Page 42 of Salacious Star

I winked at him, mirroring his cheeky gesture, and he let out an honest to Godgigglebefore he looked up at me, his eyes shining.

"Yeah, okay," he said softly. "That...sounds nice. Tomorrow?"

Butterflies burst to life inside of me, and I had to bite back a whoop of triumph that wanted to escape me.He said yes!

"Well, I would invite you over tonight," I rasped, my eyes flicking down his front and lingering on the soft bulge of his cock under his black sweats. "But I have the feeling that you'll need a day or so to rest before...?"

I trailed off, and his tongue darted out to wet his lip again. I gave in to the urge to lean in and press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth when he did so, and the tiny whimper that escaped him made it almost impossible to remember that I had justthoroughlywreckedthis man, and I was going to need to give him a little bit of time if I didn't want to actually harm him.

Never.

"Yeah, probably the right call," Xander whispered. Before I could chase down another kiss he backed away from me a step, creating a healthy foot of space between us, and immediately I hated it. I wanted him in my arms. Under me. My cock inside of him, making him whimper and needy andscreaming...

"So, tomorrow, then? What time?" Xander's voice pulled me out of my increasingly dirty thoughts, and I swallowed, looking at him with what I was sure was thinly veiled hunger.

"I'll text you my address and a time in the morning?" I offered, already flipping through the ingredients that I had at home that I could make a meal for two out of. There weren't too many things; I was going to have to go shopping.

Xander nodded. "Yeah, okay, that sounds good." He offered me a small smile that was almost painfullysweet, and he lifted one hand in a little wave. "I...can't wait."

Then he turned on his heel and hurried away before I could tackle him to the ground and take him all over again, and I watched him leave the lobby, keeping my cock under control by the finest grasp on my self control.

Only when his car finally pulled out of the parking lot did I become aware of another set of eyes on me, and when Brandon walked up to my side, his shoot duffel bag slung over his shoulder, I offered him a small, smug grin.

"Xander's coming over to my place for a date tomorrow," I said, unable to keep it to myself.

Brandon's eyes widened, the only hint at his surprise before his full lips curved up in a smirk. "Is that right?" He shook his head. "You're not getting enough action from him here at the studio?"

A bristled a little at the implication that the only chemistry that Xander and I had was physical. But of course, how would Brandon know anything else?

"It's more than that, Bran," I said, deliberately letting my voice soften with the true affection that I felt for the man. I glanced towards the now-empty spot in the parking lot where his car had been parked, just visible through one of the front windows, and I looked back at my friend, who was looking at me thoughtfully now. "I like him. A fucking lot."

Brandon's eyes darted over my face for a moment, searching. After a moment, his entire expression softened, and he made a soft sound. "You mean that."

Brandon had been one of the first friends that I made when I came to work for the studio. He could be gruff, of course, and a tough nut to crack. But he cared deeply under the aggressive, snarky exterior, and I knew that he worried about me. I'd been rocking the single life for a little too long, and while my sexual needs were more than met by our job...there were other needs that I needed taken care of.

So did he, but I wasn't going to point that out to him.

"I really do," I answered, reaching up and running my hand through my hair. "I...really really want tomorrow night to go well."

Brandon hummed, and then he wrapped his arm around my middle to pull me in for a hug. He was so much shorter than me that I had to hunch over to hug him back, but the affection in the gesture was enough to fill me from the inside out with warmth.

"It will," he said, his voice low and intent. "You deserve good things, Tris. And he's a good guy." He pulled away and winked at me, his lascivious smirk back. "If the emotional chemistry that you have is anything like the physical..."

He trailed off, and I had to agree. Xander had every tool to devastate me, I just knew it.

And I was going to happily let him.

18

Xander

Instead of going straight home after the shoot the way I wanted to, I went to Ethan's, knowing that he usually took every other Friday off from the library. Without texting him first it was a gamble whether he was actually going to be home, but that was a gamble that I was more than willing to accept.

Ethan had a little house on the outskirts of town, about ten minutes away from where I rented my own house. He'd been smart and gotten a good deal from a man who was selling after his wife had passed away, so he not only was a homeowner, but he was a homeowner with a covered porch and a porch swing. It was adorable, especially when you looked at the cheery flowers that were planted in the beds in front of the porch.

I knocked on the front door when I got there, practically flying up his front step and mentally praying that he was home. Not because I was in a panic, this time, oh no.

Or...not necessarily abadpanic. But I wanted to talk to him about it anyway.

---