Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“Agreed,” he said succinctly. “She’s good.”
“Very good,” Justin said. “And it’s your turn next.”
I folded my forearm across my eyes. Sunglasses didn’t do that much good when you were staring straight up at the afternoon sky. “Not everything has to be exactly even.”
“Sure it does,” Justin said. “All for one, and one for all.”
I smiled. We’d been using that line ever since we read that book in high school.
“It does help you relax, though,” Tye said. He looked like he was close to falling asleep.
Justin snorted. “Yeah, until someone barges in and demands that you get back to work.”
“Sorry.” But I wasn’t really sorry. We were down here for a reason. And we’d get back to that reason just as soon as I asked a question I was dying to know the answer to. I paddled the rest of the way over to Justin. “So let me get this straight. Naomi’s a beautiful young woman, right?”
From across the way, Tye lifted his head, and I knew he was cocking an eyebrow under his mirrored sunglasses. “If you have to ask that, then you might not be straight at all.”
I rolled my eyes and returned my attention to Justin. “My point is, this beautiful woman is willing to put her hands on any part of your body—”
“Almost any part,” Justin interrupted with a smirk.
“Okay, almost any body part. And all you wanted was for her to rub your scalp?”
Tye chuckled. “The man’s got a point.”
It was Justin’s turn to roll his eyes. “You two don’t know what you’re missing. And besides, she’s here to give us stress relief, not cheap thrills.”
“Well that’s good,” I said, shaking my head. “Because I’m fairly certain that no man has ever got any thrills by having his scalp massaged.”
Justin just shrugged his broad shoulders. “Don’t knock it until you try it.”
Yeah, like that was my top priority. When I’m at bat, my head is the most protected part of me. It got a helmet, unlike other body parts that would easily bruise from an errant pitch. Therefore, they needed Naomi’s attention more than my scalp. Plus, I didn’t want my hair to look like Justin’s did now. The urge to upend his float and dump him in the water was strong. We used to goof off that way all the time when we were younger, but now we had a mission.
Tye spoke up. “It’s probably a good idea to keep in mind that she’s off limits.”
“Yeah.”
“Why?” Justin demanded.
“She’s got a boyfriend,” I said, stating the obvious.
“So? He’s an asshole.”
“But she lives with him,” Tye said. “I heard her talking on the phone this morning. It’s got to be serious if she lives with him.”
“Frank,” I muttered. “That’s the name of a hot dog, not the love of your life.”
“Who says he’s the love of her life?” Justin protested, but then he caught my eye and stopped talking. It wasn’t hard to figure out why. I thought I’d found the love of my life in Yvonne, yet our marriage hadn’t even lasted two full years.
“We need some drinks,” I muttered.
“We’re studying,” Tye pointed out.
“Actually, we’re just floating. We…” Justin’s voice trailed off and his jaw dropped.
Tye was looking in the same direction. “Holy shit,” he muttered as he slowly took his sunglasses off.
What the hell?
Turning an alligator float wasn’t the easiest thing, but I managed.
And then I saw what all the fuss was about.
It was Naomi.
In a bikini.
And holy crap, she looked amazing. The bikini, which consisted of an assortment of strings and triangles, was a rich burgundy color. It looked good with her dark hair. She had on a cover-up, a black mesh thing, but it was open down the front and it certainly wasn’t covering up much of anything except her upper arms.
My mouth was too dry to greet her, but I tried. This was my aunt’s home—that made me the host. I wanted to tell her that the water was perfect and that she should come join us. Or that I could have the kitchen send out a round of drinks.
But instead, I only got as far as sitting up on the stupid pool float.
Then it shifted under me and dumped me into the water.
9
NAOMI
My self-consciousness at what I was wearing disappeared the moment I saw the guys. Tye was resting serenely on a rectangular float, but Justin’s large body was crammed into a huge innertube. He looked like an oversized child on a float trip. And Dominic was on an inflatable alligator. What kind of grown man used an alligator pool float? When he tried to sit up and ended up falling into the water, I couldn’t help laughing.
I looked to Justin and Tye, the only two still above the water, thinking they’d find it funny, too, but they were both staring at me.