Hollywood Tiger: BBW Tiger Shifter Paranormal Romance (Hollywood Shifters Book 3) by Zoe Chant Read Free Book Online Page B

neutral colors to avoid notice, and most of her work halter dresses were picked for blandness as well as ease of removal. But her role as Dan Moore’s girlfriend called for loud and brassy—especially if Haskell recognized her.
    Her heartbeat pattered when she pulled up at the meet point, the parking lot of a library on the border of Venice in West L.A. Her heart quickened when she spotted Dennis, wearing a black shirt and slacks, and carrying his cane. He looked handsome and sinister.
    His eyes crinkled when she approached, and he said with that sincere note in his low, rough voice, “You look great.”
    “I look like a skank,” she said.
    “But Dan Moore likes ’em skanky, the skankier the better.” He licked his lips in a sleazy manner, wiggling his eyebrows, and she had to laugh.
    He went on, “Ah, I was to ask, if you have that paperwork done, to leave it in your car.”
    “I didn’t finish it,” she said, her heart thumping against her ribs. And she didn’t intend to—and with luck the job would end before it became an issue.
    Dennis shrugged, clearly not a by-the-book kind of guy. “Then we don’t have to worry about the stuff falling into the wrong hands. Do you have ID for Payton in case the studio guards ask?”
    She nodded, patting her purse. “Oh yes, Payton Lee has a long history of being lost in the wrong buildings. One of my first clients has a brother in law enforcement who helped me get it.”
    “Awesome. Ready?”
    “Let’s do it,” she said, glad her voice at least sounded cool.
    He opened the door to the Lexus for her, and when she glanced up over her shoulder, she caught the curve of a smile. Feeling self-conscious, she busied herself putting on a pair of huge Italian sunglasses as he got into the car.
    His presence seemed to fill the car, putting them in intimate space in a way that made all her nerve endings tingle. She was hyper-aware of the subtle hiss of his shirt sleeves as he moved, the soft sigh of his breathing deep in his broad chest, and a quick peek upward drew her fascinated gaze to the little hollow above his upper lip, with tiny glints of gold in his whiskers that in a few hours would become stubble.
    She wondered what that stubble would feel like rubbed against her thighs—
    Her belly fluttered at that thought, and she cleared her throat, relieved as he turned on the engine and the air conditioner blasted. Yes, definitely time to cool off. Sheesh, it hadn’t been that long since she’d ridden in a car with a guy, so why was she acting like a teenager on her first date?
    Only it wasn’t any guy. It was this guy. She breathed through her mouth to fight the instinct to sniff him all over. “Where are we going?” she babbled inanely. “Are they at Sony or Paramount? Or on Sunset?”
    “No. They took over part of an old studio off Laurel Canyon, in the Valley.”
    She nodded, breathing out and in as he handled the traffic smoothly. Film companies, she knew, had offices all over, and rented sound stages when they needed to. Some studios were converted barns from the old days of the orange groves, and so forth.
    She kept her gaze firmly out the window as Dennis drove up the treacherous narrow, winding Lauren Canyon, and down into the shimmering bowl of heat that was San Fernando Valley.
    The studio turned out to be a picturesque old building with a new sign saying Viking Productions. “There are a couple small companies renting space upstairs, but Viking has the main offices and also the single sound stage. Both of which we’re here to get a personal tour of,” he said.
    She nodded, remembering what Agent Sloane had told them.
    He pulled up at the gate and said in a loud voice completely different from his own, “Daniel Moore for Jerry Haskell. Payton Lee, same.”
    The guard obviously recognized Dennis, and peered in at Mindy. She pulled down her sunglasses and simpered at him. He stepped back and waved them through.
    “How’s my bimbo?” Mindy asked,