326 Brand new CEO (2)
As she walked off, she bumped into someone and nearly tripped. “Sorry! Devonte?” She was surprised to look up and see him, and he had a bouquet in his hands.
“I’m here to congratulate the new CEO in town.” He presented the white lilies to her. “Here’s to new beginnings.”
“Thank you.” She smiled and hooked her arm around his. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to my new partners.”
“What a coincidence, I was thinking of introducing you to some of the actors I’ve been on the same set with.”
She was puzzled. “They’re here?”
“All ambassadors of Twilight and its subsidiaries were invited. Including the old ones.” He decided to let her introduce him first, then she did the same.
She had always been curious about actors who worked alongside him in real life, knowing their social media lives weren’t always real. For instance, one of the most popular actresses, Carmen, acted beside him in an old movie and had always made suggestive social media posts about them ever since. The movie fans began to ship them and it wasn’t even a romance movie.
When Natalie finally met her in real life, she had to remind herself to be friendly. The woman was probably only doing as she was told. Most of the time, superstars didn’t even manage their own social media accounts, right?
Wrong. The woman was staring daggers at her even before Devonte introduced them.
.....
“Jupiter! It’s so great to see you.” She threw herself right into his arms, taking him by surprise.
He nudged her off. “It’s nice to see you too. Just not that nice.” He mumbled the second part. Before he could say a word more, she kissed him on the cheek and cast a glance at Natalie who she had completely ignored.
“Who’s your friend?”
“Natalie. His girlfriend.” Natalie presented her hand for a shake before Devonte could say a word.
“Huh. I didn’t know you had a girlfriend.” Carmen pursed her lips, staring down at her. “Is it new?”
“If you knew anything about Devonte—and you probably do from all those years of stalking him—you would know how long he’s been taken.” She once again snapped.
“Natalie!” Devonte scolded in a whisper and finally had the chance to introduce them. “This is Carmen. We once worked together.”
“And then you wrecked one of my dreams. You do know how lovely it is to fall in love on set, right?” Carmen smirked, nearly making Natalie explode.
This time, she kept it in.
“Have you seen Nacho? He should be here somewhere. Ah, there he is.” Devonte used the name of another actor as an excuse to leave, but they didn’t go to talk to him. Instead, he pulled her out of the banquet hall and into the first room he could find, which happened to be a small dining area.
“Go ahead.” She crossed her arms when he shut the door behind them. “Go on and scold me. I know you are dying to do it.”
“Why would you be jealous of her? She’s not even an ex or anything. We just acted in one movie together. One without the slightest hint of romance.” He asked.
Her eyes drooped. “And then she was all over you and everyone knows how she feels about you.”
“Why would that ever matter?” He questioned.
She didn’t have anything to say to that. None of the things she felt seeing Carmen made any sense. She felt them nonetheless.
He held her shoulders. “You can tell me anything, my love. I don’t want us to have bad blood between us because of feelings we didn’t discuss.”
“It’s just…” she sighed. “She’s perfect, that’s all. And you two look like the perfect match in your pictures. I mean, even your fans saw it.”
“The most important word being ‘like’.” He raised her chin so she would look up at him. “You really need a mirror, my love. Because if you have one, you will know who is really perfect.”
He grabbed her hand and led her into the bathroom.
“What are we doing here?” She asked.
He snuck up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Look at that. How can you not see that we are two pieces of the same puzzle?”
She smiled. He was right. Carmen was indeed beautiful—hell, she was probably the star in many men’s dreams. But so was she. She had momentarily forgotten that when she came face to face with the woman she found to be a threat.
“So, no more jealousy?” He snaked a hand down the slit at her thigh. “Don’t get me wrong. I know you only got jealous because you love me, but I don’t want your feelings hurt no matter the reason.”
“Yes. No more jealousy.” She turned around and wrapped her arms around him. ‘I hope’. She added mentally. She knew if a woman put her claws on him, she would still want to wring her neck.
Actually, maybe it was time they realized he was taken and she was not letting him go.
He had his arms wrapped around her and his hardness was pressed up against her. She glanced around and spotted the sink with a huge space around it. She smirked mischievously. “Maybe I should start making it up to you earlier. You know, for the interruption before we came here.”
“Good idea.” He agreed, right before his hand slid under her gown through the slit and ventured into her panties.
_________
The following evening, Ava and Owen were a little bit friendlier when the two of them arrived for dinner.
“You are here! I made your favorite.” Ava hugged and air-kissed her on both cheeks. This time, she greeted Devonte as well, albeit with a smile and zero words.
“You, in the kitchen?” Natalie laughed. “That would be a culinary emergency not even the best chef in Olphire would save us from.”
“Hey!” Ava complained and laughed along. “Don’t worry. You will not get wheeled into the emergency room after your first bite. I only told the chef what to cook and he did the magic.”
She urged them into the dining room, where Owen was already sitting. While he wasn’t overly friendly like Ava, he actually greeted and welcomed them.
She sat next to her mother and pulled Devonte in beside her. She hoped the three of them would get along but she couldn’t force it. So although she didn’t want to, she brought up the few funny memories she could remember off the top of her head to lighten the mood. Which reminded her.
“I heard Uncle Norm left the city?” She asked, directing her question at Ava.
The latter didn’t look concerned. “No one’s heard from him. But who cares, it’s not like he cares about anyone, anyway. He can disappear for all I care.”
‘Disappear it is, mother.’ She thought.
“Why are we talking about him? I have something more important in mind.” Ava stated, then changed her mind when Owen cleared his throat. “But first, dinner.”
Natalie glanced at them then at Devonte worriedly. They had not said what it was about but she knew her parents well enough and she had a bad feeling about this.
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