A STELLAR AFFAIR (A Hollywood Bad Boy Romance) (5 page)

“There she is,” Tim said beside him. “Like what you see, Wes?”

He just grunted in response. His speech kind of deserted him. Ava Ryder was messing up with his system in an unusual way. He almost groaned aloud in dismay or anticipation, he wasn’t sure which, as his body manifested his feelings.
 

What the actual fuck…?!

He couldn’t believe this. This hadn’t happened to him in ages. He was twenty-nine years old, experienced, not nineteen who didn’t have control of his mind and body!

But it was happening, alright.

He was having a boner for Ava Ryder at first sight.

Ava felt her nipples unfurl
and her core contract in this sweet ache that was both familiar and strange. Familiar because she was a woman with normal desires but the fact that she was feeling it for a man she hadn’t even met until now…

She was absolutely appalled at herself! But the truth lay in her throbbing clit. She was getting aroused. From staring at Wesley Stoner! Gosh!
 

He was standing a few meters away and they had yet to be introduced to each other, but their eyes had already connected minutes ago and boom, she couldn’t look away from him even if her life depended on it.
 

Okay…so he was hot in person. Way hotter than she first thought. Hot of the smoking, panty-dropping, ovaries exploding kind. So
cliché
but so apt a description of the embarrassing mess happening within her body right now.

She knew he was gorgeous. He wouldn’t be an internet boyfriend for nothing, but boy oh boy, seeing Wesley Stoner in the flesh had her lady bits a-fluttering like crazy and she was in the middle of the bigwigs in the music industry!

I’m Ava Ryder. I made 90 million dollars last year. I have four Grammys and counting. I’m the third most powerful entertainer in Hollywood, next to Miss O and Queen B, according to the latest survey.

She needed to remind herself of her credentials because she felt like disappearing inside Wes Stoner’s smoldering gaze. She’d seen all his movies. Those eyes were mesmerizing enough on the silver screen but she wasn’t prepared for their impact in person. Holy momma of baby blues, those eyes were spellbinding!

Okay, so she was a superhero fan, just like everyone else. She was normal.
 

No. You love watching Darko.

No, I love watching Vander, as well.

Nah. Vander is a pussy in your book. But Darko makes your pussy speak in tongues, pun intended. You’ve secretly watched all his scenes over and over on YouTube.

I just want him to star in my next video, nothing more!

Okay, I believe you, but why are you getting wetter by the minute?

Shit. She was grateful nobody could hear her crazy thoughts.
 

One of her record company’s top executives finally introduced them. Everything had been planned by her PR team. Wes’ camp gave her camp carte blanche
in running the Stoneryder show. Their first meeting must be stellar, so the Stoneryder Team orchestrated for both of them to be on stage to present the most important award tonight. Sweet, but that was how Hollywood made money. Who said reality TV was real?

“Finally, we meet, Ms. Ryder,” Wes said, his eyes still holding her in an electric stare.
 

“Mr. Stoner,” she managed to croak. Her throat had gone dry and her brain had turned to slush. He was holding her hand longer than the customary handshake, too. It was a cosmic meeting, their energies colliding, zip-zapping like bolts of current in a mighty storm, shocking and jolting every inch of her body into hyper-sensory overdrive.

He smiled. “Call me, Wes.”

She started hating him at that moment. That smile had no right to be on that face. On screen he had perfected it. The devil’s smile. Evil sexy. Hot as sin. And it was unleashing its full force on her. Teeth so white and perfect she wanted to set an appointment with her own dentist tomorrow to fix the slight protrusion of her canines.

He leaned closer and whispered. “You nervous?”

“H-huh?” she stuttered unintelligibly like a starstruck fan.

“You look great.”

She knew she looked great. Her stylists and personal trainer always made sure she was in top shape and looking like megabucks, ready for any ambush interview. She was used to praises from the opposite sex, but a compliment from this man seemed different. It was the way he was looking at her. Like he knew her. Like he would suck her into himself. Like he could read her. Of course he couldn’t! They just met!
 

“Th-thank you.”
Quit stammering, you idiot!

“Excuse us,” he said to the other people in their group and pulled her away from the crowd. She was a puppet following him.
 

He led her to a corner in the vast room, away from the celebrities attending the event tonight.

“I accept,” he said close to her ear, his warm breath fanning her cheek and neck.

Goosebumps erupted all over her. “G-good,” she uttered, short of breath.

She pulled her hand from his grasp, trying to regain her composure that he’d reduced to a stuttering, simpering mess. She hated it. It wasn’t like her to be affected by a man like this at first meeting. She felt like a new person had invaded her body.
 

“I like you, too.”

“What…?”

“The feeling is mutual. This is good. We don’t even have to act. Just let it flow naturally.” He touched her cheek lightly with the back of his hand.
 

She jerked in reaction this time. “What the hell…are you talking about?”

He grinned knowingly. “Don’t deny it, Empress. I can smell you.”

I can smell you.
Really?! Can he possibly read her mind?

Her embarrassment rose above her bemusement, along with it, half of her common sense. She met his eyes again and tried to give him this big boss stare that had always got her what she wanted. “Let me make this clear, Mr. Stoner. This is a business—”

He fully invaded her space, stepping so close to her their bodies brushed. “Shh, media’s here. They’re all watching.”

She gritted her teeth, feeling her core clench tighter as his body heat seeped into her skin through the thin material of her gown.
God, what is this?
She was caught totally off-guard by this vibrating energy he was rousing within her so effortlessly that she was having a hard time controlling her responses. It was as if her mind had a sudden disconnect with the rest of her body.

Never had a man affected her like this.
 

Ever.

C
hapter
T
hree

The event’s talent flow manager
was giving
her last minute instructions, but Ava couldn’t concentrate. She just met Wesley Stoner thirty minutes ago and her heartbeat hadn’t calmed down one bit.
 
She was a nervous as that time she’d stepped onto the stage for the audition of America’s Next Idol and that was three world tours and five albums ago!

Wes was standing next to her, listening, as well. She didn’t want to look at him again, but she couldn’t seem to calm herself. Her confidence was slipping fast, unheard of after commanding stadiums brimming to the rafters with Ryder fans for years now.

“So, one more time, guys,” the manager was saying but his voice sounded so distant, like he was speaking from the end of a tunnel. “You guys will walk together toward the podium. Recite your spiels. Wes will read the nominees. Ava will announce the winner. You can do a bit of ad lib if you want. Ava is a reg here so she knows the drill. I know this is your first time, Wes, but I trust you.”

“Okay,” Wes simply said.

“Ava?” the manager looked at her pointedly.
 

“Y-yup, Aaron, got it,” she mumbled.

Aaron clapped his hands and addressed the backstage crew. “Alright! We’re all set! Ten minutes and we’re live worldwide!”

The production people scrambled to do their places.

She felt Wes touch her arm again. She literally jumped out of his reach. He looked amused. “Shall we go to our seats?”

“Seats?” she parroted like an idiot.

“Yeah. We should watch the show. Our part still happens at the end, remember?”

“Oh. Uh, yes.”
 

He held her hand and she fought not to flinch as a bolt of electric awareness blasted through her again, spreading fast and wild all over her body, pooling where she was already too sensitive and aching.
 
Shit! Not good. Not good!

“Shall we?”

She just nodded, discreetly inhaling and exhaling amid the wild beating of her heart.

A talent seating coordinator assisted them from the backstage toward their seats on the second row right in front of the wide stage.

Wes didn’t let go of her hand until they were seated. She sat stiffly, her tight dress impeding her breathing she wanted to gulp air into her lungs like a fish out of water. What the hell was happening to her?! Was this a panic attack?
 

“Relax,” she heard him say beside her.
 

She resented the amusement in his tone. She hated it that he could sense her nerves. She was not the jittery type. Her oozing confidence on and off the stage had brought her to high places like the White House and the Buckingham Palace. She even met Vladimir Putin once when she had a concert in Russia. Wesley Stoner was merely an actor, though a notable one, but she was more famous than him and certainly a lot wealthier, yet he was turning her into a nervous wreck. God forbid she’ll forget her lines later!
 

“The cameras are rolling now. We’re live worldwide,” he reminded her.

She dared to look in his eyes and got lost in their depths again. A man shouldn’t have eyes a girl would envy. And he shouldn’t smell so good a girl would want to bury her nose in his neck and breathe there forever.

He winked at her. “We got this, Stoneryder.”

She looked away.

Oh God. No. This cannot be. He’s not the right one for this job. He’ll ruin it!

Nah, more likely it’s you who’ll ruin it.

She’ll talk to her PR team tomorrow.

Change of plans.

She wanted a besotted Romeo?
Well, she got him.

He wanted her. Man, he really did.

Suddenly, Wes was excited to be her pretend boyfriend. It won’t be pretense, after all. His hard-on agreed. Being hard as a brick in public was mightily uncomfortable, but thanks to the design of his clothes tonight which was inspired by Darko’s costume, he was saved from getting snapped with a third leg by the paps.

He welcomed the desire coursing through his body like a long-lost best friend. It felt awesome. This was still a shocker to him but as he sat next to Ava, her delicate hand engulfed in his, he felt a kind of possessiveness he’d never felt for a woman before.

He’d decided she would be his. His woman. And it won’t be pretense. It would be real. As real as this almost painful arousal gripping his balls right now.

Two months in the company of Ava won’t be a tedious job as he first thought. Hell, he’d do it for free. And some.