Page 27 of The Actor and His Secret

Of course he’d be the kind of person to actually read the fucking book.

‘Yes,’ I say flatly. ‘Go on. We have a whole list to get through.’

It’s a lie, and I think from the tilt of his head that he knows it. But he just purses his lips and cracks open the book, flipping to the right page. I count him down and he starts to read, and I thought this would be humiliating but of course he makes using mud as lube sound hot instead of incredibly disgusting and UTI-inducing.

Listening to his rich, deep voice reading about things so much like what we did that night in my bed makes my head spin. I’m mad at him because he was a dick in making assumptions about me extorting him for money, and I’m mad at him that he didn’t trust that the night meant something to me like it did to him.

I wouldn’t keep the post-it note of a man I was planning to betray to the media for money.

But I’m watching him do this, and when he gets to the end of the passage and gives me a few seconds of smiling silence to edit in an ending, he slumps down. He literally, physically gets smaller. The transformation is incredible, and excruciatingly sad. Because I can tell that he just put on a mask for the camera, and now that he’s not being filmed it’s been taken off.

Adonis - Nikos Ridge - is showing me his exhaustion, and his anxiety, and I don’t see how I didn’t realise before that those were the emotions written all over his face.

My anger starts to ebb away, and I’m powerless to keep a hold of it.

‘I’m not going to sell you out to the media, and I don’t need to be paid money to do so,’ I say quietly. I can’t meet his eyes. ‘I was offended because you implied I wasn’t trustworthy, that you thought I needed to be paid off to do the decent thing. I don’t. But I can see why you might think that.’

Because maybe a man who wore a mask did so because he’d learned the hard way that it was necessary.

He clears his throat. ‘I’m sorry, Honey. Oli. I didn’t mean to. Look, I’m in town for a little while. I want to make it up to you.’

The sound of my name on his lips sends a jolt of arousal through me. I lick my lips ‘And how are you going to make it up to me?’

‘It depends,’ he replies, his eyes searching my face. ‘I can wine and dine you. I can take you shopping. We can spend all night with take-out and Netflix. I can make it up to you in other ways.’

He drops his gaze down to my belt at that last suggestion, and the final scrap of my resistance is gone.

‘Well,’ I say, my voice husky. ‘I can think of some other video ideas that we can practice sans camera if we go back to my place. Special things, for your biggest fan.’

‘Oh?’ The hope that crosses his face is almost unbearable. ‘And who would that be?’

I take one step towards him, then another, until I’m standing between his legs, our eyes level as he’s sitting down. He puts his broad, warm hands on my hips as I rest mine on his insanely muscular thighs.

‘Me,’ I say. And then I lean in and kiss him.

It takes a Herculean amount of effort to make it through the rest of the day. The filmed Q&A with the author goes off without a hitch, and she’s even confident enough that we do an impromptu Instagram live with the two of them together. I’m so proud of her and how far she’s come with her ability to manage PR and public speaking that I feel like I’m going to burst. I give her a long, tight hug before sending her off. I catch Nikos smiling at me from the corner of my eye, and it’s all I can do to not react in turn.

Even if we’re going to end up at my flat together again, I need to make sure that no one realises there’s more to the two of us than a publicity manager and an actor. I don’t like being made to feel as though I’m - as he put it - a dirty little secret, but right now what’s between us is different than that.

It feels like being trusted. It feels like helping someone else feel safe. It feels like something private that’s just for the two of us and no one else. An extension of that special bubble we were in after the premier, when we were just Honey and Adonis.

I’m alright keeping that feeling going for just a little bit longer.

Because I’m going to take what I’m being given, I think to myself as I turn off my computer and wave goodbye to Megan. Nikos left an hour ago and said he was going back to the hotel to freshen up, and then would have his driver wait outside my flat. The anticipation builds as I dash down the stairs of the tube and shove myself onto the train just as the doors slide closed.

I really don’t want to keep waiting.

True to his word, there’s a big black SUV waiting in front of my building. I head up the steps to the front door, and I feel Nikos join me. I don’t look back, just soak up the heat of his body. But when I reach into my bag for my keys, my fingers just brush empty air.

‘Fuck,’ I curse. I turn to him, because I have no choice. I’m looking around like there are paparazzi everywhere, but my street is nearly empty. ‘I must have dropped my keys somewhere in the office. They’re not here. I’ll have to call a locksmith.’

I had spare keys, but they’re with Geoff. My mother has another set, but she lives an hour away, and I’m not going to ask her to make that drive so I can fuck a movie star. I’m not that depraved.

‘It’s ok.’ Nikos reaches out and brushes the backs of his fingers against my arm. His eyes are fixed on me, two pools of molten desire. ‘I can still make it up to you. What do you say we go out for a bit and then head back to my hotel?’

My keys are probably at the office. I’ll have to search for them, but I can do that later tonight after I’m done with Nikos - or, more accurately, when he’s done with me.

‘Alright,’ I breathe, and let him usher me into his car.

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