Cover Model (8 page)

“Don’t call me that!”

“Why not? It fits, doesn’t it?”

“Fuck you, Connor
Screws
! Do you ever think about anything other than sex sex sex?”

I snort, “What else is there in life?”

“Lots! If you stopped thinking with your dick for more than five seconds, you might find out! Did you actually
graduate
from high school, or did they just kick you out?”

“Fuck you, War Mouth. I graduated.” Barely. But I walked and got my diploma, just like she did.

“Fat lot of good it did you,” she grumbles. She grabs her purse off the table and jams her notepad and digital recorder inside. “Find someone else to write your stupid fluff piece, because that’s all you want. Better yet, have your PR person just send a press release to
The National Enquirer
. I’m sure they’ll be happy to print whatever the hell you tell them!” She sweeps the pack of mints off the table then realizes they’re not hers. She throws them back on the table and the case pops open, spilling a bouncing spray of mints that
tick tick ticks
all over the wood. She scowls, “There’s your…
mints
.”

She yanks the door open and storms out of the meeting room.

Romeo stands in the hallway, staring at me with wide eyes.

I shout out the door, “Fuck you too, War Mouth!”

<<<<<<<>>>>>>>

ELECTRA

Damn him!

I march down the hallway, ready to explode.

What was I thinking letting Connor Douche kiss me? I never should’ve played stupid Truth Or Dare with him. How professional was that? I have no one to blame but myself for this disaster of an assignment. I didn’t
have
to come back here. I should’ve told Vince Pitts and
Trending Magazine
to go fuck themselves. There’s other magazines in the world. This whole day was one huge cluster fuck from the begin—

“Lex!”

Connor’s voice squeezes my heart.

I stumble to a stop in the hallway.

“Lex, wait…”

I don’t turn around. I’m afraid to turn around.

There’s a softness to his voice that I’m not used to. He sounds almost… apologetic. I barely recognize the tone. Considering he’s never been anything but a first class ass since the day we met in high school, I don’t know what to do.

My entire body has gone from quivering rage to… quivering
something
. I’m shaking with… what, I don’t know.

My chest flutters as I slowly turn around.

Connor stands in the hallway next to Romeo. They’re both staring at me. Romeo looks shocked. Connor looks… incredibly handsome. His face is
friendly
, which I barely believe. I’m not used to seeing him this way.

A powerful sense of hope warms my entire body from head to toe.

Connor holds something up. I can’t quite make out what it is without my—

“You forgot your glasses,” he mutters.

My body wilts with disappointment. Disgust quickly replaces it. I stride grimly toward Connor, my eyes glued to his hand. The second I get my glasses, I am outta here.

Two steps away, I reach out for them…

“Lex, I’m—”

Our eyes meet.

Hope floods my veins.

“There he is!” A woman’s voice rings out from behind Connor. It’s Margaret Lang, the media relations contact for Rom Com Con. She’s flanked by four other people, two in red Rom Com Con STAFF polo shirts and the other two in business casual. All of them wear STAFF badges on lanyards. “The man of the hour,” Margaret beams as she shakes hands vigorously with Connor.

While the four women surround him, he hands me my eyeglasses as an afterthought. The women fawn over him like he’s, well, like he’s as handsome and manly as he actually is.

I’m sure he’s loving every minute of it.

His head turns back and forth between me and them. “Lex, I’m—”

Margaret cuts him off, “It’s almost time for your highly anticipated reveal, Connor. Are you as excited as we are?”

Connor gives me a final look.

“Oh, hello, ah…” Margaret notices me at last. “Electra, right?”

“Yeah.” Gritting my teeth, I smile at her, “Good to see you, Margaret.”

Margaret then proceeds to introduce everybody to everybody. I can barely keep track of the names.

“How did your interview go?” Margaret asks me.

I give Connor a horrified glance. I try to smile through it, but my face is strained. “Great,” I lie.

“Excellent,” Margaret beams. “Just in time, too. We need to get Connor down to the convention hall to the main stage. As you can see, every seat is filled.” Margaret glances out the wall of windows in the hallway. They reveal the interior of the convention hall below.

The huge room is at least the size of two football fields, if not larger. It’s packed with booths and people from end to end. Countless colorful banners on standees and banners hanging from the rafters combine with an ocean of thousands upon thousands of circulating people to create a vivid confetti of visual overload. Although the windows mute the sound, the white noise of people is a low level hum of excitement seeping through the glass.

At the near end of the hall, there is a large pink stage. Hundreds of people are already seated in front of it, obviously waiting for Connor to unveil himself.

Margaret smiles at Connor, “They’re all waiting for
you
, Connor. I don’t know if you realize how excited the fans are to finally meet you.” Her eyes are glued to Connor’s handsome features. “I don’t think anyone was expecting you to be so…
gorgeous
.” Her face glows with obvious desire.

Connor chuckles casually, “Thanks.”

I cringe. I want to say,
You can’t judge a romance novel by it’s cover, Margaret
.

One of the young women in a red STAFF polo shirt wears a headset. She mumbles something to whoever is on the other end of the mic. To Margaret, she says, “Five minutes until show time.”

Margaret smiles. “Why don’t we take you downstairs, Connor. Electra, would you like to watch from backstage so you can get an inside look? Or would you like to watch from the audience?”

“Oh, I was just—” I stop myself. I can’t tell Margaret that I was just leaving.

She waits for me to finish my sentence.

If I walk out of here, I’ll be acting like a spoiled child. I can only imagine how Vince will chew me a new asshole when I tell him I can’t hack it. I would hardly blame him. It’s not like I’m in an actual warzone risking my life while getting shot at. This is a
romance
convention, for god’s sake. But we’re talking about Connor Hughes. I really don’t want to be in his presence for one more second.

Indecision grips me. If I bail, I can count on Vince to stop giving me any new assignments. If that happens, I won’t be able to pay rent this month. If I get evicted, I’ll have to start couch surfing. When I wear out my welcome with the few friends I have, I’ll have to move back in with my parents until I can build up some savings.

My parents.

Ugh.

They would love to have me come home. I can imagine what they’d say if I told them about my current Connor dilemma.
If it doesn’t make you happy, don’t do it, Electra. Life is too short to waste it working for a bunch of corporate criminals. Why buy into their reality when you can create your own?

My parents’ casual attitude is
exactly
why I have to tough this out. I don’t want to go back to living with them. Ever since I graduated from high school and they bought that failing walnut farm on the outskirts of Oxnard, there’s no way I’d ever move back in with them. Some people might enjoy living in an orchard in the middle of nowhere, but I don’t. I like civilization. Nothing like hot running water and a toilet that isn’t an outhouse. Every time I visit their farm, the seclusion drives me bonkers. So does the outhouse. It
really
stinks. I don’t know how they stand it. To this day, the thought of it gives me shivers.

I groan inwardly. Time to suck it up.

But I don’t have to like it.

In fact, I hate it.

But I’m a professional and an adult.

Time to be a big girl and pay the bills.

Chapter 5

ELECTRA

While I sit waiting in the crowd near the front of the stage, I check my phone.

Damn. Several texts over the last hour from Austin Thayer, the photographer from
Trending Magazine
.

11:57am: In the lobby.

12:34pm: Where are you?

12:47pm: Going to convention hall. Meet u there.

1:43pm: Show’s about to start. Are u here?

I realize now that like always, I turned off my ringer before starting Connor’s interview.

I fire off a text to Austin:
I’m in the front row.

I send it and twist around in my seat, looking for him. Everybody behind me watches me. I ignore them. After scanning the crowd, I see Austin standing at the back of the seating area. I wave vigorously.

He trots up the aisle between the rows of seats, hunching down to be less conspicuous until he squats beside me. “Hey, Electra.”

“I’m so sorry, Austin. I totally spaced. I had my phone off during my interview. I was—”

He grins, “No worries. I kept myself busy taking a bunch of shots of the attendees and the authors. There’s a lot of famous writers here, from what the fans are telling me. But I don’t recognize them.”

I grin, “What, don’t you read romance novels?”

He grins sarcastically, “Do you?”

“No,” I whisper guiltily.

I’ve always liked Austin. We’ve worked on assignments like this before. He’s very cute in that clean-shaven surfer-next-door sort of way, but he definitely fills out his tight O’Neill surf T-shirt nicely. He has one of those long swimmer’s bodies with just the right amount of muscle to be manly, and wavy sun-bleached blond hair from actually surfing. His tan legs flex noticeably beneath his khaki shorts when he shifts positions. His forearm muscles dance when he fiddles with his camera. He holds it up to show me the view screen on the back. The photo shows a middle-aged brunette woman surrounded by two dozen grinning women of all ages. “Check it out.”

“Who’s that?” I ask.

“E.L. James. She wrote Fifty Shades of Grey.”

“
She’s
here? I’ve heard of her.”

“I guess Rom Com Con is a pretty big deal.”

“Wait, I thought you don’t read romance. How do you know who she is?”

“Because there’s a giant sign behind her that says her name?”

“Oh, right,” I giggle, leaning against his shoulder for a second.

When we met two years ago, Austin had a girlfriend, otherwise we might’ve ended up dating. As far as I know, they’re still together. Ever since I found out, I’ve kept our conversations purely platonic.

“Do you want to sit?” I offer.

“No, thanks. As soon as this thing starts, I’ll be moving around to get good photos.”

“Got it.”

The stage in front of us is currently empty. Women in red STAFF shirts have stuck their heads out now and again, but the only thing to look at is the huge projection screen hanging from the back of the stage. A slideshow of book cover images has been playing on it since I sat down. I don’t recognize any of the covers except
Stepbrother Obsessed
, which Romeo showed me this morning. But I do recognize Connor’s body in all of them.

As nice as the photos are, they don’t do justice to what it feels like to be standing inches away from the real thing.

Or to be kissing the real thing.

Heat flushes through my body as I remember our kiss.

I have
never
been kissed like that.

It was like Connor was
fucking
me with his tongue. Even now, the sense memory makes me shiver.

“You okay?” Austin mutters.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I knot my hands in my lap and shift on the cushioned chair. I’m suddenly very aware of my feminine folds. I wish I’d had time to go to the restroom before the show because I realize I’m still quite wet.

I submerge into memories of Connor’s hard body and his hard cock pressing up against me through my skirt. My desire to feel him inside me sweeps through my entire body in a hot wave. What I wouldn’t do right now to rewind back to that moment. Too bad Romeo showed up when he did. Who knows what might have happened if he hadn’t.

“
Who’s ready to meet Connor!!
” The voice blares from the PA speakers hanging above the stage.

The crowd of fans erupts in high pitched squeals of approval. I resist the urge to plug my ears. I never realized a room full of grown women could be so incredibly loud. If it was a bunch of twelve year olds at a Katy Perry concert, I would understand. But these women range in age from sixteen to sixty.

The announcer on stage stands to the side of the stage with a mic in hand. I have no idea who she is, but she’s wearing slacks and a blazer over a red Rom Com Con polo shirt. She says, “
You all know him from the countless covers he’s done in the past five years.
” She looks up at the projection screen to watch more Connor Covers flash by. “
What do you think ladies? Is Connor hot or what?!
”

The crowd cheers approval.

“
I bet you’re all dying to see Connor in the flesh!!
”

More cheers.

“
Do you ladies think the rumors are true? Is THE Connor heinous? Or is he handsome?
”

An immediate roar of disagreement from the crowd.

“No!!”

“He’s gorgeous!!”

“Handsome!!”

Some of these women are getting red in the face from shouting so loud. I can’t believe how invested they are in what amounts to no more than a fantasy. It boggles my mind.

“
I won’t keep you ladies waiting any longer. You’ve waited five years for this moment! Without further ado, here he is! The REAL Connor Hughes!!
”

Thumping dance music pumps through the PA speakers. The stage lights flicker and flash all over the place. Smoke billows out from both sides of the stage. The projection screen fades to a blue glow, revealing a fifteen foot tall muscled silhouette behind it.

The crowd shouts with bold desire.