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)
Oh. That made sense. “But don’t people study for the LSAT for a long time?”
“They do indeed,” Justin said. He sounded slightly worried.
“We’ve been studying off and on. Our long-term plan was to go to law school after we retired from baseball,” Dominic said.
“That ended up happening a bit earlier than we expected,” Tyler said in a clipped voice. No way in hell was I going to pry into that statement.
Instead, I turned to Dominic. “Well, it’s good you have this time to prepare. When’s the test?”
“A week from today.”
Ouch. That seemed like a tight timeline. “Well, let me know how I can help. I mean, I’ll help with the massages, but if you need me to quiz you or anything, just let me know.”
“Thanks,” Justin said.
“A lot of the study prep is online,” Tyler said. I liked Justin’s response better. These guys were obviously at a crossroads in their lives, and I could understand that. I kind of felt like that’s where I was as well, and I wanted to do what I could to help them.
The sun was beginning to set when we finished our meal. As Dominic predicted, the shades of pink and orange in the western sky were reflected on the waves. I had to agree with him that this seemed like the best spot to see that sort of thing. I made a vow to find out what time sunrise was so that I could watch that, too.
Rocco appeared with a two-tiered tray of dessert. There were cookies, macaroons, fudge, and all sorts of wonderful things on it. So many that it was hard to decide which one to pick. But then it didn’t matter, because my phone rang.
I fished it out of my pocket and looked at the screen, stifling a groan. “Sorry,” I told the men as I pushed my chair back. “I have to take this.”
4
JUSTIN
I couldn’t help watching Naomi as she hurried away, putting her phone to her ear. As I had noticed when I helped her with the bug spray, she had a nicely shaped backside. Her front wasn’t too bad, either. “She’s cute.”
Tye looked up from his study of the desert tray. “She’s a massage therapist.”
I frowned. “Does that mean she can’t be cute?”
“Oh, sorry, I thought we were stating random facts about her.”
Dominic and I exchanged a quick glance. Tye had been grumpy ever since our abrupt departure from the team. It wasn’t hard to figure out why—he blamed himself.
“It does seem a little strange that Aunt Evelyn sent a gorgeous young woman to a group of men trying to have a distraction-free week to study,” Dominic said. He didn’t sound like he was complaining about the fact, however.
Tye leveled a look at Dom. “Maybe she knows that we’re not animals who can’t control ourselves.”
Dominic held up his hands in surrender and then plucked a cookie off the tray. “I’m just saying that it was a rather odd choice.”
“This is Evelyn we’re talking about,” Tye said.
“True.”
“I do miss the rubdowns the staff used to give us,” I said. Baseball was hard on the body, and massages really helped. I had no clue if they’d help us study, though. Or at least me. Tests were never my strong suit.
In the silence that followed, Naomi’s voice drifted toward us. “I told you, I’ll let you know when I get back.” She sounded pissed. This time, all three of us exchanged glances. Then Tye poured us some more wine.
We heard Naomi again as I sipped the wine and watched the water. The waves seemed to sparkle in the low light.
“I’m not staying with them. I’m here to work. This is a job, not a vacation.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Naomi pull her phone away from her ear and hold it out toward the little stone wall before sitting down. Probably checking for lizards. As I’d said before—cute. “I think she does need a vacation.”
Tye didn’t look up, but Dominic did. “You’ve just met her.”
“Yeah, I know, but she seems a bit stressed. No reason she can’t give massages and enjoy herself this weekend.”
“True,” Dominic said softly. “At the very least, we can try to get Rocco to rein in his snobbery.”
Tye snorted. “Yeah, good luck with that.”
Naomi’s voice drifted through the darkness again. “I know. Look, I don’t want to talk about this now. I’ll call you later, Frank.”
Despite her words, the conversation went on. Evidently, this Frank wasn’t a very good listener.
Dominic seemed to agree. “At least she gets a week away from that prick.” Since he was recently divorced, he was the expert on bad relationships. Not that Tye and I had a great track record either. It was hard to maintain a relationship when you were away from home half the year.
Of course, that wasn’t the case anymore. It was still hard to believe that we were no longer part of the team. I missed the crowds. The coaches. The other players. Well, most of the other players. As much as I believed in what we were trying to do now, being a jock was the only thing I’d ever been good at.