A STELLAR AFFAIR (A Hollywood Bad Boy Romance) (18 page)

Reena thought it was utterly romantic for them to visit Madame Tussauds to see Ava’s wax life-like sculpture displayed there.

“How come I don’t have a statue at Madame Tussauds, Tim?” he asked his manager.

Tim shrugged. “Villains are not supposed to have monuments, Wes. And you’re not exactly Ava Ryder, The Empress of Pop.” Tim winked at Ava. “But that will change soon, my man. Once you’re donning Super X’s wings, you’ll get an invitation to sit for your model in their studio, I can guarantee that.”

“But they have Darth Vader,” he reasoned out.

“Darko is becoming a legend, but Darth is in a league of his own. Who knows, after Stoneryder, you’ll have one standing next to Ava’s, as a memento of this…stellar affair.”
 

“Stellar Affair. I love that!” Reena piped in cheerfully as she worked on her tablet.

Tim grinned at Reena. The two exchanged an intimate look, as if they were sharing a private joke.

Wes could tell his manager was licking more cream than he did.

After Stoneryder.

Tim was just talking offhandedly but Ava felt disheartened at the reminder that Stoneryder will end in two months.
 

“Ready, Av?”

She turned to Reena. “Huh?”

“We’re at the museum. Real paps are gonna be here.”

She nodded half-heartedly. “Yeah…”

“Okay, Wes, you guys will walk in there casually. People will slowly notice you. Will probably mob you. You let them take pictures with you. Act lovey-dovey. Paps will ask questions. Ignore them, just smile and enter the museum. The museum’s management has been notified and their staff will assist you inside. Tim and I will be waiting for you at the back exit. The staff will direct your there. Norton will be with you. See you in an hour.”

“Got it, Reen.” Wes
 
glanced at her. “Ready, Av?”

She nodded.

He came out of the limo first and helped her out. They walked hand in hand to the museum’s entrance where people were lining up. Three men in business uniforms came forward to assist them into the museum.

“Look! Isn’t that Ava Ryder?” someone said loudly.

“Blondes get noticed fast,” Wes murmured beside her.

“I have a feeling that wasn’t a compliment,” she replied caustically.

“Stoneryder!” someone yelled, followed by a scream.

“Here. We. Go.” Wes said and gripped her hand tighter as people ran toward them, paparazzi by the looks of them. They were carrying high-powered lenses.

Within seconds, they were surrounded.

Ava plastered a big smile on her face.

They had to endure the flash bulbs exploding all around them. It took them almost thirty minutes to get to the museum with the help of Norton and the museum staff.

“Damn, I can’t believe I have a love team,” Wes sniggered as they went around the wax sculptures, occasionally stopped by tourists for pictures.

“I can’t believe I bought into this madness,” she murmured back, keeping her voice low and her tone, normal.

He chuckled. “I’ll take that as a compliment. It has never been this hot for you, huh?”

“Wow. Ego much?”

“No. Truth.”

She made an unladylike snort.

The staff cordoned the area where her sculpture was located. The tourists continued to take pictures of them some meters away.

They both surveyed her wax sculpture.

She had to give it to the artist. She’d only seen the wax figure once when it was unveiled four years ago but she was awed by the detailing done to it. It took fifteen artists to work on it and three months to finish. She was staring at her identical twin.

Wes bent his head and whispered in her ear. “I think…she has bigger boobs and rounder ass.”
 

She glanced at him. He was eyeing her sculpture with a wicked grin. “We can have a threesome. I’ll buy a replica of this. That would be fun.”

She elbowed his side. “Hush!”

He chuckled. “Jealous of your statue, babe?”

“You are depraved, Stoner. Seriously effed up,” she said under her breath, shaking her head. But her insides were fluttering at the image he’d conjured. Lord, the man was wicked!

“Watch your language, lady.”

“MY language?!” she spluttered.

“Why are you so cross?”

“I am not.”

“Yes, you are. You’ve been snipping at my ass since we left the set. Your frustration is showing.”

“What frustration?”

He dipped his head near her ear and slowly kissed her cheek, whispering, “Sexual frustration. You’re so horny and we have to do this crap when we could be fucking right now.”

“Wes!” she hissed, flushing. He would do this in public, damn him!

“But don’t be too pissed, baby.” He pulled her to his body, her back to him. “I feel the same.”

She felt him alright. A steel pipe against her ass.

She groaned. “Oh god. Stop that, please.”

“I can’t stop it. I’ve been on and off hard like this for days thinking about you.”

Damn him, his words were like verbal foreplay and her body responded, starving for his attention.

Her phone dinged. She fished it out of her bag and read the message. It was Reena saying they needed to leave.

She actually heaved a sigh. “Let’s go.”

“Already?”

“Yeah. And for god’s sake, keep THAT down. I swear, Wes, if the paps get a shot of that…THING…” she shook her head.

“It will be captioned
Hard Rock in Vegas.
”

She couldn’t hold her giggle.

God, help her. The man was chronically incorrigible.

His eyes were on Ava
who was looking at everything but him.
 

She looked like his most comforting dream in her very feminine light blue dress that complimented her eyes. Comforting. That was funny. He wouldn’t attribute such feeling to her considering the turbulence happening in his gut, the clawing hunger to have her again. But yeah, she comforted another part of him, that part that yearned for a nesting place. For peace and contentment. With a mate. A permanent mate. Someone he can come home to. Home. He wanted a home with a woman.

With Ava.

Fuck, I’m in a deeper shit that I first thought.

He wondered if she’d taken the test already. Could she be pregnant? Was she hiding something? She didn’t look too anxious, so maybe she wasn’t pregnant. He didn’t know why he felt
 
a pang of disappointment.

You can easily shoot your twins in her belly if you set your mind to it, horny as you are now. After tonight, you may very well get her pregnant.

Strangely, the thought didn’t make him sweat in agitation but excitement. He stared at her and imagined her sitting there in front of him, her belly swollen with his babies. The mental image of an Ava packing some weight, looking more luscious, not that she wasn’t already, but knowing that he’d made her body change because she was carrying his babies made his cock harder.
 

Ava was pretending to be enjoying the conversation on the table but he knew better. He could feel her tension, could smell her restlessness. It was as frantic as the one churning in his loins, making his entire body tense like a volcano gearing for explosion.

Dinner was dragging like the plot of a movie written to win an Oscar and he could count his breath as he tried to control it. If it dragged on for another hour, he’d have blue balls and he had no intention of delaying his pleasure any longer.

Reena was chatting away with Tim. They’d been swapping Stoneryder data like professional gamblers. The stakes were getting higher and higher.

“My goodness, the Stoneryder Facebook account just hit 18 million today! That’s nine days since it was created. Twitter is fast catching up at 17.5 million followers and counting! Imagine if you make a movie together!”

“I’m down with that,” he said. Anything that would prolong their association was fine with him.

“Really, Wes?” Reena’s eyes were flashing with excitement.

“Reen, focus on my album,” Ava interjected.

“I’m right there with you, Av, but imagine the possibilities!”

“You know acting is not my forte.”

“I’ll shop for a script tailor-made for you. Wes can play any role. A rom-com, of course!”

“Rom-com? With him! His fans want blood and gore, not flowers and cheese talk,” she said sarcastically. “No, Reen. Not a good idea.”

“Okay. But consider it, at least. Wes is okay with it. I mean, isn’t that grand?”

“He’d be too busy—”

“I’ll make time for any project with you,”
 
he piped in.

Ava glared at him. “Why are you pretending to be so amenable when we both know you’re just doing this so you’d land Super X, otherwise your snooty Oscar ass wouldn’t bother with a freakin’ rom-com, with ME of all people!”

“Av!” Reena exclaimed. “What’s wrong…?”

 
Ava got up from her chair. “Excuse me. Restroom.”

Wes immediately stood up when Norton who was standing against the wall of the restaurant came forward to escort her. “I got this, man. I’ll go with her.”
 

Ava’s raised an irritated
brow at Wes. “No, you stay. It’s just the restroom.”

Instead of answering her, he looked at Norton seriously. “You. Fucking. Stay.”

Norton swallowed and backed away.

“I’m the one who’s paying him, not you,” she
 
grumbled.

“Av, what’s wrong with you?” Reena asked again.

Oh crap!

Wes held her elbow firmly and practically dragged her away from the table.

“What are you doing?!” she hissed at him.

“Your cam boys better be rolling because this is gonna be epic.”

“What? What do you mean?”

He just grinned.

“Wesley, I’m going to the restroom.”

“You hold it in.”

“What? I can’t!”

 
He was leading her outside the restaurant. Thank goodness it was near midnight
 
there were only a few diners inside. Most were probably in the bars or casinos, drinking and dancing the night away.
 

“Then again we probably don’t need your cam boys.”

As they approached the elevators, they saw a throng of people waiting, too.

“Wait, where are we going?”

“Why, to your suite, baby.”

“W-why?”

He gave her a dirty grin. “So you can pee.”

“I don’t need to go up there. The restroom in the restaurant is fine.”

“But it won’t allow me into the ladies room.”

Her breath hitched in her throat at the sudden rapid beating of her heart.
 
“Wes, no. Let’s just go back to our table.”

“You just wanted to avoid me by going to the restroom.”

“No…I…”

“You can’t avoid me, Ava. You can’t escape me and you know what, I’m done with the freakin’ chitchat. Let’s go.”

“Wes, wait—”

“Don’t torture yourself. I know you’re dripping wet for me.”

 
“I’m not—”

“Don’t make me prove it here.”

“You are so—”

“I know. I’m a caveman. I’m crude and I turn you on you’re dying to get fucked here in the hotel lobby.”

“Hush! Someone might hear you!”