Page 15 of Salacious Star

Instead, though, I squeezed his shoulders a little tighter, and I whispered, "Don't worry, Xan. I'll be right there. Nothing to be afraid of. It's going to go perfectly. If Cole has anything less than effusive praise to give to you, I'll be truly surprised."

I couldn't stop myself from darting forward and grazing my teeth over the shell of his ear, then, just barely. Enough that I felt him shiver in my arms before I pulled away, and I winked down at him when he looked up at me, his eyes a little glazed. "Sound good?"

He licked his lips, and then nodded, letting out a shaky sigh. "Yeah, okay. Sounds good."

I nodded, and then - with no small amount of reluctance - released him, and moved back into my spot. We were still close, just not pressed side to side, and I immediately missed having him pressed up against me.

I reached out and snagged a nacho, for lack of anything better to do with my hands, and when I looked to my other side, Brandon and Nate were both watching me with knowing smirks painted on their faces.

I was struck by the childish urge to stick my tongue out at both of them - the smug assholes - but instead I reached up and scratched my face with my middle finger, making sure they both saw it before I dropped my hand again.

Brandon snorted, and he shook his head, and the conversation flowed better after that. My stomach settled a littlewith the arrival of the email, and I found myself looking forward to the Monday morning meeting more than I'd looked forward to anything in...well, forever.

7

Xander

The Studio Black building was just as quiet as it always was when I pulled in front the next morning ahead of the meeting that Tristan and I had scheduled with the big bosses, but there were more cars parked out in the little lot this time, betraying how many people were really here.

It had to be a huge pain in the ass, I mused as I got out of my car. Trying to make a living in one of the most-consumed industries in the world, while simultaneously trying to hide the fact that you worked in said industry because of people's bigotry.

Hell, I was fixing to be a porn star myself, and I still had preconceived notions that I was trying to unravel in my mind. Unlike most people, though, I wasn't going to try and criminalize an entire industry just because the very notion of it made me theoretically uncomfortable.

I was of the opinion that most people who were uptight about sex work and sex positive industries could use a good orgasm or five, and then they would be just as chill as the rest of us.

But I digress.

The entryway was empty when I walked into the building, but I didn't wait around for someone to come and find me this time. I just strolled through the open doorway to the hallway beyond, and then followed the low sound of conversation that was coming from the cracked door of the office that I had done my interview in.

"Morning, Xan." Cole offered me a wide smile when I pushed my way into the office after a cursory rap of my knuckles on the wood, and I smiled back at him, shoving my hands in my pockets and suddenly feeling a little shy.

"Morning. Nice to see all of you again."

Emmett and Tanner were both sitting near the end of the table, looking at a spread of glossy photos that were stacked on the table in front of them. Emmett looked up and offered me a sweet smile, the scruff on his face even longer than it had been when we had shot, and Tanner barely glanced up at me with a jerk of his chin before he returned his attention to the photos.

Tanner was an average height, kind of scrawny man who always seemed to wear clothes that were way above his pay grade. His hair was messy and brushed neatly back at the same time, a feat that I was a little amazed by, and he would have been good looking if it weren't for the slimy aura that surrounded him. Even when he had been showing me around the day of the photo shoot, I had wanted to get away from him as fast as possible, even though he had been nothing but polite to me.

He didn't really fit in with the rest of the management team that I had met here at the studio, and there was a tiny, nosy voice at the back of my head that wondered exactly how he had weaseled his way into the position that he held.

Still, that wasn't the sort of thing that you could just casually say, especially when that person was your career superior. So I just jerked my head in a nod, and then finally, my gaze fell on the last person in the room. The person who I was desperate to look at, and couldn't bring myself to meet the gaze of at the same time.

"Hey." Tristan offered me a small, knowing smile, his eyes raking down the front of me in a way that made me feel like I was fully naked in the middle of the conference room as he did so. He was leaning against the wall, his arms folded over his chest, and he was wearing a light blue button down that set off all of his dark color in a way that made my mouth water. His jeans were snug and fitted, the soft bulge of his cock drawing my eye even though I desperately tried to keep my eyes away from it, and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to hiselbows, showcasing the corded muscle in those long fingers that I couldn't seen to stop myself from fantasizing about.

"Hey," I finally replied softly. The sudden heaviness of the air between us seemed to swallow my voice, but thankfully, I didn't have to sit in the awkwardness of how I behaved around Tristan for very long.

"Well, if the two of you are here and ready, then we can get things started." Cole's voice was warm and brisk, and Tristan and I both looked towards him as he took a seat at the head of the table, opposite where Emmett was sitting, still pouring over the pictures that were laid out in front of them. He gestured at the seats around the table, smiling gently at both of us. "If you'll both take a seat, gentleman, this will be fast."

Tristan nodded and walked over to take a seat next to Emmett, and before I could consider the wisdom of it, my feet were carrying me around the table so that I could take a seat on his other side. Rationally, I know that I should have probably taken the seat on the other side of Cole so that he could speak to the two of us equally, but as soon as I was sitting next to Tristan, a sense of comfort and safety filled me, and I had to stamp down on the urge to reach out and link my fingers with Tristan's.

For comfort, obviously. Not because I wanted to know what it would be like if Tristan's rough fingers were linked between mine. A tiny hint of how it was going to feel the next time that he had his hands on me...

"Yes, well," Cole finally said slowly, his eyes flicking back and forth between me and Tristan. I could see the curiosity written all over his face, but when I glanced away from him, there was a smug expression on Emmett's face, and I wanted to speak up, to ask him exactly what it was going on in his head that was making him look like that.

Cole started talking again before I could do anything of the sort, though. "Did either of you get the chance to review the photos that were attached to the email?"

I shook my head, my stomach twisting. "I was too nervous," I said honestly, mumbling.

Tristan chuckled next to me, and then I startled when he reached out and squeezed my hand with his, a brief moment of contact before he pulled away again. "I did," he said. He chuckled again, and I looked at him. There was a near feral glint in his eyes as he looked at Cole, and he leaned forward a little bit over the table. "If you're going to tell us that they were anything less than spectacular, you and I are going to throw down, Cole."

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