She gave him an odd look. “Really?”
“Really,” he said. “I’ll have some wine with dinner.”
“Okay then,” Celia said doubtfully. She had never known Jake to turn down an offer for an alcoholic beverage when he did not have to perform or rehearse or fly.
Jake had his reasons. He and Laura had talked it over and decided that if they were going to do this thing, they were going to do it sober, without plying Celia with alcohol to break down her resistance and mask her judgment. Of course, they could not stop her from drinking if she wanted to, but if neither of them were drinking she would be unlikely to get herself hammered before they had a chance to pose their question to her. The plan worked. Celia poured all three of them a tall glass of the green tea on ice.
“Shall we go out to the deck?” she asked after everyone had glass in hand.
“Let’s do it,” Jake said.
They returned to the family room and went out the sliding door onto the deck. It was a beautiful southern California late spring day. The sky was mostly blue with no clouds in sight, the temperature a pleasant seventy-five degrees (it had been eighty-three in Granada Hills) and a mild onshore breeze was blowing, bringing the scent of salt water to their noses. The infinity pool was smooth as glass, without so much as a ripple in the water. The infinity edge went right up to the end of the deck, making it look as if the pool blended in with the ocean. The sound of waves breaking was the dominant sound, followed by the screeching of sea birds. The beach itself was almost completely deserted. Though it belonged to the people of California, just like the vast majority of the ocean beaches in the state, it was almost impossible for anyone but the residents of this particular stretch of Broad Beach Road to get out there. There were no public easements from the road or from the PCH on this stretch and it was guarded by rocky outcroppings on both sides, located about a half mile apart; obstacles that a casual beach user or surfer would have to climb over in order to gain access. The only easy way onto that beach was from the sea itself or from the staircases that led down from the houses that fronted it.
While Laura and Celia sat down in the loungers next to the pool, Jake set his tea down and then kicked off his own flip-flops. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it onto the lounger next to Laura’s. Celia whistled appreciably as she saw his bare chest.
“All right,” she said with a naughty laugh. “Show us some skin!”
Jake smiled and he and Laura shared a look between them. Could be you’ll be seeing a lot more skin in a little while, he thought. “It’ll cost you a dollar to see it all,” he told her. “And you have to tuck it into my shorts.”
“Will you take a check?” she asked.
“Not from you,” he scoffed playfully. The ladies giggled.
He unbuttoned his shorts and pushed them down, revealing the baggy, mid-thigh level swimming trunks he was wearing beneath. “I’m going in!” he announced. With that, he leapt high in the air, pulled his legs up beneath him, and crashed down into the placid water with a huge splash that sent waves outward in all directions. The water was not heated and had a bit of a chilly bite to it but was refreshing, nonetheless. He surfaced and then rolled over onto his back and began to backstroke the length of the pool.
“That was a good cannonball,” Celia said good naturedly. “You got both of us.”
“That was my goal,” he said.
“How’s the water?” Laura asked.
“Perfect,” he lied. “Just perfect.”
He paddled around for a few minutes and then swam over to the edge closest to the women. He rested his arms on the deck and let his legs float out behind him. “Come on,” he told them. “Are you going to make me swim alone?”
“Okay,” Laura said, standing up. “Are you sure there are no sea lions in there?”
“Reasonably,” Jake said with a laugh.
“Come on, C,” Laura said. “Let’s get wet.”
“Best offer I’ve had today,” Celia said with another giggle.
Laura pulled off her outer layer of clothes. To Celia’s surprise, she was wearing her bikini beneath them instead of her usual modest one-piece suit. It was a green bikini, not the most revealing in the world, but it allowed Celia to see a fair amount of the top of her breasts and her smooth belly with its prominent baby bump.
“Looking hot, Teach,” Celia said appreciatively. “I thought you didn’t wear bikinis in front of anyone but Jake.”
“Well ... you’ve seen everything I have to show,” Laura reminded her.
Celia blushed a little at this. Though she knew that Jake knew about what had transpired between the two of them in that hotel room that one night, they had never talked about it in front of him before. “Uh ... yeah, I guess I have,” she said. She then looked down at the baby bump again. “I’m sorry, I just have to touch that.”
“Be my guest,” Laura said with a smile.
Celia reached out and began caressing her right on the bump.
“Mmm,” Laura said with a sigh. “Your hand feels nice.”
“So does your belly,” Celia said. “And look at your chichis! They’re all big now.”
“You wanna feel them too?” Laura asked.
All right, Jake thought, watching this transpire. We might be in business here.
Celia took this as a joke, which it mostly was. She laughed and finally took her hand away. “All right,” she said. “I guess it’s my turn.”
“I have my dollar bill ready,” Jake said.
Celia chuckled and then pulled off her tank top, revealing the red, form-fitting, strapless bikini top. Jake could see that her nipples were partially erect. He reveled in the sight of those perfect breasts as he saw more of her flesh than he had since that night in Portland. His doubts about what they were trying to do here fled far into the back of his brain. She kicked off her flip-flops and then pushed her own shorts down and off. The bikini bottoms were the same shade of red as the top and were just as form fitting. Her legs were as beautiful as they had always been and her lower belly was still flat and unlined. He imagined his wife putting her face between those legs and felt himself starting to stiffen a bit.
The ladies, being ladies, did not simply jump into the pool the way Jake had. Instead, they went to the steps in the shallow end and put their feet and ankles in first. Both of them winced as they felt the first touch of water.
“You liar!” Laura barked at him. “This water is freaking cold!”
“Not once you get all the way in,” he countered.
“There is a heater for it,” Celia said. “Maybe I should turn it on?”
Jake shook his head. The Nottingham house pool had had a heater too and he knew its ways. “It’ll take six hours before you feel a difference,” he told her. “And your accountant will scream at you about the gas bill. Just get in! You get used to it quick.”
They did not want to take his advice. Instead, they gradually worked their way into the water, one pool step at a time, each step taking nearly five minutes to accomplish, before they were finally standing on the bottom of the shallow end, the water reaching to just above Celia’s knees and just below Laura’s hips. They stood there shivering a little, not wanting to go any further.
This was the moment Jake had been waiting for. He paddled over as if he was just coming close enough to talk and then pounced, grabbing Laura around the waist with his left arm, Celia around the waist with his right and pulling them both against his body. He then kicked off the steps with his feet, propelling himself and the two ladies backwards into the deep water, forcing them to submerge to their shoulders and neck.
They were outraged by his sneak attack. Laura actually called him an asshole. Celia called him a cabron. Both of them grabbed his head and forced it underwater for a moment. When he surfaced again, Laura spit a mouthful of water at him, striking him in the face. He took his punishment like a man, actually enjoying the feel of all the female flesh pressing against him, putting their hands on him. And his trick had the desired effect. By the time they finished abusing him, they were nicely warmed up and used to the water and ready to forgive and forget.