Chapter 114: Forced Kiss
Chapter 114: Forced Kiss
The purple Lamborghini Diablo stopped in front of the restaurant. Eric got out of the car and immediately spotted Jennifer Connelly standing outside the hotel entrance. Beside the young woman stood another middle-aged man around thirty years old.
Eric walked over, and the two quickly noticed him and approached together. Jennifer Connelly had changed into a light-blue dress and forced a rather strained 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 toward 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 though he had already treated her as private property.
She had debuted at thirteen years old. Because of her flawless, stunning appearance, she had encountered all kinds of people coveting her more than once, but never anyone with such overbearing and unreasonable possessiveness as Eric. She felt that if she allowed herself to be alone with him, then all the social skills she had cultivated to deal with men over the years would become completely useless.
Following the young woman’s gaze, Eric looked toward Jim Lester, who stood awkwardly to the side.
“Mr. Lester, are you joining us?”
Lester did not dare meet Jennifer Connelly’s pleading eyes directly. Instead, he smiled ingratiatingly and shook his head at Eric. “Of course not, Mr. Williams. How could I possibly interrupt your date?” At this point, the middle-aged man made a meaningless gesture with his hand before hesitantly asking, “Mr. Williams, could you tell me how Janie’s audition went today?”
Hearing Lester’s nickname for Jennifer Connelly felt somewhat strange to Eric, but he answered directly anyway.
“Unless something unexpected happens, the role belongs to Miss Connelly.”
Even Jennifer Connelly, who still held all kinds of apprehensions toward Eric, could not help but look up at him in surprise and delight. As for Lester, he was practically ecstatic.
This agent of the young woman was clearly a smooth operator. As a man, he could immediately see the determination in Eric’s eyes toward the young woman and understood that Eric would definitely push her heavily in the future.
Given Eric Williams’ style, any actor he fancied would usually be dug into his personal talent agency. As the agent of a third-tier actress, Lester understood that if he did not seize this opportunity proactively, he might never encounter another chance like this again.
“It’s like this, Mr. Williams. I think UTA is a talent agency with tremendous potential for growth, so I’d like to bring the artists under me over there together. What do you think?”
Jennifer Connelly looked at her agent in surprise. Lester had never mentioned this matter to her before, and the young woman felt somewhat dissatisfied by his acting on his own initiative. But in front of Eric, she did not immediately voice her displeasure.
At the same time, she looked worriedly at the young man before her. She naturally knew UTA was Eric’s personal property. Once Eric agreed, then for the sake of the Running Out of Time role, she would have no room to refuse.
Deep down, however, she resisted joining UTA. It was not because she looked down on the company. Rather, doing so gave her the unsettling feeling of walking right into a wolf’s den.
Eric also noticed Jennifer Connelly’s surprise and concern. He thoughtfully sized up the short, somewhat overweight middle-aged man in front of him.
“Mr. Lester, you’re a smart man. You understand how to seize opportunities, and you’ve made the correct choice.”
Only after a moment did Eric say this.
Originally, he had indeed planned to poach Jennifer Connelly into UTA and have Kapoor personally manage her as before.
However, since the young woman’s agent had proactively brought up switching agencies, Eric was happy to save himself the trouble. Since Lester wanted to continue managing her, Eric was willing to let him try. After all, Eric could not possibly place every promising future talent under Kapoor alone. No matter how energetic Kapoor was, he could not handle that much work.
If Lester failed to prove his abilities in the future, he would still end up getting fired anyway.
“By the way, how many artists do you currently manage?” Eric suddenly remembered Lester’s earlier words and asked.
“Four, including Janie,” Lester answered immediately. He seemed about to introduce the other three, but Eric waved him off.
“Give up the other three. Come to UTA alone with Miss Connelly. I only took interest in Miss Connelly. I have no need for the other three burdens.”
A flicker of struggle flashed through Lester’s eyes. His relationships with the actors under him were all fairly good. One of the other three was even the younger brother of a friend who had specially entrusted him with the job. But after thinking about his own future, Lester made his decision within five seconds.
“No problem, Mr. Williams.”
After settling the matter, Lester tactfully excused himself and left Jennifer Connelly beside Eric.
Starting the car, Eric glanced at the dazed young woman in the passenger seat and suddenly leaned over.
Noticing Eric’s movement, Jennifer Connelly immediately raised both hands defensively in front of herself and asked in panic, “Y-You… what are you trying to do?”
“Look how scared you are.” Eric curled his lips. Reaching past her body, he pulled the passenger seatbelt over. “I’m not very good at driving this car yet, so it’s safer to wear a seatbelt.”
“I can do it myself.” Jennifer Connelly reached for the seatbelt, but in her flustered state, she accidentally grabbed Eric’s hand instead and immediately withdrew as though shocked by electricity.
After fastening the seatbelt, Eric straightened back up but did not start the car immediately. Instead, he turned his head and quietly studied the uneasy young woman in the passenger seat.
“You’re afraid of me?”
After a while, Eric finally asked.
Jennifer Connelly subconsciously nodded. Realizing it was inappropriate, she quickly shook her head again. “Mr. Williams, I… I didn’t mean it that way.”
“You can call me Eric.”
The young woman looked nervously out the window and softly acknowledged with an “Mm.”
“Come on, look at me.”
Eric’s tone softened slightly. The young woman unconsciously turned her head, her eyes filled with confusion.
Eric reached one arm behind her, cupped the back of Jennifer Connelly’s head, suddenly leaned forward again, and kissed her alluring red lips.
Jennifer Connelly was instantly stunned by Eric’s actions. Her eyes widened, her pupils contracted sharply, and her hands instinctively pressed against Eric’s chest, yet she forgot to escape.
Feeling the young man forcefully sucking on her lips and repeatedly probing with his tongue, trying to slip into her mouth, the young woman’s eyelashes fluttered rapidly. Soon, mist gathered in her large eyes.
By the time Eric had kissed her to his satisfaction and finally released her, tears were already close to spilling from Jennifer Connelly’s eyes.
“How can you do this!”
The young woman’s first instinct was to slap Eric and get out of the car, only to discover that the seatbelt had tightly secured her to the seat, leaving her unable to move.
Frantically unfastening the seatbelt, Jennifer Connelly discovered that Eric had already stepped on the accelerator and driven the Lamborghini onto the road. Nevertheless, she still insisted:
“Mr. Williams, could you pull over? I want to get out!”
“Stop making trouble and fasten your seatbelt.”
“You…” The young woman stubbornly retorted, “I want to get out!”
Just as Eric was about to say something more, a convertible Mercedes suddenly came speeding toward them from the opposite direction. The punk-looking young driver with the huge afro was clearly overtaking while driving across the center line.
Eric cursed and sharply turned the steering wheel, barely avoiding the convertible. Even so, the two vehicles still scraped dangerously close past each other. Perhaps because they spotted the stunning young woman in the passenger seat, the group of punk youths in the Mercedes wolf-whistled loudly at the Lamborghini as they passed.
Only after the Mercedes disappeared into the rearview mirror did Eric realize cold sweat had broken out across his body. He cursed again fiercely before glancing at the equally shaken young woman beside him.
His tone became somewhat stern.
“Fasten your seatbelt.”
This time, Jennifer Connelly did not dare resist anymore. She did not want to gamble with her life either. Obediently, she pulled out the seatbelt and fastened it, though she stubbornly turned her head away, refusing to look at the man in the driver’s seat.
When they arrived at a famous Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills, the doorman immediately hurried over eagerly upon seeing the gorgeous purple Diablo. Eric got out, handed the keys and a tip to the valet, then turned toward the young woman.
Jennifer Connelly had already calmed down somewhat. After getting out of the car, she did not storm off either. Somewhat unwillingly, she looped her arm through the one Eric offered and followed him into the restaurant.
“At most you’re only ordering salad? Why not order something else too?” Sitting at 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 meal along with a bottle of wine before returning the menu to the waiter. After the waiter left, Eric spoke again.
“All right, smile a little, okay? The way you are now makes me feel guilty.”
“You know how to feel guilty too?”
The young woman glared at him unapologetically before adding, “And stop talking to me in that old-fashioned tone, okay? You… you’re only a few months older than me.”
“What an honor. I never expected you’d already looked up my birthday. That’ll be very helpful for our future relationship. I remember your birthday too, December 12th. Quite a magical date, don’t you think?”
Eric’s words made the young woman grow uneasy.
“How did you know my birthday?”
“Your file.” Eric smiled and lied effortlessly, feeling absolutely no pressure when coaxing girls. “I know much more about you than that. Back when Once Upon a Time in America premiered in 1984, I already knew that angelically beautiful girl. Ever since then, I’ve never been able to forget her. I never imagined one day she would appear alive right in front of me.”
No woman disliked hearing such praise, especially when it came from a recently rising young director.
Jennifer Connelly lowered her head, not daring to meet Eric’s affectionate gaze, yet a faint blush rose onto her cheeks. Even Eric’s earlier offense toward her was unconsciously being excused in her mind.
He only acted that way because he likes me.