Step Wilde: A Stepbrother Romance (20 page)

"Coming the fuck through!" he yelled, tugging me inside.

We barely made it. One of them grabbed the tail of my shirt and tried to pull me back. We made it to the elevator before I broke down crying. Wilder pushed the button to close the doors and I collapsed into his arms.

He held me while we climbed up the floors. I pulled away and realized that I'd left snot on his t-shirt.

"Sorry," I said, turning away and rubbing my nose on my own sleeve.

He looked down. "Your snot is the sexiest snot of all the snot I've ever had on me," he said with a smile.

"Ew, stop!" I said, giggling through my lingering tears. "Sorry I'm such a mess."

"The first week after my first film premiered, I stayed locked in my house watching
Real Housewives
and eating Ramen noodles. I shut all the blinds and shut off my phone."

I looked at him to see if he was serious. "Which
Housewives
?"

He looked down at his feet sheepishly. "Is that relevant?"

"Which one? Come
on
, Wilder!" The doors opened. We were on the penthouse floor.

"New Jersey. It's my favorite by far."

I punched him on the arm playfully. "Me too! That's incredible."

We were laughing as we walked out of the elevator. He paused at the large double doors that led to his penthouse suite, fiddling with the electronic key card.

"You want to get out of here? For the weekend?"

I was taken aback by this sudden proposal. "Really?"

"Yeah. I know a place. The press won’t be there.”

Every cell in my entire body was screaming “YES” but I was hesitant to let him know I was that eager.

“I don’t know,” I said quietly. “I was planning on staying here and doing some sightseeing.”

Wilder actually laughed at me. “Liv, you just tried to get
toothpaste
and you were followed by the paparazzi. You really think you’ll be able to do a whirlwind tour of Milan with nobody noticing?”

His eyes were kind. I felt that urge again to push him against the wall so I could fuck his brains out.

“How did you find me back there?”

“I was in the restaurant. Saw you walk by Jimmy in the lobby. I knew he’d follow you, so I followed him. You’ve shown that you tend to have a bit of a…temper. So I thought the odds were good you would do something to end up on the front page of TMZ. These guys are trained to antagonize. And you are sort of a live wire.”

I nodded my head without knowing entirely what I was even agreeing to. "Yeah. I want to go," I said, sniffling and feeling excitement for the first time since I arrived in Italy. “If you can promise there won’t be press.”

“Would I steer you wrong?” he asked me.

For a second I flashed back to him standing the same distance from me onstage in college. I pushed it aside.

“I don’t think I trust you. But I also know I can’t stay in this hotel for the next day and a half with climbing the walls.”

Wilder nodded and turned, sliding the key card into its slot.

"We gotta go now, though. While they are out front." He pushed the door open and motioned inside. "Wait here. Make yourself comfortable. Well, not too comfortable. I'll be back in five minutes."

I brushed past him and into the most incredible hotel room I’d ever seen in my life. My jaw actually dropped at the series of curved vaults in the ceiling. Warm Italian sunshine poured through floor-to-ceiling windows.

The door shut behind me and I wandered over to the enormous sofa that sat in a sunken part of the living space.

I looked up at the ceiling and felt like I had left my body. I was about to go to Tuscany. With Roman Wilder. Alone. Butterflies filled my stomach. The door clicked open a minute later and I quickly stood up.

Wilder was smiling and still holding the little, red plastic shopping bag that contained my freshly-purchased toothpaste. It looked comically small against his enormous frame.

“You ready to go?” he asked me. He tucked an iPhone into his pocket as he asked me.

"All I have is toothpaste,” I said, suddenly realizing.

He walked over to me and held out his hand. "That's all you'll need."

CHAPTER THIRTY

WILDER

The Tuscan countryside rolled into view.

All I could look at was Olivia watching the scenery. Her hair was glinting in the sunlight and falling across her pale shoulders. I imagined kissing her there.

Easy, boy,
I thought to myself. I looked up at the driver, who had both hands on the wheel and was staring resolutely through the windshield.

"You enjoying this?" I asked Olivia.

She turned around, beaming. "Yeah, I really, really am."

"I figured you would. I'm just glad that I can be the one to introduce you.” I grinned at her and tried to surreptitiously scoot closer to her body while she looked the other way.

She leaned her head against the headrest and gazed at me. "Why are you doing this for me?"

I opened my mouth to answer her just as my phone buzzed in my pocket.

"Christ!" I snapped. "This is why I never carry my own phone." The moment was ruined. It was Harrison. "This better be fucking important," I hissed into the phone, covering my eyes with my hand.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr. Wilder, but the villa you normally stay in is actually booked up right now. The whole area is, actually. I'm guessing because of the filming location...a lot of people are in the area hoping to catch a glimpse of you. I actually think there is press there from the States. That's what my contact told me, anyway."

I groaned and leaned back, running my hand through my hair. "I assume you have a solution for me?"

"I do. You'll have to stay a little further away from where you normally do. But there is one little inn there, run by an English couple. They have a room, they said, but they don't take bookings on the phone. They can hold the room with your names, but you’ll have to do the rest in person."

"Whatever, Harrison, I get dressed in the morning, I think I can reserve my own fucking hotel room."

I thought I heard him a sigh a little. That was new. He'd never done that before, at least not with me in earshot.

"Mr. Wilder, the reason you have to book in person is that they won't accept-" His voice dissolved into static. I shook the phone stupidly, as if that would do anything. "-text you the address, okay?"

I rubbed the outside of my ear and switched the phone closer to the window, hoping for better reception. "Harrison? Can you hear me? Harr-" the phone beeped twice.

The call was over.

"What was that about?" Olivia asked, looking concerned.

I thought about her reaction if she knew that our location had been compromised. The whole reason I was bringing her out here was so she felt safe.
Fucking media.
I knew I'd have to lie to her. Okay, not lie - obfuscate the truth so she'd go along with things.

"Change of venue. My regular place had a plumbing problem and no available rooms." I smiled at her, and I was beyond fucking pleased to see that the worry on her face dissolved when she looked at me.

I liked knowing that I could make her feel better just by being there.

I glanced down at my phone. A text message from Harrison came through; it contained only the address for the new hotel. I passed the phone up to the driver, who glanced at it quickly.

"Yes, signor," he replied.

I leaned back in my seat, trying to control my breathing. This was all going to work out.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

OLIVIA

I knew Wilder was lying to me about something. 

The adorable thing was that he thought he was getting away with it. Whatever, I could always bust him on it later. I didn't have the energy after the last few days to care much. As long as wherever we were going was quiet and didn't have mobs of people trying to swarm me and my co-star, I would be fine.

The drive went along quietly. I must have dozed off for at least half an hour. When I woke up, my face was on Wilder’s shoulder. I sat up quickly, wiping the slight bit of drool off my mouth. 

Wilder was staring at me, trying not to laugh. "You going to run all of my shirts today with your bodily fluids, Liv?"

"Fuck off, Wilder. You should be used to bodily fluids on you from what I've read in the press." The sentence came out much harsher than I intended.

I was always a little grumpy when I woke up. I tried to read his face. There was a moment of cloudiness that crossed his perfect features, but when it dissolved, he almost looked happy.

"Did I mention how nice it is to not have someone blowing sunshine up my ass all hours of the day and night?"

I gave him a challenging look. "You really need to get out more."

I looked out the window and saw that we were winding our way closer to a tiny village on top of a hill. This looked like something straight out of a movie. I had a moment of meta-irony when I realized that literally, this
would
be in a movie; a movie that I had a starring role in. My life was moving so quickly even
I
was having a difficult time keeping track and staying on course with the changes.

"We are almost there," the driver said.

"This seriously looks like something out of a movie," I said under my breath. We passed the outside of the village and continued onwards into farmland. Olive trees and grape vines were spread like lace netting across the countryside.

Wilder’s voice came from a few inches over my shoulder and I jumped, not realizing he'd been that close to me.

"That's the idea, Liv."

I felt a rush of adrenaline with him being that close to me. A few moments later we pulled into the front semi-circular driveway of a slightly crumbling Tuscan villa. The driver got out of the car and opened my door.

I stepped out into the Italian sunshine, inhaling a lungful of countryside air. It was crisper, cleaner, and somehow lighter than any air I'd breathed in my entire life. I felt my body relax for the first time in long, long while.

Wilder tipped the driver and nodded at me. "You ready?" he asked.

"Born ready," I replied, stepping up to the door and twisting the brass handle. It wobbled in my hand. I had to grab it with both hands, afraid that it was going to fall off of the rickety wooden door. I pulled and thankfully everything stayed together as I stepped inside.

The lobby was dimly lit; a huge shock from the intensely sunny day that had greeted us outside. I stopped abruptly as green fireworks shot across my vision. I had to blink to adjust my sight. Wilder plowed into me, nearly knocking me to the ground.

"Jesus Christ!" he yelled in surprise as he swooped down to catch my falling body. His strong arm grabbed my waist and held me upright, pulling me up to his abdomen. I felt my heart beating faster, feeling his muscles against my torso. I leaned forward, closer to him, wanting desperately to taste his lips.

A wheezy English accent interrupted us. "Bless you! Oh the life of newlyweds. Richard! Get in here!"

Wilder and I pulled away from each other so fast it was like someone set off an explosion between our bodies. I turned around, my vision finally adjusted to the dimness of the room, to see a short, stout woman with a bun of white hair on her head.

She had pale skin and sunken cheeks with dark dabs of blush across them. She looked like someone's wizened fairy godmother. "Hello, loves, come closer, come closer. I’m Gina!”

We walked over to the slightly tilted check-in counter. Rusty, gummy cans of paint were piled on the edge. A rusted ladder covered in cobwebs was leaning up against the back wall.

"Renovating?" Wilder asked in a voice dripping with apprehension.

The woman looked up from the dusty, yellowing-paper bookings with a confused look. "Sorry, dear?"

Wilder cleared his throat. "I asked if you were renovating."

She turned around and looked at the mess behind her. "Oh, yes. For about thirteen years now. Richard isn't quite as nimble as he used to be. For that part, neither am I!" She cackled shrilly at her own joke.

Wilder and I exchanged glances, but I managed to join along in what I hoped would pass for a cheery agreement and not a
What in the hell is going on?
voice.

"So, we have you booked for the honeymoon suite for tonight and tomorrow night, is that correct?"

I saw Wilder glance over at me. "Uh, you don't have two rooms?" I asked her.

She looked up and shrieked some more with laughter.

"Trying to run away already, are you? Oh, dearie." She gave Wilder a wink. "You found yourself a woman with a good sense of humor. So important in life, so important." She curled her fat, wrinkled, soft fingers around a pencil and painstakingly wrote down our names. "So that is
James Brando
and
Vivian Hepburn
then.” She gave a conspiratorial wink.

She looked wistfully at both of us. "It's just so rare that we get any customers these days." A look of disgust turned up her nose. "You see all this coupling and no commitment. But when your assistant called earlier and said that his boss needed a room, and I told them that we only took married couples or singles; he said it was serendipitous as you had just eloped! Oh, how romantic.”

She looked at me appraisingly. “You know, dearie, you look skinnier in the papers.” She glanced at my hand. “Where’s your ring? Didn’t want thieves to take it? Smart, smart. Goodness, what a rock you bought this one!”

Realization was dawning over me. She thought I was Hailey. And that Wilder and I had eloped.

Oh, God.

I felt my smile becoming more and more fixed. Before I could collect myself, I felt Wilder's arm around my waist.

"We look forward to having an even more romantic weekend, I assure you." He leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially to the innkeeper. "I hope these walls are relatively sound-proof." Then he winked.

She burst into peals of laughter, real blush peeking out from underneath the heavily applied makeup.