I scanned the people standing along the French doors leading inside. The stretch of space without furniture, and then to another set of glass doors at the corner of the house…
There he was. Staring right at me. Damn but he looked phenomenal in a tank top and shorts. And his hair—he must have had it cut recently like I did and it appeared straight, not curled like I saw the night before and yesterday on the video chat. Thick black hair sat atop that beautiful face. I couldn’t help but smile and he returned one in kind.
I reached the door and he slid it open for me. I stepped inside to the wonderfully cool air. An awkward moment passed when he slid the door shut. I had the natural inclination to hug someone, even friends, when seeing them. I wanted to hug Rome and started to but stopped myself. Laughed. So did he. I stuck out my hand. He shook it, nothing fiercely strong, but easygoing.
“Thanks for inviting me,” I said, then gestured around me.“This place is magnificent.”
“Si, molto magnifico,” he said. I gave him a look. “Just checking to see how much you’ve learned in the past twenty-four hours.”
I marveled at the way those Italian words rolled off his tongue. The accent sounded right, not that I was an expert. “Let’s see,” I said and held out my hand to count my fingers. “Uno, due, tre. Buona fortuna. Prego. Five things so far.”
“Se sei intelligente quanto sei bello, imparerai l'italiano in pochissimo tempo.”
“Oh hey come on, that’s not fair.”
He shrugged, his round and large shoulder muscles raising and falling. “Well, if you’re impressed with the house, let me give you a quick tour.”
“Of someone else’s house?”
“Yeah. Hiroshi doesn’t mind. Come on.” He walked past me and put a gentle hand on my hip to steer me in his direction. I let my body move with him naturally as we advanced down a hall that emptied into a kitchen made of white stone and gold and stainless steel appliances. I refrained from whistling but instead gave an appreciative nod. Beyond the kitchen lay a living room with the largest television I had ever seen, second in size only to a movie theater screen.
We went up a set of stairs that bent at a ninety-degree angle and continued past the second floor to the third. “Second floor is all the bedrooms,” Rome informed me. “Private area. Third floor is where people would kill to be.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked. I let him take a few steps ahead of me to appreciate the view.
No. Don’t do that. Short pants. Really, really short pants.
I averted my gaze and stared at my loafers as we reached the top. A vaulted ceiling gave height to a single room filled with dormers and plenty of light. A mini-split pumped in cooled airas light refracted on multiple, shiny objects. I stared at a trophy room. Trophyfloorreally. But I had no clue what any of them meant.
“Hiroshi is pretty accomplished?” I asked.
Rome pressed his hand against the small of my back and led me toward a bookshelf along the wall filled with three golden catcher’s gloves. Two small busts were next to those. Plaque upon plaque upon plaque…
“These are Gold Glove Awards. They’re voted on by other teams. Hiroshi has won twice with the Riders and once with the Brawlers.” I stared at the trophy, impressed by the design but not much else. “People would give their eyeteeth to see these.”
I looked up at Rome who stood close enough for me to lean into. His height would intimidate most, I knew, but I found it inviting. “Should I get some pliers, then?”
He leaned and bumped me. The bulk of his size actually forced me to shoot out my foot to compensate for the imbalance. “If you ever run into someone who is a baseball fan, you’ll have a few things to share, at least. I mean, evenI’mimpressed being up here.”
I peered closer at the gloves. “Are these like… an Oscar? But for baseball?”
His polite laugh made my head swim. He leaned in and bumped me with his body again. I wanted him to stay like that.
“You could say that, yeah,” he told me. “It’s a big deal just to have one. He’s gotthree.”
My eyes moved up to him again. His gaze held a certain appreciation for these trophies, meaningless trinkets to me but the world to those who coveted them. “Do you have any awards?” I asked, genuinely curious. “Your Wikipedia page is filled with a lot of stuff I don’t understand.” I clamped my mouth shut after that, after realizing what I revealed.
Rome snickered, though he politely ignored an opportunityto call me out for some light stalking. “I have a few. You wanna see them?”
I took a step to the side. “As in right now? I just got here.”
“Then it’s a good thing…” he said and grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the nearest dormer to look outside. “That I live right there.” He let go of my hand and pointed out of the window.
I saw a quaint little house, white like the big one, with a fancy SUV parked in front of a standalone garage. “Is that a guesthouse? Is thatyourhouse?”
“Hiroshi lets me stay there for the season. Most of my trophies are in my Rhode Island home but I always travel with my favorites. Do you want to see them?”
“Absolutely,” I said with zero hesitation.
