Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 108846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Her brow flinches as if she wasn’t expecting that answer. After a long pause, she says, “I’m trying, but it’s not easy.”
“Find a fuck buddy,” Connor drawls lazily. “Works like a charm.”
She scowls. “Great brotherly advice.”
“What?” Connor shrugs. “You know, everyone thinks you’re banging Ronan. You may as well start.”
“No, they don’t.”
“Am I lying, Ronan?”
I can’t tell if he’s being serious or being … Connor, but I’ll play along. I stretch my arm along the back of the bench and start twirling the ends of Ryan’s brunette hair through my fingertips. It’s silkier than I expected. “I wouldn’t say everyone thinks that. Not yet, anyway.”
“Bullshit.” She shifts her head away, making me lose my grip.
I reach for another strand and continue toying. “What did you expect? We live together. You’ve seen me naked—”
“Because you flashed me.”
“Great foreplay, by the way,” Connor offers. “Good job, man.”
“And everyone knows what those dirty crew guys are like,” I mock. “And yet here you are, eating lunch with us. You came out to us.”
“To Ronan,” Connor interrupts, egging her on. “A lot of flags, if you ask me. Everyone’s gonna be talking.”
Ryan’s cheeks begin to flame. “This is payback for the shower this morning, isn’t it?”
“Yup.” I steal her apple right off her lap and take a big bite. And I’m going to enjoy every second of it.
11. Ronan
“What is that smell?” Connor steps through the front door.
“You.” We just finished playing Frisbee tag with his league and we’re drenched with sweat.
“No, man. That’s food.” He inhales deeply. “And it smells delicious!”
He’s right. Someone’s been baking. A rack of muffins sits in the middle of the island, still warm from the oven. A note next to it reads, “Eat better.”
“Has hell frozen over?” Connor asks, confusion on his face.
“They must be laced with arsenic.” I glance down the hall. Ryan’s door is closed but the light peeks through the crack. She would have had to come home from class and baked them right away.
“That or Ex-Lax.”
“She has to share a bathroom with me, though, remember.”
“Fair point. Definitely arsenic, then.” We stare at the muffins for another five seconds.
“Fuck it. I’ve led a good life.” Connor takes one and shoves it into his mouth. A deep frown furrows his brow as he moans and gives the thumbs-up.
We each polish off three before we part ways. I head straight for the bathroom, intent on taking that long, hot shower I didn’t get this morning.
Through the crack at the bottom of Ryan’s door, I spot toes.
I’ve just stepped out of the Wolf employee restroom, my pants barely done up, when Connor grabs my arm and tugs me down the hall. “Come on.”
“Fuck. I get it! You’re hungry! Relax already.” I jerk my arm from his grip. He can be so annoying sometimes.
“Baker just found out that his mother has cancer.”
“That sucks. And?” Not to be insensitive, but I don’t know the guy.
“He’s bailing on Alaska. So you’re taking his spot.”
“What?”
“Just keep paying rent on your room here and it’s yours when we come home in the fall.”
“But—”
“Dude, trust me. This is gonna be a summer you’ll never forget. I heard this is a big gamble that Wolf is taking, opening a seasonal hotel up there. No one thinks he can pull it off. Do you know what that means?”
“No?”
Connor pauses his mad dash down the hall to meet my gaze. “It means he’s going to bring up the hottest fucking chicks you’ve ever seen in your life to work there. He’s all about image. Hottest chicks in cabins, all summer long. And us.”
I chuckle. Every decision Connor makes seems to be driven by one thing and one thing only—his dick. “Okay, you’re beginning to sell this idea to me. But I doubt they’re going to let me and Baker swap. I just got here. Life doesn’t work like that.”
Connor grins. “Wanna bet?”
Ryan is at the counter when we step through the door, helping one of the housekeeping staff, a polite smile painted on. It’s not exactly genuine, but it’s nice to see all the same. I was beginning to think her lips couldn’t curve upward.
Her attention flickers to us, and rests on me for a long moment before shifting back to the girl in front of her.
“Jean! Hey, Jean! Where are you?” Connor whisper-hisses, leaning over the counter as if she might be hiding behind it.
Ryan shoots her brother a dirty look but doesn’t say anything as her coworker appears from around the cubicle partition.
“Oh, thank God you’re here. We need your help, stat.” He’s borderline frantic.
Jean tucks her hair behind her ear and bats her eyelashes. “With what?”
“Baker’s not going to Alaska. Ronan’s going to take his place.”
“Oh? Okay?” Her onyx eyes flicker between the two of us.
“So … we need you to make that happen.”
Surprise lifts her brows. “I don’t have anything to do with Alaska recruitment. I don’t even know who—”