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)
With no other choice, I moved in with dear old dad—and I’d regretted it ever since. On the phone after dinner, he’d been so demanding. Frank had dropped out of my life for over a decade, yet now he expected me to update him with where I was, who I was with, and what I was doing. He’d been okay with me spending a week at the wedding venue, but he’d flipped his lid when he found out I’d been hired to be the personal masseuse for three men.
Like it was any of his business.
I took a deep breath, trying not to let frustration get the best of me. I was an adult. I had my own business. Why couldn’t I live on my own? Yeah, there were so many other young adults in the same situation, but it still rankled.
“You okay?” Dominic asked, and I wondered if he’d seen steam rising out of my ears.
“Yeah.”
“Sorry about your parents,” he said softly. It took me a moment to realize he meant about them separating, not about my current dependence on Frank. “I’m divorced, too.”
Really? He seemed a little young to have a failed marriage on his record, but I supposed that could happen at any age.
“I’m sorry.”
He stopped and angled his fit body toward the water. “It was just finalized last month.”
“So you’ve had a lot of change in a short time.” I still couldn’t quite understand why these guys had quit baseball, but it was more than obvious that it wasn’t a happy story.
“Yeah.” Dominic paused in thought. “Sometimes it still takes me by surprise how fast things can change.”
“Yeah.” When my mom remarried and my stepdad moved in, her relationship with me was instantly altered. I became an unwanted after thought. But that wasn’t the only kind of change. “But other times, change can be pretty damn hard.” Sometimes, I felt like my life was on hold. Like I was only pretending to be an adult. And it seemed like for every positive step forward, I slid two steps back.
Dominic started to ask me a question, but then Justin’s loud voice came from up ahead of us. “What are you two doing back there?”
“Thinking deep thoughts,” Dominic called back.
“Jesus, don’t do that.” Justin jogged back toward us, and I couldn’t help laughing at the expression on his face as Tye trailed behind him. “We need to get you two some beer.”
This wasn’t a vacation. I was here to work. But I had to admit, a beer on the beach with these three men sounded pretty damn perfect.
6
NAOMI
Wow.
I now had a new favorite room in this gorgeous mansion.
The space set up for massages was at the top of the house, and the walls tilted inward, yet it was still a very spacious room.
As on other floors, gauzy curtains billowed in the breeze, but I’d figured out the trick. I’d discovered carefully placed vents under the windows that made it look like the curtains were blowing in the breeze. That made sense. It was only June, but it was already pretty hot outside.
As a bonus, I’d found a remote that gave me complete control of the temperature. That was a plus since my clients wouldn’t be wearing much in this room. I didn’t want any important body parts to freeze—or shrink.
The room itself had hardwood floors, a sitting area, and best of all, two massage tables. They were lavishly covered with fine fabrics and were so sturdy that it took me a while to realize that they were actually portable, too. Not that I planned to fold them up and cart them down the stairs. But I was glad they looked so strong. All three of the guys had muscles to spare, and muscles were heavy. A big man like Justin probably wouldn’t do very well on my rickety table back home.
I took some time to set things up the way I wanted them. Probably took more time than I needed, but it felt good to make this space my own. It was my studio for the next week.
Earlier, Dominic had texted, though I hadn’t realized he knew my number. He’d told me that he and the others were going to spend the morning studying, but one of them would be up for a massage by ten.
Since I didn’t know which one it would be or what kind of massage he might like, I prepared for several possibilities. Evelyn’s staff had even included nearly everything I could possibly need, so I could do pretty much anything the client wanted here.
Within reason.
When I’d arranged the curtains the way I wanted—direct sunlight wasn’t the ambiance most people wanted for a massage—I turned on some soft music. Then there wasn’t anything left to do.
As ten o’clock rolled around, I waited in the little seating area. There was a mirror above a loveseat, so I checked my hair. The ocean air was still making it curlier than usual, but I’d gotten it under control with the sides pulled back and the rest flowing down my back.