A STELLAR AFFAIR (A Hollywood Bad Boy Romance) Read Free Page B

sexy goatee. Don’t get Reena started on his 6-feet-3 frame packed with enough ripped muscles to sell tons of protein shakes. He also possessed the sexiest Texan accent, which he can easily switch to a British twang—boggles the mind how he does this— depending on the character he was playing. He’d been starring in a superhero franchise as the most evil anti-hero the movie world had ever known, but he also had a reputation for taking in serious roles in indie films which had gotten him some prestigious awards. His mating habit seemed to be as badass as his choice of roles. The dude’s dating repertoire was interracial and international and well-covered by the paps.
    Wes Stoner, by all accounts, was a bona fide bad boy. He was not only smolderingly handsome but a compelling character on and off the screen and Hollywood loved his brand of badassery. Yeah, he was really perfect for her Heartbreaker. Wes Stoner was going to help sell her album and make it No.1 for an entire year.
    She’d seen the most good-looking men in this business, had contracted them to   appear in her videos. Wesley Stoner was just one of those men her fans would fantasize about while listening to her songs. Her next album was full of angst and Stoner had better deliver the pain in the end. She had no doubt he would, with a best-actor flourish.  
    “Ava, did you hear what I said?” Reena was still freaking out, Stone-high more likely.  
    Wes Stoner had this effect. Great for her next project but Reena’s giddy fan-girling was getting on her nerves. However, she just knew the Ryders would go gaga over him, too. She could imagine him riding a Harley in the video of her new album’s carrier single, his bad boy menace having sex with the cam. That would turn all her female fans into a screaming mass of exploding ovaries in front of their TVs as her voice wailed melancholic lyrics in the background. She’d break records with this one, she could taste it.
    Wes Stoner was a walking million-dollar business waiting to happen. With HER.
    It was all in her hands.
    “Ava!” Reena tugged at her arm.  
    She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I heard you. When’s the launching of Skylar’s perfume line?”
    “Next week, I think? Why?”  
    She smiled in anticipation.  
    Perfect.
    There was no meaner bitch than payback.

C hapter T wo
     

    Wes was getting the lowdown on the Ava Ryder enterprise as he and Tim rode the limo going to the Microsoft Theater.  
    Ava earned 90 million dollars last year from her successful world tour, fashion and perfume lines. If he were a lesser man, he’d feel insecure. Well, he’d admit to feeling a tad insecure. His earnings last year were crumbs in comparison to her gigantic pie, pun intended, though he was already considered quite bankable by Hollywood standards. Apparently, acting had nothing on world tours and having your own scent. The girl was a walking million-dollar business from head to toe.
    As he listened to Tim, he fluctuated from being skeptical, interested, surprised, shocked and incredulous.  
    “Does she even have any real relationships? Why does she need to do this?”   He was feeling even more turned off of Ava Ryder as he learned more details of her personality. The girl sounded like a major hustler. Not that he’d never hustled. But this girl took it to a whole new level.
    “Haven’t you read the rags even once this year, man? She’s the number one trending topic for weeks, well, aside from you humping that VS Angel in her apartment’s balcony.”
    He snorted. “You know seeing my face in the rags is enough to make me suffer a nervous breakdown.”
    Tim laughed. “On the contrary, Libby’s quite ecstatic of your tabloid appearances lately,” Tim was referring to Olivia Mann, the shrewd publicist who controlled his media exposure like a huge gambling business. He loved Libby. It was unorthodox for a PR expert but they shared the I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude when it came to the press.