Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 26557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 106(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
“What could happen to me here? There’s, like, a thousand people and a hundred bodyguards.”
He gets that annoyed, charged look and I swallow a stuttering breath. “Just don’t wander. We’re going to get a table down there. That one.” He points where two black-suited hulks are standing, arms crossed, keeping anyone else at the party from sitting at a circular glass table in the all-white living room space below.
“You know the rules. Out here, beyond the walls of our home, you are always with a guard or with me. Or Davis. No exceptions.”
I nod, wondering how I am going to pull off my plan for tonight if I can’t get some distance between us.
“Yes, Daddy,” I say, turning into a puddle as the words slip from my lips.
What was supposed to be a bit of a bratty, sarcastic counter to his protective commands, instead turns his eyes dark. His hand loops around my wrist, the only contact we’ve had outside of my awkward attempts at physical contact since he shook my hand the day we met.
My insides tighten like springs as electricity buzzes up my arm from where his grip tightens. Even Davis is staring at him, the tension bucking hard between us as I whimper and fight the urge to press myself against him as his scent swirls deeper and deeper into my core
As fast as he grabbed me, he releases, and all three of us exhale as Cade’s attention is drawn by his buzzing phone.
Tears prick hot in my eyes as he shoots me a last look, then points down at the table. “You have ten minutes. If you’re not down there checking in with me in ten minutes, I’m coming to find you.”
Moisture floods my panties as Davis gives me a shrug and Cade steps backward, his eyes on my shoes as he takes a call.
“Ten minutes,” Davis repeats next to my ear. “I’ll stall him best I can. Have some fun, but be careful. This gold-plated diamond studded world is a minefield.”
I force a smile, spin on the toe of my Reebok and dash down the stairs, hoping ten minutes is enough.
CHAPTER 2
Cade
I squeeze my temples until I swear I hear my skull crack.
“You remember the last time we were sitting here?” Davis drums his fingers on the top of the glass table as I fill my lungs until they ache, then nod.
“Yes. The best and worst day of my life.”
He chuckles, half-squinting with a curious smile. “Interesting.”
We’ve been friends xxyears. He’s my partner at the agency the only other person on the planet I trust. I let him mentor Lennie when she came to me and asked to train as an agent.
I can’t refuse her anything, but I asked Davis to be her mentor and not let her out of his fucking sight.
She tried. Goddamn, it hurt my heart she tried so hard. But she doesn’t have that inner hunger for the business. I’m glad she doesn’t. The ruthlessness is beneath the surface but it’s there. I don’t want her corrupted by it. Still, I let her continue, because it’s what she wanted. Even set her up with a few ‘clients’. Actresses I hired to do just that, act.
Only, God bless my babygirl, she is so bad at being an agent, she couldn’t even get the contracts signed when it was all spoon fed to her.
Anyway, Davis has taken it all in stride, keeping her close and doing what he always does. Watching my back.
He and I met the day we both made it to LA to chase our dreams of the silver screen. Turns out, that life wasn’t really for us, but we forged a friendship in the hardships of those first years that is a bond that will never break.
He’s had my back in ways no one else will ever know and I owe him my life. Literally.
“Fuck, man.” I roll the Cubano in my fingers, the smoke drifting into the thirty feet of open air above while a crew of actress model types glance my way, working their way closer. “What have we been doing all these years? All the work, what’s it been for, really?”
Davis swallows, considering me for a moment while the group of females throw glances my way, whispering and posing, but they are background noise at best.
“You having an existential crisis, brother?” Davis sniffs, then takes a puff of his cigar. “Not like you, but you haven’t been like you for a year. I know Lilith was a friend, but didn’t think it would hit you this hard.”
“She was a friend. Just a friend. You are the one that put me here. You called in your favor big time, bro.”
He nods as my gut twists, tension behind my eyes sending bolts of pain deep into my brain.
“Three years ago you agreed to the biggest PR marriage of the decade. Now, you’ve got a stepdaughter and a society that sees you as the grieving husband. Sorry, man, wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.”