Page 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 his elbows, 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."

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 my cock, 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 fucking hungry as 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 were shooting, 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.

We were 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?"

Even to my own ears, the small talk sounded painfully stilted and forced, and from the way that Tristan quirked his eyebrow at me as he drew level, he thought so too.

"What are you doing tonight?" he asked, smirking at me as he tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

The motion pulled the fabric of his jeans tight over his cock, and I couldn't stop myself from looking at it, despite the fact that it's nowhere near the socially acceptable thing to do in the moment.

The bulge twitched when I looked at him, and my mouth dried, the urge to drop to my knees and press my lips to it right then and there almost stronger than I could resist.

I tore my eyes away from it to look back at Tristan, and I ignore the amusement written all over his face as I meet his gaze again.

"I don't have any plans," I answered honestly.

"This was really the only thing that I had planned to do today."

Tristan nodded, as if I had told him exactly what he wanted to hear.

"Great," he said decisively.

"You're coming out with me tonight.

We're going to have a couple of drinks, and we're going to get to know each other a little bit better, so you don't keep looking like you're going to jump out of your skin every single time I touch you."

The words to protest bubble up to my lips, but Tristan laid a finger over my mouth before I could say anything.

"Come on," he said, his voice softer.

"I promise, I'm not going to bite.

I just want to talk through what you can expect.

My costar did the same thing for me before my first shoot, and it was really helpful."

His expression is so earnest that I can't resist him, and I finally nod after a painfully tense moment.

"Yeah, okay," I mumbled, my voice soft against his finger where it was still pressed against my lips.

Tristan chuckled, and he slid his finger along my lower lip before he gently patted my cheek, winking at me.

"There's a good boy," he teased.

Despite the fact that rationally, I knew that he was joking, I couldn't stop myself from flushing at his deliciously sexy words, and the glint of interest in his eyes told me that he caught my little slip up.

God, it seemed like he already knew so much about me, and yet, I knew so little about him.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe going out to drinks was going to put us more on an even playing field.

I certainly needed it, if I was going to be able to shoot fucking porn with this guy.

"What time?" I asked, my voice breathier than I wanted it to be.

Tristan smirked, and he pulled out his phone, clicking it open and glancing through a few screens before he nodded.

"Meet me at the bar at :30," he said, his voice brooking no argument.

I nodded, and only relaxed a tiny bit when he finally fully released me and stepped away.

"Okay," I said.

":30.

I'll see you tonight."

His eyes burned into me, and he nodded.

"See you then," he said softly.