arousal that night.
She collapsed on me as the orgasm tore through us both, and we were rolling around coming and laughing and gasping for breath—I’ve never experienced anything like it before.
“You know…it could never happen, don’t you?” she said as we finally came to a halt, lying side by side, sweaty and exhausted.
“Uh-huh.”
“I’d never really be able to cheat on you—even if you said I could.”
“It’s not cheating—”
“—If you let me, I know,” she finished. “But even so, I’d feel too guilty. And I’d worry that if I really did it, perhaps you’d change your mind. The fantasy…well, it wouldn’t stack up to reality.”
“Nobody’s telling you to do it,” I said. And to be honest, I wasn’t sure whether I really wanted it to happen or not, either. Then I added, “It’s just…if you were ever tempted….”
She laughed. “You are crazy. I need to cool off with Aaron. Things are moving too fast.”
I sighed inwardly at that, though on the plus side, I knew the two of them would be shooting their love scenes soon enough.
Chapter Five
It wasn’t long before the New York Times profile on Hayley came out, and suddenly everything was changing. For a start, we had photographers lurking outside our little home in Redondo Beach—some of whom seemed to follow Hayley wherever she went.
As a result of that, the two of us moved into a hotel—the Belle Époque out in Beverley Hills—which was geared up to offer the rich and famous some protection from the paparazzi stalkers, although it didn’t help when Hayley was away from the hotel. Liona helped us find a suitable real estate agent to step up our search for a new home that would give us a little more privacy, but ultimately she told us: “Face it, guys, your lives are about to go completely strange.”
The Times profile led fairly rapidly to a day for Hayley spent with a photographer from GQ magazine. They wanted to capitalize on the Times profile, so GQ managed to squeeze a photoset into its very next issue. And it was quite a racy photoset, offering Hayley lounging around an apartment wearing nothing but expensive lingerie.
While I was at work one morning, a co-worker of mine, Adrian Bassett, came up to my desk. “Is that your wife doing a movie with Aaron Simpson?”
I’d kept the whole status of Hayley on the low-key at my office, so I was a little surprised Adrian came straight out and asked me.
“Uh-huh,” I saw no alternative but to confirm.
“Jesus, man! You are one lucky sum-bitch.”
I smiled, and stammered a brief thank you for the compliment, but I didn’t quite know how to handle it. Later that day, various people—mainly guys, but some women—approached me to comment about Hayley’s GQ spread. Only one person, a paralegal named Riley, warned me to be careful letting my wife get too close to Aaron Simpson.
“He is one hot piece of work,” the tall brunette said. “You wanna make sure she comes home at night.”
After that, I seemed to enjoy a little enhanced status at work, though I felt the need to downplay any talk about my wife, it was something of a distraction otherwise.
Hayley definitely enjoyed the buzz as her profile increased, however, and thrived off the attention. And all the trappings of fame came so suddenly that at first, it was entertaining. When we were sat at home together, we looked at online articles and magazines, not to mention gossipy TV shows, which were all becoming obsessed with the new star of Aaron Simpson’s latest picture.
“Jesus, it’s not even out yet!” Hayley protested, but she was smiling about it.
It might be irritating to live in a hotel until we could move into a more private residence, but at least it was a luxury hotel—and the movie studio was paying for it, so its star would be in form for the rest of the shoot.
There were ‘news’ stories about what dress Hayley wore to dinner at a certain restaurant. Stories