Page 17

Tristan

I helped Xander into his dressing room after Dorian finally called cut for the day, and it took everything inside of me to leave him there this time, not to follow him in the way that I had at the end of the last scene.

Admittedly, he was just as fucked out this time as he had been last time, but he seemed like he had his head screwed on straight and I...I needed to get my head screwed on straight too.

Because this...this couldn't continue.

This infatuation that I had with Xander...it was getting worse by the day.

Every time that I saw him at work, I felt this pull towards him, and I felt like I was going to go insane if he wasn't already fucking mine.

So I had to be calm and cool, and fucking collect myself.

Because if I was going to have him, more than what we already had...

I had to suck it up.

Grow a pair, be a man, whatever least harmful phrase tickled your fancy.

I had to actually have the courage to put my cards on the table and actually ask him on a date, and risk the potential rejection if he didn't feel the same way that I did.

God, I hope he feels the same way.

I got dressed as fast as I could, and when I made my way back through the set, Dorian winked at me from where he and Emmett were sitting behind the film camera with their fingers tangled together.

They both looked wholly satisfied, and I couldn't help the tiny thrill that went through me at the thought of watching this particular video when it went up on the site.

"He hasn't left yet," Emmett said, looking at me with a twinkle in his eyes.

Dorian grinned at his side, and Emmett finished, "If you go out to the lobby, you can catch him before he heads out for the day."

I didn't stop to question how they knew what I wanted to do, or that I wanted to talk to Xander.

They were a nosy old married couple that got off on sticking their noses in other people's business - among other things- and that meant that if I wanted to try and woo Xander without interference from anyone else on the Studio Black team, I was going to have to be sneakier than this.

Woo.

God, who was I? A married old British lady?

I couldn't stop myself from snorting at my own thoughts, and when I made my way out into the lobby, it was blissfully empty.

It gave me a few moments to pull myself together, to smooth down the soft black shirt that I liked to wear after shoots, and to clear my mind so that the only thought that filled it was the objective.

I wanted to date Xander.

I hadn't wanted to date anyone in...a long time.

Longer than I cared to admit, even to myself.

I want Xander to be my boyfriend.

Not just my work fuck buddy.

My stomach flipped at the word 'boyfriend,' and I couldn't stop myself from rolling it over my tongue over and over again, testing the way that it felt.

Liking the thought of it a little too much.

Fuck.

If Xander said no...I was going to be a lot more bothered than I was going to have to admit.

Because there was no way that I was going to give him up as a partner at the studio, even if it turned out that he wasn't interested in me romantically.

Our sexual chemistry was off the charts, and I had admittedly never felt so comfortable with a partner in all the time that I'd worked for Cole.

We would just...have to make things work.

If he wasn't interested in me.

But hopefully he was.

God, it would suck if he wasn't. If...

"You okay, Tris?"

Xan's soft, teasing voice cut through the increasingly circular pattern of my thoughts, and my eyes snapped to his, uncharacteristic nerves flooding me at the sight of him.

His hair was damp and curling the tiniest bit around his face, his eyes bright as he smiled at me.

He was still a little flushed, the haze of pleasure in his eyes clear, and my cock valiantly jerked at the sight of it, as if I would be able to get hard again after the aggressive, marathon fuck session that we'd just filmed.

"Um.

Yeah, I'm...I'm okay," I managed.

It was a Herculean effort to keep my voice from stammering, and he arched an eyebrow at me, his head cocking to the side before flicking down my front and returning to my face.

That tiny once-over, one that I was sure was involuntary...that gave me the courage to relax a little, and offer a real smile to Xander as I pushed away from the wall and stepped into his space.

"I wanted to catch you before you left for the day," I said, my voice calm and confident again.

His lips parted, and his cheeks brightened a little.

He glanced around, as if he were positive that I was talking to someone else, and then he looked back at me, pointing at himself with one finger.

"Me?" he asked, and his voice was definitely trembling.

There was a spark of excitement in his eyes that intrigued me, though, made me want to get closer and taste his lips all over again, despite the fact that I'd had my hands and lips all over him for the better part of three hours.

"Yes, you, Xan," I confirmed, unable to stop myself from laughing a little.

Softly, because I didn't want him to think I was laughing at him.

God, I wanted him to say yes to dating me.

I wanted it so fucking badly.

"I wanted to see what you're doing tomorrow night," I said, leaning a little closer.

His eyes widened the tiniest bit as he looked up at me, and his jaw dropped open, as if he were glitching for a moment.

"What for?" he finally managed.

Was that...hope in his voice?

A matching emotion surged to life inside of me, and I reached up to brush a stray strand of damp hair off his forehead, the tips of my fingers brushing against his silky skin.

"I wanted to invite you over to my place for dinner," I said softly.

"I want to get to know you, Xander."

He let out a tiny, involuntary sound, and then his eyes narrowed a little.

"Is this a work thing, or...?" he asked, suspicious.

I shook my head, shoving down the chuckle that bubbled up before it could escape.

God, he was cute when he was being vigilant.

But this was serious.

"No," I said softly.

"Not a work thing.

A...different thing."

Xander's throat bobbed with a swallow, marked up from the dozen different bites that my teeth had sank into his skin over the course of the filming session.

I wanted to trace them with my fingers, but his husky voice interrupted my train of thought before I could do exactly that.

"Like...a date thing?"

His gaze caught mine, and for a moment, I couldn't look away.

His eyes were soft and intense and hopeful - there was no mistaking it this time - and I let him look at me for a moment before I nodded.

"Yeah," I said, my voice husky.

"Like...a date thing.

I want to take you on a date, Xander.

I want to get to know you.

I...I think there might be something, here. Beyond mind blowing chemistry on set, I mean."

I tacked on that last part because I definitely didn't want him thinking that I thought that that was nothing, and thankfully, he snorted, rolling his eyes a little.

"No, no.

Couldn't forget that." He winked at me, and then his expression softened a little as he sucked his lower lip between his teeth, chewing on it.

"Are you sure, Tris? I mean...what if it doesn't go well?"

"Well, I'm not the kind of man that likes to plan for failure," I mused, cocking my head to the side.

"I like to think that you like me enough that even if you don't want to date me again..." The thought choked in my throat for a moment, but I powered through to the end.

"You'll still settle for mind blowing orgasms on my cock whenever our corporate overlords see fit to schedule us together."

I winked at him, mirroring his cheeky gesture, and he let out an honest to God giggle before 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 just thoroughly wrecked this 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 and screaming...

"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 painfully sweet, 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.