The Players (TP4)

7- Double Standard

Ryan

Ryan paced around the room with his headset on. He did the same thing in his real office because he couldn't sit still. The difference was there he wore dress clothes and today he had on shorts and a t-shirt.

"Don, I'm sorry, but the game last night wasn't even close. Your Nat's are no match for my Sox."

The old man laughed when Ryan heard the front door open and a voice calling out. "Hello."

"Listen, Don, I will call you back. Someone just walked into my office." His voice was calm, even though he wasn't calm at all. His anger was building over the intrusion because the pesky cleaner wasn't even bothering to knock.

When the invader appeared in the doorway, he looked at her. "You! What are you doing in my house?"

She was the booty call girl he had seen in the coffee line. Maybe she was a professional, and this was some kind of joke Cam was playing on him. His partner had been telling Ryan he was much too uptight lately.

"Excuse me, but I don't know you and this is not your house. This is Heidi's house, and she hired me to look after it all summer. I won't have you making my employee cry. I don't care if you are a bully, you won't scare me away until my work is done. You're a slob. This place is a mess."

"Your employee?" She had left him nearly speechless.

"Yes, my employee and Heidi is my friend, so don't think she'll care about your complaints."

"Your friend? I don't think so, you're not her kind of ..." He remembered her booty call.

"Excuse me! Just because I'm not rich, you think I'm not good enough for Heidi. I was told you were raised by Kelly Harris, but I think I was lied to. You're nothing like Kelly or Jack for that matter."

"What the hell! Who are you coming in here and comparing me to my brother?"

He was angry - angrier than he had been in a while and he'd been angry a lot.

"I'm Lana Drake and I'm here to clean this house. If you don't like it, you can go work someplace else. There's Wi-Fi at The Landing."

"How do you know my mother?" She started picking up the empty cans and dirty dishes around him. He had been lax lately with cleaning up after himself.

"The Point is small and I live across the street."

She held her chin up high and never caved to his aggression. He had to admire her. She also had a grace about her as she walked around picking up his mess, which embarrassed him. He wondered if she was a dancer. She reminded him of a dancer he dated once. She was incredible; he mused and felt a stirring in his pants at the memory and focused on the intruder and his anger. Unfortunately, the intruder had a look he also felt in his pants with her long chestnut hair, pouty lips and long lashes which didn't help clear his mind. Then he let his eyes wander and he took in her figure complete with the loveliest pair - definitely real, zero silicone and saline.

"Fine! Just do what you have to in the rest of the house and be quiet about it." He agreed out of utter frustration.

"Cam never minded the vacuum when we cleaned while he was working." Her voice was cheerful.

Jesus, could this get any worse, he muttered under his breath.

As he resumed his work, he refused to admit it wasn't very disruptive. When he broke for lunch, she was still working. He looked in the bedroom and she was bent over the bed, straightening what he assumed to be fresh, clean sheets. The view was nice, and he thought he could do something with her in that position. He already knew she was easy, but then he remembered he was here to get away from women not to invite more trouble.

Later that afternoon, Heidi called and thanked him for allowing Lana to do her work.

"You aren't really her friend, are you?" She secretly impressed him with the clean house and the stocked kitchen. She had even left her card with instructions to text if he had grocery items to add.

"Only the best... inseparable every summer for years. She's the main reason I wish I was in Maine this summer."

"She's not like you. I saw her one-morning getting coffee. It was the strangest thing." He thought back to that awkward moment. "I was between her and a guy about the same age. He was hip with an earring and jeans, anyway they were discussing a booty call."

Heidi laughed out loud. "You are such a pervert. Lana was never one for booty calls. I honestly think she's only slept with..." Heidi suddenly stopped herself. "I, on the other hand... never mind. Earring you say? That sounds like Oliver and if he was begging her, then you got the whole thing wrong."

"I know what I heard, I felt embarrassed to be in the middle of it and you know me I'm a whore."

Heidi laughed. "You definitely are, but Lana works at Oliver's restaurant. He probably needed her to waitress. The restaurant is in Portland, amazing by the way, but he lives across the street in the summer."

"I thought your friend lived across the street." He tried to remember the words exchanged in the coffee line. Could he have been asking her to work?

"She does, but he's next to her. Watch yourself, I know everyone on the street."

"I've been running with Peter. He seems okay."

"Score one for Ryan, you have some good sense. Peter is a great guy, but everyone is. Now relax, it's summer and you're at the beach. Really, Ryan life doesn't have to be so damn serious. I'd tell you you need to get laid, but that's how you got into all your trouble."

Heidi surprised him when she spoke so boldly. Maybe it was her pregnancy hormones. What a fool Cam was, it was clear who the boss in their house was. Ryan would pity him except he knew his friend was getting what Ryan wasn't.

A/N The Cape refers to Cape Cod a very popular summer beach destination in Massachusetts.