Chapter 112: Forced Kiss
Chapter 112: Forced Kiss
The purple Lamborghini Diablo stopped in front of the hotel entrance. Eric stepped out of the car and immediately spotted Jennifer Connelly standing outside the hotel. At that moment, there was also another middle-aged man around thirty standing beside her.
Eric walked over. The two on the opposite side quickly noticed him and came forward together. Jennifer Connelly had changed into a light blue dress and forced a reluctant smile at Eric. Meanwhile, the middle-aged man beside her enthusiastically stepped forward first and extended his hand in introduction. “Mr. Williams, hello. I’m Miss Connelly’s agent, Jim Lester.”
“Hello, Mr. Lester.” Eric politely shook his hand lightly before turning to Jennifer Connelly. “Miss Connelly, let’s go. I’ve already reserved a restaurant.”
The young woman cast a pleading glance toward her agent. Eric’s gaze and tone were far too aggressive, as if he had already regarded her as his personal property.
She had debuted at thirteen years old. Because of her flawless and stunning appearance, she had encountered all kinds of covetous attention more than once, but never before had anyone displayed such unreasonable possessiveness as Eric.
She felt that if she allowed herself to be alone with him, all the social methods she had developed over the years to deal with men would become completely useless.
Eric followed the young woman’s gaze toward Jim Lester, who was standing awkwardly nearby. “Mr. Lester, are you coming too?”
Lester did not dare meet Jennifer Connelly’s pleading eyes directly. Smiling ingratiatingly, he shook his head at Eric. “Of course not, Mr. Williams. How could I possibly disturb your date?” At this point, the middle-aged man waved his hand meaninglessly before hesitantly asking, “Mr. Williams, could you tell me how Jenny’s audition went today?”
Hearing Lester’s nickname for Jennifer Connelly felt strange to Eric, so he answered directly, “Unless something unexpected happens, the role belongs to Miss Connelly.”
Even Jennifer Connelly, who still held all kinds of reservations toward Eric, could not help lifting her head to look at him in surprise and delight. Lester was even more ecstatic.
The young woman’s agent was also an extremely smooth and worldly person. As a man, he could tell at a glance from Eric’s eyes that he was determined to have the young woman, which made him understand that Eric would definitely strongly promote her in the future.
With Eric Williams’ style, whenever he took a liking to an actor, he would try to bring them into his personal talent agency. As the agent of a third-tier actress, Lester understood that if he did not seize this opportunity himself, he had no idea when he would ever encounter such a good chance again.
“It’s like this, Mr. Williams. I think UTA is a talent agency with great potential for development, so I’d like to bring the artists under me and transfer over there together. What do you think?”
Jennifer Connelly looked at her agent in surprise. Lester had never mentioned this matter to her before, which made the young woman somewhat dissatisfied with his acting on his own initiative. However, in front of Eric, she did not immediately lose her temper.
At the same time, she looked worriedly at the young man before her. Of course she knew UTA was Eric’s personal business. Once Eric nodded and agreed, for the sake of the Running Out of Time role, she would definitely have no room to refuse.
Yet deep down, she resisted joining UTA. It was not because she was pessimistic about the company, but because doing so would give her the feeling of a sheep walking into a tiger’s den.
Eric also noticed Jennifer Connelly’s astonishment and worried expression and leisurely sized up the short and slightly plump middle-aged man before him.
“Mr. Lester, you’re a smart man. You understand how to seize opportunities and have made the correct choice.” Only after a moment did Eric finally say this.
He truly had planned to poach Jennifer Connelly into UTA and let Kapoor personally manage her as before.
However, since the young woman’s agent had taken the initiative to propose transferring over, Eric was happy to save himself the trouble. Since Lester wanted to continue managing her, he could give him a try. After all, Eric could not possibly place every promising person he saw under Kapoor alone in the future. No matter how energetic Kapoor was, he could not handle everything himself. If Lester failed to prove his ability in the future, he would still be fired all the same.
“By the way, how many artists do you currently manage?” Eric suddenly remembered Lester’s earlier words and asked.
“Four, including Jenny,” Lester immediately replied. He seemed to want to introduce the other three, but Eric waved his hand to interrupt him. “Give up the other three and come to UTA alone with Miss Connelly. I only took an interest in Miss Connelly. I don’t need the other three burdens.”
The struggle in Lester’s eyes flashed by briefly. His relationships with the actors under him were all fairly good, and one of the other three actors was even the younger brother of a friend who had specifically entrusted him with the responsibility. But when he thought about his own future, Lester still made his decision within five seconds. “No problem, Mr. Williams.”
After the matter was settled, Lester tactfully took his leave on his own initiative, leaving Jennifer Connelly at Eric’s side.
Starting the car, Eric saw the absent-minded young woman in the passenger seat and suddenly leaned over toward her.
The moment Jennifer Connelly noticed Eric’s movement, she immediately raised both hands protectively in front of herself and asked in panic, “Y-You… what are you trying to do?”
“Look how frightened you are.” Eric curled his lips before reaching past her body to pull over the passenger seat’s safety belt. “I’m not very good at driving this car, so it’s safer to fasten the seat belt.”
“I can do it myself.” Jennifer Connelly reached out to grab the seat belt, but in her panic she instead grabbed Eric’s large hand and immediately recoiled as if electrocuted.
After fastening the seat belt, Eric sat upright again but did not start the car immediately. Instead, he turned his head and examined the uneasy young woman in the passenger seat.
“You’re afraid of me?” Eric finally asked after a while.
Jennifer Connelly subconsciously nodded, then immediately shook her head after realizing it was inappropriate. “Mr. Williams, I… I didn’t mean it that way.”
“You can call me Eric.”
The young woman looked out the window in flusterment and softly acknowledged him.
“Come on, look at me.” Eric’s tone softened slightly. The young woman involuntarily turned her head, her gaze carrying confusion.
Eric reached behind the young woman’s head with one arm, wrapped his hand around the back of Connelly’s head, then suddenly leaned forward again and kissed her luscious red lips.
Jennifer Connelly was instantly stunned by Eric’s action. Her eyes widened and her pupils sharply contracted. Both hands subconsciously pressed against Eric’s chest, yet she forgot to flee.
Feeling the young man before her forcefully sucking on her lips while his tongue repeatedly probed, trying to slip into her mouth, the young woman’s eyelashes fluttered rapidly, and mist quickly filled her large eyes. By the time Eric had finished savoring those lips and released her, tears were already on the verge of spilling from Connelly’s eyes.
“How can you do this!” The young woman’s first reaction was to slap Eric and get out of the car, but she discovered that the seat belt had firmly bound her to the seat, leaving her unable to move.
As she fumbled to unfasten the seat belt, Eric had already stepped on the accelerator and driven the Lamborghini onto the road. Yet the young woman still said, “Mr. Williams, could you please pull over? I want to get out!”
“Stop making trouble and fasten your seat belt obediently.”
“You…” The young woman stubbornly shot back, “I want to get out!”
Just as Eric was about to say something more, a convertible Mercedes suddenly came speeding toward them head-on. The punk young man with explosive hair driving the car was clearly overtaking across the center line in the wrong lane. Eric cursed and sharply jerked the steering wheel, barely avoiding the convertible’s body, but the two cars still scraped closely past each other. The punk youths in the car seemed to notice the stunning young woman in the passenger seat, and while passing by, they wolf-whistled crazily at the Lamborghini.
Only after the Mercedes disappeared from the rearview mirror did Eric realize that he had broken into a cold sweat. He cursed fiercely again, glanced at the equally shaken young woman, and his tone became somewhat stern. “Fasten your seat belt.”
This time Jennifer Connelly did not dare resist again. She also did not want to gamble with her own life, so she obediently pulled out the seat belt and fastened it, though she stubbornly turned her head away and refused to look at the man in the driver’s seat.
When they arrived outside a famous Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills, the valet enthusiastically hurried over after seeing the gorgeous purple Diablo sports car.
Eric got out of the car, handed the keys and a tip to the valet, then turned and walked toward the young woman. Jennifer Connelly had already calmed down. After getting out of the car, she did not storm off either. Reluctantly, she hooked her arm through the one Eric extended and followed him into the restaurant.
“Is just salad enough? Why not order something else too?” Sitting beside the dining table, Eric asked after hearing the young woman’s order.
Jennifer Connelly glanced at the waiter standing nearby and quietly muttered, “I’m dieting.”
Eric did not try persuading her further. He ordered his own dinner and a bottle of red wine before returning the menu to the waiter. Once the other party left, Eric said, “Alright, girl, smile a little, okay? You’re making me feel very guilty like this.”
“You know how to feel guilty?” The young woman glared at Eric without politeness before adding, “And stop talking to me in such an old-fashioned tone, alright? You… you’re only a few months older than me.”
“What an honor. I didn’t expect you to have already found out my birthday. That’ll be very beneficial for our future relationship. I also remember your birthday, December 12th. Quite a magical date, don’t you think?”
Eric’s few words made the young woman somewhat uneasy. “Where did you learn my birthday from?”
“Your file.” Eric smiled and casually lied without the slightest psychological burden while flirting with girls. “I know even more about you. Back when Once Upon a Time in America was released in 1984, I already knew that angelically beautiful girl. From then on, I could never forget her. I never imagined one day she would appear alive before me.”
No woman disliked this sort of flattery, especially when it came from a young director whose reputation had recently soared.
Jennifer Connelly lowered her head, not daring to meet Eric’s affectionate gaze, but a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. The young woman even unconsciously began excusing Eric’s earlier offense toward her.
He definitely acted that way because he likes me.