Center Stage (Bright Lights Billionaire #2) (4 page)

"No one is willing to start the buffet line. You guys get up there and eat, please. Let’s get this shit started so we can go home and get in our pjs soon. " Deza stopped beside us, interrupting our intimate conversation and leaving me without an answer.

“We’re having a pj party tonight? I sleep nude.” I shrugged as Riley chuckled and Deza growled.

"I’m not shy, and to be completely honest, I'm starving." Riley turned and walked to the long buffet line where her man stood, not looking nearly as pissy as I would have been about her standing close to another man. Did they have one of those odd relationships where they let other members into their bed? Like swingers or something close to it?
Odd.

"What the fuck was that?" I turned to my agent and put my hands on my hips. "I almost had her seduced. You owe me."

"You did not. Stop acting like a dick and eat." She pushed softly at my chest.

"You stop acting and eat a dick. I have one you can practice with." I laughed as she pushed at me.

"I swear you're ten years old most days."

"More like fifteen, but close." I put my arm over her shoulders and squeezed. "Find out who Jace is and help me get rid of him."

"Nope. That’s not happening." She pulled from me.

"All right. Then game on." I popped her ass hard and walked to the table, picking up the platter of shrimp and walking toward the door. "Fuck you guys. I'm going to hang out with the only big kahuna-"

"Shit, Ethan. Fine. Ugh. Put the shrimp back and behave," she growled at me. "I hate you sometimes."

"No, you don't. You wish you did, but you just can't do it, can you?" I winked and set the shrimp down before looking back at a group of staff with a cocky smile on my face. "Just dicking around with my wife. She likes it when I do that... anything with my dick really."

Laughter filled the room as she smacked me and growled at them, "Don't encourage his lies."

Chapter 4

Riley

I rolled my eyes at Ethan's antics. He was too cute for his own good, but the sad part was that he was more than aware of it, and taken.

"I'm going to have his children. I've decided." Charlotte let out a girlie sigh next to me.

Jace picked up a plate. "I don't see what the hype is all about. He seems like a regular dude with a little bit of make-up and a fruity-ass haircut."

My need to defend Ethan roared to life, but I pushed it back down. He didn't need to be defended, and I'd never seen Jace get upset or jealous over another guy. It was almost humorous.

"Don't be a hater," I mumbled and pressed my shoulder against his as we moved down the buffet.

"Why would I be hating on him? He just has everything in the world that any man could possibly want, and then some. The fucker has the perfect life." Jace rolled his shoulders and sighed.

"Well, he doesn't have me." I was only teasing, but the look on Jace's face said that he didn't have me either. Not that I was the end all be all. I wasn't. Not for either of them obviously.

"That looks good." Ethan moved in on the other side of Charlotte and plucked a cherry tomato off her plate.

She giggled as I lifted my eyebrow at him. "You're in rare form tonight."

He bounced on his feet and shrugged. "I'm excited. I love the start of a new filming session. It feels like my slate’s been wiped clean and it's time to start over."

“Your slate being wiped clean?” I turned my attention back to the table. “That would be one hell of a job for the one with the Windex.”

“You’re telling me. My arm hurts just thinking about it.” He reached for the same piece of cheese I was working to get and plucked it from the tray. “I’m guessing you have nothing on your slate that needs to be removed, Miss Goodie-Goodie?”

"When are we leaving for Rio?" I ignored his comments as my lip tugged up into a smile. I liked him teasing me in any way that he would, but letting him know it was out. He was already convinced that he was a Casanova to a hurting world. I wasn’t adding to that shit in the slightest. I busied myself with filling my plate as Charlotte stumbled over herself and Jace moved stiffly beside me. Awkward wouldn't begin to cover it.

"I think Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I can't keep up with the schedule. That’s why we have
schedulers.
" He moved around Charlotte and squeezed in between us. "I go when they say go, and I come when they say come."

"Sounds like they have a tight grip on your balls." I glanced up at him and lifted my eyebrow. I wanted a tight grip on his balls, but getting one was going to prove to be challenging and perhaps more effort than it was worth. Ethan probably changed women the way most people changed underwear.

"Mmmmm... just like I like it." He lifted a tomato toward my lips and smiled. "I do believe I owe you a testing period."

"What? That makes no sense." I leaned in and took the tomato without thinking too much about it. Jace cleared his throat behind me and slid an arm around the back of my waist.

“A testing period over what?” he asked, his voice low and husky.

Ethan ignored him, seeming almost comfortable in the midst of what could turn out to be something quite ugly.

"Yeah. You tested me and I passed. I think I should return the favor." He lifted a tomato to his lips and sucked it into his mouth.

I hated how badly he affected me. Warmth spread down my stomach and swirled between my thighs, leaving me far more needy than the man before me would ever know about. I wanted a kiss. Just one. The memory of the hard press of his lips against mine during my first audition was lost to how nervous I was trying to keep it together and score the part.

"And why in the world would you plan to test me, Mr. Lewis?" I took a step closer as Jace released me, growled softly and walked with Charlotte to a nearby table.

"You could be after my assets as much as a woman who simply pretends to be a fan. I think if I tease you mercilessly and you don't give in to my advances that we can safely say that you're just simply a great actress with no agenda." He winked and walked around me, brushing his shoulder against my back ever so softly before stopping on the other side of me at the table.

"You'll have to get close enough to tease me." I moved by him as he stopped to pick up a napkin. "Good luck with that one."

"Rehearsal starts on Tuesday, I believe." He licked his lips and winked at me. "Best of luck getting through that unscathed."

"You wouldn't do that." I walked with him to the table where Jace and Charlotte were, and sat down, half-expecting him to find another table. When he sat down across from us, I glanced up in shock.

"Of course I would. I made sure not to give you too much trouble during the audition because they were watching you so closely, but now... game on, right?" He seemed to be ignoring the fact that we had other people at our table, Jace especially.

What an ass. What if Jace was my boyfriend? Ethan didn’t know the truth of our relationship, and regardless of that, Jace was my date. For Ethan to be so crass around him told me one thing… he was a spoiled brat that expected to get what he wanted no matter who might get hurt. Some of the lust I had dancing inside of me dimmed.

"So I quit my job today." I glanced over at Charlotte, changing the subject.

"And her car broke down." Jace wrapped an arm over my shoulder. "Long day for the prettiest girl in LA."

I gave him a cheeky grin and couldn't help but notice how Ethan's gaze darkened. Was he jealous? Surely not, though the thought caused my heart to beat faster. It was silly and childish as hell. I needed to teach him a lesson or two on how to be a better human in general, but the girlie part of me was thrilled with the possibility that the Hollywood icon of our generation wanted my attention. Me. A nobody.

"We need to get you a new car. You have to have reliable transportation to get places on time." Ethan had no emotion in his words. He was pissed or tired of being around us from what I could gather.

Jace pulled out his phone and grumbled, "I need to take this."

"I'll go out with you. I forgot my phone in the car." Charlotte got up and followed my handsome date outside.

"How long have you guys been together?" Ethan's voice softened a little, but the disapproval on his face was obvious as he poked his fork around on his plate.

"I've known Jace for a little over five years now." I took a bite of the chicken on my plate. "He's a good guy. Captain of the rugby team at UCLA where I go to school."

"Awesome." He glanced down at his plate. "You know it's hard to maintain a relationship when we have to travel so much. Not to mention how jealous guys get when their girls are making out with someone else on screen."

He glanced up as I sat back in my chair. Our relationship was going to be a fucking roller coaster at best. I could only pray that our highs were going to be good enough to sustain the drop offs.

"I remember you telling me that." I smiled. "Right before you reworded my question to make it less about you and more about actors in general."

"It's hard to let someone in, Riley. I'm sure as we get to know each other more and work together for an extended period of time, you'll come to know more of me than you ever wanted to." He pushed his food around the plate, but kept his gaze locked on to mine. I was beyond intimidated and yet there was no way I was breaking the stare. Something hot as hell sat between us. Maybe it was fame that birthed lust between two co-stars. I’d seen too many stories of actors leaving their wives for their co-stars. I was starting to see why. Separating fantasy from reality was going to be a challenge.

"What if I want to know everything?" I licked at the tip of my fork as his eyes lifted.

"I have a biography you can read." He winked and glanced around as Deza approached and sat down beside him.

"Hey, kids. Congratulations to you both. Frank and I are thrilled to have things going this well." She reached for the salt in the middle of the table.

Darren's voice surprised me as he spoke just behind me. I hadn't let him go as my agent yet, so I wasn't sure why I was so taken aback by him being there, but I was.

"I'm proud of you too." Darren rubbed my back and sat down to my left. "I'm so sorry about not calling you with Eon's offer. I honestly had so much shit go down with my momma-"

Deza lifted her head as her eyes widened a little. "What's wrong with your momma?"

"She had a heart attack. It's been a long-ass week." He ran his fingers down his face. "I should go. I don't deserve to be here."

"No, it's okay." I reached back and took his hand. "It all worked out."

"Not because of me." He shook his head and couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off Deza. Something beautiful existed below the surface of the odd relationship between them. I’d have to find out more later from him or her… or both of them. Why weren’t they together when it was more than obvious that they should be?

"Let's go talk. You want to?" Deza moved back from the table and walked around, offering Darren her hand. "Just me and you?"

"I'd love that." His voice was soft, endearing.

I turned to watch them go as tears filled my eyes.

"Wow. That's the first time I've ever seen Deza give up eating for anything." Ethan chuckled as I reached for my napkin and turned back to face him. "Hey. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just hope things work out for them." I blotted my eyes and glanced up to the ceiling. "Acting is my passion, but can you imagine if life really included feeling some of the things we fake?"

"I wish," he mumbled and gave me a soft smile. "To be completely honest, I can almost feel those emotions when I act. If I have the right co-star."

"I think you pull off those emotions beautifully if you have the right co-star or not." I took another bite of my dinner and studied him as he returned the favor. "You have the heart of America sitting in the palm of your hand. It must be exhilarating and frightening all in the same moment."

"It's exhausting, but I make it work. I've been doing it too long to know anything different." He picked up his plate and moved to sit in the seat right next to me, scoring me with his nearness.

The scent of his cologne filled my senses and left me weak. "Do you think you'll always be an actor?"

"Of course. What else would I be? The expectation has been set, and I’m rather stuck dancing along to the tune the puppeteer plays.” He shrugged. "This is the life for me. Only love could pull me from it, but I already told you that it's harder than you think to find love after you’ve made it big. It's a good thing you have Jace, and that you really
know
him. That will give you a bit of comfort when shit gets rough, because it will."

The look on his handsome face told me that he was hiding behind a mask. He was depressed, moody, but why? Was he like that often and I was just getting to see behind the curtain a little?

"You want to dance now that the dance floor is filling up?" I brushed my napkin across my lips and moved to stand.

"You just want to get your hands on me. Naughty girl." He got up and gripped my hand tightly as he moved us to the center of the floor.

"I'm failing your first test miserably, aren't I?" I slid my hands up his thick chest and felt the need to apologize again for lying about the kiss. If the memory of seeing the hot blond at his door that same night hadn’t kicked me in the face and filled me with regret, I would have. Fuck him for denying me and then taking another woman to his bed.

"I failed yours." He smiled and rested his hands on my lower back.

Some part of me wanted him to inch his fingers lower until he grasped me intimately as I had him in our second try-out scene. The soft feel of his flesh beneath my fingers wouldn't be something I would soon forget.

"No, you passed mine, remember." I looked up into his warm brown eyes and saw something that scared me. Neediness. Was he lonely? Was I willing to do anything about it? Could I and survive?

Tell him. Tell him that it wasn’t a test. Tell him that you came back to express how much you wanted to stay the night, to get lost in his arms. Tell him!

"No, I don't think I did." He breathed in deeply and spun me to the left, pushing me from him only to pull me back closely. "You know there is a dancing scene in this next movie, right?"

"Really? I haven't seen the script. When will I get it?"

"When we get on the plane next week." His fingertips brushed along the top curve of my ass, causing my heart to race harder. "You're panting, Riley. Why?"

"What is the scene?" I ignored him as I was getting good at doing.

He awarded me with a cheeky smile. "It's a tango scene in a restaurant. Do you tango?" He licked his lips and moved closer. The strong press of his erection against my stomach left my insides melting. I’d never been with a man his size, much less seen someone sporting so much dick. The thought of getting my hands on him and seeing what I could do was incredibly exhilarating.

Warmth raced up my chest and coated my neck and cheeks as my nipples budded tightly. I wrapped my arms around his neck and brushed the tiny pebbles against him, wanting him to know that whatever he was thinking… I was thinking it too.