Bad Girls Read Online Free PDF Page B

plan to you?’
    Great Danes were hunting dogs; they could spend all day running with horses, tracking down wolves or wild boar. Even though Joe was at the peak of physical fitness, there was no way that the pace he set back down the canyon path was a challenge to them. But they lolloped along beside him, tongues lolling out happily, always happy to run with their human, the leader of their pack. The paparazzi had been briefed on the names of the dogs, and called them out as Joe approached, the lenses clicking frantically as they fought to get the best action shot of him, the damp white T-shirt clinging to his firm round pecs, gold hairs glinting on his tanned arms, his strong thighs pounding a steady rhythm down the hill.
    ‘Joe! How’s Jennifer doing?’
    ‘Hengist! Horsa! Over here! Over here!’
    ‘Joe! How’s it feel to be engaged?’
    ‘Joe, could you lose the baseball cap?’
    Joe flashed them all a wide smile, keeping up a steady pace as he jogged to his Lexus Hybrid 4 × 4 and unlocked it, throwing the back open for the dogs to leap in. The paps all knew what to expect by now: he never uttered a word, never reacted apart from giving them the big Joe Jeffreys photogenic grin. There was no point provoking him by yelling insults or foul language, as they did with other celebrities who might rise to the bait; but they’d get what they came for, a great shot of a sweaty, sexy Joe out with his dogs. A good morning’s work.
    ‘Joe! Did you have a good time in Vancouver?’ yelled one guy just as Joe was pulling his door shut.
    Weird question, Joe thought as he drove home. I mean, you go to film in Vancouver cause it’s a hell of a lot cheaper, you shoot a movie, you come back to LA. Who asks if you had a good time in Vancouver? Must be a newbie.
    It wasn’t much of a drive from Runyon Canyon to Joe’s compound in the Hollywood Hills. As the electronic gates swung open, Joe was already picturing the rest of the day laid out before him, a whole series of his favourite things, one after the other. A long steamy hydro-massage shower, the body jets turned up to the max, pounding out his tight muscles from the run. A couple of cold beers, put in the freezer by Estrelita, the housekeeper, when he drove out, so they’d be ideally chilled for his return, moisture beading on the green glass of the bottle. Chips, celery, and plenty of blue cheese dip; he’d just wrapped a movie, so for a couple of weeks he could eat whatever the hell he wanted.
    And the game, fired up in his private screening room, so vivid you’d think you were right on the baseball diamond with the Royals. They’d done nothing for twenty-five years, the last time they made it to the World Series, but who else could a Kansas boy support but the Royals? Sure, it’d be easier to transfer allegiance to the LA Dodgers, but where was the integrity in that?
    Plus, of course, a couple of bongs of British Columbia’s best hydroponic bud, just enough to get him all loose and happy. Soak in the pool for a while, catch some rays when the sun was past its peak. And then, who knew? Call up a couple of girls he knew, see if they wanted to come over and party. Or just chill out at home, enjoying the peace and quiet after a long hard shooting schedule – rifle through his extensive porn collection and show himself a good time.
    Decisions, decisions. Joe sighed, a long happy near-groan of pure anticipation. The dogs, hearing their master’s voice, flopped their tails heavily in response.
    Then the Lexus rounded the corner of the long white mansion, turning onto the gravelled parking area, and Joe said, ‘Ah, fuck ,’ so explosively that one of the dogs whined in empathy.
    It wasn’t the sight of his fiancée Jennifer’s red Prius parked next to the staff’s cars that bothered him. Jennifer lived in an entirely separate area of the compound, in a self-contained house with her own private pool; they could happily go for days on end without seeing each other,