Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
“Good,” he whispered against her ear. “I love the John Bishop stories. He’s a badass.”
She could feel him relax as she began her tale. “He was indeed. So Bishop was late and I started to worry that I was being watched…”
Before she could even get to the good part—the super-bloody part—he was snoring lightly beside her. She cuddled against him and let herself find some sleep.
Chapter Thirteen
“You’re different than I thought you would be,” his companion said.
Josh looked up, smiling at the man sitting across from him in a suite at the Chateau Marmont. It was lunchtime and he was meeting with his new consultant, a lovely table of room service between them.
Tyler Williams was a blandly handsome man somewhere in his mid-forties. He was the kind of man who would blend in depending on the clothes he wore. Put him in a suit and he was a cog in the corporate wheel. Give him jeans and a button-down and Josh could see him in front of a computer coding some new software. He could be everyman, someone’s dad, someone’s happy husband. It was weird to think of this quiet-spoken man as a hardened DEA agent.
Until he started talking, and then the dude knew his shit. It was a little like listening to his Kayla.
His Kayla. Who was back in Malibu, probably showing her dads around town. They were somewhere having brunch together, and damn but he wished he’d been able to go with them. Duty had called. Tyler Williams had made it into town and been willing to meet before he headed to Mexico tomorrow to spend some time with the director. Until Josh got down there next week, this was the only face time he would get with the man.
This was typically the kind of thing Josh lived for. He loved meeting people like Williams and getting under their skin, finding little tics and mannerisms he could use in his characterizations. Sometimes he loved this part of the job as much as the actual acting.
So he should pay attention to Williams instead of thinking of all the dirty things he’d done with his girl this morning.
“I’m not what you expected?” Josh asked. “How so? I’ve found most people have an opinion of me and it can be hard to counteract that. People tend to see what they want to see.”
“Yes, I’ve found that, too,” Williams agreed. “It’s human nature to not look much past the surface of what’s going on around us. In some ways it’s a defense mechanism. If you don’t understand what’s going on, you don’t have to feel bad about not stopping it.”
Like a sullen boy being dragged from a car into the house. From the outside, it would have looked like nothing more than a harried parent trying to deal with his demon spawn of a child.
No one wanted to see what had happened to him. How would they handle the mere fact that it had happened to him? Should he show his true self or let the world believe he was nothing more than blessed with a pretty face and the right ties to the business? “So what’s under my surface?”
Williams sat back, an iced tea in his hand. “You smile more than I thought you would. I’ve done some research on you in the last couple of weeks. You’re a very serious man. You don’t tend to come off as this friendly in interviews.”
He winced. He was going to have to work on his reputation. “I might have some issues with reporters. It’s hard to be open around them when they can use anything you say against you. Though I have to admit you’re not who I thought you would be either. Tough as nails DEA agents don’t typically order tofu burgers.”
A brilliant smile crossed the man’s face. “Oh, they would if they had my cholesterol. And my wife’s love for all things with a face.”
“That’s a lot to do for love.” Thank god Kay was a carnivore.
“I’d rather face down a mountain of tofu than a single reporter,” Williams admitted. “I’ve always been very private. It would bug me.”
“Oh, it bugs me. It bugs me every day, all the time. It’s why I don’t talk about myself a lot, and it’s probably why I don’t smile. Not that I’m some happy-go-lucky guy. Never have been. My girlfriend would say I’m a brooder. I can be a little paranoid, but I’m in a good relationship right now. It kind of changes the way you look at things. I guess it’s kind of my first good relationship.”
It was absolutely the first time in his life he trusted a woman he was sleeping with. He’d trusted Tina, but that had been a different kind of relationship. This was full-on, musical-worthy romance. And he was the dipshit almost ready to break into song. Of course, the song would be about blackmail and human trafficking, so it would be on the dark side, but Kay could handle it.