Stage Left (Bright Lights Billionaire #1)

by Ali Parker

"What's with you guys and my shoes today?" I bent over and pulled them off, tossing them over at the guys who worked with props. They laughed and flipped me off as I stood up. I smiled like the dick I was and walked toward the edge of the set, clapping my hands. "Let's get this shit started."

  "Right. Don't scare these girls today, Ethan. We want good publicity from this. Remember that when you're up there with them. It's not a normal audition. Some of them-"

  "Hey... I'm good. I'm a human under here. I remember what it was like to be rejected and have to fight for this job. Wait, no I don't." I smirked as Deza swatted at me.

  "Just behave." She walked off, bitching under her breath at me.

  "This is what you get when you don't let me finish fucking the chick in my trailer. You get me... pissy and full of sperm." I turned to come face to face with a rather tall woman. She was attractive, but scared shitless.

  "H-Hi. I'm T-Terry." She extended her hand and smiled.

  "Hi, Terry. I'm Ethan."

  "I know who you a-are. I'm such a f-f-fan." She pressed her fingers to her lips as her eyes filled with tears.

  A short bald guy walked up beside her and extended his hand. "I'm Barney. Terry's agent. She's just overwhelmed. Give her a minute and she'll be the best match that you've ever worked across from."

  "Great." I bit my tongue on the nasty responses that flew across my thoughts. No reason to scare the girl, but the midget? I wanted to scare him for the fun of it.

  Twenty minutes later T-Terry hadn't pulled herself together, and I walked up to Deza and pulled at her arm, forcing her to turn and look at me.

  "Tell her no. Now, or I will. She's freaking the fuck out. I'm not getting behind today. You know why? Because people don't put up tents in hell. They run through it as fast as they fucking can." I started to jog away and turned around jogging back as I continued, "Because if you stop, you're likely to get your ASS BURNED."

  Everyone turned and looked at us. Deza pointed a finger at me and bit her lip as I lifted my eyebrow and extended my hands to the sides, palms up.

  "What? Please. Please say something to me today," I challenged her.

  "I'll tell her. Go get you a bottle of wine and drink all of it. Now." She turned away from me, and I looked over to see another woman who looked ready to shit bricks too. "Let me guess... you're here for the audition, but you're scared as hell to even stand on the stage with me. I get that right?"

  The girl took a step back, and I hated myself.

  "I'm sorry. Long morning. Come on. I'm Ethan." I extended my hand. I could give Deza absolute hell and let her see every horrible thing racing through me, but this girl didn't deserve it. T-Terry and her midget friend might, but not this poor girl.

  "I'm Sam. Nice to meet you." She shook my hand and nodded to the stage. "We can hurry. I don't want to waste your time."

  "Okay, sounds good." I turned and walked to the stage with her.

  "I usually do pornography, but I thought this might be a fun change of pace."

  "You do what?" I got on the stage and started to offer my hand to help her, but then decided against it. Who the fuck knew where her hands had been.

  "Porn." She smiled as if thrilled with her life choices. "This love scene is going to be a piece of cake."

  "Right. One minute." I walked calmly to the edge of the stage, finding Deza and giving her the look that she knew quite clearly meant I was close to getting in some random car and driving off.

  "What now, Ethan? You're getting to be as bad as most women I work with." She put her hands on her hips and glared at me.

  "Hey, suck-a-dick up there has been in a million porns. I'm not kissing her when she's had her lips on every man in America's cock. Not happening. Nope." I crossed my arms over my chest as Deza leaned around me and snorted.

  "Really? This is turning out to be a nightmare."

  "You should go have a love scene with one of them. The nightmares, that is." I turned and looked over my shoulder, waving at the girl and giving her a sweet smile.

  "All right. I'll make something up. I'm not comfortable with that either." She tugged at the front of my shirt. "If you mess the rest of these up this afternoon, I'm going to pull another fifty for you to make out with over the rest of this week. You got me? Man the fuck up."

  "Whatever. I'm doing these last eight and then I'm going to my trailer to jack off to your picture." I poked at her. "You know you love it."

  "You're disgusting." She rolled her eyes and moved around me.

  "But you love me, right?"

  "Yes, I love you." She glanced over her shoulder and shook her head. "Wine. Get it. Now, Ethan. Anything to chill you out."

  I picked up a bottle of wine from the liquor table and walked out into the parking lot, leaning against the wall and popping the top. The sky was dark and the day a little too dismal for my liking. It pulled at my mood and left me feeling the need for companionship. I knew one person in the world that wasn't intimately invested in my career or all the money it could make them and yet still cared about me.

  My older brother, Liam. I pulled out my phone and called him, smiling as he picked up immediately.

  "Hey buddy. I was going to call you tonight. How are you?" His voice was full of warmth. I closed my eyes and leaned against the building as I took another long drink.

  "I'm good. Well, I'm shit, but whatever." I let my eyes move across the parking lot as a little red clunker drove up. Great. Another charity case.

  "How about you come over for some beer and brats tonight? Just you and me? We can catch up on a few things, mostly women." He chuckled.

  "Sounds like a plan. I ain't got much to share, so I'll just get wasted and live vicariously through you. You got a girl on the hook?" My eyes stayed in the vicinity of the car as a dainty girl with short strawberry blond hair got out and looked around. The minute I caught a glimpse of her profile I knew it was her.

  My heart skipped a beat, which left me feeling like an idiot. What was I doing? I'd lived in a romance scene for most of my adult years, and now at twenty-four I felt like love at first sight was a possibility? Fuck no. It was a pipe dream, and one I'd most likely be forced to roll up and smoke until my skin turned green.

  "I don't know." My brother's voice called me back from my fruity-ass daydreams. "I have this new woman that I interviewed last week and she... she's everything I want, Ethan."

  "You fuck her yet?" I moved to my right a little and lifted to my toes.

  She glanced over at me, gave me a quick nod and walked toward the opening. Her picture didn't do her justice, and I openly turned and watched her walk in as she ignored me. It was cute - almost. She was probably scared shitless to come over and talk to me. Or maybe just polite. I was on the phone.

  "Not yet, but it’s part of the game, right? She thinks she’s coming to work for me as my top adviser, but I don't want her advice. I want in her panties. Once I'm done with having my way with her, I'll let her go."

  "Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. I love it." I turned and walked back into the building. My eyes moved down the girl’s narrow waist, the sexy swell of her ass in her tight black skirt, her long legs.

  Every inch of me was hard and throbbing by the time I walked up to Deza.

  "All right dude, I got some shit I gotta do. I'll call you on my way over. Want me to pick anything up?" I pointed to my dick as Deza glanced down and let out a yelp.

  "Nope, I got it all. See you later, brosky."

  I tucked the phone in my back pocket. "Riley is here."

  "So I see." She turned toward the supplies table and knelt down before handing me a large ring of tape and a cup. "Go force yourself not to be so obvious."

  "I'll try, but damn..." I moved back a little, finding the girl as she stood with a tall black guy that looked like he should be her man or be on stage beside her. "Who's the dude? Her guy?"

  "Nope." Deza let out a soft sigh as her face filled with sadness. "That's my Darren."

  Chapter 7

 
Riley

  I was grateful to see Darren on the stage waiting on me. Getting the text from him that I was in without submitting my audition material was the sign I needed. I hated to lie to Charlotte, but there was no way I was sending in a voice clip with me reading some sexy line. No way.

  "Hey. There's my girl." Darren turned and reached for me, pulling me into a quick hug. "You nervous?"

  My heart was beating a million miles a minute from seeing Ethan standing out in the parking lot. I'd done my best to ignore him, which might not have been the smartest move on my part, but I didn't care. I was there for the audition as a favor to Darren and to right the wrong of lying to Charlotte.

  Where Ethan Lewis was the hottest thing I'd ever laid eyes on, I wasn't going to hang on his every word, or treat him like the god he most likely thought himself to be. If nothing else, he would meet the one girl in LA that wouldn't hit her knees for him, no matter the size of his crotch cup.

  "Not at all." I stepped back and glanced around. "Any idea why they would let us in as one of the ten to make it through the door? We've been trying for this for the last four years and coming up short."

  "I'm honestly not sure. Ethan's agent is my ex-wife, so I'm pretty sure she had no part in it. She's still pissed about us breaking it off." He glanced over my shoulder and let out a long sigh. "I miss her like a mother fucker, but she's a different woman now. Important and high on the horse. Watch yourself around her. She's not interested in anything but money. Got it?"

  "She sounds like you." I smirked and turned as a pretty Hispanic woman stepped up on the stage and extended her hand to me.

  "You must be Riley. I'm Deza, Ethan's agent." She glanced over at Darren. "Hi, Darren. Nice to see you again. Thanks for coming on such short notice."

  "Yep." He moved past her and hopped off the stage.

  "I appreciate the opportunity." I shook her hand and kept my eyes on her as Ethan jogged up the stage to stand beside her.

  "You look so familiar to me." He extended his hand as I turned my attention toward him. "Your picture didn't at all do you justice by the way."

  "No?" I shook his hand. "I'm Riley Phillips. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Lewis."

  He smirked. "It's Ethan. Please."

  "Sure." I turned back to Deza. "I'm supposed to be at work in a couple of hours. How long is the audition, and what does the timetable look like?"

  "A woman who can respect time, I like it." Ethan moved toward me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

  The smell of his cologne wrapped around me and dragged me farther in the need to whisper naughty things in his ear as we put on a show in front of everyone. I'd giggled half the night before, playing the scene over and over in my head.

  I wasn't getting the part, but it would be fun to fuck with the great Ethan Lewis. Even if to tell Charlotte all about it and nothing else.

  I pulled out from under his arm slowly, not being dramatic with my movements. "So?"

  "We're going to do the audition right now. It shouldn't take five minutes, and then you can go." Deza smiled, turned and walked off the stage.

  "I think she likes you." Ethan winked at me. His playfulness was cute, but I'd been around actors all my life. He was as fake as a mannequin in a department store.

  "Really? What gives you that impression?" I reached down and tugged my shirt off, leaving my white bra on display. Charlotte had dragged me to Victoria's Secret to find the sexiest bra we could for the audition. I was rather mortified that my first real audition was going to happen with me in a bra and a pencil skirt, like some naughty secretary, but whatever. It was something I could mark off my bucket list.

  His eyes widened as they dragged across me. "Wow. You don't have to go after we're done, by the way. You could hang out. I could sign something for your friends? Your mom?"

  "Right. Thanks,” I mumbled and glanced over toward the director as he clapped his hands.

  "I'm Frank. Nice to meet you Riley. Beautiful attire for the part. Exactly what we asked for. Your make-up even looks nice." He smiled. "Do you know your lines?"

  "Yes, sir." I nodded at him and turned back to Ethan. "Take your shirt off. It's not in the scene that I'm taking it off for you. Let's stick to the script."

  "Yeah, of course." He nodded and pulled it off, glancing down as he tossed it off the set.

  My eyes moved over the thick swell of his shoulders, the delicious sculpture of his chest and abs. They had him in the gym more than he needed to be, but I couldn't complain. Every cell in my body lit on fire standing that close to him, but nothing compared to the way I felt when he glanced up and smiled.

  "Like what you see?" He licked at the side of his mouth, playing with me.

  There's the real man beneath the mask.

  "You're flesh and blood just like the rest of us." I cleared my throat and turned to the director, waiting on his cue.

  "Remember," he called out to us. "High intensity. You've decided that even though Ethan is a married man, all bets are off. You're going to have an affair, and come hell or Jesus himself... it's happening."

  "Is Jesus in the movie?" I asked, unable to help myself.

  The older man chuckled, as did Ethan. "Careful, pretty girl. Everyone might fall in love with you, and then what?"

  I turned back to Ethan, feeling far too bold for my own good. "And then I'll take your place and you can stand in line to see me woo America on the big screen."

  He tilted his head a little, studying me. "Did you go see my latest movie?"

  "I'm alive and breathing, right?" I reached out and touched the side of his face as the director snapped his clapper.

  "Action!" Frank yelled.

  "Flesh and blood," Ethan whispered without moving his lips and gripped my hips, making sure to rub his thumbs over the skin just above my skirt. His voice was deep, compelling, fucking sexy as sin.

  "Tell me one reason why we can’t make this work?" He took a step closer, his eyes filled with so much passion that it burned me.

  I slipped into my role. Ethan Lewis was my only desire and there wasn't anything I wouldn't do for him. It almost scared me how much I wanted to dive into my mask just to keep myself from feeling anything for the icon.

  "Because you're a good man. I don't want to be the reason that changes." I let out a soft sigh and slid my hands down his chest, leaning in and brushing my nose by his. "Tell me no and I'll go. Please."

  I put on my best performance, forcing my features to soften just a little and yet still holding in my gaze that he had no choice but to take me to his bed for a long afternoon of fucking.

  He panted softly and turned to Frank. "Cut. Give me a second."

  "What?" I pulled back and turned to look out at Darren, lifting my eyebrow.

  Ethan walked to the edge of the set and jumped off, jogging toward the bathroom. "Gotta piss. Sorry."

  "Wow." I walked toward Darren and knelt down in front of him.

  He reached up and popped my bra strap. "I don't think he's gotta pee. You look stunning. Why the fuck were we doing gum commercials? Victoria’s Secret would pay top dollar for a girl like you prancing around their stages."

  "That's the reason right there." I pushed at his chest. "I don't prance."

  "All right. Where were we?" Ethan walked up the stairs and turned to me. "Let's go."

  "I was waiting on you." I moved toward him and got back in position.

  Frank let out a sigh. "Ethan, you good or need us to wait a few minutes?"

  "I said I was good. Stop acting like I don't have the right to take a piss. Deza forced a bottle of wine on me this morning." He gripped my hips and turned to face me with fire in his eyes. "Let's go."

  "Right. Action," Frank called out.

  "Tell me one reason why we can't make this work?" He brushed his thumbs over my sides and licked his lips as his eyes moved down my face.

  The fucker was trying to outdo me. No... seduce me. Me! Really? Give me a fucking break. Game on.

  I stepped closer and re
ached up, touching his face and rubbing my thumb over his perfect lips as I opened my mouth a little and took a quick inhale as if I were having trouble breathing due to his nearness.

  "Because you're a good man. I don't want to be the reason that changes." I let out a soft sigh and slid my hands down his chest, leaning in and brushing my nose by his. "Tell me no and I'll go. Please."

  He ran his hands over my hips and down the curve of my ass, squeezing softly as a growl left him. "Maybe I'm not good at all. Maybe for the first time in your life, you've judged wrong."

  "I doubt it." I let my eyes move up his face before clasping my arms around his neck and pressing my lips to his. A moan left me that wasn't part of the script, but was very much part of the game.

  He tightened his grip on me and tilted his head, forcing my mouth open with the sweet press of his strong, wet tongue.

  I jerked back. "Your tongue wasn't in the script."

  "Cut!" Frank called and laughed loudly as I moved back and wiped at my lips.

  "Jeez." I gave him a look and turned to face the crowd. I was overdoing it, but in all honesty... I didn't want the part. It was too real to hang on through scene after scene of pretending that I wasn’t interested.

  "Wow!" Frank walked up to the set and tapped the floor of the stage. "Do you two know each other? Have past history?"

  "No," we said in tandem and glanced at one another. The light dusting of pink on Ethan's handsome face let me know one thing. I wasn't the only one affected by our teasing.

  "Well, I have a boner. That was delicious and was two seconds long." He turned to the crew. "Anyone else get a hard-on?"

  I furrowed my brow, not understanding if that was a term they used for liking something or if they really had-

  "Hey." Ethan tugged at my arm. "Sorry about the tongue. I got too into it."

  "It's all good." I glanced back at him, wondering if I'd misjudged him.

  "Great job." Deza hopped up on the set and walked toward us. "We'll be in touch, Riley. Thank you so much for coming on such short notice."

  "Absolutely." I moved to pick up my shirt and pulled it over my head. My eyes locked onto Ethan’s as he watched me unabashed. I couldn't help but glance down at the bulge at the front of his slacks.