by L. A. Witt
“So,” he said after a while, “would it be too soon to mention that I want to see you again? After this weekend?”
My heart skipped. “Do you?”
“Yeah. I wanted to anyway. Before we… before today. But now I really do.”
“Me too.” Talk about an understatement. It wasn’t just that I wanted to see him again—I didn’t want him to leave. Of course he had to because he had a job and a life in California, but a boy could dream.
Adam shifted in his seat, still holding my hand. “You’re more than welcome to come see me in LA, but I’m happy to come up here too. Especially since I know you probably don’t want to leave Lola for long.”
I glanced at him again. “You don’t mind coming up here?”
“Of course not. And at least for the next few months, my schedule will probably be more flexible than yours.”
“That’s true, but I don’t want you doing all the legwork.”
“What about Lola?”
“She stays with a friend whenever I go out of town, and she gets to play with their dogs until none of them can move. Trust me—she’ll be fine.” I slowed to a stop at a red light and stole the opportunity to look his way. “It’s really sweet that you’re concerned about her, though.”
“Of course I am. She’s like your kid.”
“She is. But she’ll be fine, I promise.”
“In that case, you’re welcome at my place any time.” He paused, and sobered a bit as he added, “Just, um, fair warning—there are a lot of people in LA who know my face, and a lot of them have cameras.”
I suppressed a shudder. A cold revulsion crept through me at the thought of people staring at me, taking my picture, whispering about me, and making judgments about my life all because I was hanging out with Adam. Just imagining being in LA with him, facing those cameras—it sent me right back to that middle school stage and all those eyes on me. The knowing smirks. The raised brows. The humiliating taint of their bullying.
I took a deep breath and let it out. Deep down, I knew that was the reality of being with someone as high-profile as Adam. It terrified me, but I wanted to be with him. If I had to deal with some attention from strangers, well, I was a grown man now. I could live with it if it meant having Adam in my life.
Though maybe I could be forgiven for wanting to ease into it. Getting used to it before diving in.
The light turned green, so I accelerated into the intersection. “Well, we don’t necessarily have to go anywhere when I’m in town. I’m pretty sure we can keep ourselves entertained.”
Adam laughed. “True.”
“And I mean, I grew up in Orange County, so it’s not like I need to play tourist in LA.”
“Oh, right. I forgot about that. So, yeah. We’ll stay in and entertain ourselves.”
We exchanged glances, and both grinned.
And holy hell, I couldn’t wait.
Chapter 15
Adam
When we’d left Brian’s house, I’d figured we would go by the hotel, grab my things, come back, and tumble into bed again. After all, it was more than enough time for both of us to recover after going one round. Hell, we could have gone one more before we left the house at all.
But then we ended up at that Thai place again.
We debated eating light because we still had plans for the evening, but I could smell the Pad Thai a server was carrying past our table, and then a minute later she walked by carrying half a pineapple filled with fried rice, and… fuck it. When our waiter put a plate of Pad Thai in front of Brian and a pineapple in front of me, we looked at each other across the mountains of food, and both shrugged. We wouldn’t be able to move after this, never mind fool around, but it was just so good. And since I was done with my promo tour and wasn’t filming again for a few weeks, I could actually eat like a normal human being for one goddamned weekend.
“I know this is going to kill our plans for later tonight,” I said as I loaded some rice and pineapple on my fork, “but I can’t resist.”
Brian laughed, twirling some noodles around his own fork. “This is totally fine by me. I mean, this was kind of the best case scenario I was imagining for the weekend anyway.”
I cocked my head. “What do you mean?”
“Well, we were pretty much strangers.” He shrugged and nudged a piece of chicken onto the twirled noodles. “I was just hoping we’d get along and have a good time. I wasn’t expecting, um…”
“Yeah, me too, actually.” I took a bite of the rice and pineapple. And oh yeah, totally worth it. Totally fucking worth it. The sweet and savory flavors were so perfect, it had to be witchcraft. It wasn’t spicy at all, either—exactly how I liked it. After I’d taken a sip of water, I said, “I’m not complaining about how things worked out.”
God, his smile was so adorable. I would never get tired of that.
“I’m not complaining either,” he said. “And even if we stuff our faces tonight, we still have tomorrow night.”
I squirmed in my seat. “Yeah, we do. All day tomorrow, in fact.”
“Mm-hmm. I can’t decide if I want to take you to Seattle and play tourist, or just stay home and…”
“Play porn star?”
Brian laughed. “Something like that, yeah.”
“Why don’t we see how we feel in the morning?” I let the toe of my shoe subtly graze his under the table. Enough to let him know I meant it, but not enough to draw anyone else’s attention. “We don’t need an itinerary or anything.”
“True.” He nudged my foot back. “Playing it by ear sounds good. It’s worked out for us so far.”
“It so has.” I put some more rice and vegetables on my fork. “I am kind of interested in that Seattle Underground Tour. I saw something about it once, and I’ve always been curious about it.”
“We can do that, then.”
“Or we can save it for the next trip. I’m easy.” As soon as the last two words came out, my teeth snapped shut and my cheeks were on fire.
Brian chuckled and reached across the table to pat my arm. “I know what you meant. It’s okay.”
“Ugh.” I groaned and rolled my eyes. “I sometimes don’t think before I speak. Especially when there isn’t a camera in my face.”
At that, his humor faded. “How do you handle that, anyway? Having people chase you around and ask you obnoxious questions?”
“I constantly remind myself that I love what I do and those idiots are the price of admission.”
“Okay, fair. But still—that has to drive you insane.”
I shrugged tightly, shifting my attention to the food that suddenly wasn’t quite so appetizing. As I chased a chunk of pineapple around in the rice, I said, “I won’t lie—it sucks. Every time I leave my house, I have to decide if I want to go out of my way to sneak past them, or just suck it up and let them see me. I can’t go anywhere or do anything without someone snapping a picture and then speculating about what it means.” I sighed. “Shit, last year? Someone got their hands on a shot of me spacing out in line at the grocery store, and everyone went nuts trying to figure out what I was thinking.”
“I remember that,” Brian admitted softly. “I, um, think it got turned into a meme, actually.”
“Yeah, it did.” I laughed dryly and speared the piece of pineapple a little harder than I needed to before I met Brian’s gaze. “You want to know what I was thinking in that picture?”
He nodded.
I laughed again. “I was trying to remember if I was supposed to pick up laundry detergent or if I had enough at home.”
Brian’s eyebrows shot up. “Really?”
“Yeah. But I mean, you snap a picture of someone when they’re in mid-sentence or mid-thought or fucking chewing something, and you can read all kinds of shit into what their expression means.” I glanced at the fork, wondering if I really wanted that piece of pineapple. Lowering the fork, I exhaled. “It’s like everyone wants celebrities to be on all the time. If we leave the house wearing so
mething comfortable and not looking like we’re ready to hit the red carpet, people wig out. If we aren’t smiling, people have to speculate about what it means. If we…” I hesitated.
Brian sat up a bit. “What?”
I swallowed, and struggled to meet his eyes. “If they see us out in public with someone, it has to mean something.”
His eyes widened. “Wow. I mean, I knew that, kind of. I see the tabloids and all. But… damn.”
“Yeah. So that means if someone sees us…” I chewed my lip.
It was Brian’s turn to stare at his food, and I got the feeling he wasn’t so hungry anymore either. Especially when his eyes flicked to the sides like he was surreptitiously assessing our surroundings and wondering if we were being watched. We weren’t, though a woman had looked at me with possible recognition before taking a seat at another table, mercifully putting her back to me.
I shifted uncomfortably and folded my arms on the table’s edge. “If you don’t want to deal with that shit, I’ll understand. Believe me, it’s no picnic. So if it’s a deal-breaker, just—”
“No, it isn’t.” Brian shook his head and looked in my eyes. “I’m trying to get my head around it, but no, it’s not a deal-breaker.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded, and slowly, a smile came to life. “I want to see you again.”
My heart swelled, but smiling back was a struggle. “They will speculate about us. I guarantee it. And they don’t hold back about anything. What kind of relationship we have. If you’re cheating on me because you stood within five feet of another man. What we’re doing in bed. It’s all fair game.”
Brian shuddered. “Yeah. I know. I’ve seen the shit they say about you.”
I blinked. I’d kind of assumed as much since he’d been a fan and God knew the tabloids always seemed to find plenty to say about me, but it was a bit surreal to have confirmation. Especially since I’d always wondered what it would be like to date someone who’d read all that bullshit about me. Whether it would affect a relationship or change how a guy looked at me.
I fidgeted some more. “For the record, some of it’s true, but most of it’s not. If you’re wondering about any of it, it’s okay to ask.”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “It’s tabloids, not your Tinder profile.”
That actually made me laugh. “I totally should’ve made a Tinder profile with nothing but those stupid headlines.”
Brian laughed too. “It would’ve gotten some attention, that’s for sure.”
“Right?” I snorted. “Swipe right if you want the real story behind that photo.”
He chuckled, but quickly sobered. “Living under a microscope like that… God. I don’t know how you do it.”
I grimaced. “Well, if we keep doing this and don’t keep it as discreet as possible, you might find out.” My stomach clenched, and I was instantly convinced Brian would take that comment to heart and suggest I stay the hell in California. Maybe even move my flight up to tomorrow. Or tonight.
But instead, he took and released a deep breath, and met my eyes. “I’d rather put up with photographers and wild speculation about my life than have the same regret I’ve had for the last five years.”
That caught me off-guard, and I straightened, not sure how to respond.
Brian swallowed. “I’ve seriously been kicking myself ever since for not getting your number. I don’t want to spend the next five wondering what might have been.”
Holy crap. I could barely breathe as I held his gaze, taking in the sincerity in his eyes and his quiet words. Finally, I managed, “Really?”
“Yeah.” Without so much as a wary glance around the room, he put his hand on my arm again, and he left it there. “I want to see what happens if we keep doing this. It might take me some time to get used to the cameras, but they’re not going to chase me off.”
I exhaled, putting my hand over the top of his. “Good. Because I want to see what happens too.”
~*~
Though neither of us finished our food, we’d still eaten more than enough to leave us both full and lethargic. By the time we got back to his place and brought my handful of luggage up to his bedroom, about the most either of us was good for was flopping on the couch and watching TV.
Which is exactly what we did.
Brian’s couch was pretty good size, but it did get a little crowded with the two of us and a slowly expanding Belgian Malinois. Lola took up a cushion and a half, leaving us to share the remaining one and a half. That was fine, though—I curled up against Brian with his arm around my shoulders. Aside from occasionally having to move my feet to accommodate Lola’s hind legs, not to mention getting whacked with her tail whenever she moved, it was perfect. I didn’t even really mind the legs or tail.
After we’d watched a couple of episodes of a sitcom, Brian said, “Have you watched Altered Carbon?”
“Not yet. Is it good?”
“Oh my God, yes. It’s dark and twisted, but it’s awesome.” He trailed his fingers up and down my arm. “Want to try the pilot and see if you like it?”
“But you’ve already seen it, right?”
Brian chuckled and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “I’m the kind of guy who will watch and re-watch something a million times if I like it. Trust me—I don’t mind.”
“Well, in that case…” I shrugged with the shoulder that wasn’t tucked up against his chest. “Sure.”
He pulled up the show and clicked on the pilot. “You want anything before it starts?”
I lifted my chin and looked at him through my lashes. “That’s kind of baited, isn’t it?”
Brian blushed. “I meant like a drink or something.”
I sighed with theatrical disappointment. “Aww. Damn it.”
“But, I mean, if you’ve got something else in mind…”
We gazed at each other, and after a few beats, I reached up and drew him down into a kiss. I’d only meant for a quick one. Maybe a playful one.
The instant our lips met, though, I knew we weren’t going anywhere. He had me mesmerized just like he had out on the beach and lying in his bed. It wasn’t like I’d never been kissed before today—though I’d never had sex, I had made out a few times in my life—but Brian’s kiss stopped time.
Lola grunted and flopped hard beside me. Then she kicked my leg, startling me enough to break the kiss. I glanced back at her—she was on her back with her head hanging off the cushion.
Brian took advantage of me turning away, and he shifted a bit before leaning down to kiss my neck.
“Oh God,” I whispered. Yeah, so much for watching TV. I didn’t see us fucking after we’d eaten so much earlier, but I was pretty sure there was still plenty we could do. That after-dinner lethargy was sure as hell evaporating, especially as Brian trailed hot kisses up to my ear. I leaned into him, tilting my head to silently encourage him.
He nibbled my earlobe, and I was caught off-guard by how sexy that was. If I hadn’t already been painfully hard by that point, I definitely would’ve been as soon as his teeth pressed into my skin.
“Jesus Christ,” I moaned. “Why is that so hot?”
He laughed, a rush of warm breath whispering past my ear. “Does it matter why?”
“Good point.”
He bit it gently again. “You know, we did walk around a lot today,” he murmured. “And we fooled around earlier. Probably wouldn’t hurt to grab a shower.”
“Mmm, good idea. Maybe we should share one.” I slid my hand over his thigh. “To save water, I mean.”
“To save water. Right. Good thinking.”
He lifted his head, and when our eyes met, we both grinned. Then, without a word, we got up and headed for the stairs.
Chapter 16
Brian
I couldn’t get enough of Adam. All the fantasies I’d ever had of him had basically turned to dust, and I was hooked on the real thing. Not just on how hot he was—because holy shit, this man was gorgeous—but everythi
ng. The uncertain but hungry way he touched me. How he kissed like he’d be perfectly happy just doing that for the rest of the night. The little sounds of surprise and arousal whenever I found some erogenous zone he apparently hadn’t known about.
Virgins weren’t usually my thing, but Adam’s lack of experience wasn’t an issue at all. Though he was tentative sometimes, he was eager and enthusiastic, and he so clearly wanted to do it right. Whenever I’d try something new—nibbling his earlobe, for example—it wouldn’t be long before he reciprocated. First cautiously, then confidently.
As we stood in the shower, naked bodies pressed together and arms around each other, he nipped my earlobe and made me groan.
“Mmm, like that?” he whispered over the rush of water.
“Yeah.” I cupped his firm, round ass and pulled him against my dick. “Like… everything you’re doing.”
“Good,” he said with a quiet laugh. “Then I’m not fucking anything up.”
“Oh my God, no, you’re not.” I nudged the side of his face with mine, and when he lifted his head, I claimed his mouth again. I understood his shyness; no one wanted to be a clueless virgin. If he only knew how much he was driving me wild. There was a certain innocence about him that intoxicated me. Every touch and sensation was something shiny and new, and I loved the look of surprise in his expression and the soft, startled moans whenever I found some other way to turn him on.
The water was starting to cool down, so I broke away and turned it off. In the sudden silence, I said, “Want to move into the bedroom?”
Adam nodded, licking his slightly swollen lips. Water clung to his eyelashes and beard, and his usually spiky hair was deliciously mussed. He looked just like he had in one of his sexier roles—a film two years ago that had included a shower scene—but he wasn’t on the screen now. He was right here in my house, naked and hard and ready to join me in my bed. Whoa.