PartyStarter Read online

  The fabric straining around her breasts finally gave way as one globe slipped free of its constraints. A shock of pleasure made her toes curl in her platform stilettos.

  But then Stone’s hot, wet mouth clamped down on her aroused nipple and the world around her shattered. Reaching up, she gripped him by his hair, holding him in place as she ground her pussy against him. A roar of approval rose from the crowd, and belatedly Julia realized that they were all still watching. Some cell phones were even being pointed in her direction and she found she couldn’t bring herself to care.

  The pressure was mounting and the tingle in her pelvis that heralded her approaching orgasm slowly built. She was going to come, dammit, right here on the dance floor, and it was going to feel so good…

  The booming voice of the DJ broke through her lust-filled haze.

  “Damn, folks, was that the hottest thing you’ve ever seen, or what?” He wolf-whistled and growled. “But it’s time to announce last call at the bar, and I’d like to invite Ms. Kitty up here to give us one final send-off. What do you say?”

  The room reverberated with applause and catcalls.

  Taking deep breaths to steady her racing heart, Julia slowly pushed Stone away and adjusted her clothing. She flashed him a slightly unsteady smile. Work. She had to concentrate on work. Not on how much this man had just thrown her for a loop.

  “Baby, you can dance with me anytime, but now I’ve got to go. I hope I’ll see you again.”

  Stone’s eyes were intense, his pulse beating rapidly in his neck, but otherwise he appeared calm and completely in control. “I appreciate the invitation, and I know I’ll see you very, very soon.”

  Julia turned and made her way to the DJ’s platform, wobbling only slightly on her heels. She took the time to gather her composure en route, brushing away Stone’s somewhat odd response. Whatever. Time to bring the house down.

  She climbed the few steps and accepted a microphone from the DJ.

  “Hey gang, how’s it going?”

  Screams answered her.

  “Well, you’ve been a kick-ass group, and I know I had so much fun tonight. So we’re going to send you home with a bang. Make sure you take it back to your bedrooms!”

  She turned to hand the mic back, and was startled to see Stone joining her on stage.

  “Stone? What’s going on, honey? I’ve got to do the last number.”

  He nodded. “I know. I thought I’d join you. You did invite me.”

  Julia frowned slightly. “What? No, baby. I meant I’d dance with you on the floor another time. Not on stage.”

  Stone’s eyes crinkled with amusement and the look made her knees shake. Dammit.

  “Oh, but I think I’ll stay.” The song had begun and he gyrated his hips next to her.

  Aware that a large portion of the crowd was curiously watching their exchange, Julia pasted a smile firmly on her lips, but spoke through her teeth. “Sorry, Stone, or whatever your name is, I work alone. So please get the hell off my stage before I call security over.”

  Stone flashed a cocky, megawatt grin in her direction. “Too bad, Puss. I can’t do that because I’m supposed to be up here with you. I’m your new partner.”

  Chapter Two

  The elevator ride was eternal.

  Barry Manilow muzak chimed perkily at her, doing nothing to improve Julia’s mood. She hadn’t been able to reach Ricky Sinclair all day yesterday, so instead of getting Saturday night’s obviously grievous mix-up cleared with her agent right away, she’d been forced to wait all through Sunday until Monday morning.

  Julia crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot. Stone-the-Jackass’ face continued to appear in her mind, fueling the fire. Her cheeks burned with both rage and humiliation as the remainder of Saturday night replayed over and over in her head, bringing back echoes of another time, another debacle. Julia could feel her blood pressure rising with every heartbeat.

  Instead of closing out the night with a bang as usual, it had been more like a whimper. Her regular solo number had become an impromptu duet—one where she continuously felt off-kilter. The crowd had been appreciative, sure, but that didn’t really matter so much. Then she’d stormed out, not lingering to socialize like she usually did, and continued to fume through a glass of wine and a hot bubble bath.

  “‘I’m your new partner’?” Renewed anger had her talking to the empty elevator car. What in the bloody hell was this partner crap? Ricky had damn well have some good answers, or heads were going to roll.

  With a soft ding the elevator doors opened, leading into a short hallway that contained three office doors. She headed to the one marked “Ricky Sinclair, Talent Management” and entered without knocking.

  In the reception area, an exquisitely coiffed young blond man sat primly behind a large chrome and glass desk, typing rapidly on a computer keyboard.

  Without glancing her way he said, “Have a seat, please. I’ll be with you in a moment.”

  Gritting her teeth, Julia replied, “No, you’ll be with me now. I spoke with you on the phone ten minutes ago, Jordan. I’m going in to his office, and he’d better be there.”

  Eyes wide, Jordan half-rose from his seat, then slowly lowered himself back down, taking the wiser course of action. “O-okay, Julia. Go right in.”

  Storming down the hallway, Julia opened Ricky’s office door and flung it wide.

  “All right, Sinclair. I want some answers, and I want them now. Just who the hell is this Stone guy—”

  Her gaze landed on the second person in the room, seated in one of Ricky’s guest chairs.

  Speak of the devil, looking unbelievably edible in worn jeans, a fitted crewneck shirt and black hobnail boots. A day’s growth of stubble covered his chin and gave him a rough and ready look.

  “Punctual, Puss,” Stone grinned at her. “Good trait to have.” His gaze traveled slowly up and down her body, pausing at the V of her sweater and lingering on her legs. Julia could have sworn she felt his touch, and a delicious shiver rippled through her body.

  Doing her best to ignore her traitorous body’s reaction to Stone’s presence, Julia jumped her gaze from man to man, finally settling on the one behind the desk.

  Ricky Sinclair’s portly expanse was impeccable in a navy pinstripe three-piece suit, complete with coordinating tie and pocket puff. He sat back in his expensive leather desk chair, his elbows propped up on the armrests and his fingers steepled together. His ever-present cigar stuck out of the corner of his mouth. With the exception of the narrowing of his eyes, he gave no outward sign of being surprised by her explosive entrance.

  “Mornin’, my little sweet pea,” he said in a voice as soft as goose down.

  Julia shook her head at him. “Don’t you ‘sweet pea’ me, Ricky. I want to know what he—” she pointed at Stone “—is doing here.”

  “Oh, now, Puss,” Stone interjected with a slow, sexy drawl that she hadn’t picked up on Saturday night, “is that any way to greet an old friend?”

  “Hold on there, Jack,” Ricky said, wagging an accusing finger at him, “she deserves an explanation. You know that. Don’t be an ass.”

  Stone—Jack?—held up his hands in a gesture of supplication. “Whatever you say, boss.”

  Ricky turned his attention back to Julia. “Honey, you’re right, I haven’t been fair to you. I should have told you what I was planning ahead of time, but I knew if I did that you would have been absolutely against the idea. Have a seat, please, and hear me out.”

  Grudgingly, Julia moved to the second guest chair in Ricky’s office, pulled it several inches away from Stone and sat, crossing her arms firmly over her chest. Her heart pounded furiously against her rib cage.

  “Now,” Ricky began, “you know we have had great success with the whole ‘party starter’ idea since we launched it two years ago. It might have been slow at first, but now that it’s caught on and your reputation is growing, I’m getting calls to book you eight to ten months in advance.”
/>   Julia nodded, a fleeting pang of pride blooming in her chest. She knew about her growing success, and was damn proud of it.

  Ricky continued. “But along with those calls for bookings, lately I’ve also started getting the odd call asking for a male party starter. It seems a fair portion of the ladies also like you, but some want a bit more testosterone at their parties. I found Jack through a mutual acquaintance and thought I’d give him a try. It was wrong of me to spring him on you like that, though, and I apologize.”

  “You bet your ass it was wrong, Ricky. Have you forgotten all about Jeremy?” Julia spat out the last word as though it were poisonous.

  Sinclair raised his hands, palms up, in a gesture of supplication.

  “Oh, hell, sweet pea. I’ll never forget about Jeremy as long as I live.”

  “Neither will I, Ricky.” Julia paused, taking several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. “If people want a male party starter that’s fine, but I work alone, Ricky. You know that. These gigs are mine. No way am I going to have a partner.”

  Stone cleared his throat. “So who’s Jeremy?”

  Julia shot him a glare decorated with razor blades. “None of your business.”

  Ricky shuffled through a stack of manila file folders that lay atop his desk, the action drawing Julia’s attention back to her manager. He opened one folder and selected the top sheet of paper. He handed it to her. “This is a selection of blog posts, comments, Tweets and electronic what-have-you that Jordan compiled for me yesterday. The Internet is abuzz with talk about you and your ‘mystery partner’, and the chemistry and heat between you two.” Ricky gave a deep, rumbling chuckle that faded and died as Julia aimed her frozen glare at him instead of at Stone. “Uh, people thought you were going to go ahead and have sex on the dance floor.”

  Heat blossomed in her cheeks, the memory making it difficult for her to hang on to her anger. If only Ricky knew… Julia focused her attention on the page to avoid making eye contact with her agent. Quotation after quotation gushed about her and about Stone, and about how they were an amazing, incredibly sexy couple. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it.

  “So what? So people were fooled by an act. That’s all it was.” She knew it was a lie the moment the words passed her lips, but there was no way in hell he was going to take away the best thing that had ever happened to her.

  “Is that so, Puss?” Stone spoke up. “Then you deserve an award, because I seem to recall you really getting into what we were doing.”

  Julia tossed the page negligently onto the desk. “An act.” She turned her attention to Ricky. “Why can’t he have his own parties?”

  “Because he hasn’t built his own reputation yet. You, my dear, were a trailblazer in this arena, so unfortunately we had to build you from the ground up. What I’m counting on is for the two of you to spike even more interest in the whole party starter idea. You’ve gotta trust me on this, sweet pea. If things go the way I think they will, your fees will be doubled in no time, and we’re all gonna end up richer than Midas.”

  The idea of working with Stone again—more than once, even—sent an electric jolt straight through her pussy, even while her heart sank. “You mean we have to keep putting on this act, even though you know very well it’s the last thing I want to do?”

  Ricky picked up the file folder and waved it around. “If everyone here thought you were really hot for each other, then your act was pretty fucking impressive, sweetheart. If you did it once, you can do it again.” He dropped the file back onto his desk and turned his attention to his smartphone. “I’ll make you a deal. Mick Sweetham’s people called me on Friday. He’s planning a full-out, dusk-’til-dawn private party for two weeks from Saturday, and he’s heard about this new big trend of having a party starter make an appearance. So he wants to hire someone for most of the night. He is also willing to pay twenty grand for this star performer. I’ve juggled your schedule to make sure you’re both available that night.”

  Julia froze in her chair. “Did you say twenty grand? As in, twenty with three zeroes after it?” What the hell? Her heart thumped more quickly in her chest. That was quite a paycheck for a few hours’ work. And Mick Sweetham was a billionaire rock star with quite the bad-boy reputation. His parties were the stuff legends were made of, and this one would be no exception. With the sheer number of A-list celebrities and high-rollers there, Sweetham’s party could make her career. All she had to do was play it right, and her bank account would be very, very happy. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Stone sitting up straighter and paying closer attention as well.

  Ricky nodded slowly. “So this is the way this is going to play out. Julia, you’ve got gigs booked for Thursday and Saturday of this week. Jack will be going with you. I’m going to plant people at those gigs who will report back to me on how well this act of yours plays out. The person who puts on a better show wins the Sweetham gig.”

  Internally, Julia grinned. The person who put on a better show? She’d been putting on these shows for two years now. She could do it blindfolded—and in fact, actually had, once. Now that she was aware of the plan, she wouldn’t be thrown off guard again. She could prepare. Keep control, stay in charge. And knock the jerk’s socks clean off. The tension that had knotted her shoulders began to ease. By rights, that job should be hers. But if she had to compete for it she’d make sure she not only won, but clobbered that idiot Stone.

  She stood. “Fine, Ricky,” she said firmly with a short nod. “I’m in on this deal.” She turned to Stone. “You. Make sure you’re on time and that you’ve thoroughly taken care of personal hygiene. You’re going to be in a sea of people, so you don’t need to slather on the aftershave. Just be clean and fresh. I don’t drink alcohol at these parties to make sure I don’t lose control of the situation. I would strongly suggest that you also abstain. Ricky can give you all of the other details that you’ll need to know.” At his silence, Julia pivoted and moved toward the door. As she grasped the handle, she turned back to look at the two men.

  “By the way, what’s with the whole Stone/Jack thing?”

  Stone rose from his chair and took a few steps toward her. He extended a hand. “It’s Jack Douglas, actually. You have a stage name, Julia. I need one, too. I figured I’d try that one on for size and see how it fit.”

  She ignored the proffered hand. “It’s ridiculous.”

  Jack raised an eyebrow. “And Kitty isn’t?”

  Her tone grew icicles. “There’s nothing wrong with the name. It means a lot to me, and frankly, it’s none of your business what name I use.”

  Jack raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Fine, whatever, Puss. See you on Thursday, and may the best man win.”

  Julia bit her tongue. Hard. Damn this pain-in-the-ass jerk. “Woman. And yes, I will.” She glanced at the desk. “Goodbye, Ricky. Let me know if you have any more surprises up your sleeve, would you?”

  Ricky’s expression turned sympathetic. “No more surprises, sweet pea.” He inclined his head toward the other man. “You can trust Jack, I promise. Good luck.”

  “That remains to be seen.” A knot formed deep in her belly. She had a very bad feeling about this. “Wish him luck, not me. He’s the one who’s going to need it.” She left the office, closing the door as firmly as she could without actually slamming it.

  “Partner, huh?” She grumbled to herself as she swept past the still wide-eyed Jordan and out toward the elevator. “Fair and square? Yeah, right. A bunch of bullshit, if I ever heard it.” A sharp pain twinged deep in her chest. Long-ago promises of fame and wealth echoed hollowly in her head. No matter how hard she tried to forget or how much time had passed, the memories still hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. Jeremy had all but guaranteed she’d forever work alone. It was the only way to stay whole. Sane.

  “Get ready to crash and burn, Stone,” she said, punching the call button with more force than was entirely necessary, “‘cause you’re going down, mister.”

&n
bsp; But not on me, a tiny, traitorous part of her brain commented, and a bite of something that felt like regret sunk its teeth into her stomach. Julia angrily shoved the thought away and pulled out her cell. Time to start planning.

  * * * * *

  The ready room was quiet, soothing. Comfy leather armchairs faced each other across a small glass coffee table. The lighting was dim and relaxed. Too bad Julia was nothing but. For the fifth time in as many minutes, she glanced up at the wall clock and gave an indelicate snort. Stone was late. It was almost midnight, and he’d been expected to be here in the ready room with her by eleven-thirty at the latest.

  Figured. The guy was obviously an unprofessional jerk who took nothing seriously. Even if his voice was like buttered honey, sliding seductively and repeatedly through her mind at the most inopportune moments. Frustrated, Julia crossed the room to peer into the floor-length mirror attached to the back of the door. Damn, but she looked good. She’d primped and been pampered in preparation for tonight. Everything waxable had been waxed, and the nails on her fingers and toes sported a new shade of Peony pink. She’d even spent extra time doing her makeup tonight, ensuring a flawless finish that would make any cover girl envious.

  Julia’s gaze traveled over her outfit. It left very little to the imagination, which made her smirk. A sheer black top covered her front up to her neck, but left her arms and back bare. The tips of her breasts were just visible through the gauzy material. The legs of the matching sheer bottoms were so wide and full it almost appeared she wore a skirt. The tiniest scrap of barely-there, black lace panties kept her outfit from becoming completely indecent. Stone was definitely in for a surprise tonight. Julia shimmied in front of the mirror for a moment, watching her clothing flow around her and her nipples harden as the fabric brushed against them. The feeling was going to be torture throughout the evening, keeping her level of arousal even higher. Oh, yeah, some unsuspecting party guests were about to get a really good show.