Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Fuck it. The guy was an asshole and the letters had been threatening enough to worry me. “I’ll take the case free-of-charge, Sam. The threats worry me, and I wouldn’t want Mr. Gentry’s safety to be at risk due to a budgeting issue.”
Michael Gentry’s mouth opened and then snapped shut as he glared at me. Clearly, my declaration wasn’t something he had prepared to argue against. If I hadn’t been so pissed at myself for volunteering, I would have found his ‘fish’ mouth funny. As it was, I was pretty pissed at myself. My own son needed me…even if Arizona didn’t realize it at the moment. I couldn’t help but worry about him, though. I’d babied him and spoiled him ridiculously his entire life, trying to make up for not having a mother. Whatever the hell was going on or had gone on between Ari and Eli was something I needed to know more about, yet here I was, volunteering for a babysitting job to a pretty boy.
And, holy fuck, he was pretty.
Way too pretty.
So damn pretty that it was hard to look away from his chiseled face, lean frame, and sky-blue eyes that looked as sweet and innocent as an angel sent straight from Heaven. I’d become so accustomed to Ari’s snarky attitude and sassy mouth that it was a breath of fresh air to see someone so young behave as maturely as Micah did. Yes, he was bored with the conversation, but he didn’t huff and puff like Ari did when he was forced to sit in company meetings. Hell, Ari’s meeting behavior wasn’t as bad as Baker’s, though. That poor man couldn’t sit in a twenty-minute meeting without busting out his phone for a quick game of some sort. Seth finally stopped him from attending and promised to bring him up to speed on whatever we discussed.
Finally, Daddy Gentry’s eyes narrowed as he stared at me. “What’s in it for you?” He looked me up and down—best he could with me seated across from him—and spat out, “Sure, you’re fit and look good, but you’re way too old for the industry. If you think you’re going to catch some popularity on Micah’s name, you’ve got another think coming.” He sent an evil smile in my direction. “Your ship has already sailed.”
Ouch. If I gave one fuck about what Michael Gentry thought, that might have hurt my feelings. I was only thirty-fucking-nine years old and kept my body in damn good shape. Realization dawned on me and I couldn’t stop the words from tumbling from my mouth, even if my life had depended on it. “Perhaps, but at least I’m not trying to swim along my kid’s ship in hopes of basking in his success. I can only imagine how hard it must be to have once been one of the most popular male models in the world…only to lose that title to your son. That really sucks, man. I’m really feeling your pain.”
Micah’s mother choked on her laughter and Samantha kicked me under the table. Micah, for his part, kept his face completely neutral. His eyes were downcast, like he refused to be baited into an argument that might cause him to choose sides between his parents. I couldn’t help but wonder how many times he’d been in this position—being pulled like a fucking dog toy between two poodles…yes, poodles. Glancing between the three of them, this was the first time in my life that I was thankful my wife had disappeared from the hospital after giving birth to Arizona. She had deserted us, but her desertion had kept something like this freak show from taking place.
For the millionth time, I asked myself where she was. Why had she left? I had little doubt that leaving me hadn’t been a tough decision, but how could she have left her son? Our son? He was perfect and she’d left him all alone in a maternity ward—gone before I could even get there and deliver the bouquet of roses I’d brought to her. According to the nurses, gone before she ever touched our son. Just…gone.
“Are we finished here?”
A husky and incredibly sexy voice interrupted my thoughts. Ah, so he speaks…and the voice is as sexy as the man. Fuck. This assignment was going to be even tougher than I’d thought. He might be nineteen years younger than me, but I was a healthy bisexual man that, unfortunately, lusted after beautiful things.
“No, we aren’t finished. I still haven’t decided if this is something you need, Micah. I need more time to…”
“Father, it isn’t that big of a deal and, contrary to what you mentioned earlier, another bodyguard is definitely in the budget.” He looked toward me and then Samantha. “I reviewed the contracts you faxed me earlier and only have a few minor adjustments that I’d like for you to approve. Once you do that, I’ll gladly sign the paperwork.” He pulled some folded papers from his backpack, looked over them for a few seconds, and then added a few more written lines in the middle of the document. Once he was finished, he slid them across the table toward Samantha. “I have to be across town for a fitting in twenty-two minutes.” He stood up, scooped up his backpack, and headed toward the door. “Thank you for your generous offer, Mr. Honeycutt, but I’m quite capable of covering your fees. Mom, I’ll see you before your flight leaves. Good to see you again, Samantha. Father, please don’t give them any more grief.”