Chapter 2: Housewarming

Needless to say, Marissa didn’t wear her painting clothes to the party. She wore a short floral-patterned summer dress with thin shoulder straps that showed off her tanned legs and shoulders. I chose to drive because with five acre lots it would have been quite a walk; especially for Marissa in four-inch heels.

I drive by the house all the time but had never been inside. It looked like a southern mansion from the outside with tall white columns going up three stories. Tony had installed a security gate with a camera and an intercom, but tonight there were a couple of young guys checking the arrivals. I thought that the gate out front was pretty silly since the covenants didn’t allow anyone to put a fence up around the back of the property.

The heavy hardwood front door was answered by a cute, buxom girl in a miniskirt with a shot glass in her hand. A lot of laughter and drunkenness drifted out into the night. “Come on in,” she drawled, turned, and went back to the party. I couldn’t help but notice that her skirt barely covered her butt. Marissa took my arm to pull my attention away. I looked down and she smiled sweetly with a look that said, “Don’t even think about it.”

I’d never been in the house; the previous owners hadn’t been that friendly, so I was taken aback when I saw the huge entry way with two spiral staircases going upstairs and a mind-boggling glass chandelier suspended from the ceiling. This place was straight out of a Hollywood movie. It made our house seem like a guest cottage in comparison.

As soon as we walked into what I would have guessed to be the living room I realized that this party was different than any other I’d ever attended. Smoke hung in the air and I noticed that nearly all of the men were puffing on a cigarette or a cigar. My eyes started to water. All of the men, young, old and in between looked, I don’t know, sort of rough. All the women were young; several were attractive. One of the men turned his head to look at us and I could see his eyes go up and down as he appraised my wife. Next to him, a young woman, pulled his arm. He smiled at Marissa before turning back to his group.

Tony was on the other side of the room and had a tall, beautiful girl on his arm. She was dressed in a tight-fitting blue dress that showed her ample cleavage and was short enough to just cover her crotch. And she was dressed more demurely than most of the women here. Marissa saw my eyes roving and hit me on the arm. “I’d better get you out of here,” she whispered.

We made our way over to our host. “Marissa, so glad you could come ... And you too Brad,” added Tony after a slight pause.

“Thank you for inviting us,” she said as she handed him a bottle of our best wine. I’d suggested something cheaper, but got overruled.

“Thank you,” he said. “But I told you not to bring anything.”

“How could we come to a housewarming and not bring a gift?” she added. I noticed several of the men standing around Tony looking down at the floor as she said this. I’ll bet they hadn’t brought gifts.

“Well thank you,” he said and put the bottle, rather dismissively, on the nearby end table. So much for good wine. I got the feeling that Tony was more the whiskey kind of guy. “Please forgive the furniture and stuff; I just rented it, you know, until I can buy something better.” For the first time I stopped looking at all of the young women and looked at his furniture. Yep, he was right, it had a rented look. “See what I mean by needing your help?” He said to my wife.

Then he turned to the redhead who’d been hanging off of his arm when we walked in. “Brad, Marissa this is Kaitlyn,” said Tony. The two women nodded to each other.

As I said earlier, Kaitlyn was fantastic. Did I mention her knockers? Like wow! Long red hair, green eyes, red pouty lips, and when she held out her hand, long thin fingers.

“Pleased to meet you Bradley,” Kaitlyn breathed huskily. How did she know my full name was Bradley? I didn’t usually like to be called Bradley. When she said it, it sounded sexy as hell. I felt like turning to Tony and asking him to show us to a bedroom.

“Hi,” I said lamely. She held out her hand and I took it. I only briefly dropped my eyes to her cleavage. I quickly looked back into her eyes and could see that I was busted. She gave me that beautiful woman smile that says she knows exactly what’s going through your head. Her hand lingered in mine and reluctantly I let it go. I didn’t want to get into trouble with my host. I could tell by the frozen smile on my wife’s face that I was already in trouble with her.

Tony then took Marissa’s arm and led her toward a group of men smoking cigars. It didn’t seem too important whether I followed or not, but I knew that if I stayed back with his girlfriend I would get into more trouble with my wife, so I followed. We walked up to the oldest one. The guy looked to be about eighty. “Marissa, Brad I would like to introduce you to my boss, Frank Monassario.”

“Incantato,” he said. Taking my wife’s hand, he bent his head and kissed it.

“Che piacere incontrarla,” she answered.

Tony leaned over and quietly said, “I didn’t know that your wife spoke Italian.”

“I think that she minored in Italian in college. But what did they say?”

“Frank just said that he was enchanted, and Marissa replied that it was nice to meet him.”

Tony’s boss was beaming and still holding Marissa’s hand said, “Tuo padre è un ladro? Perché ha rubato le stelle dal cielo e te le ha messe negli occhi.”

I looked at Tony blankly and he laughed and interpreted it for me. “Is your father a thief? He stole the stars from the sky to put them in your eyes.”

My wife actually blushed and did a little curtsy while Frank still held her hand.

I nodded in understanding as the old man beamed’ let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Tony, where did you find this lovely flower?” he said with a heavy accent. My wife was smiling; obviously thrilled that she’d charmed the old man.