Page 16 of Salacious Star

Cole laughed in return, and there was a twinkle of mirth in his eyes when he looked over my way. "Far be it from me to invite something like that into my life," he said, his voice teasing. He winked at me, and then reached out for some of the photos that Tanner was still looking at, gathering them together and then sliding them across the table at me. "I understand why you were too nervous to take a look at them, Xander, but I can assure you, there's no need for anxiety. Take a look."

I swallowed hard before I took the photos, and then I blew out her breath as I looked down, prepared for the worst.

"Oh," I murmured, slowly flipping from one photo to the other. The photos were in black and white, just like Tristan had suggested during the shoot, and my cock stiffened dizzyingly fast as I looked from one photo to the next.

The top photo was from the beginning of the shoot, when I was sitting next to Tristan. He was right, you could see the tension that lined my muscles as clear as day, the discomfort with our position more than obvious to me.

But Tristan stole the show, his posture easy as he wrapped his arm around me and planted one hand on my thigh. There was a casual intimacy to the way that he manhandled me,as if it was his right to just slide his hand there along the inside of my leg, no matter what I said.

His fingers were so close to my cock in the photo, and said appendage throbbed, desperate to be touched despite the inappropriateness of the venue.

"These are...really good," I finally murmured, after several tense seconds. I flipped to the next page, and my breath caught.

The second one was from later in the shoot. I was nestled firmly between Tristan's legs, the bare muscles and planes of my chest on display. His hand was wrapped firmly around the column of my throat, and his teeth were sunk into my shoulder, the barest hint of white visible as his other arm was wrapped possessively around my waist.

I remembered what it felt to have his teeth in my shoulder in that moment. The way that his lips were soft against my skin, the way that his tongue tickled over me, just the tiniest bit, as if he couldn't stand not tasting me. His words and breath against my ear, making me feel safe and wanted all at the same time.

My cheeks burned as I realized that I was sporting a full fucking erection in the middle of a business meeting, and I swallowed hard as I quickly flipped through the rest of the photos. They're all fantastic, of course, but the last one of the stack is the one that catches my attention, and makes me want to discreetly slip it into the back of my pants so that I can take it home and frame it.

It's from the last few minutes of the photo shoot, with me laying on the couch and Tristan over me, our bodies lined up from knee to chest. His curls are falling over his forehead as he looks down at me, his eyes dark and hungry, and I can see an equally wanton expression written all over my face. Our eyes are locked together in the photo, and his hand is very obviously between our bodies, wrapped around the covered length of mycock, just barely visible from the angle that Emma took the photo.

The memory of how it felt to have Tristan's a big hand wrapped firmly around me made my cock twitch, and I swallowed hard as I shuffled the pictures back together and then casually slipped them back across the table to Cole, hoping that my painful arousal wasn't written all over my face.

"Well, I'm sure that you know what I think," I finally said after a moment, trying to break the tension with a low, embarrassed laugh. "What do all of you think about them?"

Tristan's hand found at the top of my thigh again, squeezing comfortingly, and I hated how much it meant to me that he was trying to make me feel more comfortable in this extensively painful conversation. I glanced at him and offered him a smile, and he nodded encouragingly, his eyes glittering as he looked at me.

God, he looked...if I didn't know better, I would say that he looked fuckinghungryas he looked at me. The barest hint of how he'd looked at me during the school, the desire that had been captured on camera for posterity.

But that was absurd, right? This was a job, any desire that he felt for me...well, it was just a byproduct of what we were being hired to do together.

The thought of Tristan only seeing this as a job made a pang of discomfort hit my stomach, but I shook my head and lay my hand on top of his, squeezing back as Cole nodded, looking at me with a soft, satisfied smile.

"We think that they're fucking fantastic, Xander." Emmett was the one that spoke up in that next moment, and Cole nodded as I turn to my attention to the photographer. He leaned forward over the desk, looking at me with an imploring look that made a smile touch my lips despite the seriousness of the situation. "I told you that you're a natural while we wereshooting, and it's fucking true. I don't want to get too personal here, but I can't remember the last time that I was so affected by a shoot. The chemistry between the two of you is off the fucking charts, and I am ready to get down on my knees to beg you to stay if it will let you get in the head space to create more content like this."

His voice is so impassioned and earnest that for a moment it stuns me. "I mean..." I said, looking down at the photos, and then back at the photographer. Yeah, they're good, but...

"No but, Xan," Tristan interrupted, his finger's digging into the sides of my thigh a little until I looked at him. His gaze was heavy and intense as he looked at me, and he leaned a little closer, his hazel eyes never leaving mine even for a second. "You were phenomenal.Wewere phenomenal together."

"We want to move forward with scheduling the next two weeks of shoots, if you are amenable to it," Cole interrupted, pulling my attention away from the steering contest between Tristan and myself smoothly.

I spluttered a little bit, looking back at my boss. "The next two weeks?" I asked, my eyes wide. "Not that I'm complaining, of course," I added hastily, holding my hands up.

Cole chuckled, and then he nodded. "Yes, the next two weeks. If you're okay with it. We're already seeing very good response from our subscribers to the photos on the website, and we want to strike while your star is shiny and new and hot."

Tristan's fingers squeezed my thigh yet again, and the heat of his hand seemed to burn through the layer of my denim jeans. I couldn't have felt more vulnerable if I had been stark naked right there in the middle of the conference room, and I knew what I was going to say before the words even tripped off of my tongue.

"Yeah, okay. Of course. Let's get started." I offered a smile, though it felt shaky and uncertain even to myself, and Cole nodded, pushing himself up to stand.

"Awesome. The first shoot will be in two days, and we'll plan everything out beyond that accordingly." Cole nodded, and Tanner stood as well, gathering the photos and offering me a tight smile before he swept out of the room, having said absolutely nothing during the entire meeting.

I furrowed my brow, and shoved my hands into my pockets, nodding as I stood up. "Yeah, okay. That sounds fantastic. Thank you guys, really."

There wasn't really anything more to say beyond that, and I slipped out of the conference room without saying anything else. I was almost all the way out of the building before I heard steps behind me again, and then Tristan's low voice called after me, "Xander, wait."

My heart jumped into my chest, and there was a part of me that wanted to keep walking, despite the fact that Tristan had to know that I heard him. I'm not that cowardly, though, so when we got to the foyer, I slowed and turned on my heel to face the taller man.

"Hey, Tris," I greeted, offering him a smile. "What's up? That was a pretty good meeting, yeah?"

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