The Playboy's Princess (30 page)

“You want to go home?”

“Not home. Just not so public. There’s about a million bedrooms in this house. One of them has to be free.”

“Um…” Jade’s heart fell into her stomach. She wanted to go upstairs with Drew more than she wanted air. But she knew it would end badly. Their situation was still the same.

“Don’t worry, Ariel. It’s all for show. I have a plan.”

That piqued her curiosity.

“All right.”

They walked through the house, wrapped around each other. Jade felt a little guilty when she saw Sam’s sad face watching them walk up the stairs, but her loyalty was to the man whose arms were firmly wrapped around her. She’d signed a contract. But more than that, she
cared
about Drew. She cared about his reputation, and she cared about his feelings.

All the doors on the second floor were closed, so they kept going up to the third floor. Drew walked straight to an open door at the end of the hallway. They went in, and he closed the door and flicked on the light.

Pink walls, pink curtains, and a pink bedspread burned their eyes. They were in the asthma daughter’s bedroom.

“Lucky we’re not actually going to have sex.” Drew laughed. “I don’t think I could do it in here.”

He picked up a purple unicorn covered in glitter stars and threw it at Jade. She laughed and hugged the toy.

“Thanks for doing that,” he said, sitting on the bed and bouncing the mattress. “The kiss was a nice touch. I appreciate it.”

Jade sat next to him and held his hand.

“It’s okay. I agreed to this too. It’s not torture to kiss you, you know.”

“Well, that’s good to know.”

They smiled at each other.

“So, can I hear this plan?”

Drew turned and crossed his legs on the mattress.

“That kiss downstairs was very in character for me at a party. If we hadn’t been affectionate, people would’ve talked. It’s expected of me to have sex at these parties.”

“Why?”

Drew shrugged. “Just a reputation. I did it to myself. At first it was rebelliousness. I wanted to have fun and fuck the consequences. But when you do something enough times, people just expect it.”

Jade chewed her lip.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said, though realizing her tone implied there really was something.

“Spit it out, Ariel.”

“I was just wondering how many girls you’ve slept with. But I don’t think I want to know the answer.” She gave a nervous laugh.

Drew smirked. “
Do
you want to know?”

“No. No, I don’t.” She shook her head firmly, deciding nothing good would come from knowing.

“I don’t have any secrets, you know. If you change your mind, let me know.”

“You still haven’t told me the plan.”

“Oh! Right.” He leaned forward excitedly. “Well, I thought we could playact.”

“Playact sex?”

“Yeah.” He smiled.

Jade shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

“You know…bounce on the bed, scream each other’s names. Make people
think
I’m living up to my reputation.”

Jade burst out laughing. “Are you serious?”

“Unless you want to put on a real show?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Okay, playacting it is. How do we do this?”

Drew jumped up so he was standing on the bed and started jumping.

“Fuck, yeah!” he yelled, louder than was necessary.

Jade giggled, her body shaking from side to side from the mattress party Drew was creating with his feet.

“God, you’re so good,” he continued.

A shadow moved by the door, and Drew pointed, showing Jade they had an audience.

“Come on, Ariel. Make me sound impressive,” he whispered with a wink.

Jade thumped her fist into the wall and groaned as loudly as she could.

“Oh, Drew, you’re so big!”

She felt ridiculous and covered her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh out loud.

“Mm-mm, that’s my girl. You’re so bad.”

“Uh, yes!” she shrieked. “Yes!”

“Don’t get too excited. You’ll make me sound like a quick fuck,” Drew whispered.

“Or,” Jade reasoned as he continued to jump on the bed, “it’ll sound like you have
mad
sex skills.”

Drew’s eyebrows rose. “You’re right. Go nuts.”

“Fuck me harder, baby. Make me come!” she yelled and punched the wall again.

“Ooh, you’re so naughty,” Drew said.

He jumped off the bed and slammed against the door, banging his hips into it over and over while Jade tried to control her giggling. They could hear whispers coming from outside the door.

“I’m so close, baby,” he said, right into the door.

The shadows outside moved. It was time to bring this home. Jade got ready for the curtain call and ran over to the door so her voice was close to Drew’s.

“Oh, fuck, yes. I’m coming so hard on your cock!”

Drew raised his eyebrows and gave her an impressed look. He let out an almighty grunt and then flung himself against the door.

“Oh, babe, that was the best,” he groaned.

He reached for Jade and kissed her, hard. His mouth was more exploratory than usual, his lips moving around her mouth, smearing her lipstick. His fingers untied her hair and let it hang free before tousling it.

When they broke apart, he messed his own hair and unbuttoned his shirt, redoing the buttons in the wrong holes. He had lipstick smeared over his mouth and really looked post coital.

Jade pulled her skirt a little higher and let one of the straps fall off her shoulder, adding to their look. Drew looked her over and nodded his head.

“Damn, you look sexy,” he said.

She winked at him. “How long do we wait before we can go out?”

Drew listened at the door. “Now should be fine. We’ve made our impression.”

He grabbed her and held her close by his side, kissing her neck as he flung the door open.

“Let’s get home,” he growled.

A handful of people stood in the hallway with deer-caught-in-the-headlights looks on their faces. The guys all wore dopey, blood-rushed-away-from-their-brains expressions, and the women wouldn’t make eye contact with Jade.

“Wow, looks like we had an audience,” Drew said, sounding like he was surprised.

Jade blushed even though they hadn’t actually done anything, and she absentmindedly tugged the hem of her skirt down.

Drew led her through their audience and down the stairs.

“We totally pulled that off,” he said once they were downstairs.

“And it was kinda fun.”

“But now I would make a quick exit, having achieved my goal of hooking up.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

They walked through the house, people giving them deliberate looks at their dishevelled state.

“Don’t forget to grab a gift bag. Get me one too,” Drew said when they passed the door.

A long table stacked high with what looked like shoe boxes was beside the door. Jade picked up two and followed Drew out. The valet brought the car around, and Jade took the keys from Drew’s hand.

“You’re not driving,” she said. “You’ve drunk too much.”

Drew smirked and folded his arms over his chest. “Do I look drunk?”

Jade looked him up and down. It was true; he was a very high-functioning drunk. But his eyes were red, and she’d seen how many drinks he’d downed during the night.

“Yes.” She walked around to the driver’s side and climbed into the car. “Are you coming?”

Drew laughed and got into the passenger seat. “You’re too uptight,” he said, but he wasn’t mad.

Jade handed him the shoe boxes and pulled out onto the street. The photographers were gone, and they had a pretty good run of traffic back to Los Feliz. As she drove, Drew looked through the gift bag.

“It’s a pretty good haul this time,” he said.

“That’s an iPad!” Jade said, seeing a thin white box.

“Yeah, looks like the new version that just got released last month.”

“And everyone gets one?” she asked.

“Yeah, it’s like a party favor.”

“But there must have been two hundred people at that party.”

Drew pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on.

“Wait, there’s
more
in there?” she shrieked, looking away from the road.

Chapter Seventeen

Limbo

“A
RE
Y
OU
R
EADY
T
O
G
O
? Dad will freak if we’re late,” Drew called up the stairs.

“I’m coming!”

Jade looked in the full-length mirror. The blue dress Laura had helped her pick out was fancier than anything she’d ever worn, except her wedding dress.

“Come on, Ariel! The car is waiting.”

“Okay, okay,” she grumbled under her breath. Events like these might have been normal for Drew, but she was freaking out.

She ran down the stairs as fast as she could in her heels and straight out the front door, Drew following closely behind. They both climbed into the back of the limousine, and the driver drove them downtown, weaving through the traffic as best he could, while Jade tapped her fingers nervously on her leg.

“Don’t worry. Everyone is going to love you,” Drew assured her.

She stared out the window in amazement. One moment they were in normal LA traffic, and the next they were in chaos. Police had the streets blocked off in all directions and screaming people lined the sidewalks behind barricades.

Jade had seen things like this on the news but never thought she’d be a part of it. A policeman waved their car over, and the driver stopped, opening the window and holding their VIP pass out for the man to see. He nodded his head and waved them through.

“Are you ready?” Drew asked, taking her hand.

“Not in the slightest.”

“Just smile and wave at the fans. Pose for any photos that I stop for. You don’t have to say anything. I’ll talk to the reporters.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay.”

The car stopped, and a man outside opened Drew’s door. Loud screaming filled the car, and Jade almost backed out. Aaron would understand if she said she had a stomach bug and asked to driver to just take her home. Wouldn’t he?

“Here we go,” Drew said, and he climbed out of the car.

He gave a quick wave to the screaming fans and held his hand out to help Jade. She stepped out onto the red carpet and lost all her senses. Every part of her was on overload. The screaming was so loud that she didn’t actually hear anything. There were so many spotlights, camera flashes, and faces swimming in front of her that she didn’t really see any of them.

She plastered a smile on her face and waved her hand at the faceless people in the crowd. She was Drew’s shadow, mimicking every step he took. Slowly, as she grew accustomed to the sensory overload, she began to make out her surroundings.

People were screaming for Drew, and more surprisingly, they were screaming her name too.

“Jade, over here!”

She spun, and a flash went off in her face. She blinked and turned back to Drew.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“I’m good.”

Every time another car pulled up, the screaming would grow louder. When Laura and Aaron arrived, the crowd went crazy, and the camera flashes were blinding. Laura made a beeline down the red carpet straight for them and hugged them both.

“You look lovely, dear. Just hold it together a few more minutes, and we’ll all go inside,” she said to Jade.

They turned and saw Drew and Aaron posing for pictures together. Laura beamed. She obviously loved her men very much.

Huge posters of Aaron’s face were hung all around. Jade had never attended a movie premiere before, and she never expected to be a guest on the red carpet at one.

“Can we get a family shot?” one of the photographers yelled.

Aaron waved them over, and Drew pulled her close, hugging her to his side and standing tall next to his parents. For the first time, the magnitude of who Drew really was sunk in. Sure, she’d recognized his face from pictures, seen him interact with the paparazzi, and had a verified Twitter account, but now, standing next to his father on the red carpet with a hundred camera lenses in his face, she understood.

She’d married Drew Malik. How strange that seemed. To the world, he was a party boy and a golden child. To her, he was the annoying housemate who never washed the dishes and snored so loudly she could hear him through two closed doors.