Love Delayed Read Online Free PDF Page A

for your contractual obligations, sir,” Jeffery eagerly and efficiently advised.
    Stenton nodded stiffly, but his eyes never left mine. I scrambled inside the ice box of the bar because the glare he was giving made me uncomfortable. I randomly pulled out a Lemon Lime flavored G Endurance Formula and handed it to him. If I wasn’t so perceptive, I would have missed the flash of his quizzical gaze.
    “Electrolytes,” I croaked out. “To help maintain your fluid balance and regulate muscle contractions .” I nodded towards the Olajuwon guy, who was waiting with his hands on his high hips. “You need it, right?”
    When my eyes returned to Stenton, I watched as his heart-shaped lips slowly twitched into a smile. He took the bottle from me, opened it and turned to walk away as he gulped from it.
    “Good job, Elizabeth!” Jeffery gushed as he patted me on the shoulder before walking away. I let out a long sigh of relief.
    What a close call.
    After the guys were done a few hours later, we got invited to lunch. Well, it was more like Angela got us an invitation to a diner not too far from the country club after we “happened” upon Stenton Rogers and Alton Alston coming out of the locker.
    Angela had me drive so that she could reapply her makeup on our five-minute ride there. As we sat in the car and waited for them in the parking lot at Angela’s insistence, feeling self-conscious about not being duteous about my appearance, I checked my long-wear MAC lipglass that my sister, Ruth, had let me borrow and saw it still glistened, even if less glossy than this morning. I was starving and wanted to eat.
    “I wonder how big he is,” Angela mused as I pushed back my cuticles with my fingernail. “If he’s small, I won’t tell him, but damn, I’ll be disappointed.” She twisted in the passenger seat to face me. “You ever heard of pencil dick men? Girl, I had one or two in my day. They are the worst—or maybe the thick but short ones. Those don’t make it past your lips.” She let out a frustrated groan. “I don’t know which is worse. God, please just let him be big.”
    I snorted and shook my head as I continued with my nails.
    Finally, they pulled up. I was tired of hearing about what Angela wanted to do to Stenton Rogers in bed and guess whether she ’d get the opportunity that night. We got out of the car and walked up to the Jeep Wrangler they pulled up in. The guys were still piling out of the truck. They were with three other big, meaty men, one carrying a camera.
    “What’s with the camera?” I toss ed over to Angela.
    “You don’t hear them talking on the courts?”
    I shook my head.
    “It’s for a documentary they’re doing on Alton,” she explained.
    Great. Another reason I don’t need to be here!
    We continued toward the restaurant behind the guys. I couldn’t help but steal a glance at Stenton, who was on the phone; his tats were so loud. He wore a gray tank with blue stripes stretched across, cargo shorts, and Jordan s. I noticed he put on a netted baseball cap hat he turned to the back, and brown gradient Ray Bans with lenses looking extremely conspicuous. 
    Alton addressed us, “Oh, y’all made it to eat, huhn?” he jeered, holding his crotch. He did that a lot. “That’s one thing you could offer college kids: give their asses food and they will dance!” He and one of the beefy guys laughed loudly.
    We paced behind them into the restaurant and already, I was ready to bail. I didn’t want to lose my cool with the Alton guy. I hated the king of wisecracks type. They hurt feelings. They led us straight to the back to a large circular booth and as we ambled back there, one of the guys yelled over to the waitress by name. I saw how she immediately made her way to the back, picking up menus along the way.
    As we sat, I heard Riha nna’s track, “Music of the Sun” streaming from the speakers. It was growing on me; a reggae feel. We were seated all of twenty seconds before the