Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
“Of course, you can,” Lotus says, her tone indulgent. “Honey, you take all the time you like, but I need to know by Tuesday.”
I can’t help but laugh. Yeah, this whole experience might be worth the risk.
Chapter Seven
Naz
“So let me get this straight,” August says, leaning against the rail and looking out over the turquoise water of the Mediterranean. “You meet this girl Takira…what? Twice? And somehow persuade Lotus to invite her on Kenan’s birthday cruise as your plus one, but you never actually asked Takira to be your plus one?”
“That’s about right, yeah.” I lean on the rail, too, between him and Jared Foster, my agent’s husband.
“I like it,” August’s brother Jared says, crunching ice between his teeth and swirling the drink in his glass.
“You would,” August shoots back.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jared frowns.
“Dude, you’re intense,” I offer wryly, not sure how I feel about the comparison to Jared who is known around the League as a shark. “Especially about Banner and your daughter.”
“I think that’s what they call being a family man,” Jared defends himself.
“Or sociopath,” August counters. “I’ve heard both.”
Two brothers couldn’t be more different. Technically, they’re stepbrothers, which accounts for their physical differences—August with dark, curly hair and golden-brown skin juxtaposed against Jared’s blond hair and blue eyes. It’s the differences in temperament that are most striking. August is a fierce competitor on the court. He has to be as the Waves’ team captain once Kenan retired, but he’s patient and has a well-earned reputation as one of the nicest guys in the League.
Jared Foster? Different story. One of the most cutthroat agents in the business, he’s your classic alpha male. But the dude met his match in my agent, Banner. She’s one of the best around, but kind with it. Her reputation as the rookie whisperer was in part what led me to sign with her when I entered the League. Jared was definitely on my list. It worked out, though, because now they own an agency together.
“I’m just saying,” Jared continues, the light, warm breeze lifting his hair. “When something or someone is worth wanting, like for real, you go after it…after her. I have a lot of regrets.”
He closes one eye and squints up at the cerulean sky for a second.
“Actually. Scratch that. I don’t have many regrets,” he corrects. “That shit’s a waste of time, but of the few regrets I do have, going after Banner with every breath in my body is not one of them. And look what you get.”
He pulls out his phone and flips through pics of him and Banner with their daughter, Angela, who is the spitting image of her mother. The three of them are in a swimming pool, and Jared has a giggling Angela hoisted up in the air above his head.
“Thank God Banner had mercy on you and married your ass.” August laughs. “No one else would put up with your shit.”
Jared’s smile fades, but the chiseled lines of his face soften as he stares down at the phone. “Yeah, she was pretty much my one shot.”
He angles a look up at me, the softness gone and the usual determined set of his mouth locking in place. “Moral of the story,” he says. “When you really want something, pursue.”
“Hearing the word ‘moral’ coming from your mouth,” August says, “just feels wrong somehow.”
“Fuck you,” Jared retorts, slipping the phone back into his pocket.
“That’s more like it.” August whacks the back of Jared’s head and, with an eye roll, Jared yields a grin.
Yeah, they’re brothers.
“She’s flying in with Kenan and Lotus?” August asks, looking out over the startlingly blue water and the boats of varying sizes bobbing along its surface.
“Yeah.” I glance at my watch. “Their plane was supposed to land like thirty minutes ago. They should be boarding soon.”
“When I turn forty,” August says, flipping around to prop his elbows on the rail and survey the huge deck we’re standing on, “remind me to do it on a super yacht with all my friends.”
“This thing is massive,” I agree. The sun suspended in a cloudless sky glints off the abundance of chrome and the polished wood of the upper deck. “The captain told me it’s three hundred-feet long, has six decks, a hammam spa, a twenty-foot pool, and a hot tub.”
“There’s a helideck,” Jared chimes in. “And a screening room. This isn’t the first yacht I’ve been on, but it’s for damn sure the best.”
“It’s like a million a week to charter,” August adds. “But Kenan says you only turn forty once.”
“He’s setting the bar high,” I say, taking in the musical fountain on the deck below.
“Yeah, he is.” Jared glances at his phone. “Hey, I gotta go. Banner needs me. Probably for sex.”
“That’s my agent,” I grimace. “I don’t need to know that shit.”