Free The First Time Again: The Braddock Brotherhood, Book 3 by Barbara Meyers Page A

weeds. Until I get some PT, I’m sort of useless because of my knee.”
    “And your shoulder,” Baylee pointed out. She took another sip of coffee. “What’d you do to it anyway?”
    “Threw one too many passes. Got sacked one too many times. Played one too many games.” Trey shrugged. He reached up and dug his fingers into the shoulder muscle one more time, then gave an exaggerated shrug and tilted his head from side to side to loosen his neck muscles. “Sometimes it hits me if I move the wrong way, or pick up something from the wrong angle.”
    “Maybe you need a massage,” Baylee suggested.
    His eyes lit up. “Are you offering?”
    She hesitated. “Not for the happy ending you’re probably expecting. Plus, my rates go up.”
    “A happy ending for me these days is pain relief. Period. Even if it’s temporary.”
    Baylee shrugged. She got up from her chair and came to stand behind him. “Want to show me where it hurts?”
    Trey dug his fingers into the shoulder again. “Right. There.”
    She put her fingers where his were, and he dropped his hand.
    “Okay.” She dug in with her thumbs. Trey groaned.
    “Did I get it?” she asked, pleased with his reaction in spite of herself.
    “Oh, yeah. Right there. Harder.”
    “I don’t want to hurt you.” Still she dug into the knot of muscle as hard as she could, first with both thumbs and then with her knuckles.
    “You can’t hurt me.”
    Wanna bet?

Chapter Seven
    Baylee wriggled around on the lumpy daybed mattress until she could reach the shelf above her head. She found what she wanted immediately and pulled it down with one hand. She pushed the curtains aside and lay back on the pillow. A shake of the snow globe sent the lavender-tinted glitter swirling. Gently, she wound the silver key on the side and listened to the childish voices singing “It’s a Small World.”
    When the glitter settled she shook the globe again, entranced by Cinderella’s gabled castle and the tiny figures gathered in the settling snow around it. She liked to pretend she was there, in the fortress of such a magical castle, where nothing could hurt her. She’d live a fairy-tale life, complete with a charming prince and a happily ever after at the end.
    The thought always made her smile, although lately the only part of any fairy tale she lived most days was Cinderella’s drudgery.
    She’d acquired the snow globe during a family vacation to Disney World. Baylee had a blurry memory of a long car ride during a particularly hot summer and a couple of nights in a no-frills motel room. Her parents shared one queen bed and she and Lisa were in the other. Meals were unexpected treats from fast food joints.
    It was the only time they ever vacationed as a family. When they arrived at the Magic Kingdom and Baylee got her first glimpse of the castle, she’d been absolutely mesmerized. She’d stared at the panes of glass in the window, the turrets and the towers as they approached en masse. She’d been disappointed to discover there was little to the interior, at least little that was accessible to her. Her imagination filled in what it looked like inside. Plush cushions, a fireplace, a purple bedroom with a canopy bed. A home fit for the princess she would be some day.
    Even now, the thought made Baylee smile. Not being a princess didn’t mean she couldn’t dream. She couldn’t wait to escape not only this house but this town with its gossiping tongues and pointing fingers.
    Soon she’d leave the past and her disappointments behind, and Trey Christopher was going to help her do it. Her smile widened. The job with him was going to bump her finances considerably.
    She’d already planned her escape. Orlando, Florida, or bust.
     
     
    Two mornings later Trey leaned against the door of the dining room and sipped his coffee. The last thing he wanted to do was sit behind his makeshift desk and go through everything he’d allowed to accumulate on top of it. He didn’t see as how he had