The Bookworm's Guide to Dating (The Bookworm's Guide 1)

He fought a smile. “Do I want to know?”

“No. Probably not,” I said honestly. “It’s a long and slightly alarming story.”

He laughed, and I had to admit, it was a nice laugh.

You know. If you measured laughs.

Was there a laughter scale? If not, why not? Surely there had to be parameters for what made a good laugh, a good laugh.

“You work for the Montana Bears?” I asked after a moment of awkward silence. “As a physical therapist?”

“That’s right. I actually used to play baseball, but I was in a car crash when I was fourteen and suffered some pretty bad injuries that put an end to my dreams of going pro.”

“Oh, that sucks. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I grew close to my own therapist, and through him, grew to love and respect what he did and decided to follow a similar path. I’m lucky I get to work with my boyhood team.” His smile said he meant it. “There’s a lot of travel involved, but I don’t mind it.”

“Do you travel a lot?”

“A fair amount, but not as much as some of the others on the team. I’m mostly based here and deal with players who’ve had an injury and are rehabbing at home.”

“Cool. Anyone I might know?”

“Depends. Do you follow baseball?”

“Not at all.” I laughed.

He bit back a laugh of his own. “Our pitcher just injured his shoulder, so I’m working out a recovery plan for him right now. Sebastian is getting surgery next week, and he’ll probably be out for all of next season unless he has a miraculous recovery.”

I paused. “Did you say Sebastian?”

“Yeah. Sebastian Stone. I bet you’ve heard of him.”

“You could say that. We went to school together.”

Elliott’s eyebrows shot up. “No kidding.”

I nodded slowly. “We used to be pretty good friends. He was really close with one of my best friends, Holley.”

“Like a relationship?”

“Oh, no. Just really close friends.” Even if Holley had been half in love with him when we were teenagers—and given how that friendship had ended, I wasn’t going to tell her about his injury. “So he’s out all season?”

“The doctors seem to think so. He’ll probably come home to do his rehab since I’m here anyway.”

Yikes. Maybe I would be telling Holley. The last thing I needed was her on my ass if she found out I knew he was coming home.

“Cool.” I smiled.

“You’re not really interested in sports, are you?”

I shook my head. “I hike the trails when the tourists aren’t around, but that’s mostly just an excuse to listen to audiobooks.”

He laughed, and our conversation devolved into what was, admittedly, a completely comfortable discussion. We covered everything from his favorite books to our favorite movies, and we only stopped talking when our food was delivered.

Of course, that was when I became acutely aware of the eyes pinned to my back. I didn’t need to turn around to know there were four pairs of eyes trained my way, maybe five if Saylor had grabbed Tori. I doubted that because she was building a new website for a client, but I wasn’t going to turn around and let Elliott know we were being watched.

Especially by my brother.CHAPTER TWELVE – JOSHrule twelve: your dating life is not a romance novel trope.“I don’t like him.”

Holley rolled her eyes as she looked at Colt. “You’re only saying that because she’s your sister.”

“Why the fuck am I here?”

“Because we wanted to spy on her and didn’t want to make it obvious,” Saylor answered honestly, sipping her vodka and cranberry juice through the straw. Her gaze was focused solely on the table where Kinsley and Elliott were sitting, and I was glad I had my back to them.

I didn’t want to see her.

If I’d known she was here on a date with the guy she’d told me she didn’t like, I never would have come.

Although, judging by the way Saylor kept glancing at me, I think she knew that.

I didn’t know how she knew that, but she was smart as a whip, and I was seriously starting to think that she suspected I had feelings for Kinsley.

I didn’t know where she’d gotten the idea, but here I was—wondering when she was going to spit it out.

“They seem like they’re getting along,” Holley said, capturing her own straw between her lips. “Better than the other guy, anyway.”

“That’s hardly competition,” Saylor replied, never looking away from them.

I wasn’t going to turn around. I wasn’t going to turn around. I was not going to turn around.

I fucking turned around.

Kinsley’s back was to us, but there was no denying that she was having a good time. Her dark hair hung down her back in loose waves, and she shook it out while she laughed at something he’d said.

“Thought you said she didn’t like the latest guy,” Colton said, nudging me. “Don’t tell me she’s finding dates on her own.”