Noah (23 page)

We'd remain discreet on set, obviously, just no more hiding.

"Brook's filled in the girls in wardrobe and makeup," I said, pocketing my phone. "That’s a relief. Those broads can talk." And it was better if they had the correct information.

I sat back and crammed the last of my croissant into my mouth. Julian, who claimed I was a messy eater, smirked and dusted some flakes off my shirt.

"I half expected reporters to come at us," he confessed.

"Nah. Had we been at home, then yeah." Traveling to Paris didn’t come that cheap, though. I wasn’t even on the radar in French media, and they'd only send paparazzi overseas or from the UK if I'd been more famous. "Like Tennyson said, it'll blow over fast—"

"Uh-oh." Julian was staring at his phone. "Sophie's PA texted me this." He showed me the display, and at first, I didn’t know what I was looking at. It'd been ages since I was on Twitter. "Your ex made a comment on Twitter, and Sophie responded."

"That fuckin' cunt." Emma's involvement was the last goddamn thing I needed. But I should've seen this coming. "Can I see what Emma wrote? Sophie had to have been enraged if she got in the middle of it."

Because of Sophie's past as a teenage diva, she'd learned her lesson and kept a low profile these days. She didn’t even use her official Twitter much. Her PA and publicist handled that.

Julian handed me his phone, and there was Emma's message with a link to one of the countless articles about him and me.

"This explains so much. No wonder I couldn’t save our relationship."

I rolled my eyes.

Was she fucking serious?

She didn’t have any particular status in Hollywood, but thanks to Sophie's response, each comment was going viral. There were a few, evidently.

"Where's Sophie's reply?" I asked. As soon as the words left me, I found the link, and I laughed.

"Followed the link, surprised to see it wasn’t a story about you cheating your ass off on the guy you wanted a ring from. #byefelicia."

"There's more." Julian updated Emma's page.

"One other person doesn’t equal 'cheating my ass off.' I guess he lied to you too! #notevenagoodactress"

"Mother of Christ, she just admitted the infidelity to hundreds of thousands of people." I shook my head. "I swear she wasn’t always so fucking stupid."

Sophie's only response to that was
"Good grief."
Now everything was getting screencapped and retweeted by her fanbase.

"I have a feeling Emma will regret this later." Julian made a face. "It's probably wrong that I enjoyed this. It angers me that she hurt you, though. Plus—jealousy is a nasty bitch."

I chuckled and turned my baseball cap around so the brim wouldn’t be in the way when I kissed him. "What do you have to be jealous for, huh?"

"It's irrational, I know." He twisted my nipple and leaned closer, resting his head on my shoulder. "You settled down with her. We'll have that too, right?"

That right there went straight to the heart. "Un-fucking-doubtedly." I gripped his chin and kissed him. "You wanna get a house together?"

I'd come a long way, hadn't I? It was amusing now. When I left Mendocino, I'd sworn, never again. Now, here I was. But everything was different with Julian.

"I love the loft."

I hummed, leaving a slow trail of kisses along his jaw. "We're not getting rid of it. We could always get a second place, though. Maybe a beach house?"

Having access to a pool where I could stare at Julian doing laps was appealing as fuck.

It kinda spiraled from there. Barbecues, runs along the beach, sunsets, poker nights—a new place to fill with memories that were only ours.

Fuckin' hell, I had it bad.

"I really like the sound of that," he murmured.

"Me too." What I didn’t like was the sound of my phone going off. "What now?"

Julian's vibrated at the same time, so we checked our messages.

I had one from Sophie, a miles-long apology about not thinking before speaking. Or tweeting, rather. She was apologizing for revealing Emma's infidelity on Twitter without permission, and now she was feeling awful. Truth be told, I hadn't given it a single thought.

"I got a text from Lucy." Julian snickered, referring to Sophie's PA. "Emma deleted her comments about you. But you know, once it's on the internet…"

I grinned faintly and replied to Sophie.

Don't worry about it, hon. I appreciate it, but I really don't care anymore. Emma's in the past. You did good. ;)

This time, I turned the phone off. "How about we take a lazy day at the hotel?" I suggested. "We could burn some calories in bed, order room service, and forget phones exist."

Julian practically purred with approval. "I only need to meet up with Tennyson first. We have some lyrics to discuss."

I huffed. "And I take it the fucking director's still not important enough to be there for those meetings?"

I was only half teasing. I
was
curious as fuck about what they were working on together, and the score would play a big part once we reached post-production. But I supposed I could wait, and I knew it mattered a lot to Julian to do this independently. He wanted to prove himself.

"Pretty much." He smirked and tucked thirty euros under the basket where the croissants had been. "Race ya back to the hotel?"

I barked out a laugh. "Oh, you're on, kid."

Chapter 21

Two weeks later

"What time is it?" I asked.

The script supervisor was closest, and she told me we were breaking for dinner soon. A very, very late one. Apparently it was already nine PM. We'd been at it all day, same two scenes, and this would hopefully be the last angle I needed.

"Thanks." Heading up the stairs in the narrow apartment building where Sophie's character lived, I joined her and Brooklyn on the landing. "Why you lookin' mopey, Brook?"

She shrugged, finishing the final touch-up on Sophie. "Miss my girls. I can't wait for them to visit this weekend." She side-eyed me. "Why you lookin' frazzled, Collins?"

I checked my watch. "Because…Julian's grandparents should have received the tickets now."

I'd sent them with a simple note.
"Please give us a chance. It's family. Nothing to lose, everything to gain."
Other than that, the address to our hotel, and I'd let them know I'd make reservations for them, too. If they agreed to come next week.

"Have you told Julian yet?" Sophie asked quietly, knowing Julian was downstairs with the rest of the crew. I merely shook my head no. "Noah."

"You two weren't supposed to know, either." It was most likely my weakest defense ever. Christ, it was bad. But I didn’t wanna get Julian's hopes up in case the Hartleys didn’t show, which was a big possibility.

The only reason Sophie and Brooklyn knew was 'cause they'd walked in on me in my trailer when I'd ordered the tickets.

My initial thought had been that it could be some big, romantic gesture, but I'd gotten over that. I should've told him before I even went online to find flights.

"Anyway, we ready?" I asked.

Brooklyn nodded and stepped back with her makeup case. At the same time, an assistant arrived with Little Paul, who played April's son, and his adult stand-in was done for the day. The rest of the actors got into position halfway up the stairs, too.

"You ready, little man?" I squeezed Paul's shoulder gently.

He grinned and nodded. "Aye, aye, captain."

Lucia hollered for everyone who had no business on set to get the fuck out, leaving only the actors, me, herself, and Paul. He was operating one camera, and I was doing the other.

"Want me to take it from here, boss?" Lucia asked. I nodded as I adjusted the dolly on which the camera stood. "Roll cameras!"

Through the lens, I had Sophie huddling in the corner with Little Paul. Both looked frightened, and they clung to each other as April's family climbed the stairs.

"Action!"

"Get away from us!" Sophie shrieked.

Little Paul buried his face against Sophie's neck and started crying. In the previous scenes, the future star had managed to produce real tears, but I knew he was drained.

April's brother reached them first, quickly followed by Joel, the kid's dad. I zoomed out to make room in the frame, and I was impressed by the intensity in Joel's eyes. Relieved to see his boy, livid at April, torn because he knew she was ill, and beyond exhausted.

"This ends now," he choked out as he made a grab for Little Paul. "We don’t want to take him away from you, but you leave us no damn choice, April!"

"Dad, no!" Paul screamed. "Mommy says you're bad!"

April's ex, as well as her parents who stood farther down, broke at that.

It was April's brother who took charge and managed to wrench the boy away from a sobbing Sophie. Mayhem followed where she tried to get her son back, and Joel got in her face, yelling about how much she'd hurt the family. She was unfit to see it, though. She saw only her own world.

I couldn't help but grin. All these visions flooded my mind. I pictured how it would look on the screen later, the scene slowing down and music taking over. I zoomed in on Joel's hands as he grabbed her by her waist, holding her back. She thrashed and screamed, all while April's parents pleaded for her to see reason.

"Cut!" I yelled.

In the next scene, a doctor would arrive, and they'd have to sedate April. It was a rush. We had plenty of scenes to go, but this was one of the last ones that would be shown in the film, and I was definitely satisfied.

*

"What do you think?" Tennyson asked.

I groaned and scrubbed a hand over my face. "Why now, Wright? Jesus Christ." It looked good. The printouts on the table in my trailer looked
good
. But we already had a location here in Paris where we were supposed to shoot the epilogue.

"Tiff stumbled across it." He spoke of our location scout. "You know why I'm showing them to you."

Of course I did. It was only an adjustment I had to do up in the noggin. We had three days booked in a psych ward, and so I had the images of that room, that atmosphere, etched in my head. But yeah, the facility Tiff had found in Nice fit my previous mental image. We wouldn’t even have to do much with the room.

"They have an art studio, too."

"I give." I threw up my hands. "Have Tiff send a video or some panoramas."

"I already did." He smirked. "Should be done tomorrow or the day after. You go back to the hotel and get some rest. It's…" He checked his watch. "Almost four in the morning."

"What about you?" Part of me was worried about facing Julian, so maybe I was stalling. "If you need any help, I'll be happy to—"

"Brooklyn ratted you out earlier," he said wryly. "Go talk to Julian."

"Goddammit," I muttered. Well, if he was asleep, I'd wait, anyway. "All right, see ya tomorrow."

I made my way out of the trailer, nodded at security and the lingering crewmembers, and strolled toward the nearest main street where I could catch a cab. My phone burned in my pocket, having been too silent all fucking day.

So far, no response from the Hartleys.

I couldn’t say I regretted sending them the tickets, but what the fuck had I been thinking? I should've cleared it with Julian.

Once in a cab toward the hotel, I cringed at the memory of us saying we were finally being open and honest—no more hiding whatsoever. Granted, we'd been talking about the outside world. Being out and open around others. But starting that chapter by keeping this from him…?

I hoped he'd see my intentions. Actually, I knew he would—eventually. But he had every right to be pissed.

Twenty minutes later, I entered the fancy lobby and took the elevator to my floor. I was surrounded by mirrors, and I removed my cap and ran a hand through my hair. I needed to trim my beard. I looked ragged as fuck, but my eyes… I chuckled and shook my head.

Since beginning my relationship with Julian, I was undoubtedly more alive. I guessed it was happiness I saw staring back at me. And some chickenshit nerves for fessing up.

Keycard ready, I exited the elevator and headed toward my suite. Julian was guaranteed to be asleep, so I was looking forward to a quick shower before crashing next to him.

I'd fess up tomorrow.

*

I woke up slowly, vaguely aware of Julian's hands rubbing my back. I groaned sleepily. It felt so fucking good, but I wasn’t ready to leave sleep behind.

"Turn around," he told me quietly.

"Mmmmph…" It was like I'd gained a ton overnight. Rolling over took way too much energy, but I did it. "It can't be time for work already, can it?"

"No." He kissed my chest lazily. I kept my eyes closed, my mind foggy with sleep, though my hands trailed up his naked body. "You rest."

I hummed, relaxing. His slow kisses and touches lulled me back to sleep, and I only roused here and there when he stroked my cock. It was the perfect morning. Perfect way to wake up.

At some point, I felt his fingers wrap around my wrists. I frowned as a dream had a decent grasp on me. Sophie and Joel were practicing lines, but I knew it was a dream, and why couldn’t I move my hands?

Then my cock was engulfed in warm and wet, and Sophie and Joel were gone. The dream faded, and with it, the cobwebs of sleep. A husky moan slipped through my lips. Julian was everywhere. I didn’t have to tell him to get lube; he nudged my legs farther apart and began teasing me with a coated finger.

In a reflex move, I shifted to scrub my hands down my face, but I was stuck. It caused me to open my eyes pretty damn quick, and I furrowed my brow and blinked drowsily.

"The fuck?" I was tied. Literally. He'd used two of my ties to restrain my hands to the bed frame. "I usually prefer coffee before I get kinky. Wha's goin' on, baby?"

"You can be quiet now." Julian seemed driven by something. Whatever it was, it made him steelier, more determined, and…feral? It was too early to read into things.

"All right." I gave the restraints a few tugs. He'd done a good job. I wasn’t going anywhere. "I'm your willing captive."

He snorted and smirked darkly, though he didn’t answer. There was tension. It confused me a bit, but then his magic fucking fingers made me incoherent. Bending down between my parted thighs, he swallowed me down and pushed two digits into my ass.

I groaned, my head falling back on the pillow again. Fuck, it burned good. The third finger even more so, and I let everything go. He was clearly in charge this morning. No complaints from me.

My abs tensed as he twisted his fingers to reach my prostate. I bucked my hips involuntarily. When I asked for more, he
shushed
me. Which was… Sexy. As. Fuck.

I flushed with heat. My head swam, images swirling, thoughts giving me questions. Would he make me beg? I could probably be down with that. It would be new.

"
Fuck
." I shuddered, clenching around his fingers. Arousal seeped out of my cock, and excitement tore through me in quick bursts of fire.

He got into a rhythm that had me fucking spellbound. I started panting. Gripping my restraints, I used them as leverage as I met Julian's thrusts. My balls ached, my muscles strained, and whenever I got close, he stopped.

Like now.

"Julian!" I growled.

He wore that dark smile as he withdrew and reached for the lube. "I made a decision earlier." Seeing him slicking up his cock was both confusing and making my mouth water. It was unbelievably hot, but why would he…? "Don't worry," he said and leveled me with a stare, "I'll consult with you afterward."

"Wh…"
Oh, fuck
. The memories came rushing back.

Julian inched closer and rubbed the head of his dick against my ass.

"You know."

He nodded. "I received a text when I woke up: 'Be sure to tell your uncle we are certainly not accepting his tickets or his invitation to visit you in France.'"

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Despite the fact that my hands were tied, I could stop him. His gaze was almost more difficult to break, but I broke neither. I stared back, strangely turned on by the fire in his eyes that was no doubt sparked by anger.

"I'm sorr—"

"Shut up, Noah." Leaning over me, he positioned himself and gave a small thrust.

My jaw tensed. His face was close to mine, and I could tell he was searching for my reactions. I sucked in a breath through clenched teeth as he slowly pushed in.

Holy fuck, this would take some getting used to. I did my best to push back and relax, and he decided to rip off the Band-Aid and bury himself completely.

"Oh, damn," he moaned. As his forehead hit my shoulder, I closed my eyes and breathed through the burn. "Fucking
hell
, love."

Hearing his voice dripping with pleasure and hunger ignited a different kind of fire. His hot breath hit my neck in quick puffs, and it sent shudders through me. I needed to be able to touch him.

"Untie me," I gritted out.

He was quick to lift his head, eyes widened with worry. "A-Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I kissed him chastely. "But I want my hands free."

His anger was gone for the moment. He reached for my left wrist and untied it swiftly, then went for the right.

Once I was free, I slid my hands down his back until I could grab his ass. Hard. And pull him deeper inside me. His eyes grew large once again, and it was easier to swallow the pain this time. Julian shuddered, his cheeks flushing with desire.

Good fucking God, he was stunning. I brushed away a lock of his hair. The anger remained distant, so maybe he was saving it for later. Maybe he'd momentarily forgotten it. Either way, he had run out of his will to be in charge, too. So it was up to me.

"Fuck me." I tilted my head and kissed him deeply. "Go ahead, baby. I want it." And I did. The burn was fading, leaving more room for pleasure. It felt better taking the lead, too.

Topping and bottoming had shit-all to do with who fucked whom. It was about this. Me taking decision-making away from him in moments that were only ours. Him giving it away, trusting me enough to let me decide for him.

Keeping one hand firmly on his ass, I used the other to stroke his cheek. He searched my eyes for a brief moment, and at my nod, he began moving once more. He inched out slowly, then pushed in. I groaned as the pain mingled with the intense bliss, and then I sighed into a kiss as he wrapped his fingers around my cock.