Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 421(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
She nodded, taking in that information. “Yes, I’m staying with my boyfriend who’s doing some research of his own, but I need to call back to the States.”
She glanced down at the clock on her phone. It was almost two thirty, so it was pretty much lunchtime back home. It wouldn’t matter. Someone would answer their line if she could get a call out.
“Well, since they took out all comms a couple of weeks back, this is pretty much it,” the young man said. “I’m Joe, by the way. I’m with the biology department at Stanford.”
“You’re definitely studying biology and not freaking math,” one of his colleagues snarked.
Joe rolled his eyes. “I know how to count. You don’t know how to add. Sorry, we’re doing a study on the sea turtle populations on the island. The man who used to own it put protections in place on the beaches here thirty years ago, and we’re trying to prove that it’s actually changed some of the migratory habits of the animals. But we can’t because someone doesn’t know how to use a calculator.”
It was good to know that boys were the same no matter their professions. She followed the scientist up the short flight of stairs and onto the rooftop lounge. There was a bar and some tables. There was also a barbecue with the most delicious smells coming off it. “This is nice. I was told this place was sketchy.”
“Not at all,” Joe said. “I love this island. I mean, it’s small, but you can get pretty much everything you need. The island is safe. Even with the occasional treasure hunters, there’s almost no crime here. Obviously there are animals out there who will eat you if you give them a chance. There are some big snakes crawling around the interior of this island, but other than that, it’s kind of a paradise. Good food, nice place to stay, friendly people. All in all, I couldn’t have pulled a better job. I have a friend who’s in Antarctica studying penguins. She would kill to be here. The one complaint is how hard it is to get a cell signal.”
She was confused about this. Eddie had told her something had gone wrong with the satellite phone, but Lara had talked about a storm taking out the landline they’d used. “But they have phones out here, right? Or they did?”
Joe nodded. “Sure, but something happened a couple of weeks back.”
“The storm?”
“I mean that’s what they said, but it wasn’t that bad a storm,” Joe replied. “I’ve seen way worse and not had service drop. And it didn’t affect the electricity at all. We’re more used to that happening. I mean we didn’t have a single outage.”
That was odd but not completely incomprehensible. Still, things were starting to not add up, and when it came to something like this, she was good at math. “Where is my best chance at a signal?”
“It’s the far edge. Be careful. There’s no railing.” He pointed to the corner the farthest from the bar. “Most of the time you can get a signal there, but it can drop on you at any moment.”
“Thanks.” She moved over to the corner as music started to float up from down below. It was a soft ballad she didn’t recognize, but the sweet sound made her think of David and how much she’d loved being in his arms.
Who the hell was she? She was not the soft, mushy girl who forgot about her job the minute she got some good dick. The problem was it had been more than good dick. It had been great dick, superlative dick, with a side of mind-drugging intimacy.
She had to stop. Call. She had a call to make, and it wasn’t to a girlfriend to giggle about how nice her night had been. She had most of her team’s numbers in her cell. Wade was likely at Disney World with his family by now, and Kyle was laid up at his mom’s house. She wasn’t about to get Big Tag on the line, so she dialed the number of the person who would probably be the most helpful while also being the least sarcastic.
“Hey, girl. How is Argentina?” MaeBe Vaughn’s sunny voice crackled over the line. “And can I come with you? Because here is not so great. I swear to god if you don’t take that pill I will force it down your throat.”
“Is everything okay?” Tessa could hear a masculine voice complaining in the background.
“I’m here at Sean and Grace’s place bringing the grumpiest man in the world some lunch. He’s supposed to take his meds, but he’s…than the doctor. I do not know how…hasn’t smothered him yet. I got the better…the deal because the cat…better behaved.”
She was dropping in and out. Tessa tried to lean out a bit, and the signal seemed stronger. “Hey, I don’t have much time. Did you get the background check done on the grad student?”