NUDES: A Hollywood Romance (Exposed Book 1)

  "I'm not in charge of casting, Marion." Not entirely a lie.

  "Benny, I just need an audition. I can earn it on my own. I know you can get me that, right?" she crooned, and his stomach turned at her desperation.

  "The answer is no, Marion. Goodbye." With that, he hung up the phone.

  Ben scrolled through his phone and pulled up his texts to Aria. How's the shoot going? he typed out.

  She didn't answer right away, which made sense if she was busy, but still left him antsy. Clicking on the intercom, he buzzed his assistant. "Jackson, can you order me a couple sandwiches for lunch?"

  "Sure, Mr. Lawson!" Jackson replied, ever the eager employee. "Should I use the card on file?"

  "Yeah. Feel free to get yourself lunch on the order, too."

  "Thank you!"

  Ben clicked the intercom off and sat back, sighing. He felt…unsettled. Which was odd since that morning had been such a high. All of yesterday had been, actually. Still, something felt…off. Ominous.

  And it wasn't just the phone call with Marion, though that certainly had his guard up.

  It all just felt too...easy. He was too happy. A feeling he wasn't accustomed to.

  Ben realized how ridiculous that sounded. On paper, he should be happy. He had always enjoyed success, wealth, and an easy life. But it had been so empty.

  His mother had died when he was young, and he barely remembered her. His father was always working and just had him tag along when he couldn't find someone else to pawn him off on. He'd filled his youth with dates and brief flings, and when he thought he should get married, he'd settled down with the next relationship that came along.

  But it had all been superficial. It had looked good on a glossy magazine spread, but deep down, under the silence and lonely nights, none of it was what it seemed.

  "Mr. Lawson?" The intercom buzzed. "Sandwiches are here!"

  That was quick. Ben stood from his office chair and put on his suit jacket, adjusting the lapels. It had only been a few hours since he'd last seen Aria, but damn, he missed her, and he was eager to get down to the shoot for lunch to see her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  "That's perfect!" the photographer shouted to her and Travis. "More pouting, Aria."

  They were posed in front of a green screen, looking longingly into each other's eyes and wearing their costumes from the movie. She pursed her lips a bit more, trying to capture the look he was asking for. This photograph would be the backdrop for the movie posters and a few others used for promotional purposes.

  Travis smirked at her for a moment, then returned his composure. It was hard to stay so serious and one of them usually broke character and laughed if it went on too long.

  "I think we got the shot!" the photographer confirmed a minute later after looking at his screen. "Lunch break?"

  "God, yes," Aria said, letting go of Travis and shaking out her stiff limbs. Long poses made her cramp like crazy. She made a mental note to start working out more often to increase her strength. "My stomach is growling."

  "I know. I could barely keep a straight face listening to that," Travis teased her. "Want to go grab lunch?"

  "I think I'll meet up with..." she trailed off, realizing she probably shouldn't be saying Ben's name out loud with an entire camera crew around.

  Travis nodded knowingly, a big smile on his face. "Ah, yes. Get it, girl."

  Aria felt her cheeks heat, but she laughed. "You always make everything sound dirty."

  He shrugged. "Best way to be."

  "Hi, excuse me?" A middle-aged woman with silky brown hair walked up to the two of them just as they were walking off the shoot. She looked late-thirties, maybe early-forties, and very pretty. Aria was sure she'd seen her somewhere before.

  "Hi. Can I help you?" Aria replied with a friendly smile, trying to place the woman's face.

  "Yes. I'm looking for Russell Rains, the director?"

  Travis pointed to the other side of the set. "That's him over there, talking to the photographer."

  Another reason Aria was grateful for the lunch break. Being on set all day with Russell monitoring was not her idea of fun. At all.

  "Thank you so much." The woman began to head that direction, then paused mid-step and turned back to them. "I've seen you two in the papers before, right?"

  "Um...probably." Aria never knew what to say to that. Fame was a bit…embarrassing sometimes. "I'm Aria Rose. This is Travis Peters."

  "Yes! I thought so! You two look as in love as the papers say." She gave them a huge smile. "Hold on to it. Love is so precious."

  Travis wrapped an arm around Aria's shoulder. "I do love the heck out of this woman."

  Aria just smiled, trying not to laugh. She wasn't wrong. Aria definitely loved Travis, but only as a friend.

  "I'm on my way to meet with my husband after a quick chat with Russ. We've...we've had some disagreements lately, but we're going to make it work." The woman had a dreamy smile on her face and Aria suddenly placed where she knew this woman from.

  Ben's ex! Wait...she didn't say ex.

  Aria had seen Marion Lawson on television a few times, and her name came up in the entertainment news occasionally. It still surprised her a bit that Ben had been seriously involved with someone so much older than him, but she certainly wasn’t in a position to judge someone’s past relationship choices. "Oh, you're...you're visiting your husband?"

  "Yep. We're having lunch. Well, thanks for indulging me. Have a great day, you two lovebirds!" Marion gave them a small wave and headed in the direction of the shoot they’d just left.

  "That was weird," Travis commented, his arm still around her shoulders. "But, hey, we're better actors than we thought!"

  "That's Ben's ex!" Aria hissed to him. "I mean...he said he was divorced."

  Travis' eyes widened. "Drama! Either he lied, or she's nuts on a cracker. Personally, I’d lean toward nuts, because I’m fairly certain I saw the news of their divorce in the tabloids last year."

  “For his sake, I hope so.” Aria couldn't tell if she was hurt or angry, but the rage in her stomach made her lean to the latter. "I swear to God, if he lied to me, I'm going to jail for what I'll do to him."

  "I'll help you hide the body," Travis offered. "Make it look like an accident? Or a disappearance? We’ll never get caught!”

  Aria laughed. "I love how willing you are to help me commit a felony."

  "Hey, I'd do anything for the woman I love. That's just the kind of boyfriend I am."

  Aria wrapped an arm around his waist, laughing harder. "Come on, let's go find some food before I get too 'hangry.'”

  "I can fix that." Ben walked on to set just in time to catch the tail end of their conversation. He held up a bag of what looked like sandwiches. "Got enough for everyone."

  Travis paused, looking between her and Ben. "Can I take his sandwich even though we hate him right now? I'm, like, really hungry."

  Ben scooped out a sandwich and handed it to Travis. "Here you go, but why do you two hate me right now?"

  Aria crossed her arms over his chest. "There's someone on set to see you."

  "I'm going to eat this...somewhere else." Travis held up the sandwich. "Thanks, Ben. Catch you later, Aria."

  Aria gave him a small wave, appreciating how he knew she needed the privacy.

  Ben held out a sandwich to her, but she didn't take it. Damn it. I am hungry. No, she was sticking to her guns. Explanation first.

  "Who's here to see me?" he asked, looking annoyingly perplexed.

  "Your wife. Apparently, you two are working out your problems and staying together. Oh, and you're having lunch with her?"

  Even as the words came out of her mouth, they sounded implausible. She just couldn’t believe he’d lie to her, or that he was still married. He’d told her how public the divorce had been, at least until it was buried beneath the next Hollywood scandal. Could it be possible it was never finalized?

  "Marion is here?" Ben furrowed his brow, looking around the
room 'til he spotted her. "Damn it. I told her no."

  "Wait, so you're not even denying you're getting back together with your wife?" Aria's eyes widened and she reached out to smack him in the chest. "What the fuck, Ben?"

  "What? No, we’re definitely divorced and staying that way. I’ll show you the papers if you want. Signed, sealed, done. She's fucking crazy if she thinks anything else. This is clearly a stunt to try and get me to cast her in something, but nothing is going on between us, and I am not having lunch with her." Ben grabbed Aria’s arm before she could pull away, bringing her closer to him. His voice turned quieter, gravelly and sexy. "I'm having lunch with you. And dinner with you. And hopefully dessert with you, too."

  Aria exhaled a short burst, contemplating his explanation. Honestly, she believed him. Marion did have the reputation of being a few crayons short of a full box, and if she was as power-hungry as people said, then it would make sense she’d use her previous relationship to try and get into a studio.

  Christ, what are the chances that we’d both have crazy exes? Aria was just glad the two didn’t know each other because a Russell-Marion team sounded disastrous for everyone involved.

  Sighing again, Aria pulled away enough to maintain a professional looking distance to anyone watching. "Well...you're going to need to go tell your wife that lunch is off."

  Ben chuckled and shook his head. "Happily. Like I said, she is only here to try and convince me to cast her in our next film. Not going to happen."

  "I'll meet you in your office?" Aria asked, letting her hand brush down the front of his suit discreetly. God, he was firm as a rock under his clothes. Maybe she was hungry for something besides just a sandwich...

  "Sure, I'll be there in a second." Ben handed her the bag of food and then stalked off in the direction of his ex-wife.

  Aria scurried to the exit, but then lingered, surreptitiously watching the exchange between them. Ben looked angry and was clearly being very firm with her. Marion was rolling her eyes and pouting but didn't seem to disagree with him.

  Crazy bitch. There had to be something seriously wrong with someone who would just make up random lies to strangers they meet.

  Having seen enough, Aria headed down the hallway and into the stairwell.

  "Hey, sexy." Russell was coming up the stairs just as she was headed down. "You did great on set today."

  Teeth clenched, she tried to just walk right past him. "Thanks."

  "Not so fast," Russell said, placing his hand on the wall so that his outstretched arm blocked her path. "What's the hurry? We used to have fun in these stairwells, remember?"

  "Russ, stop. I'm not playing this game with you."

  "What's the matter? I wasn't a big enough name for you so you decided to start fucking the studio head?" Russell laughed. "I always wondered how someone from the D-List got the lead in Scarlet's Letters. Now I know it's because you're fucking your way to the top."

  Aria recoiled as if she’d just been physically slapped. "That's not what happened and you know it."

  "Do I?" Russell beamed a sinister smile. "Not sure that I do. Some free career advice, though? Stick with your fake Travis love story and dump the studio exec. Scarlet's Letters can't afford to tank just because our lead is a slut."

  "Fuck you, Russell," Aria seethed through clench teeth. She shoved his arm out of her way and stormed past down the stairs, trying to ignore his cackling laughter above her.

  "If you need to get off that badly, I'll fuck that attitude out of you anytime you want," he called after her.

  Tears welled in Aria's eyes, but she didn't stop. She stormed across the studio quickly and right past Ben's assistant without even stopping to say hi. The moment she was in his office alone, she closed the door and burst into tears.

  She didn't give a shit what Russell thought about her, though she hated how easily he still intimidated her. What really bothered her was that she was so afraid he was right. Not about dating Ben, because there's no way she'd ever leave him. She was falling for him—hell, she'd already fallen for him.

  But about her career? Russell wasn't completely off base. If the press got wind of her romantic connections to Russell, Ben, and Travis, she'd be crucified.

  Aria grabbed a tissue off the shelf of Ben's office and wiped her face, collapsing onto the couch with the bag of sandwiches. This was never how she’d meant for her career to go. She had given her heart away too carelessly, and now it was coming back to bite her.

  It didn't matter that she'd earned her role on her talent. All that mattered was the perception, and honestly, she hadn't stacked the cards in her favor. Fuck. If I was a man, this wouldn't be a problem. She'd be lauded for her sexual prowess and playboy abilities if she had a damn penis.

  Not that she had any sexual prowess, because she'd only ever slept with a small handful of men she'd been seriously involved with—or at least thought they'd been serious.

  Aria wiped the last of the tears from her eyes, refusing to let even one more fall. She would not let Russell get the best of her. She would not let him psych her out. That was what he wanted, and he didn't get to win.

  I've earned my career.

  And I've earned the right to fall in love.

  Aria set her jaw, taking a deep breath. Fuck anyone who told her differently.

  Chapter Twenty

  "Good. You didn't run away." Ben walked into his office and caught sight of Aria on the couch. She was already halfway through her sandwich.

  She glanced up at him, mouth full. "Sorry, I couldn't wait. I was starving."

  Are her eyes red?

  He took the seat next to her and grabbed his sandwich, beginning to unwrap it. "You okay?"

  She shrugged but wouldn't look at him. "I'm fine. Unless you're getting back together with your wife. That would be decidedly not fine."

  Ben chuckled. "Never going to happen. Marion just likes to tell stories. She's all about image, and likes people to see her in the most dramatic way possible. One of the many reasons she and I didn't work out."

  Aria raised her sandwich to her mouth but, on second thought, put it down on the wrapper instead. "Tell me about that.” She tucked her feet underneath her on the couch. “Why did you two get married in the first place?"

  Ben swallowed the bite he was eating and cleared his throat. "Stupidity? If that can be an excuse. We just kind of went along with what the public expected from us because we didn't know what we actually wanted, or who we really were."

  "And now?" Aria tilted her head to the side. "Do you know what you want?"

  Honestly, he wasn't entirely sure, but he certainly knew what he didn't want—Marion. "I think I'm still figuring it out," he replied instead. "But for the first time, I'm not complacent. I'm not just going along to get to the end of the day or following expectations others have set for me. I'm excited about life again. I'm excited about you..." He reached out and rubbed his hand across her knee, putting his food down on the coffee table next to hers. "I'm really excited about you."

  Crimson flooded her cheeks, the corners of her lips tilting into a smile. "Yeah? How...excited?" She slid a hand up his thigh to his groin, brushing against his cock which was already rock hard and uncomfortably pushing against his slacks.

  "Aria..." he warned. "That door is not locked, and you've still got a shoot this afternoon."

  Aria got to her feet, but never took her eyes off his. She sauntered to the door slowly and reached out. The click of the lock engaged echoed in the quiet office. "There. Locked." Her voice was so sultry it made his dick throb.

  She walked over to his desk next and slid her hands down her thighs to the hem of her dress. Sliding her hands beneath, she wiggled slightly. Her panties dropped to the floor and she picked them up with one finger, tossing them at him.

  Ben was still sitting on the couch watching her, but he was already unbuckling his slacks because he feared he might rip a hole right through them if he didn't.

  When she turned around, he thought he was d
one for, but he wasn't even remotely prepared for what was coming.

  Aria grabbed the hem of her dress and flipped up the back, exposing her bare ass to him. The bunched-up fabric from her dress rested on her lower back and she leaned forward, placing both hands squarely on his desk. She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder.

  She smirked. "Don't mess up my dress, and the photographer will never know."

  He practically exploded off the couch, striding toward her with his pants undone and his shaft rock hard. "Jesus Christ, Aria. You're more than any guy could ask for."

  "Good thing I don't want any guy," she teased, pushing back against him as he slid a hand between her legs. "Just you, Ben."

  He growled, sliding two fingers against her core. She was already soaked, and he easily pushed inside her. "Say my name again."

  She groaned, grinding back on his hand as he pumped in and out of her.

  "Aria..." he warned. "Say. My. Name."

  Her head fell forward, her breathing increasing. "Ben...Oh, God...Ben!"

  He removed his hand, pressing himself against her entrance instead. Gripping her hips, he thrust inside her so hard they both fell forward into the desk.

  She gasped, righting herself with her hands back on the desk's surface. Her core squeezed around him, and he was almost dizzy at how amazing she felt.

  Reaching one hand around her body, he found her clit and became rubbing quick circles over it.

  "Ben!" Aria jolted and began trembling, her climax overtaking her as she pulsed around his shaft. "Oh, God, I'm coming."

  Pleasure barreled up his spine, making his eyes roll back as he approached his own climax. He was about to pull out, since their impromptu rendezvous hadn't come prepared with condoms, but she grabbed him and held him against her. "Come inside me, Ben. Please."

  "Aria..." But it was too late, he slammed against her and dissolved into a million pieces as her own orgasm made her squeeze tight around his cock. "Fuck." Ben groaned, his forehead against her back. "What did we just do?"