Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 66431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66431 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
“Doesn’t ring a bell,” she replies. “Wait. Of course, it does. She’s the one you had the appointment with. I don’t know her, though. I hear she’s new at Williams Productions. Did you hate her? Because from the look on your face, you don’t like her.”
“What’s the look on my face?”
“Surly,” she says, tilting her head to the side as she thinks about it. Her black, curly hair bounces with the motion, and she covers her mouth with her hand as she chews. “And a little pinched. Don’t do that, it’s not a good look.”
“I don’t hate her,” I reply and reach for a rib, taking a bite.
“No, he definitely doesn’t hate her,” Jamal says, shaking his head. “You dog. He already hit that.”
“What?” Kelly demands and stares back and forth between us. “How do you know? How does he know?”
I just stare at my best friend as he bites into a rib and shakes his head at me.
“What the fuck?”
“Hey, man, the baby.” Jamal winces and drops the clean rib bone onto his plate. “She’s picking up more words now, so we don’t swear around her.”
“You don’t swear?” I grin. “My friend, the famous football player, who I know better than anyone in the world, doesn’t swear? Yeah, good luck with that.”
Jamal’s played ball in Seattle for three years, so he and Kelly settled up here. I love spending time in the Pacific Northwest, so I’m in Seattle whenever I can swing it. And Kelly can do most of her work for me remotely anyway. She can badger me just as easily over the phone as she does in person.
“Don’t be an ass,” Jamal says. “I mean, a jerk.”
I snort, and Kelly narrows her eyes on her husband before turning back to me. “Stop changing the subject. Did you or didn’t you sleep with her?”
“There was no sleeping involved.”
“Vaughn Barrymore,” she says sternly.
“Now you sound like my nanny.” I sigh and shrug a shoulder. “I fu—hit that.”
“Dude, you just can’t keep it in your pants,” Jamal says.
“I can keep it in my pants,” I say dryly. “You can’t just sleep around in this business. It becomes everyone’s business. I don’t know what it was about her.”
Okay, that’s a fucking lie. I know exactly what it was.
Long, thick hair that felt like silk in my hands.
Big, green eyes that I could get fucking lost in.
A body that begs for my hands, and tits unlike any I’ve ever seen before.
Jesus, just thinking about her gets me hard.
“But she’s a pain in the ass,” I continue. “She’s got a sassy mouth on her. And she’s a little…bitchy.”
“Seriously?” Jamal asks and looks meaningfully at the baby.
“It’s the only word I had, man.”
“So, it was just one and done?” Kelly demands and adds a spoonful of mashed potatoes to the baby’s tray. “Won’t that be awkward when you have to go in for fittings and stuff?”
Shit, I hadn’t thought about that.
And I hate the idea of being done with her.
Even if she does make me want to spank her ass because of her attitude.
“I’m going to need you to make sure my schedule’s clear every evening for the next two weeks,” I inform Kelly, who raises a perfect eyebrow.
“Why?”
“Because, apparently, I’m a masochist,” I reply. “I don’t think there’s much going on anyway.”
“Only dinners and parties and appearances,” she says and looks as if she wants to quit on me. “I can get you out of most of it, but you can’t miss the dinner in LA next week. You’re speaking, and we committed to it six months ago.”
“Okay, just cancel the rest then.”
“Done.”
“You’re gonna keep hitting that, aren’t you?” Jamal says with a wide smile. “You like the sassy girl.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna see her some more. And decide if I like her.”
“Maybe she doesn’t like you, and I’ll be canceling all of these plans for nothing.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll enjoy some quiet time, won’t I?”
“If that’s the case,” Kelly says while shaking her head, “you’ll let me know so I can reschedule some of it. You have a movie to promote, a documentary about your family to comment on, and a whole host of things that you already know about. You don’t get to just go on vacation for the next two weeks, Vaughn.”
“You’re not the boss of me.”
Jamal tosses his head back and laughs like a damn loon. “Yeah, she is. She’s the boss of all of us.”
“That’s right,” Kelly says with satisfaction. “I am. And it’s a good thing, too, because you two would be lost without me.”
“How do you manage it?” I ask her.
“Black girl magic,” she says with a toss of her bouncy curls.
I open my mouth, but Jamal shakes his head. “Don’t argue, man. Just don’t.”
The game is on. I’m a big Lakers fan and usually have courtside seats when I’m in town. Tonight, I have to settle for the monster TV in the media room of the Seattle house.