Stage Left (Bright Lights Billionaire #1) (3 page)

"They think it's just a ruse. Did you not read the article that People Magazine just did on you?"

I glanced down at the phone and stifled a groan. The girl was perfect. Her short bobbed haircut made her look incredibly cute. Innocent. The pretty smile on her face drew me in, but the red lipstick... the slight narrowing of her eyes. She wasn't at all what she appeared to be. How badly I wished she were sitting next to me. No blow jobs for her.

I'd take my time and-

"Ethan. What are you doing?" D snatched the phone as I glanced over at her a little winded.

"What? What are you talking about?" I leaned back in the chair and breathed in deeply.

"You're panting."

"I'm turned on." I looked over at Deza. "She's fucking hot. I want her in my next movie. Make it happen."

"Impossible." She shrugged. "We're not getting involved."

"Yeah, you are. I promise to behave for a long time if you get that girl to audition. Do it." I leaned back as the movie started and took Amber's hand, pulling it in my lap as my cock grew long and thick thanks to the girl who would be playing fantasy in my wet dreams.

"Oh my-" Amber started, but I leaned over and looked at her.

"Hush with that. You wanna say you did something no other girl's done? Put your hand in my lap and don't stop stroking until I tell you to." I licked my lips and leaned back as Deza got up and moved a few chairs down.

I chuckled and gripped Amber’s hand, setting the pace for how I liked to be touched. Where she was no one I would ever want to have a conversation with, she obeyed quite well.

She could stay... through the film at least.

Chapter 3

One Week Later

Riley

"Oh God. I hate accounting." Charlotte pressed her hands to her face and let out a long groan as we sat at the table together.

"Then why are you studying it?" I glanced up from the lines I was working to memorize. I'd scored a side part in the next school play at UCLA. My best bet for snagging a real agent and dropping mine was to grab someone’s attention in one of the college productions. Sadly enough, it was more about who you knew and not what you were capable of.

"It's part of my business degree." She closed the book and leaned back. "Guess what I heard this morning, or rather saw."

"What?" I reached for my Coke and took a quick sip as it spilled onto my papers. "Shit."

I got up and grabbed a few paper napkins as she continued like nothing happened.

"They're having open auditions to a big time movie coming up." She wagged her eyebrows and took a sip of my Coke.

"Oh yeah? What?
Elves in Wonderland
three?" I lifted my eyebrow and gave her a cheeky grin as I cleaned up my papers.

"No, you turd. It's for
Down Low.
" She wagged her eyebrows.

"No it isn't. You're pulling my leg." I got up and worked to spread my papers across the coffee table, hoping they would dry and not smear. Ink was expensive and I was beyond broke. Sitting in a line for the printer at the university library wasn't how I wanted to spend my Friday afternoon.

"No, I'm serious. Let me find it." She pulled her phone toward her face and narrowed her eyes a little. "I hate the fact that I'm going to have to break down and get glasses."

"Why? You would look good with glasses." I turned to face her, trying hard not to let myself entertain the thought of an open audition. It was too much to ask for.

"Yeah, it's not that. It's having to call my dad and ask for anything. I'd rather sleep with the optometrist for a pair." She lifted her phone toward me. "Check it out."

I walked over casually, but couldn't help but snatch the phone from her. I scanned the information and smiled.

"Seriously? This shit is real?" I glanced down at her. "On Wednesday."

"I told you." She got up and walked to the kitchen. "Dude, you're going to have to talk to your mom about cleaning up after herself. I love you guys being here, but you know I'm a clean freak."

"This coming from the girl that almost licked a movie poster last week," I mumbled and continued to read the information. "Ugh."

"What?" Charlotte moved up beside me. "Why the ugh?"

"It says here that only ten women will be moving to the next round." I looked up and handed her the phone, not willing to read the rest of it. I wasn't going to be in the top ten, or the top one hundred.

"You can make the top ten, Riley. What's gotten into you lately? You're incredibly talented." She set her phone down and moved in front of me, gripping my upper arms tightly. "What's up?"

"I don't know." I glanced down and let out a sigh. "I guess it's all this shit with my mom and the fact that we're graduating soon."

"That's a good thing, right?" She reached up and pushed at my chin, forcing me to glance up.

"Not really. I'm getting my degree in drama, Char. I have nowhere to go with this but the classroom, and I'm not cut out for teaching." I pulled away from her and walked to the couch, dropping down and trying to forget about the audition. I'd stick to commercials and keep trying for a sitcom. There was no way in hell I would be welcomed onto the set of a major motion picture with no previous experience outside of a live stage at UCLA.

"You're giving up, which makes no sense." She sat down next to me. "Since when are you the type of person to give up?"

"I guess I'm not, but I’m tired of hoping for something that doesn't seem possible." I shrugged.

"Fuck this. Let's go shopping and then go to dinner. We'll hit the club and get wasted, and I promise you by the end of the night, you'll be your old self again. You're doing this audition, and you're getting this part. Besides, how else am I going to get close enough to Ethan Lewis to seduce him?"

*

"You look incredible." Charlotte turned to me as we waited in a long line of people to get into our favorite night club. She tugged at a short strand of my strawberry blond hair and bit her lip. "If I was into women... you'd definitely do it for me."

I swatted at her. "Shut up. I just put on a little bit of make-up and got dressed for the first time in two weeks."

"And that's all you have to do." She bumped her hip against mine, looking incredibly hot herself. "That's why I secretly hate you."

"You do not." I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the line. I was done waiting.

"Where are we going? It's fifty cent ladies night." She gripped my hand and moved up beside me.

"We're getting out of this cold-ass weather and into the club." I tugged the front of my silky shirt down just enough to show the tops of my breasts and put on my sexiest smile.

The bouncer glanced up as he started to say something, but I tugged Charlotte up beside me and pressed a hand to his chest.

"Hi. I'm in town for a new movie premier and heard this was the best place to get laid." I licked at my lips and let my eyes move across his face. "That true?"

"We'll find out for sure." He smiled. "Come on in, girls. Drinks on me.” He turned and lifted his wrist to his mouth, mumbling something as we slipped in.

I released Charlotte and walked toward the bar. "Much better. I swear I should have brought a light jacket or something."

She moved in front of me and lifted her hand to stop me. "Oh hell no. How did you do that?"

"Do what?" I pushed her hand down softly and walked to the bar.

"Get that guy to bend down and lick your toes." She moved up beside me.

"Easy... I offered him the possibility of sex. It works every time." I glanced at her sideways. "Acting 101. Make the crowd think that sex is coming, and they'll fall over themselves to make sure they’re present when it happens."

"I call bullshit."

"No? Watch and learn." I shrugged and turned to the bartender. "Without sex."

"Hi girls. How's it going tonight?" The guy was cute, but nothing to gawk at.

"Good. My friend and I want a beer please, and do you have limes?" I spoke in a clipped tone, not being at all friendly.

"Nope, but I'll get your beers. Corona good?" He lifted his eyebrow and glanced at Charlotte.

"Yep. That'll work." I turned away from him and glanced over at her. "You saw that?"

"That sucked. What was I seeing? You know I can't drink a Corona without a lime." She rolled her eyes. "You're dumb."

I laughed and turned back to the bar. "I had to set up the experiment. Now, let's introduce the possibility of sex and see if he bends."

"Bends? How? There aren't any limes." She pressed her arm against mine and shook her head at me.

"Sure there are. He's working in the biggest bar in L.A. They have limes. Just bite your lip and look innocent when I glance over at you."

The guy headed back as Charlotte started to ask another question. I nudged her and squeezed my shoulders together, forcing my breasts to rise a little.

His eyes moved down me like he hadn't been standing in front of me five minutes before. "Here's your beer, pretty girl. Looks like it's on the house tonight."

"Thank you." I took the beer and pressed it to my lips as I watched him closely. "What time do you get off?"

His eyes widened a little. "Tonight?"

"Mmhmm." I took a sip and put the beer down before licking at my lips as if trying to capture every. Last. Drop.

He swallowed and shrugged. "Around three."

"Good." I nodded over toward Charlotte. "My friend here can't drink Corona without a lime. Is there any way at all that you'd be willing to check in the back for some?"

"Yeah, sure. No problem." He wiped his hands and extended one to me. "Billy."

"Nice to meet you, Billy. I'm Lyndsay and this is Mary."

He smiled before turning and walking toward the back though the bar was completely full.

"Holy shit. I knew sex sold, but I didn't realize that us little people could use the power of it too." She shook her head. "All right. I'm impressed."

"That's why you're so crazy about Ethan Lewis. He sells sex, Char. He's in action films, which draws in guys too, but he's selling the notion that when you close your eyes at night, he's going to meet you in your dreams, and that cup in the front of his slacks isn't going to be a cup at all."

She smiled brightly. "I'd love to find out what exactly he's hiding down there. I bet it's a fucking monster."

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "For that... get your own limes."

She gave me a cursing as I walked toward the dance floor and left my beer on an empty table.

The crowd was thick, and where I hated to be around too many people at one time, being on the dance floor was completely different. It was a sensual experience that couldn't be found anywhere else.

The music slowed into something sexy, and I lifted my hands, rolling my hips and moving with the crowd as someone gripped me and moved up behind me.

"I've missed you," someone whispered against the side of my neck. It was a voice I knew all too well. Jace.

"Have you?" I turned to face him and slid my hands up his thick chest. I could visualize every inch of him, but it was better that I didn't. He was a long night of fucking packed into a tight body and a great smile. Too bad he wasn't interested in being with one woman at a time.

"I have." He rolled against me as his large hands slid over my hips and gripped the top of my ass. "I can't remember the last time you let me take you home with me. It's a sad existence without you in my life. I try not to think about it too much."

"The captain of the rugby team at UCLA has a sad existence? No..." I rocked against him, enjoying too much the heat that blossomed between my thighs. It wouldn’t take much, and I'd be stripped down and laying across his bed like an offering to the gods.

"Such a tart. You know that don't you?" He slid his hands up my sides, this thumb brushing over my nipple as I sucked in a quick inhale.

"Don't. I'm not going home with you tonight." I pressed my hands into his chest and pushed back just a little, but not as much as I should have. He and I had a sordid past, and had tried to make something out of our long friends with benefits relationship since high school.

"Why not? I could take my time and lick every inch of you." He leaned over and brushed his lips by my ear. "Suck on the spots that make you scream. I know where every one of them are."

I shivered and turned my head to line our faces up. "Do you? It's been a while. Maybe I like different things now."

He nipped at my lips, his blue eyes drawing me in deep. "Let me explore you all over again then, Riley. Come home with me."

"And smell the woman you fucked last night on your sheets?" I smiled and let out a laugh. "No thank you, playboy, but do feel free to tease yourself by dancing with me tonight."

I turned away from him, and stifled a groan as he gripped my hips tightly and pressed his thick erection against my rear.

"Why do you deny yourself?" He licked at the long column of my throat, and I couldn't find enough air to answer him.

Charlotte lifted her beer up and caught my attention as she stood by the edge of the dance floor.

"Because, I'm a masochist." I bumped him with my ass before walking off the floor. "What's up?"

"Jeff is here. I'm going to go home with him if you're okay with that." She handed me the keys.

"You sure? You said the last time you guys were together he lasted three minutes, squirted and passed out. That's not what you want." I lifted my eyebrow as I pocketed the keys in the back of my tight jeans.

"It was more like four minutes." She laughed. "It's all good. He's safe, and he's generous before he squirts."

I shook my head. "Too much info, but then again, I opened that door, didn't I?"

"Yeah, ya did. I'll text you later. Love you." She reached out and pulled me into a quick hug.

"Love you too. Be careful." I watched her go and resigned myself to letting Jace take me home. Where it wasn't the best decision in the world, it would end in bliss beyond anything I'd experienced in the last few months.

I spun around and studied the faces on the dance floor until I found him wrapped around some tiny Asian chick, giving her what looked like a pre-fucking on the dance floor.

"Or maybe not." I chuckled and walked to the bar for another beer. A few more dances and I'd be headed home to watch a good movie and curl up on the couch. Maybe something with Ethan in it. That way I could bask in my obsession without anyone knowing just how fucked up he left me feeling.

An open audition was a horrible idea, but one I was going to go for - maybe. Besides... there was no way in hell I was going to get the part. Not even if I sold sex to do it.