Amidst the sweat and heat between us, I forget there’s an outside world until Greg calls, “That’s a scene!”
Brice and I lock eyes, not moving. He’s still inside of me even as the cameramen pull away from around us, retreating to the shadows behind the stage lighting.
“Hey there,” he says in a low voice. “I guess you reconsidered my offer from last night?”
My only answer is a kiss on the lips. It says more than words could. His deep breath tells me that we’re finally on the same page again.
Once we get up, I pull on a robe that an assistant hands me. All Brice has to do is pull up the khaki slacks resting at his ankles.
“That was something else,” Greg says, looking between us. His face is flush, and when I glance down I notice a definite bulge in his pants. “Just like that first night I found you two.”
Although it was only two nights ago that Brice and I slept together for the first time, it feels like so much time has passed since then. While it’s only been 48 hours, every minute has been quite the rollercoaster.
“So no need for a second take?” Brice is still catching his breath, but he’s clearly hoping for another round.
“No, no,” Greg says. “I don’t think we’ll be able to get anything better than that.” He glances at his watch. “Take a long lunch. Don’t come back until two. Then just one more scene for the day. If it’s anything like this one, I think we may just be able to wrap up early.”
When Greg turns to leave, Brice raises his eyebrows at me, asking me clearly, ‘Can we do that again?’ My sly smile is his answer. It’s definitely going to be an early day. Which means we may actually be able to do more tonight than simply eating and falling into bed, completely drained. Before that, though, we have two hours for lunch.
After changing back into our own clothes, we head outside the building. Although we walk together so closely that our hands bump into each other, we don’t reach out and take hold of the others’ fingers. There’s an unspoken agreement that we won’t show physical displays of affection around the job. Which would definitely sound silly to anyone on the outside, but holding hands feels too intimate, even after spending my morning having sex with Brice in front of half a dozen men.
“I could eat a whole cow,” Brice says.
“Why don’t we?”
“What?”
“I’ve always wanted to try that Brazilian place. You know, the one with unlimited meat?”
He nods in appreciation at this idea.
An hour later, we’re sitting in from of greasy plates, groaning for an entirely different reason than earlier.
“Maybe this wasn’t the best idea,” I say, rubbing my belly. “Look. I have a food baby. How are we ever going to perform like this?”
“How did you eat more than me? I feel like I’m going to die.” Brice sips at his water. Looks down at his watch. “We’ve still got an hour before we need to be back. You know,” he says, pulling out his phone and looking up a map. “I think we could walk back in that time. Yeah, according to this, it’s only two kilometers.”
“
Might be a good way to work off these calories,” I reply. “I don’t know how sexy our next scene is going to be if we’re both bloated and looking ready to blow chunks any second.”
With that imagery in our heads, the decision is made. The weather may be dreary, but our fantastic moods could never allow us to simply take a taxi back to the studio. No, we’ve reached a new level of our relationship. A level beyond the physical. So why not act out a sappy scene of walking hand-in-hand, laughing at each other’s little jokes along the way, knowing that we would be falling asleep in each other’s arms that night?
“You really told him that?” I ask after Brice’s—quite frankly—unbelievable anecdote.
“Of course,” he replies, swinging our arms between us. “He was being an asshole. So I told him to go to hell. I couldn’t get him kicked out of the hospital. I mean, I’m only a custodian. But I would have if I could.”
“But he’s a movie star.”
Brice shrugs. “He’s been in a lot of movies, but does that make him a star?” When I shake my head at this, he reiterates, “I’m telling you. The guy was being a real asshole. I mean, the nasty kind, like from someone who never really learned to wipe properly.”
I wrinkle my nose and slap him on the shoulder. This only earns me an additional burst of laughter.
“Anyway, what was that talk last night about you painting? Why didn’t you ever tell me about it before?”
I shrug. “I never felt like I was good enough to show anyone. So I kept all my supplies in a closet when you were coming around.”
“I’m just surprised I never figured it out. I mean, you must have gotten some paint on you at some point or another. You kept that a better secret that your camming.”