Page 24 of Fourth Base with the Alpha
“A pantie shot?” I whisper to Hunter with alarm in my voice.
“I’ll get out first and help you out. Don’t worry.”
I nod and put on my best big-girl smile. The one that says I am absolutely one hundred percent fine and dandy and down with this situation. It’s a smile I’ve been using a lot these past few months.
It should be Maria here in my place. Not me. She was always way better at handling crazy situations than me, at sweet-talking strangers and charming the pants off everyone she met no matter how young or how old. And she was a million times more beautiful than me. Her smile alone could light up a whole room.
And she’d have loved every minute of this. From fake-dating a rock star to walking the red carpet.
Hunter climbs out of the car and offers me his hand. I stare at it and the hordes of inquisitive faces behind him. Then I take that hand and slide out the car as best I can with my knees pressed firmly together.
Ain’t no pervy photographer snapping these panties.
Maria would be better at this. But she isn’t here and so I’m going to try my darn hardest to enjoy it for her.
Thankfully, these stilt-like heels land on the sidewalk without any problems and Hunter guides me to my feet. My head spins a little when I realize there are way more pairs of eyes trained my way than I originally expected.
I poke Hunter surreptitiously in the gut (solid, like the rest of him).
“Don’t forget the plan.”
“I haven't,” he says, stroking his thumb across my knuckles to prove the point and setting those tingles off yet again.
In all the fake-dating movies I watched with Maria, in all the fake stories I read, they never actually offered any practical advice on how to cope with the fact that your fake-date might be a sex god with a scent like pine. In the movies the couple always end up falling in love so the fact they are turning each other on is kind of a necessity. But this is real life. Inconvenient skin tingles are a nuisance, especially when I should be concentrating on not tripping over and face planting on this red carpet.
We walk slowly along, following the pace of Hunter’s band mates in front of us.
Many people call Hunter’s name. Several want to know who I am. Some even direct their cries at me.
“Should we stop to talk to anyone?” I whisper to Hunter.
“No, Kim will skin me alive. Let’s keep moving.”
I do as he says, white dots swimming in front of my eyes from all the flashbulbs and spotlights.
Halfway down the carpet is the point where celebrities are lining up to pose and have their photo taken. It isn’t something we can skip. It’s part of the deal.
Ash peers over his shoulder at us. “We’ll do a band photo. Layla hates these things.”
Thank goodness for that. I’m not ready for the posing. I’ve never been any good at it. I can never get the angle right on selfies and I deleted the few nudes I took for dudes because they looked more like a horror show than a porn one.
I stand with Layla as the band line up together and the photographers snap away. You can tell they’re pros. The way they stand, the way they tilt their heads and smolder is so hot I’m surprised all the cameras don’t combust.
“Shit!” Layla says, fanning her hand in front of her face. “They look hot tonight.”
“They sure do.”
She leans into me. “Ash’s mom is babysitting for us and we’re staying at a hotel nearby. My man is getting laid tonight for sure.”
I smile, unable to drag my eyes away from Hunter. I wonder if he smolders like that at girls in the bedroom. If he ever looked that way at me, I’d be dropping to my knees before he could say ‘kneel’.
Ash jerks his head indicating they’re done and the alphas start to move away.
“Hunter,” a young photographer with red hair calls out, “how about one with you and your new girl? Everyone’s dying for a picture of the two of you together.”
Hunter shakes his head, but now all the other photographers are shouting out similar requests and before I know it, some assistant with a clipboard and an earpiece hidden under her hair has a grip of my wrist and is tugging me towards the set-up.
I peer back to Layla in alarm but she’s already moving towards her alpha.
