The Million Dollar Virgin

Chapter Six - Rian

Rian strode into the room, his boots smacking heavily on the glitter-dotted floor. The noise carried over the conversation, over the buzz of the stage lights, and brought everything in the room to a standstill, and made every head swivel his way. Even the goddamned bodyguards were eyeing him nervously.

Rian, though, kept his attention on Steffania. "I sure as shit hope you're not signing that."

She'd paused, too, the tip of the pen hovering uncertainly. Her heavily made-up eyes had flown up to land on him. Unlike the rest of the room, though, they weren't still.

They dragged up his chest. Across the width of his shoulders. Then over his mouth, then slid up his face. Finally, they found his own dark gaze. There, they held him for moment, and he couldn't help but wonder why the hell she felt the need to cover them up the way she did. Projecting a look? A persona? Or just hiding? Either way, Rian wanted to peel it away and have a closer look at what was underneath. More than he'd wanted anything in a long time.

He took another, smaller step forward and spoke more softly. "Don't sign that."

She answered – and god help him, it was like no one else was in the room. "Why not?"

"Because..."

Fuck.

What reason could he give? That even though he didn't know her, he was sure she wasn't right for Echo Hardman and his insane world? That she should stay a goddamned waitress in a shithole bar instead of seizing an opportunity to marry a rock star and become a TV celebrity? Yeah, no matter how he sliced up that mofo, it just didn't come out any kind of right.

She stared at him. Waiting.

Rian hesitated for a split second too long, and it gave Echo the opportunity to jump in, breaking the spell.

"Bro. You wrote the contract," he said.

"I'm aware."

"So what's the problem?"

"It's not obvious? She clearly needs a fucking lawyer."

Echo gestured – with the same arm Rian wanted to dismember – to come over to the table. "What for? You told me it was so simple a baby could understand it."

Rian lit the cigarette and stayed where he was. "Apparently I over estimated you."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You should both flip to page three, paragraph two."

He waited with feigned patience as Steffania complied. Her eyes scanned the portion of the document for a few seconds, then lifted to meet his.

"What is this?" she asked.

"You tell me," he challenged.

"It says we can't touch each other until filming starts."

Echo laughed. "What?"

Rian nodded, but addressed Steffania. "For your protection as much as his."

She shot him as dirty a look as he'd ever seen. "Give me a break."

"I want you to understand what you're getting into. I tried to tell you that out in the hallway. Echo doesn't need another lawsuit."

"Another lawsuit?" she repeated.

"Look. The bottom line is this. Echo is a high profile commodity. He's been hit with fake paternity suits and fake assault charges and shit you don't even want to imagine."