what I'm told."

"Women athletes at ISU don't get paid," Devlin said. "They barely even have the 'make-work' jobs that the football and basketball players have." She gave him a sidelong glance. "Does baseball do that?"

"Not until you're actually drafted by a team and assigned to the minors. I can't speak for certain schools, but for the most part you play for the sport."

"It must be hard on them."

"They could always have turned pro. Some teams prefer the college players because they're more mature. Other teams prefer players who went directly into the minors out of high school. There are arguments on both sides."

"But what about getting an education?"

"That's left up to the players," Evan said. "You have to remember, this is a business, about as cold-blooded a business as it gets. The game on the field is a product, at least to management, and we are merely the parts."

"That's pretty cynical."

"It might be, but it's also pretty accurate." He looked around. "All right, where can we get something to eat? I've got a couple of hours before my flight, and I don't want to chance airline food."

"There are some good places over near the airport," she said. "Take a left at the light up ahead, and..."

"It figures that you'd talk about baseball," Krissi said. "Did you two talk about anything personal? You know, like from your pasts?" They were nearly to her apartment. Devlin had brought along a couple of textbooks. She wanted to see what changes Ernie had made to his toys, but she did have things she had to get done for class.

"Mostly we didn't, though he had one question that I thought was kind of valid, especially because of where we're going on the cruise."

"Where are you going?"

"A couple of the islands in the Caribbean. We arrive at this place about 6:00 a.m., and we don't leave until late the next night. There are two main beaches on the island. One is next to the cruise ship, and that's where most of the passengers go. The other is a few miles away, and is used by a lot of people from Europe."

"You don't have to tell me any more," Krissi said. "I take it none of the locals have a problem with women going topless. Some places do."

"The far beach isn't listed in the brochure from the cruise line. I had to dig up the information on my own. The pictures they had were all blurred at certain strategic locations."

"About mid-chest, I take it."

"Mostly."

"I love it! I'll have to go," Krissi said, "and I'll have to drag Steve along. It'll be just like when I was in Europe."

"When he saw the pictures," Devlin said, "Evan had a question."

"I can understand covering up," he said. They were at her mother's, and had gone for a walk 'to get some coffee.' "I heard that with my sisters my whole life."

"Sit up straight, keep your knees together, and cover up," Devlin said. "Oh, and don't speak unless spoken to. I almost forgot that one."

"So how do you nerve yourself up for something like this? Everyone'll be staring at you."

"They'll be staring at my chest," Devlin said, "which isn't the same thing. I've grown used to it over the years. A lot of guys have had conversations with my chest, forgetting that I'm there, too. And I get a lot of looks, far more than the average gal.

"Going topless is... a girl gets very self-conscious about her chest because it's never the way she wants it. Her breasts are either too big, or not big enough. It doesn't take the average girl very long to learn how fascinated guys are with your bosom, and after a bit she starts learning how much to show, and how much to leave as a hint. Going completely nude, that's different."

"You once told me you went to a nudist camp."

"It's a resort, but yes."

"Totally nude?"

"Girls don't have to go completely bare the first time. They know you're going against everything society has told you your entire life. And as self-conscious as a girl might be about her bosom, taking off the bottoms of your bikini is infinitely harder. You haven't had boobs your whole life. You can remember when you didn't have any. Between your legs, though... I had a roommate who called it her 'girl place.' That's the big difference between boys and girls at any age. It's very difficult to let people see that."

"But you did it."

"I only went back to that camp once, and then only because I was doing a sales presentation." She laughed a little nervously. "Getting up in front of a group to speak can be pretty hard. When I was there I had to do it naked, and that was a whole lot harder. You're always aware of your flaws, your hips are too narrow, or too wide, you have some fat you don't like showing off, and so on. The great thing about clothes is you can hide those imperfections. Or, if they're too blatant, distract people from looking at them."

"You must have been very shy when you were in high school."

"I didn't date much, if that's what you mean. My mother worried about that. Part of the reason is that I started developing at an earlier age than most of my friends, and boys were, well, boys. They were more interested in feeling me up, or at least feeling my chest, than getting to know me. That changed when I met Jeff. He was an exception."

"Did you two... you know?"

"I thought I told you about that. You remember, the trial and all that?"

"Oh, yeah."

"That's something to remember, too," she said after a bit. "I've seen those Public Service Announcements with the player and his family. We'll have to be careful with those. I'm not ashamed of my chest; I rather like it that I'm this size without any surgery, but I don't want people staring at them. It would detract from the message."

"Let me guess, you took some marketing classes."

"Required for my major. And yes, I was thinking of this from a marketing point of view. I want people to see a happy family, not a dark-haired girl with big boobs."

"Can't you do something about them?"

"I'm not going to have reduction surgery, if that's what you mean. I can wear a minimizer bra, and clothes that draw the eye elsewhere, but that's about it. Of course when I do I can barely breathe, but that's another problem."

"You caught quite a few eyes on the team."

"I bet. I got a few looks from the wives, too. So I gave some of them my pitch on better-fitting bras." She chuckled. "That did the trick. Now the looks I get are sympathetic."

"That makes me curious about your sales pitch."

"You don't see any skin, if that's what you're thinking. That's not the way you sell to women."

"If you had trouble at the nudist resort," he said after a bit, "how did you stand it at those parties you went to?"

"Different environment," she said at once. "Everybody's naked, but for a purpose, not just for the sake of being naked. There's a lust in the air, that's the only word for it. It's sort of like a rising tension fills the room. You get really turned on, and nudity is a means to an end.

"At a nudist resort you can look all you want, but you're not supposed to react. Watch some teenage girls walk past, and see how many guys flop over on their stomach, or go right into the pool. They downplay the sex as much as they can. It's there, but it is way way back in the background.

"At a party you're deliberately encouraging that sort of behavior. There's a lot of caressing and touching that goes on before you get down to it. You can be kissing one guy, and another one is feeling your butt." She glanced at him, and smiled. "I think I've said enough on that subject."

"The difference," he said, "is that I've only been in one-on-one situations. You've been more public with it."

"I thought we weren't going to talk about each other's past."

"True," he said slowly, "that's what we agreed."

"But you're curious."

"Do you blame me?"

"No, but it's not something I'm going to talk about. I'd rather talk about where we're going on our honeymoon."

"All right," he said. It was clear he wanted to continue questioning her, but after a glance at her face, relented. "Do you think you'll have any modesty issues on that island?"