The Temporary Boyfriend

Chapter 152: Trending news

Julian stared at the screen, his fingers tightening. ​He refreshed the page. The view count was climbing by the hundreds.

TMZ had tagged Aurora, and the top comment, with over five hundred likes, read: Always the quiet ones. Poor Catalina.

​"Julian?" Lyvana asked. "What is it?"

​He didn’t answer. He just turned the phone toward her. As Lyvana read the headline, the small amount of color that had returned to her face drained away. She looked like she was going to be sick all over again.

"Oh my God."

"Who is behind this?" he asked Lily.

​"I’m patching Ethan through now," Lily replied.

​A second later, Ethan’s voice cut in. "My contact at TMZ says the tip-off came directly from the primary source. I’m assuming it’s Catalina’s handiwork. She’s gone scorched-earth, Julian."

​Julian muttered a dark curse under his breath, his gaze fixed on Lyvana. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

​"What do you want me to do, sir?" Lily asked. "The legal team is on standby. Should I contact them to have the post taken down?"

​"No."

​There was a stunned silence on the other end.

"No?" Ethan asked, sounding confused. "Julian, this is a PR massacre. Why the hell would we let it stay up?"

A slow smile crept onto his lips.

​"Why not?" he said. "Don’t we look good together?"

"What are you saying bro?"

"You know what I want you both to do, fill the air with more photos of me and Lyvana."

"Errm, I am confused sir," Lily said. "You want us to post more photos of you and Ms. Lyvana?"

"Exactly," Julian said. "If people want a scandal, let’s give them a romance they can’t look away from."

​"But Julian," Ethan cut in, "wouldn’t you practically be confirming the homewrecker narrative Catalina is spinning. The chairman is going to have your head."

"Not if we control the story. We simply tell the truth, or a version of it that suits us. Catalina and I had a business arrangement that didn’t work out. It ended long before Lyvana entered the picture."

​"Okay, that could work," Ethan said. "But if we’re going to drown out the ’affair’ talk, we’re going to need more than just one grainy paparazzi shot. We are going to have to get more photos of you two together. Real ones. Intimate ones."

​Julian looked over at Lyvana, who was still standing beside him.

​"That won’t be a problem."

An hour later, the sun was starting to set.

​"When you said you would take care of it, I was not expecting this," Lyvana said, as she looked at the professional camera setup nearby.

​They had spent the last few hours going to three different properties. At each stop, they had taken dozens of romantic photos.

​Now, they were at Eleanor’s beach house. Lyvana stood on the sand in a bikini, feeling the ocean breeze. Julian stood right behind her shirtless, with his hands resting casually on her waist as they posed for the final set of shots.

​He chuckled. "It’s given me an excuse to spend the day with you."

His lips brushed the shell of her ear.

A shiver ran down her spine that had nothing to do with the ocean breeze.

"Julian," she murmured, aware of the photographer circling them, of Ethan leaning against the beach house deck with his arms crossed and Emily pretending not to watch from under her wide-brimmed hat. "We’re supposed to be posing."

"We are," he said.

His thumbs stroked slow circles against the bare skin just above her bikini bottoms. "Smile, Lyvana. You’re supposed to look like you’re in love with me."

She turned her head slightly, catching his eye. "I thought I was only supposed to be acting."

His smiled. "Same thing."

The photographer called out, "Beautiful! Just like that! Julian, tilt her chin up toward you. Perfect!"

Julian obeyed, his fingers gentle under her jaw, tilting her face to his. For a second, she forgot the cameras.

There was only his touch, and the impossible way her body remembered his touch.

"You’re shaking," he said softly, his forehead almost touching hers.

"It’s cold," she lied.

"I know a lot of ways to warm you up." His nose brushed hers.

She gasped. "Julian, people are here."

"What did I say wrong?" His lips brushed hers in a soft kiss.

The photographer cleared his throat. "Uh, that’s great, guys. Really... intense. We got the shots."

Julian didn’t move.

"The shoot is over, Julian," Lyvana whispered, her breath hitching as his hands remained firmly on her waist.

​He didn’t pull away. Instead, he stepped even closer. "Is it? Well am dying to be alone with you without any cameras."

He kissed her neck and a shiver run through his spine.

​The crew was busy packing up lenses and lights, pretending to ignore them. But Ethan’s smirk from the deck said the act had failed. They weren’t just posing anymore, the hunger between them was so raw it was making everyone else uncomfortable.

​"Julian," Lyvana breathed, her hands flat against his bare, warm chest. "Everyone can see you."

​"Can you blame me," he murmured, his thumb hooking into the side of her bikini. "I can’t keep my hands off you."

​Ethan cleared his throat loudly from the stairs. "Unless you two want to give the crew a live show, we should probably get inside. The first leak just hit the internet."

....

Meanwhile another live show was happening down at Catalina’s apartment in Paris.

​Mateo burst into her bedroom without knocking. He expected to find her unpacking from the shopping they had just come from.

Instead, the room was filled with the sound of shameless moans.

"Oh yes... oh God..."

​Catalina was on the bed, trapped between two muscular men. She was completely lost in the moment. One man was underneath her, his body locked with hers. The other man was behind her, his hands gripping her waist as he fucked her ass with a brutal, steady rhythm.

Her head was thrown back and her eyes closed in pleasure.

"Oh fuck!" Mateo said.

"What the fuck Mateo. Get out."

Mateo turned and bolted back downstairs.