Page 22 of Best Supporting Actor
“Yeah, in fact, now I really need to… let off some steam. Don’t you?” Tag’s voice was low and promising, and when he licked his lips, Jay’s cock pulsed with desire. With another grin, Tag added, “I seem to recall that Mason suggested a solution for that.”
“Why don’t you just go fuck each other’s brains out already?”
Heat washed over Jay’s face, and he turned back to the bar, to his drink, but even as he did so, he was painfully aware of the man beside him, and despite all his usual worries, his gaze more or less immediately drifted back to Tag, who was now leaning against the bar, his jacket falling open to reveal the taut lines of his body. No accident, that; the display was far too deliberate, staged to be provocative.
“What do you say?” Tag raised an eyebrow. “It’s just you and me left, after all.”
“Not really,” Jay said stiffly, certain Tag was teasing. “There’s a whole bar full of people here.”
“Is there?” Tag’s eyes were heavy-lidded, unmistakably inviting.
“Come off it,” Jay said, suddenly rather airless. “I thought you hated ‘my type’.”
Tag shrugged, the gesture making his jacket fall a little further open, displaying the sexy lines of his trim waist and cocked hip. Jay recalled how beautiful the body beneath that shirt was all too well, and his mouth went dry at the memory.
“I’m not suggesting we become BFFs,” Tag continued, his expression amused. “Just that we could… work off a little mutual tension. Besides, I feel like celebrating.”
“Celebratingwhat?”
“My big break.” Grinning, Tag said, “Come on, why not? I’m attracted to you, and I remember the way you were eye-fucking me at that Hallowe’en party.”
Bloody hell, he was serious.
And Jay was suddenlyfilledwith that aching want again.
Lifting his glass, Jay downed his whisky in one swallow, relishing the smoky burn, then immediately reached for Tag’s abandoned drink and did the same, setting the glass down hard on the counter with a brisk exhale.
Fuck, he thought, as the alcohol made its fiery way to his belly,am I actually going to do this?
And then he looked at Tag again, and he knew that he was. Tag was still watching him, his molten gaze suddenly the only thing in the room that mattered. Helplessly, Jay swayed closer, his body thrumming with adrenaline, his skin tingling and heart pumping. His fight-or-flight reflex kicking in, maybe? Or perhaps his fight or…
“Fuck,” he whispered, “this is abadidea.”
“Yeah,” Tag agreed, smiling wolfishly. “The best ones always are.”
CHAPTERFIVE
Tag
“Jesus Christ!” Tag laughed as he brushed past Jay and stepped into his huge hotel room. “This isn’t a room. It’s a fucking suite.” He glanced at Jay over his shoulder. “This must cost a fortune.”
Jay’s face pinkened. “Yeah, well, a nice room helps me to relax, and Carly—she’s my assistant—is pretty good at negotiating rates.”
Tag snorted at that, but when he saw Jay wince, he felt an unfamiliar pang of regret. Still, it was pretty stupid to try to pretend he hadn’t spent a fortune on this place. And all for an extra hour’s kip in the morning.
Turning in a slow circle, Tag spent a few moments taking in the spacious living room area with its plush sofa and chairs, its huge TV, and, on the sideboard, a platter of sliced tropical fruit, a few mini champagne bottles on ice, an elaborate arrangement of yellow and pink roses—and, of all things, a box of After Eights, tied up with a ridiculously luxurious red satin ribbon. At first, he wondered if crap like this came as standard when you booked a bloody enormous suite, but then he realised…
“Oh my God.” Tag laughed in disbelief as he stared at the sideboard. “Is that… is that the same stuff you have on your rider forLeeches?”
“Just the, um, the After Eights,” Jay mumbled, looking embarrassed. “The rest would have been sorted out by Carly.”
“Wow,” Tag said, lifting his brows. “She really takes care of you, huh?”
Jay shrugged. “Yeah,” he said. “She looks after me pretty well.”
“Must be nice,” Tag added, stepping closer. “You like that? Being taken care of?”
He was only teasing, didn’t mean anything by it, but the way Jay’s face immediately heated made him pause.