Dropping The Ball - A New Year’s Billionaire Romance - Weston Parker Page 0,30
do it to the very best of my ability. I refused to let something happen to her on my watch, even if it did mean losing my sanity in the process.
When I walked into the kitchen, she shot me such a hopeful smile that I decided it would be worth it even if it ended up really killing me. It’s an occupational hazard anyway, I guess.
“He gave us the okay,” I said, accepting the mug she held out to me.
She broke out into the widest grin I’d seen from her yet, then held up her own mug to clink against mine. “I guess we’re in business. You ready for lunch with my manager in a bit, boyfriend? He’s going to love you.”
“Jules, right?” I blew at the steam rising from the surface of my coffee, watching it scatter as I tried to recall what I already knew about him. “He provided us with some information on himself for our background checks.”
“Background checks?” Her voice rose several octaves. “Did you do one on me?”
“Not yet. Bart will probably ask you to sign the papers soon. We would’ve gotten it all done before, but there was no time.”
“Right.” She took a tiny sip of the scalding liquid, but she didn’t even seem to notice how hot it was. “Could we just talk instead? I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
“A thorough check will reveal things I won’t even think about to ask and you won’t necessarily consider relevant enough to volunteer,” I said. “But sure. It’s a start. Let’s talk.”
“We have to meet Jules in an hour. Should we get ready to go and talk on the way?”
I nodded. “Let me go get changed. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Finishing my coffee while getting ready for my first official fake date with Rylee and my first real task as her bodyguard, I skipped the suit I’d usually have worn in favor of a pair of jeans and a leather jacket. She was already at the door when I walked down the stairs, and I saw the onceover she was pretending not to be giving me.
I smirked, holding my arms out to my sides. “Think I’ll pass as your boyfriend in this?”
“Uh huh.” She nodded with a vacant expression in her eyes before spinning around and plucking a set of keys off the side table. “Let’s go.”
We decided to walk the few blocks to the restaurant where we were meeting her manager. I wasn’t a fan of the idea, but she insisted she’d been walking since she’d moved to the city and nothing had ever happened to her.
“I looked you up before I took the assignment,” I said once we’d joined the throngs of rushing pedestrians on the sidewalk.
“Ahh, the might of the mighty internet.” Surprisingly, she didn’t look angry or even annoyed about the fact that I’d researched her. If anything, she seemed amused by it. “Why don’t you start with telling me what you already know, and I’ll fill in whatever gaps there are?”
There were a lot of gaps, but in the spirit of our agreement to at least try talking as opposed to a formal background check, I nodded. “I know you’re highly regarded as an actress on Broadway. You’ve been compared to the likes of some of the biggest stars there have ever been.”
She chuckled, lifting one shoulder as if it was no big deal. “I’ve caught some lucky breaks. That’s all it is.”
“That’s all it is? You promised to tell me whatever I wanted to know, right? I thought that implied you’d be honest with me.” I gave her shoulder a light bump with my own before I stopped to consider how flirty the move would come across as. Whatever. I’m supposed to be her boyfriend right now anyway. “This isn’t going to work if you keep trying to be humble and modest.”
“I am humble and modest,” she protested but there was laughter in her eyes when she glanced up at me. “I get your point, though. So yes, I have been compared to some of the greats. I don’t think the comparisons were fair or always accurate, but I have a good voice, and I do resemble some of the people I’ve been compared to.”
“That’s better. Thank you.” I kept a keen eye on our surroundings but nothing jumped out at me. “You seemed to love what you do, and then suddenly, you were gone. What have you been up to these last couple years?”