by Jon Bradbury
She smiled. “Mr. Humphries?”
“Yeah.”
“Hi, I’m Clarice Carter. Danielle sent me to pick you up.”
“Right. Nice to meet you.” I stuck my hand out.
She took it, gently. “It’s nice to meet you, too. Is that all your stuff?”
“Yeah. That’s all of it.” I tried to pick it all up again and ran out of hands.
“Here, let Mitchell carry some of it for you, honey. We’ve got a car ready to take you to the house.”
“Not a hotel?”
“Nope. Danielle says that will make it easier for you to concentrate on your work if you don’t have to worry about getting to and from every day.”
“Sounds good to me. Lead on, Miss Carter.”
She giggled, a cute little tinkle of laughter. “Come on.” We started walking. “How was the train ride?”
“Pretty boring, actually. I fell asleep.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet. I’ve had to ride the train, too. Not very exciting.”
We arrived at the car, an elegant but sedate sedan with a spit-shined black paint job and shiny chrome accents. Mitchell set about loading my luggage in the trunk, then Clarice and I got in the back and he started driving for wherever the hell we were going.
Clarice said, “You must be pretty excited, huh?”
“I’ve never been to Los Angeles, so yeah, I’m definitely excited.”
“Well, we are very happy to have you working with us. We need your help.”
“I’ll be happy to do whatever I can.”
We kept conversing the whole time, right up until we drove past a gated entrance and in to the grounds, then pulled up to a huge white beach house. I must have been goggling.
Clarice said, “Don’t worry, I’ll show you around.”
I looked at her. “That would be a good idea.”
“No problem, Mr. Humphries.”
“Jeff.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Please, call me Jeff. Mr. Humphries was my Dad.”
“Okay, Jeff. As I was saying, don’t worry, I’ll show you around.”
Looking out the car window again, I just said, “Right.”
“Oh, Jeff? Since we’re on a first name basis, call me Clarice.”
“Okay, Clarice.”
A few minutes later, I was following Clarice inside, followed in turn by Mitchell.
A few more minutes after that, after climbing a flight of stairs, I was in what Clarice called the guest bedroom, which didn’t begin to describe it.
As I came in, there was a single queen bed in the far corner, with a night stand next to it, and a reading lamp. Against the right-hand wall, was a dresser. There was a television on the wall above the dresser. Flat panel. High definition. Cool. Built into the wall directly on the left, across from the bed, was a closet. The ceiling sloped down. Over where the bed was, I could practically reach out and touch the ceiling. A square patch of sunlight shone through the window, reflecting off the polished hardwood floor. I could almost reach right out and touch the ocean. Below me, a huge swimming pool and patio was in the back yard. The pool looked especially inviting.
Clarice came in to the room, heels clicking on the hardwood floor. God, that was a sexy sound. “I hope this room will do, Jeff.”
I turned to look at her. “Yes, Clarice, this room will do quite well, thank you.”
She smiled. “Good. Why don’t you leave your things in here while I show you the rest of the house? Mitchell, put his things on the bed, would you, please?”
“Sure, Clarice.”
I followed Clarice to the other side of the room. It was becoming quite hard, uh, difficult, to concentrate on what she was saying, because her ass looked extremely attractive under that tight-fitting blue skirt she wore.
There was a sudden tightness in my groin.
With difficulty, I tore my eyes away from Clarice’s beautiful butt, and made an attempt to pay attention.
“Just through this connecting door is the bathroom. As you can see, it’s got a nice big shower stall and a bathtub if you want to take a bath.”
Vaguely, I said, “Cool.”
She suddenly stopped and turned around, and I nearly collided with her. “Are you alright, Jeff?”
I swallowed. “Uh, yeah, Clarice, I’m fine.”
She smiled mischievously. “Well, let’s try to concentrate, okay?”
Sheepishly, I said, “Yeah. Thanks.”
Clarice turned, left the room and started walking back down the hallway again, and down a short flight of stairs. “As I was saying, if you go back down these stairs, you’ll find the kitchen.”
“Cool.” I carefully kept my line of sight away from her butt as she resumed walking, her heels making that sexy metronome-like sound again. Shit, she was hot.
We finally made it into the kitchen, where several people were seated at the huge dining table, obviously waiting for me.
A husky yet melodious female voice said, “Ah, he’s here.”
The owner of that voice came up to me. She was about as tall as I was, although that was due to the patent-leather open-toed pumps she wore, with a brown skirt, and a red short sleeved top with a diving neck-line. She looked as if she was cast from milk chocolate. Slim arms and legs, heart-stopping curves, and lustrous black hair that cascaded past her shoulders in sensuous curls. Her eyes were like pools of root beer. Her skin glowed. The smile was bright and white, nearly incandescent.
Clarice stepped next to me. “Jeff Humphries, I’d like you to meet recording artist and model Danielle Evans.”
Chapter Four
Danielle
Oh. My. God. He’s perfect! Just perfect.
He was five-eight, short for a man but just my size. Short wheat blond hair. Brown eyes that caught the light just right. A slender build. Not exactly an Adonis. But perfect, just the same!
He wore a button-down shirt, light grey with dark grey pinstripes, the top two buttons undone, over a light grey t-shirt, with rumpled khaki cargo pants, and big white sneakers. I so badly wanted to run my candy-apple red glamour-length fingernails through his hair! I wanted to rip off all his clothes! Oooohhh, shit!
And then suddenly I was walking towards him and Clarice was saying, “Danielle, this is Jeff Humphries.”
I made myself extend my hand towards him. He took it. I wrapped my slender brown fingers around his hand and tried not to notice the pleasant contrast between skin tones.
I said, “It’s nice to meet you, Jeff.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too, Miss Evans.”
“No, Jeff, please call me Danielle. All my people get to call me Danielle.”
He smiled, making lines appear on his face. “Okay, Danielle.”
Darryl got up from the table and stood next to me. I said, “Jeff, please allow me to introduce you to everybody. You’ve met Clarice, of course. This is my agent, Darryl Strawberry. Darryl, this is Jeff.”
Jeff stuck his hand out. Darryl took it. Strong handshake. Single crisp nod. Darryl said, “Nice to meet you, sir.”
Jeff gave a single nod back. “And you as well, sir.”
Then I said, “And sitting at the table is my manager, Tyrone Williams.”
Jeff cocked his head back. Tyrone didn’t so much as wave at him or even give a single nod. For the moment I ignored this insult against my new employee. There were more important things to be taken care of.
I said, “I see you made the trip okay. Clarice, did you show him his room yet?”
“Yes, I did, Danielle.”
I said to Jeff, “I do hope it’s to your liking.”
“Oh, it’ll be fine, I’m sure.”
“Please don’t think you’ll be too busy to enjoy yourself around here. I don’t intend to work you that hard.”
He laughed. “Thanks, I appreciate that. Speaking of which, when do I start?”
“Tomorrow morning. But let’s worry about that in the morning. Right now I’m sure you’re more interested in l
unch. Naomi?”
My cook suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “Yes, Miss Danielle?”
“Naomi, I’d like you to meet our guest, Jeff Humphries. He’s going to be staying with us a few days. Jeff, this is Naomi, my cook, housekeeper, and whatever else you need.”
Jeff stuck his hand out, and Naomi put her hand in his oh so gently. She said, “It’s nice to meet you, Jeff.”
He just said, “Likewise, Naomi.”
I said, “What do we have on the menu for Jeff? He looks hungry from traveling.”
“Nothing right now, Miss Danielle, but I can whip something up real quick if our guest is hungry. You hungry, sugar?”
“Uh, yeah, actually, I am.”
“What you in the mood for? I can whip up some beanie-weenie if you want.”
“Actually that sounds really good.”
Naomi gave Jeff a saucy wink and said, “I’ll get right on that for you, sugar. Don’t go nowhere.” She brushed his shoulder with her hand as she went behind him, on her way to the kitchen.
I wanted to laugh. Jeff looked like a man who had just discovered paradise. Instead I said, “Has Clarice given you the tour?”
Clarice replied, “I was just about to do that. But I think he was having problems paying attention.”
Jeff blushed. Clarice and I both laughed kindly laughs.
I said, “Well, why don’t you give Jeff a tour of the house? By the time you’re finished, lunch should be ready.”
“Yes, Danielle.” She headed back up the hall with him, talking all the way.
A little while later, Jeff was back in the kitchen. An empty bowl sat before him.
Naomi came over to him and said, “Are you finished with that, sugar?”
Jeff looked at her and smiled. “Yeah, I am, Naomi.”
“That’s a very clean bowl. You must have been hungry.”
“You’re right, I was hungry. And it was really good. Thank you.”
Naomi fairly beamed at him. “My pleasure, sugar.” Touching his shoulder, she took his bowl and returned to the kitchen.
Rather rudely, Tyrone pushed a contract across the table towards Jeff.
“What’s this?”
“A non-disclosure agreement. Don’t you know what that is?”
“I know what that is.”
Tyrone said, “We have all our people who work for us to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Don’t want the celebrity shows getting wind of Danielle’s plans.”
Jeff gave him a steady look, appearing slightly insulted. “Have you read my resume, Mr. Williams?”
“Well, no, but even if I had…”
“If you had, you would know that I’ve done work for the Navy, Marine Corps, and the Air Force with their flight testing program. Work so highly classified it makes me want to laugh out loud at how seriously you take all this Hollywood entertainment stuff.”
Tyrone, meanwhile, looked seriously offended at having been called out and chastised. “My apologies. I still had to cover all the legalese.”
“I understand. But don’t worry, I can keep secrets. As I’ve said before.”
That’s when I said, “Feel free to look over the contract before you sign it, Jeff. But I think you’ll find everything is in order.”
And so he did. Very carefully. The next few minutes were spent in silence while he flipped pages and put his initials on every line next to every item. Finally he put the pen down and slid the contract back across the table to Tyrone. “Okay, I’m in. What’s next?”
I said, “Well, now that we’ve finally gotten all the formalities out of the way, make yourself at home and relax, because the work begins tomorrow.”
Jeff smiled, although it didn’t reach his eyes. “Sounds good.”
“Dinner is at six if you would like to join me this evening.”
“I would like that.”
I stood up. “Very good. Don’t hesitate to ask Clarice if there’s anything you need.”
“Thank you, Danielle.”
My voice chilled slightly as I turned to face my manager. “Tyrone, may I speak with you privately for a moment?”
“Yes, of course, Danielle.”
I spun around on the ball of my foot and left the kitchen, walking like I had somewhere to go, heels clicking quickly but not too fast. From there I went down the hall and into my private office. I didn’t bother to check if he had followed. I assumed he did.
“You wanted to see me, Danielle?”
As I went behind my desk and faced Tyrone, I couldn’t keep my voice from cooling further. “Yes, I did. Please close the door.”
A vaguely concerned look was on his face as he did so.
I waited until the door clicked shut. “Tyrone, do you have any problems with the way I do business?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Let me be more specific. Do you have any problems with the consultant I hired?”
“No, Danielle, of course not. But did you see the way he acted? And did you see the way Naomi was fawning over him? It’s sickening.”
“That’s enough.”
Tyrone shut up, thankfully.
“Tyrone, this is business. If you can’t leave your prejudices at the door and be able to work with everyone I hire regardless of their race, then I can’t have you working for me. Do you hear me?”
He swallowed and blinked, chastised. “Yes. I hear you, Danielle.”
“I hope so. I’m going to ask you not to come to the house for a few weeks. For the next three weeks, to be precise.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I don’t want any conflict around here while I’m trying to record love songs, Tyrone. I’m behind enough as it is.”
He nodded glumly. “Yeah.”
“Please send Darryl in here for me.”
“Yes, Danielle.”
Minutes later, Darryl Strawberry eased into my office. “Tyrone said you needed to see me, Danielle?”
“Yes, I did, Darryl. Please close the door.”
“Okay.” He frowned but did so. “What’s up?”
“I need you to find something to keep Tyrone occupied. I don’t want him near this place if I want to do my best work. And I don’t want him interfering with Jeff’s work.”
“What makes you think he’ll try to?”
“Let’s just say I’m taking your advice.”
“I hear you, Danielle. Won’t be a problem.”
I finally relaxed. “Good. I don’t want to fire him.”
“I understand, Danielle. But you might have to, as I was saying yesterday.”
“I’m beginning to see what you mean.”
Chapter Five
Jeff
I went back up to my room, pissed off, mostly with myself.
That dude Tyrone thought he could intimidate me. Nobody else was coming to my rescue, so I called him out. The military and the automotive companies are the most demanding clients there are. If cameras black out in the middle of high-g maneuvers, you can kiss your contract goodbye. I was pretty sure I could handle this job.
After what happened just now, though, I wasn’t too sure if I still wanted this job. But I’d signed that damned contract. Now I was committed. In a huff, I wrenched my duffle bag off the bed where Mitchell had thoughtfully left it for me, put it on the dresser, unzipped it and started to unpack.
A knock at the door made me look up, to see Danielle standing there. I nearly dropped whatever it was in my hands. Smiling, she slowly stepped in to the room, heels clicking on the hardwood floor. “I see you’re unpacking.”
I grabbed some socks. “Yeah.”
“For a second there, I was afraid we’d scared you off.”
Despite myself, I smiled. “Almost. But not quite.”
“Good. I wanted to come up here and apologize.”
Surprised, I said, “Apologize? What for?”
“For having to defend yourself against one of my own people. That was unacceptable, Jeff. Unacceptable.”
&nb
sp; “Danielle, I can take care of myself.”
“Jeff, the buck stops with me. You agreed to work for me. That makes you one of my people now. And I won’t have any of my people treated badly.”
“I, uh, I appreciate that.”
“Like I said before, dinner is at six. Clarice can escort you down if you like, if you’re still not too sure where everything is.”
“Yeah. That would be really nice.”
“Okay. Did you need any help unpacking?”
“Nah, I got it, but thanks.”
“Naomi is making a special surprise for dinner, so don’t wear anything you wouldn’t want to get barbecue sauce on. I’ll be changing clothes, for sure.”
I cracked a grin. “Yeah, I, uh, forgot my tuxedo.”
Danielle actually laughed at that. “You won’t be needing it. Not tonight, anyway.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Feel free to look around the house. You might be working here, but you’re living here, too. So make yourself at home.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that.”
“I’ll just leave you to your unpacking. Don’t be shy about speaking with Clarice if you forgot to pack something.”
“That’s very generous of you. Thank you.”
After that first day, the ice was broken.
But the next morning, I suddenly woke up, and, seeing the time was nearly nine, I panicked and jumped out of bed.
Still in my pajamas, a dark blue tank top and light blue pajama bottoms, I headed through the door to the bathroom, yawning and stretching like usual. I quickly did my business and left for the hallway, where I met Clarice, dressed in plain blue jeans and a thin white sweater. She must have seen my face. “Jeff, are you alright?”
“Uh, yeah. Just woke up. Overslept. Sorry.”
“Oh, don’t be. This isn’t the Army or something, honey. Take your time. Wake up. There’s no rush.”
“Thanks, but I don’t want to keep anyone waiting.”
“You won’t keep anyone waiting.”
Downstairs ten minutes later, I sat next to Danielle at a wooden bar across from the island. Danielle was casually dressed in a thin red cotton long-sleeved top and blue jeans, hardly any makeup on, hair messed up.
She looked even more beautiful than yesterday.
As I sat down, she smiled. “Good morning, Jeff.”
