A STELLAR AFFAIR (A Hollywood Bad Boy Romance) (17 page)

He only released her lips so they could catch their breaths.

Reena’s voice intruded into his lust-spinning mind.

“Guys, wait to be in your room! I booked you one, don’t worry! Just not here,” Reena said, biting a laugh.
 

He grinned amid the rapid beating of his heart. “Hey, Reen. Tim’s waiting for you.”

She grinned back with a naughty twinkle in her eyes. “I can’t wait to see him, too.”

Ava pushed at his chest. He reluctantly let her go but remained holding her hand. He had no intention of letting her out of his sight. She was flushing like she’d been sunburned. He couldn’t wait to see her all flushed and naked under him.

“Let’s go,” he said.

 
He led them toward a special entrance where they were directed by airport attendants towards a private exit meant for VIPs.

“How was your flight?” he casually asked Ava beside him who’d gone quiet and hadn’t uttered a single word since their kiss.

“Fine,” she replied, almost inaudibly.

He squeezed her hand and bent his head to her ear. “Did you miss me?”

She gave him a sidelong glance and smirked. “Why, did you?”
 

“Ladies first.”

She shrugged. “Some.”

“Some? Like?”

“Your bad
 
mouth?”

He chuckled, “Baby, you’re gonna get a lot of my bad, dirty mouth later.”

She gasped and glared at him, glancing quickly behind them to check if someone heard him. Reena was following them some meters away, deeply involved in a conversation with a staff from her team. The entire Stoneryder crew came for the shoot. This episode was going to be eventful, he’d make sure of that.
 

“Gutter mouth,” she mumbled.

He grinned. “Smart mouth.”
 

“Crude.”

“Prude.”

“Jerk face.”

He chuckled. “Baby, I definitely have something I’d love to jerk…on your face.”

She gripped his hand, her nails biting onto his forearm. “Shut. Up.”

He winked at her wide-eyed, red-as-tomato face.

He welcomed that little pain. Any kind of touch, he’d take from her right now. He’d been starved for her. If she hadn’t come sooner, he would have sneaked out of the set and hopped on a plane to drop her a quick fuck-fest visit in L.A. Thank fuck, her team had decided it was time for another Stoneryder sighting.

Ten days of accumulated load burned in his balls it hurt to walk with her so close, so near, but he couldn’t do more in a public place. He couldn’t wait for her to have it all in her sweet little body.
 

After torturing himself for days denying himself the pleasure of having her again, he’d finally decided, Ava Ryder was his. This woman that millions of other men wanted was going to be exclusively his. No other horndog would have her. Ever. Only in their fucking dreams, and even that made him wanna commit mass murder. But her fame was beyond his control. He could only control her. After all, he’d licked her first, so she was his. All of her.
 

For real.

Fuck their contract.

Ava was enveloped in hug after hug
as she was introduced to Wes’ friends, his co-stars in the superhero movie he was shooting in Vegas. This was her fourth appearance as Darko in the said movie franchise and according to Tim, this could be his last if he got Super X.

“You’re just in time, Ava. I was two seconds from killing our director,” Rob Kingston, the lead star in the movie greeted her with a big smile. He was clad in his superhero costume, looking every bit like the superstar that he was.
   

She smiled back. She knew Rob, had attended the same events with him several times and they did a commercial together for a lifestyle brand. “Why? What has Jaq done?” She also knew the director of this movie, Jaq Montero
.
The multi-awarded director had helmed a few of her chart-topping videos. She got a couple of best videos from the AVMAs, thanks to Jaq’s brilliance.

 
“We’ve been shooting almost 24/7 every day and he’s been a fucking unhappy customer the entire week! If I have to shoot the part where Wes beats my ass with his giant cactus all over again so he can have his perfection, I swear I’m gonna lop Jaq’s head with the clapperboard.”

“Giant cactus?” she asked, puzzled.

 
“You know, honey, my giant staff,” Wes snickered. “You’ve seen it.”

She blushed, elbowing his side. He just couldn’t help it, the perv! Of course, they were talking about Darko’s staff that held the darkest powers.

Rob chuckled and caught on with the joke. “Now, now, you haven’t seen my sword, Ava.”

“I’ve seen it. I mean, I haven’t…” She blushed even more.
 

Rob’s grin was mischievous. “You haven’t touched it. You wanna?”

Wes snaked his arm possessively around her waist and pulled her to his side. “Fuck off, wanker. She’s taken.”

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, mate,” Rob drawled good-naturedly in his adorable Australian twang. “I meant my sword. This.”
 

Rob unsheathed and lifted the mighty weapon of his character, Vander, the hero, and showed it to her. It was called The Sword of Redemption, the last hope of mankind from the evil forces of darkness led by Darko. Light caught in its double-edged blade, making it gleam like the sun. Both of its edges were blunted but it still looked deadly.

“Can I hold it?”

“Sure.” Rob handed her the sword.

She gripped the broad handle with two hands. “Oh, it’s heavy!”

“You can handle it. That’s my girl.”

“He’s not your girl,” Wes snapped at his friend, his face etched in a dark scowl. Seriously? He looked like he wanted to go all-Darko-murder on Rob. He was acting, right? But a tingle ran down her spine. Was he actually…jealous? Of Rob?
Nah.

She went to stand beside Rob, holding the Sword of Redemption in front of her. “Can you take a picture of us, Wes?”

Wes glared at her. “No,” he said flatly. He really looked comical now. He was taking this to Oscar level. Impressive acting.

“You’re such a hissy pussy.” Rob whipped his cellphone from behind him. “Come on, Ava, let’s have a selfie. My fans on Twitter will love this.”

“Your costume has back pockets?”

“Yup. What will I do suspended from a crane while waiting forever for the crew to set up? Tweet!”

She giggled and posed with Rob. He snapped a picture of them.

“You’re not seriously going to tweet that fucking picture, are you?” Wes asked, his hands on his hips, his long legs spread. Even without his costume, he looked villainous with that dark scowl on his face.

“Sure will. I’m tagging you even.” Rob made quick work with his fingers on his phone. “Voila!” He showed his phone’s screen to Wes.

Wes’ face couldn’t be painted. She wanted to laugh but she bit it back knowing it would piss him off even more. She was feeling all giddy from his possessive behavior.

“Wes?”

A very tall brunette suddenly appeared at his side.

Wes’ scowl slowly turned into a smile. “Masha,”

Ava watched as Wes and Masha Korlova hugged in front of her. A sudden emotion assaulted her. She had to swallow hard a couple of times to relieve the tightening in her chest. She gripped the sword harder, her thoughts running wild like an Amazonian. She wanted to chop the other woman into tiny little pieces with The Sword of Redemption..

Oh my god, no. No, no, no! I’m not jealous of this ostrich. Just. No!

Business. This is business. Period.

Right.
 

“Where’d you go?” Masha asked in a husky voice.

“Why, doll face, did you miss me?”

Masha smiled sweetly and touched Wes’ face. “Always.”
 

Wes was looking at the woman with familiarity. Images of the two locked in a passionate embrace in a balcony bombarded her mind. Not long ago they were all over the rags, making out in broad daylight for all to see. The urge to skewer the other woman with the broadsword intensified.

Wes grinned and Masha’s face moved closer to his.

Oh my god, she’s going to kiss him!
 

Ava stepped forward, sword in hand in a defensive stance, the jealous bitch inside her getting the better of her.
If the bitch kisses him, she’s gonna meet the End of Days sooner than the movie, I swear.

Wes evaded Masha’s intention and faced them again. “I’m sure you know each other, ladies? Do we need introduction?”
 

Masha pouted and faced them, too, raising her chin a bit. “Yes, we’ve met.”

That wasn’t entirely true. They’d attended shindigs together in the past but were never introduced to each other. She had no interest to meet the Russian supermodel and the feeling was mutual as Masha never attempted to get into her circle despite the fact that they shared common friends. They didn’t like each other. Much more so now.
 

“Yep,” Ava simply said.
 
Masha was looking at her haughtily from her towering height, spiked even more by her killer leather boots. She was stunning in her costume as Rova, the lead heroine, Vander’s love interest.
 

“Cute dress,” Masha said.

Ava wished she was dressed more imposingly in one of her chic designers. Her casual ultra-feminine floral dress made her look like a clueless blonde next to the dark-haired supermodel. And Masha was deliberately shading her fashion sense. Cute? Hah!

Yeah, so she’s anAngel. But I own a sizable chunk of L Brands, bitchface. I can get your ass fired anytime. I can even steal your contract if I so wish. VS has been hounding me forever to be a “special” angel. An archangel. The first one to walk on a VS runway. I have been declining, but maybe not for long.

She was horrified by her petty thoughts. Jesus, who was the bitchface now? Wes was making her lose all her marbles!
 

She met Wes’ eyes and a ball of fire seemed to pass between them. He looked smug and challenging and she itched to swipe that arrogant smirk off of his face with the Sword of Redemption. That would definitely preempt the End of Days and it wasn’t even Vander who smote Darko off the face of the mortal world.

“Ava Ryder!”

They all looked at Jaq Montero approaching them. She was thankful for the interruption.
 

She smiled broadly. They hugged each other.

“How’s the Empress? When are we going to shoot your next vid?”

“If your sched is open next month…?”

“Hmm, I might have a small window next month before post-production starts. A week. That should be enough.”

She squealed and hugged Jaq. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you said yes!”

“Why not, gorgeous? I missed working with you. So, who’s the poor sod we’re going to kill in your next vid?”

She smiled triumphantly. “Why, it’s Wes, of course.”

Jaq burst out laughing. “I guess it’s double whammy on your ass, Darko. You get killed in this movie and in her video and I’d get to choose how. Sweet.”

C
hapter
T
welve

Wes was normally
a patient man when in the company of a woman he wanted to bang so badly. Ava felt like a burning itch he couldn’t reach and scratch. But there wasn’t a time in a long long time— he vaguely remembered once in his teens when his hormones were still raging, but he couldn’t recall the girl’s face either—when he wanted to carry a woman over his shoulder like a barbarian and have his way with her.

But business had to run first. Reena and Tim ruled the day for sure.
 

“Stoneryder must have some fab sightings in the Sin City!” Reena declared after they left his movie set. Jaq let him go with them.

“Didn’t your cam boys take pictures at the set?” he grumbled. All he wanted was bring Ava to his hotel room and do some fab sightings under her dress.
 

“Nope. You guys need to be seen together having fun in the city. Stoneryder’s riding high and we have to maintain the momentum.”

They piled into the stretch limo that took them to the Strip.