The Stars Trilogy (10 page)

“Dare, this is Celine,” Ben continued the introduction.

She went to unload the contents of the grocery bag on the table.

Dare was seriously getting annoyed. The girl was trying so hard to ignore him. She should be all over him by now, gushing and giving him her phone number. They were all like that, easy, accessible nymphets. But this one wasn’t doing the usual groupie act.

Not that it was a big deal. There were too many women available for him that nobody had actually made his motor rev up so quickly for a hard, hot spin in a long, long time.

And he was feeling a huge difference, too. There were his usual erections, the ones he’d usually feel when hooking up with a hot babe. His body would go on auto-pilot hard-on triggered by the common stimuli -- nice tits, big ass, wet pussy. But he didn’t need to involve his senses to come. They were not urgent or demanding to be assuaged immediately. But there were those rare erections…the ones that were non-existent in his system for ages now, the kind that grabbed painfully at his balls like a fist and won’t let go until it was satisfied.

He was having one right now.

Mother of all horndogs, he wanted to fuck a woman so bad in a freaking hospital room with a sick old man nearby.

“Hello, Celine,” he said softly.

She threw him a quick, indifferent glance. “Hi.” She continued what she was doing. “I bought you your favorite bagel,” she told Ben, showing the old man a pouch of the famous bakery on Sunset Boulevard.

“Thanks, my dear. You’re so sweet. What will I do without you?”

Dare watched them exchange smiles and his irritation quickly turned to anger. But he didn’t know whom it was directed to.

Ridiculous.

Then it dawned on him…

Holy…! No. No. No!!!

His mind rejected the thought with surprising vehemence.

But looking at them, it was easy to tell.

A young Asian woman fussing over an old man. They were not related.

She was Ben’s pussy.

“Dare, she’s the one I was telling you about. Celine saved my life. I owe her big.”

Now, he wondered what they were doing together that caused Ben’s heart attack. Images of the young, luscious woman and Ben in a carnal situation briefly flashed in his mind but he quickly blotted it. Dammit, the old man just had a freaking heart attack and he was pissed at poor Ben’s attempts of a love life. Ben’s wife died many years ago and he remained single ever since, but it was obvious, Ben was enamored of this Asian chick.

Who was she? Lots of other things he’d heard came to mind, too. Illegal aliens. Escort service. Prostitution rings posing as Asian online dating sites. Poor, lonely old American men surrendering their entire retirement plans to their Asian girlfriends hoping to get eternal love in return, only to be left penniless in the end.

Was she an opportunist out to dupe a lonely old man using her charms and young body? She sure had a fine body….the kind that appeared naked in men’s magazines. Small but well-proportioned and endowed where it mattered. A man’s most exotic fantasy. She had the perfect natural tan to match her make-up free beauty, too. Taylor would have gone nuts had she met this girl. His ex-mistress had demolished a small fortune off of his Mistress Account in artificial tanning.

By the looks of this little Asian nymphet, she would eat poor Ben alive.

His immediate instinct was to protect his old friend from this little Lolita. She looked young enough to be Ben’s granddaughter for crapsakes! “How did you two meet?” he found himself asking.

“We are neighbors,” said Ben fondly.

“Neighbors? Where?”

“At the Sommerset, of course.”

She lived at the swanky Sommerset?! He knew it! She was a pro. How the hell can she afford to live there?

Ben was her meal ticket, he was sure of it. Why not? Ben was Benjamin “Speedy” Speedman, Academy award-winning screenwriter, the highest-paid in Hollywood who had been in hiatus for the past three years. He’d been hounding Ben for a script for months now but the old man said he wasn’t inspired. He was still looking for his muse, he’d said. Now it looked like Ben had found a muse, indeed. He just didn’t expect she’d be this young….and ravishing.

“I see…” he said, already plotting the little temptress’ downfall. “So…what do you do…Celine?” Her name rolled on his tongue smoothly. Too smoothly. He can utter it over and over with ease and wouldn’t get tired…
Shit.

She looked at him briefly and then looked away again. She began investigating the metal stand where Ben’s bag of IV fluid was hanging from. A blasted IV stand was more interesting than him?

“She’s my Personal Assistant,” Ben supplied for her.

Ah, how convenient. What better way to get her claws on the poor old man than being his all-around girl who’d cater to all his needs?

He’d had a lot of young, beautiful PA’s in the past. They were all after three things: to have some wild romp with him in the sack so they can sell the story to the rags for some five minutes of fame and quick cash (some succeeded); to get access to an acting or modeling career (a lot succeeded because he was a generous man); his ring finger (nobody succeeded but they at least made meaningful relationships with those Rodeo Drive shops through his credit lines). Sneaky little witches. He got tired of their endless scheming, so he hired a gay PA. At least, Ken was only after his huge pay check and an occasional sneaky peak at his huge package.

But now, are you actually envious of Ben’s exotic sexpot of a PA, lecher?
sniggered his conscience.

Celine was looking at Ben, puzzled. “I am…?”

Ben took her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it affectionately. “Of course, you are, dearest.”

Dare clenched his jaw, fighting that feeling. He didn’t want to identify it, this urge to knock poor Ben off of his hospital bed for looking at Celine with such familiarity. The tender, intimate gesture just about sealed her fate in his eyes.

If you even think of causing my buddy Ben heartache, I’ll have you deported back to wherever you’re from, you little gold-digger, after I make you so sorry you ever stepped in America.

Dare didn’t know why he stayed longer than necessary. He was pissed off when he wasn’t informed right away of his old friend’s recent life-threatening condition. Ben stayed three days at the ICU but was declared out of critical condition now. He personally talked to the doctors and they all assured him that the old man was out of danger. Ben would have to undergo an angiogram and most probably a by-pass operation to relieve some clotted blood arteries in his heart.

He should leave now. Ben was already sleeping soundly with the aid of some medication.
Okay, leave.

He really should leave. Only he couldn’t. Not yet.

Ben’s little sexpot was sitting beside the hospital bed, quietly watching over the old man. She would occasionally touch Ben’s forehead, as if checking for fever and she had straightened the hem of Ben’s blanket over the man’s chest a dozen times now, for lack of anything to do. Ben hadn’t moved a muscle.

He stood there, in one corner of the suite, leaning by the window jamb, quietly observing her. They hadn’t spoken a single word to each other since they both got back to the suite.

Celine went with him to talk to Ben’s heart doctor a while back. In the modern, pristine office of one of the best heart surgeons in California, she transformed into a different woman. No longer silent and timid, she talked to the doctor confidently, asking smart, practical questions about Ben’s condition and after two minutes, the doctor was staring at her like he wanted to date her. He sat there, listening to them, gritting his teeth in mounting resentment. She was acting like Ben’s wife already.

She did all the talking, and she did it well, too, he conceded grudgingly. Celine sounded and looked capable in handling serious situations, as proven by the way she’d saved Ben.

“Without your immediate application of CPR, Mr. Speedman wouldn’t have made it to the hospital,” the doctor had said with obvious admiration for Celine.

Well, even he cannot dispute such heroic act.

Her back was ramrod straight and she wasn’t giving him the attention he was used to as a major celebrity. Not that he expected her to give it to him, especially under the circumstances. But it was just too disconcerting to be ignored by anybody, least of all a woman. He was too used to his international appeal with the opposite sex that he had expected everyone to give him proper acknowledgment wherever he went.

He straightened from the window and walked toward her. He won’t leave until he’d figured her out.

“Can we go somewhere and talk?”

That seemed to startle her. She turned to him, her big, brown eyes holding him in thrall again with such mesmerizing quality. She really looked vaguely familiar... but he was absolutely sure, today was the first time he’d seen her.

He inhaled deeply, hating her beautiful, expressive eyes. He was not an easy man to entice by a mere look. Or by a pair of luscious lips…

His balls ached like a motherfucker now. She was like a live wire attached to his cock, pumping massive surges of energy into it and freezing it hard in this excruciating intensity.

He sighed harshly, pissed at himself for his strange, immediate and deep curiosity of this girl. “Come on, let’s talk,” he said brusquely and grabbed her arm.

His unexpected touch jolted Celine like a stun gun. Shocked at his sudden movement, she stood up clumsily, her heart pounding like a gong on double time.

Dare led her to the door.

“Ben…” she managed to say weakly.

“Cruz will watch over him.”

They went out of the suite. Cruz immediately stepped aside. “Watch the old man. We’ll be gone for an hour,” Dare said in a crisp, commanding tone.

“Yes, Sir…but Sir…” Cruz looked a bit alarmed. “I should go with you.”

“I’ll be fine. Tell Carlos to wait for us at the back entrance.”

Cruz immediately pulled his cellphone out of his suit pocket.

Dare led her toward the lift, not letting go of her hand.

Oh my God, he is holding me! Touching me! I can’t believe this! Skin to skin with Dare…how lucky can I get? Everything’s happening so fast in one day. Where are we going? What shall I say to him? Please God, let me remember all the tips I’ve learned from How to Attract the Man You Want. I can’t remember a thing!

A few people gave Dare double-takes in the hallway, probably wondering if their eyes were playing tricks on them. A hospital was the last place to spot a megastar.

She had to lengthen her stride to keep up with him. They were inside the lift in no time. He finally let go of her arm and punched the ‘down’ button. They were on the fourth floor of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

The silence that ensued within the small cabin was palpable with tension. She could feel his body heat as he stood just a few feet in front of her, his fab-smelling cologne filling her nostrils, intoxicating her of his fresh, masculine scent.

God, Ben was indeed his fairy godmo...errr godfather! This was truly the work of destiny! She’d gone through a maze of disastrous jobs for months in the hopes of meeting Dare. Ben did it in one night. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought that an unassuming old man who happened to be her neighbor will lead her straight to Dare Montgomery. It was one for the books!

She couldn’t help the giggle of giddiness that escaped from her lips.

He glanced at her. “Something funny?” he asked her in a low, gruff voice.

Some of her tension had diffused by now and she allowed herself to bask in her overflowing happiness. “Uhm…” She gave him a wide-eyed innocent look. “Nothing…”

“I heard you.”

“Uhm…” Everything was returning now, her volumes of tips and how-tos compiled in her brain for years of preparing herself in becoming this woman that would impress Dare. She should smile. Big, wide, toothpaste commercial smile. Zap him to smithereens with a mere smile.

She gave him her widest, brightest Julia Roberts smile.

His face hardened. “Don’t,” he said tersely. “That won’t work on me.”

He turned his back on her again.

The smile vanished from her face. Her JR smile never failed her. It was a weapon she used to get her way among men and all succumbed to the power of that smile. Until now. But heck, never mind, she had more tricks. No man stood a chance against volumes of hard-core manual in how to drive a man wild.
Focus, girl.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Dare held her arm again as they took a long deserted hallway.

Gosh, why is he holding me a lot? I can’t breathe! I may faint! Please, I haven’t shown him my best yet. God , why did you have to make our first meeting in a hospital, with me in my old denims, gray Juicy sweatshirt, Nike sneakers and my hair in an unflattering ponytail with not even a lip gloss on? I look like a street urchin next to his perfect Gucci casual. But I’m not complaining God, no I’m not! I am so gonna be a good, good girl. I’ll volunteer for the Red Cross for the rest of my life, I swear. Thank you so, so much!

They reached the door and walked out to a back street where a gleaming black Hummer stretch limo was waiting for them, complete with a chauffeur that looked like Taylor Lautner in a rock star outfit.

She gave the guy a JR smile.

Zap! The guy stared at her, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

So okay, Dare was not a regular guy who could be zapped by a regular JR smile. She needed to triple the dose.

“Mind your manners, Carlos. The lady’s waiting,” Dare said with a tinge of impatience.

Carlos snapped to attention and flipped up one of the back passenger doors open for them.

Dare helped her into the limo and followed suit, sitting beside her.

Carlos closed the door.

Celine was not new to extravagant luxuries. She grew up having a chauffeured Mercedes sedan accompanying her everywhere she went until she turned twenty one, when her over-protective parents finally allowed her to drive her own car. But this car was awesome! She felt like she just entered a little posh nightclub.