FIN

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MARIA LOOKED SLIGHTLY puzzled as she stood there watching us. I guess the sight of a bunch of people in their underwear in my pool must have come as a surprise to her.

“Wheeeheee!” Rockwell shouted as he splashed around in the warm water.

Maria just shook her head.

I knew that the prospects of her jumping in to join us were very small, but at least she seemed to be enjoying watching us.

Just as I was about to turn around to see what Kelly was up to, a tall dark figure entered the pool room.

When he walked into the light I recognized him as the guy I’d contracted to build me a new vacation house in Florida. Johnny some-or-the-other, I couldn’t quite remember his surname but I was glad to see that he’d finally managed to make it to the party.

His services as a building contractor came highly recommended and I was looking forward to seeing what he would come up with for my new house.

I didn’t think much of his appearance until he walked up to Maria and touched her lightly on her shoulder. At first I thought he was just going to ask her to go get him a drink or something, but as she turned around and looked at him, I realized immediately that there was something very tangible between the two of them.

They were acting as if they knew each other from somewhere else and seeing them together bothered me. Not that I had a right to be upset. After all, I was in a pool with girls in their underwear.

Still, I couldn’t deny my feelings of jealousy.

“Now that’s what I call a swimsuit!” someone shouted.

I turned around to see what the commotion was about.

One of the models was cajoling around topless in the water and her perky breasts were the center of attention as she unashamedly showed off her assets.

Soon her friend joined in the fun and also removed her bra and the commotion got a lot louder.

I thought Kelly was going to remove her bra since she was teasingly fiddling with her bra straps. But she didn’t. She was only teasing me.

I turned around to see what Maria and Johnny were doing. The commotion in the pool had momentarily distracted me, but the intrigue of Maria’s apparent connection with Johnny was still swirling around in my mind.

I was hoping to see a little more interaction between the two of them so I could figure out what was going on, but when I turned around Maria and Johnny had disappeared from the room.

“Where are you going?” Kelly shouted, as I abruptly swam to the side of the pool and got out.

“I’m just going to get myself a drink.” I lied.

I dried myself off with one of the towels Jeffrey had set out for the guests, and then I put on my clothes and strolled out of the pool room.

I rejoined the party in the entrance foyer and searched for Maria and Johnny.

“Ah, you’re back. I was wondering where you’d disappeared to!” Michael Stone from Pyramid pictures exclaimed when he saw me.

He started carrying on about Maria and how excited he was to have arranged for her to come and see him for an audition for a part in his new movie. He wanted to know if it would be okay with me if he gave her a small acting part in his movie.

I nodded. Maria didn’t need my permission.

It seemed as if Maria had become the absolute hit of my party and everyone wanted a piece of her.

Where was she? Was she with Johnny? I really didn’t know much about the guy and for all I knew he was some kind of stalker or creep. The last thing I wanted to happen to Maria was for her to get caught up in some kind of trouble or so I told myself.

I suspect that the truth was actually much simpler. I was jealous that Maria seemed to be so interested in Johnny and I needed to know just what kind of hold he had over her.

I finally caught a glimpse of Maria’s face through the sea of dancing guests and she smiled at me. I felt a little shudder of excitement going through me and realized that the chemistry between Maria and me had grown a lot stronger throughout the course of the evening.

Just then I noticed Johnny standing right there with Maria and he waved at me. For an insane second I considered marching right up to the two of them and asking Johnny what the hell he was up to with Maria, but instead I composed myself and waved back at him.

This was no time to make a fool of myself and I decided to stand around with Michael Stone for a while. I could watch Maria and Johnny out of the corner of my eye while I pretended to have a conversation with Michael.

The thought crossed my mind that I was spying on Maria, but I quickly dismissed it. I told myself that I was merely making sure she was safe. I only had her best interests at heart. Nothing more.

“The filming really shouldn’t take more than a month or so and I think Maria might just get a lot of mileage out of her appearance in this new movie of mine,” Michael said.

“You make it sound as if you’ve already decided you are going to give her the part,” I said.

“I guess I have. The part calls for a beauty who can dance and seeing Maria dance, well, the audition is really just a way of introducing her to the movie business but, like you said, as far as I’m concerned the part is hers already,” Michael replied.

“That is, if she wants it,” I said.

“Why wouldn’t she want it?” he asked, taking a large sip of his champagne.

I also needed a drink and reached for a glass of champagne from a tray on a table next to us. I lifted the glass to my lips and drained the contents.

“I support whatever Maria wants to do.”

My head was spinning slightly and I politely excused myself so I could go get a breath of fresh air.

Once outside, I immediately noticed the blue BMW. It seemed that my parking attendant must have drifted off somewhere with a pretty girl, as he’d not parked the vehicle in one of the allocated parking spots with the rest of the guests’ vehicles.

I thought of Johnny’s late arrival and realized that the BMW must belong to him.

Being a bit of a car enthusiast myself, it was easy for me to spot that the BMW was no ordinary vehicle. It had an extra exhaust pipe at the back and was fitted with a full racing kit.

I walked over to take a closer look and felt a mixture of admiration and jealousy as I looked at Johnny’s car. I felt certain that it would be no match for my Ferrari in a straight race, but when it came to cornering, the BMW would probably stick to the road surface a little better, as it had been designed with fast maneuvering in mind.

“Do you think that red beast of yours would be able to keep up with my BMW?” Johnny shouted from behind me and when I spun around I saw him standing at the entrance of the house with Maria.

I felt the excitement of a challenge rising in me.

“I’m glad you could make it to my party! But when it comes to cars I don’t think yours can hold a candle to my Ferrari!”

“Only one way to find out!” Johnny replied, as he walked up to me.

I realized that I was probably over the legal limit of alcohol consumption and that there was no way for me to engage in a race with Johnny that evening.

“I really wouldn’t mind racing you, but I’ve had a little too much to drink for that kind of thing,” I said.

Just then I looked up and saw Jeffrey standing at the top of the stairs. “I could always make you a strong pot of black coffee to help you clean your system. That way you will be able to race later on, Sir,” Jeffrey said and I realized that he must’ve been standing there for a while.

I’d only had a couple of drinks, nothing so serious that it would render me permanently unable to race.

“So what’s it going to be?” Johnny asked.

I looked at Maria who appeared to be enjoying the whole thing.

“You’re on,” I said.

Word soon spread that I was going to race Johnny and some of the guests came outside to look at his car. Jeffrey went inside to make a pot of coffee for me and Maria walked over to me.

“I know you can do it, Fin. I know you can beat, Johnny,” Maria said.

Her words energized me.

I thought of her leaving me for Hollywood and my heart ached. But if that’s what she wanted, I couldn’t stop her.