Free Beck: Hollywood Hitman by Maggie Marr Page B

visions of Natalie filled his brain.
     

Chapter Eleven
     
    “I need to go out.” Natalie stood before him. She wore a tight pair of jeans and a top that showed the flesh of her taut belly. Her lush hair fell nearly to her elbows.
    “Okay.”
    The two weeks he’d been with Natalie they went exactly three places: the studio to meet with the director for the Shemax sequel, to Stacia’s to look at three gowns for the Shemax premiere, and to Boom Boom Wong’s office to discuss the publicity for the film. Not exactly the jet-setter, party-’til-you-puke lifestyle Beck had expected of one of the world’s biggest celebrities.
    “This is—” Her lips flattened into a line and she pulled at her fingers. “—more personal.”
    His belly tightened. His face remained like stone. “Just provide me with the name of the hotel so that I can ascertain the weakness and I’ll give you a larger perimeter while you—”
    “Not that kind of personal.”
    Twenty minutes later, Beck pulled to a stop in front of a bungalow in Hollywood. Natalie took a deep breath. “Casa de Mom.” Her voice was brittle, like a wire threaded too tight.
    “I can wait on the porch.”
    One corner of her mouth lifted into a smile. “Porch-schmorch, big boy. You already know nearly everything about my life—you might as well experience my relationship with my mother. Wouldn’t want to keep you away from that bit of joy.” A crease wrinkled her brow. “Maybe you’ll get why I’m so fucked up.” She pushed open the passenger door and climbed out of the car.
    Mona Warner opened the front door. She was forty-five trying for twenty-two by way of Botox, fillers, and some serious surgical intervention. If the light wasn’t so bright, she’d almost pull off the age she desperately wanted to be. Natalie’s eyes, figure, and jaw were nearly identical to Mona’s.
    “Baby!” Mona oohed at her daughter and pulled Natalie in for a long hug.
    Natalie stiffened.
    “I didn’t know you were coming by.” Mona released Natalie and her eyes appraised her from top to toe. “Good color on you, that blue, but girl, you shouldn’t go out of the house without heels—not good for your image.” Mona reached out and lifted a chunk of Natalie’s hair. “And what is up with this?”
    Natalie licked her lips and the muscle in her jaw flexed. “New colorist.”
    “Oh,” Mona said, and dropped the hair as she would a dead mouse. “Well, as long as you like it.”
    Natalie closed her eyes for a second and took a long breath. Mona’s eyes slid past her daughter.
    “ Who is this?” Mona grasped a lock of her own black hair and twisted it around her finger. Her gaze traveled Beck’s body like a path that Mona would like to hike. “You didn’t tell me you were dating.” The weight of Mona’s wide-eyed gaze and coy smile contained more than just a greeting. Mona was competing with her daughter. The tight jeans, high-heeled boots, and tank top. Mama Warner held fast to her youth like a python grasped a gazelle.
    “I’m not. This is Beck, my bodyguard.”
    “La-di-da. Wow, so you are a real investment for the studio now. Guess a movie tracking at a hundred-and-fifty-million-dollar opening will do that.”
    Natalie rolled her eyes. “Mom, please.” She pushed past her mother into the living room.
    Mona winked at Beck, and he followed mother and daughter inside.
    ***
    Her mother was nuts. Certi-fucking-fiable. Why was she even here visiting? What was this compulsion to check up on Mona? Natalie entered the bungalow and her eyes widened.
    Her belly pitted. A sick feeling slid through her. What. The. Fuck. Natalie dropped her purse to the couch and surveyed the racks of thousands of dollars’ worth of designer clothes that filled her mother’s living room.
    “What the hell, Mom?”
    Mona skirted around the first rack with a slippery smile on her face. “I didn’t know you were coming or I would’ve put these away.”
    Natalie lifted a