The Dare

I shrugged. "Yeah, I've got one. I carry it in my wallet, or grandmother would never let me here the end of it."

She laughed. "Well I think they're both really sweet."

I was glad that they all seemed to more than get along. And I knew if they were inviting Kristen back to share their recipes with her, she must have really won them over.

When I parked the car in my driveway, I reached out, tipped up her chin and kissed her. And I loved the way she instantly wrapped her arms me and kissed me back.

Part of me wished we could have just stayed in the car making out, since I knew the conversation was going to get pretty serious once I told her what happened to my father.

When we got into my townhouse, after I'd put the two care packages from my mother in the fridge for us, I poured a couple of glasses of sparkling water, added a couple of lime slices and walked us out to the balcony off the kitchen.

I could feel Kristen watching me, and knew she was waiting to hear what happened.

My throat felt so dry, I had to swallow a few times just to be able to explain, especially because for a lot of years, I could barely bring myself to talk about it.

Standing beside her, training my gaze on the tall trees in the distance that I could just make out in the dark, I decided I might as well get it over with and tell her. "I was almost thirteen. I'd been mowing lawns and pulling weeds and stuff around the neighborhood, to save up for this ten speed bike I really wanted. It was silver, with a red racing stripe and I thought it was the coolest thing ever, and I only needed another fifty bucks, so I could go and buy it.

"Before he left for work that morning, my dad told my mother that he thought I'd worked hard enough. He drove a bus for the city, and usually worked late. So after his shift ended, on his way home that night, he stopped in at the bank to use the ATM."

She nodded, and I drew in another breath to steady myself, so I could tell her the rest.

"He had no idea that a young guy was hanging around outside, watching him get the money out. The instant my dad stepped out of the bank, he didn't say a word to him. He just stabbed him in the chest, took his wallet and fled. My father bled out on the sidewalk before anyone found him. And those fifty dollars that my father took out to put in my birthday card, was all he was worth to that kid." I shook my head, remembering how much it had hurt to lose my dad like that. "Fifty lousy bucks for my father's life; and he was the best dad ever."

Kristen stroked my arm, and I could see her eyes were brimming, as she waited for me to finish. I stroked a hand over cheek, before I told her the rest.

"Luckily the bank's surveillance cameras captured the whole thing, so at least we knew what happened. The kid's picture was all over the news, and he got arrested two days later. But since he was under eighteen, he only had to serve three years. Three years for taking a man's life, still doesn't seem right, even if he was still in his teens when he did it.

"As soon as he got out, he attacked another guy on the street and almost killed him, too. He got sentenced to ten years, because he was over twenty-one by then. I'd heard he'd basically grown up on the street, which was probably why he was so hardened when he was still in his teens."

Kristen looked up at me, with tears running down her cheeks. "Nico, I'm so sorry. It must have been awful for all you to have lost your father so young."

I nodded. "Yeah, especially considering he'd just had his thirty-ninth birthday the week before he died, and he never got a chance to see forty."

For the first time in a long time, I thought back to how bad it had been. My mother and grandmother crying almost non-stop, and me, just a kid, trying to figure out how to comfort them, when I was beating myself up, thinking it was my fault that he was dead.

"It was pretty hard on all of us. For years I blamed myself, because if he hadn't been getting that money out for that stupid bike, he would have still been alive."

As she quietly sniffled, Kristen wrapped her arms around me, hugged me tight and pressed a kiss to the hollow in my neck. I couldn't believe how sweet she was, crying over the fact that twenty-five years ago I lost my dad, like she could actually understand how it felt to lose someone that close.

I never talked about how my father died. If anyone asked, I'd just say he died when I was a kid and change the subject.

But now that I'd opened up and got it off my chest, it felt like a weight had been lifted off me. Especially to be able to tell someone who actually cared. I dropped a kiss on the top of her head and hugged her a little tighter, till I could tell she was just barely sniffling.

When she looked up into my eyes, I smiled at her with a sense of wonder, so glad that I'd found her. I already thought I was falling for her, sure that I'd never met anyone sweeter, especially someone that I felt I could really trust and count on, maybe even for the long haul.

KRISTEN

I couldn't imagine the pain he'd gone through losing his father like that, and thinking it was his fault. Poor kid, carrying that kind of guilt around, must have been crippling.

As he wiped the tears from my cheeks, he smiled into my eyes and said, "How about we go in and watch a movie?"

I nodded, and said, "Sure," glad that he'd trusted me enough to share something so painful and so close to his heart.

We were on his long, tan leather couch, with my head in his lap, watching The Thomas Crown Affair, as a very sensuous, highly erotic love scene, with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo began to play out.

Holy crow! It was like soft porn, and it was so hot seeing the two of them make out, I was getting wet just watching them. I turned my face and nuzzled his erection through his jeans, smiling at the feel of him so hard and thick, and realized that I wasn't the only one getting turned on.

Watching the two of them go at it on the screen, Nico started thrusting his hips against my mouth, I think more by instinct than anything else, as I began to gently nip at him through his clothes. He was tugging at one of my nipples getting it even harder, as I started to work his fly down.

Soon, we were the ones living out an erotic fantasy, both stripped naked with our mouths on each other, savoring his salty-sweet taste as I licked all around him, and he in turn, slowly slid his tongue up and down over me.

He had me soaked by the time he flipped me onto my stomach, lifted my lips and spread my legs, both us moaning as he nudge his way inside me and slowly drove us both right over the edge.

After he'd come really hard, by the way he cried out, shuddering, while I was still shivering from the aftershock of my orgasm, I could feel that I was so wet I was dripping down my thighs. I looked at him, surprised.

Then it dawned on him, and he said, "Oh, shit, Kristen, I'm sorry. I forgot to grab a condom. But no worries, I'm clean, and I can prove it." He pulled his blood donor card out of his wallet, and I chuckled as I grabbed my purse and showed him mine, proving that we were both healthy, and wouldn't need to worry about condoms anymore. We both smiled, knowing that now, without the need for him to suit up, things would be a little more spontaneous and maybe even a little more fun.

NICO

The next night at her office, as we were putting together the list of teams, and she was checking the volunteers references, trying to match who'd they'd work with, I mentioned again that a few years back I had coached my cousin's son's softball team. Kristen seemed pretty relieved that I offered to coach one of the teams that we'd set up with a few of the boys from around my station house.

Especially, since I wouldn't need a background check, which meant we could get started right away and get our team up and running.

Then she looked more carefully at the forms I'd filled out, and said, "I didn't know your last name was Onassis. You're not related to Jackie O, are you?"

Chuckling, I shook my head. "No, but her second husband was Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping magnet. Since my father drove a bus for a living, I'm pretty sure you won't find us on his family tree."

Grinning, she looked me up and down and said, "But luckily your branch of the family got that hot and swarthy gene, that definitely passed all the way down to you."

I laughed, and told her, "You know a lot of names have meanings, and believe it or not, Onassis means, Lover."

Her eyes went big. "You've got to kidding."

"Nope. Don't believe me, you can look it up online."

She picked up her phone, googled it and laughed. "Well, I'll be. Guess I sure picked the right cop to carry me up to the cottage that night."

I tipped up her chin and kissed her, and whispered against her lips, "You sure did."

****

The first night we got all the kids out at the baseball diamond, all of them looked pretty proud to be wearing their new green and white Carelli Brother's baseball jerseys, thanks to Kristen's friend Angie. They all seemed pretty eager to get started, too. When I told them all to take a seat on the bench and listen up, they all sat their butts down, staring up at me like I had the answers.

I imagined for most of them, this would be their first time playing on a team, since most of the mothers didn't have the money to put them in any kind of organized sport.

Trying to determine their strengths, to see what positions they'd play, I noticed one little guy Melvin, was a great catcher, and really fast on his feet. And he was thrilled when I told him we'd try him out as back catcher.

Rui, another kid on the small side, had a pretty good arm, so I decided he could try out as our starting pitcher.

Just to get some practice in, and let them have a feel for the game, I divided the team in two, so everyone got a chance to hit. I told Rui, all he had to do was get the ball over the plate, and not to try and get too fancy. Right now, I was more interested in everyone getting a chance to have a crack at the ball, than to see how hard he could fire one off.

Half way through the rotation, one of the bigger kids Denny, came up to bat. Despite what I'd told him, probably trying to show off, Rui decided it would be fun to let one rip. But his aim was off, and Denny had to hit the dirt, to avoid getting smacked in the face with the ball.

Scrambling to his feet, his face an angry red, Denny threw his bat, just missing another player. Then he charged at Rui with his fists up, looking like he wanted to pound him into the ground.

Kristen and I rushed out to get between them, seeing that little Rui looked like he was about to wet himself as the bigger kid, pulled back his fist, ready to lay one on him. I waved off Kristen and told her, "I got this," because I sure as hell didn't want her in the middle of it. Then I said to the kid with his fist poised, "Okay, Denny, calm down, it was just a wild throw."

"Little fucker almost knocked my head off," he snarled, glaring the other kid down.

As Kristen walked back to the bleachers, anxiously watching us, I told him, "Come on, let's go sit down on the bench, so you can cool off."

Taking a seat beside him, I handed him a bottle of cold water out of the cooler. His gaze locked hard on Rui, he twisted off the cap, took a swig, wiped his arm across his mouth and muttered, "No way am I letting that little fucker get away with that kind of shit. I could tell from the look on his face, as he wound up to throw that pitch, that he was trying to hit me. Little shit did it on purpose."

"No, he didn't. He wasn't trying to hit you. He just lost control of the ball, that's all."

Denny looked over at me, glaring me down. "How the fuck do you know?"

"I know, because this is just a friendly game; and no one's here to win or lose. We're all on the same team, so I know he wasn't trying to hurt you."

"Fucker," he muttered again, narrowing his eyes on Rui, still cowering on the pitcher's mound.

I signaled to Rui to start pitching again, and waved the next kid up to bat, to keep the game going, and to give Denny some time to cool down.

As he kept muttering enough curses under his breath to turn the air blue, I elbowed him, and teased, "Hey, you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

That earned me a dramatic eye roll as he said, "No, I don't kiss my mother anymore. I'm too old for that shit. And don't try and tell me that you still kiss yours, because I won't believe it."

I nodded, as I thought about them. "Yeah, I still kiss my mom, and my grandmother, too." I pointed at Kristen sitting at the bottom of the bleachers close to the action, watching each player coming up to bat, taking notes and keeping score. "And because I'm careful about what I say around her, and try not to let any F-bombs fly, I get to kiss that pretty lady sitting over there, too."

Turning his head, looking over at Kristen, he said, "Holy shit. That's your girlfriend? She's hot."

I laughed. "Yeah, she's pretty sweet. So, I'd appreciate it if you could tone it down. There are lot of other ladies sitting up there with little kids, that don't need to hear that kind of language."

He seemed to think on that for a minute. And some of the fire went out of him as he nodded and said, "Yeah, okay. Sorry."

"By the way, I think you're a pretty good hitter. So, once you've finished your water, why don't you get back in the game so you can get some more practice in?"

He chugged the rest of his water, nodding his head. And I had feeling he'd be okay, though I knew he'd have to work on his temper.

All of a sudden I looked up and saw Kristen jumping out of the way, when a foul ball almost hit her. When she saw me shoot to my feet, looking worried, she made me laugh when she held the necklace up my grandmother had given her to keep her safe. As though trying to show me that it worked and somehow it managed to ward off the ball.

Rolling my eyes, chuckling, I was just glad that no one got hurt, especially with the way the kids were hitting and pitching, sending the balls all over the place.

Once the practice game was over, I was giving them all handouts to let them know when the next games would be. Just as an ice cream truck, with its speaker's blasting out every kid's favorite rendition of Pop Goes the Weasel, pulled up at curb.

"Hey, look guys, the ice cream man's here," I said, pointing over my shoulder. "So, who wants an ice cream?"

All excited, the kids ran up to the truck and looked pretty happy as one by one he handed them each a cone.

Kristen, standing beside me was chuckling as we watched the kids devouring them before they had a chance to melt. "I'm surprised he'd come by this way, considering it's out in the middle of nowhere. But the kids look pretty happy to see him."

I shrugged and admitted, "That's my cousin's oldest kid, Aros. I told him to show up about seven, hoping he'd get here by the end of practice."

We walked up to the truck as Aros was serving the last two kids, I waved over the moms and the smaller kids, that were hanging back, and told them, "Hey, everybody, come and get some ice cream."

After I'd introduced Aros and Kristen, and he handed her a cone too, I took more than enough out of my wallet to pay for the cones, but he held up his hand and said, "No way, this is on me. Least I can do, if you're out here for the summer coaching all of them."

After they'd finished their cones, and Aros drove off with a wave, the mothers all thanked me, both for the game and for the treat, and so did the kids. And as Kristen and I carried the equipment bags out to my car in the parking area, she surprised me. I'd just got everything in the trunk and she cupped my face in her hands, and really laid one on me.

Smiling, as we pulled apart, I said, "That was nice."

"I wanted to thank you for coming out to coach the kids. I know it means a lot to them to have an outlet like this, but even more for someone to take an interest in them, especially someone they can look up to. And I was pleased to see that you handled that little skirmish as well as you did, so nobody got hurt."

I watched Denny climbing into his mother's old beater and nodded. "Yeah, Denny's got to learn how to control his temper, or he's going to wind up in trouble one day."

Kristen looked back and noticed a few mothers standing around talking and watching us. She pushed up on her toes, smiled against my mouth, kissed me again and said, "Doesn't hurt to let them know we're together."

As I traced a finger along her jaw, looking into her big, blue eyes, I told her, "We sure are."

I honestly couldn't have told you if any of the moms were pretty or not. I was so focused on the game, and watching the kids; and the fact that I knew Kristen would be coming home with me tonight, that I never even noticed who was sitting up in the bleachers.

Now that we were driving back to my place, I picked up her hand and lifted it to my lips for a kiss. And I loved the way she smiled over at me as I lingered over her hand.

"How about we pick up something for dinner, get a shower after, and hit the sack?"

"Hmm, sounds like a plan." Then she looked over at me and said, "But would you mind if we stopped to check out something, first? I found out this morning, that diamond we just came from is reserved for organized teams and it's booked almost every night of the week. But the city offered us another older field that we could use pretty much any time we want. Only thing is, they said the grass in the outfield might need cutting, so I thought we should go and see what it looks like, and how much work it needs."

I squeezed her hand and said, "Sure."

I noticed she kept smiling across the car at me as we drove, until finally she told me what she was thinking. "You know, I was really pleased to see how you handled the kids today. I thought you might have got a little short tempered with Denny when he wanted to beat up Rui for that wild pitch, but whatever you said to him, seemed to calm him down."

"Is that why you ran out on the field, because you thought I was going to lose it on him, and you were going to have to get between us?"

She shrugged. "Well, I've never seen you around kids, especially twelve and thirteen year olds that really know how push your buttons. I've come across a lot of angry kids their age, and I know how difficult they can be."

I thought back to some of the dumb things I did as a kid. "Well, my mother was smart. She'd talk softly when she wanted me to listen, especially when I was angry or upset. Then I had to stop what I was doing to hear what she was saying. If she'd have screamed at me, I think she knew I would have just tuned her out."

She smiled over at me. "I can't imagine you were much of a handful as a kid."

As we stopped at a red light I remembered that I had gone through a bit of a rough patch, and told her. "There was only once she ever had to worry about me."

Kristen looked across the car at me and waited.

So, I explained. "I was really down after my father died, and feeling pretty sorry for myself, especially since I thought I'd caused it. I was going around the house punching walls and cursing up a storm, probably driving them both crazy.

"I didn't want to be around the house anymore with them crying all the time. So I started to hang out with these kids that had nothing better to do than sit around this little park, up the street from my house. They got me into smoking, even though I hated it. I only did it because they did, and of course I wanted to fit in. One of the kids started sneaking booze from his parents' liquor cabinet, and we'd pass it around, thinking we were big shots, drinking at thirteen. Since none of them gave a shit about school, I let my grades fall, and started skipping classes, thinking I'd rather hang out with these cool new friends I'd made, than having to sit through algebra."