Noah

"I get that, baby. I do. And maybe I even needed the reminder." I brushed some hair away from his forehead. "It's not my grandmother and grandfather, though. So what I'm saying is, I'll be with you every step of the way, but you gotta tell me how you wanna play this."

His brows knitted together, and he looked down as he thought about it. "Like I said, I—we…can't be on the next flight to Pittsburgh. So I don’t know. But as long as we deal with things together, we'll work it out."

I nodded. "Together."

He quirked a grin and kissed me quickly. "Admit you thought I was going to have a meltdown."

"Perhaps…" I let out a small laugh, more relieved than I could say. "I've never had so much to lose as I do now."

This time, he kissed me deeper and lingered. I cupped his cheek and stroked the tip of his tongue with mine, knowing this could get outta hand too fast. I'd been fucking worried, and now when I could relax, I wanted to maul him.

"You know who did this, right?" He climbed onto my lap and straddled me, his piano fingers scratching my scalp as he kissed me harder. "Or maybe I'm assuming too much."

"No, I have a pretty good idea. I'm sure you do, too." Fuck holding back, fuck timing. I pushed him down on my cock and didn’t protest what-so-fucking-ever when he began undoing my belt. He made me lose my head every goddamn time. "We gotta tell our closest today. Tennyson wants to talk when we get back to the hotel."

"Okay." He swallowed nervously, and I was quick to derail his thoughts. "Um…" He grunted as I released his cock from his pants and stroked him firmly. "What—what should we do about Nicky if it is him?"

That one was easy.

"I'll fucking bury him."

*

That night, Julian and I made our way to Tennyson and Sophie's suite. It was on the same floor, and we passed Sophie's PA along the way, who was taking the kids for ice cream.

I'd barely knocked when Tennyson opened the door, looking tired but wearing the same wry smile that was practically his trademark expression.

"Come on in, you two." He opened it wider and stepped aside. "Apologies in advance for my feisty little wife. She's just learned I've known about you a while."

I smirked and squeezed his shoulder. "I bet the sex will be fucking spectacular, though."

He winked.

Passing him, I grabbed Julian's hand and aimed for the seating area in the living room. Sophie was on one of the couches with a tablet, looking freshly showered in a robe and damp hair. Tennyson said she was catching up on the recent gossip about us.

She didn’t even look up until we'd sat down on the couch across from her and Tennyson's. She eyed our clasped hands and huffed.

"I still can't believe you didn’t tell me," she muttered to Tennyson.

He smiled and placed an arm around her. "You would've done the same thing, princess. Don't even try to deny it."

She scowled but didn’t say anything.

"I put him in that spot, hon," I told her patiently. "If you wanna be mad at someone, aim it at me. Not at him." I glanced at Tennyson. "If it weren't for that bastard, I would've lost my marbles once or twice too many."

Julian gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

Tennyson inclined my head at me, a mere acknowledgment. For being assertive and quite fucking arrogant about his profession—as he should be—he was ridiculously humble off the set. He didn’t take praise very well.

"I mean it, man."

He furrowed his brow. "I didn't do that much."

I sighed and slid my gaze to Sophie. "Peg him or something."

Tennyson laughed, and it became impossible for Sophie to stay huffy. She hid a grin behind the lapel of her robe and rolled her eyes. I could tell she had a lot more to say, but hopefully, she knew this wasn’t the time.

"So…we gonna talk about this media shitshow now?" I placed my arms along the back of the couch. I needed physical contact, though, so it didn’t take too long before one of my hands found Julian's neck. "Based on how tired you look, Wright—no offense—I'm guessing you've been on the phone nonstop since we left the set." I absently rubbed the back of Julian's neck and played with the soft curls of his hair. "Who's in the loop?"

"The world?" Sophie quirked a brow.

I chuckled. Touché. Bad wording.

"I've made a…few calls today, I suppose." Tennyson sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "The good news is that this will die down fast. Asher's people have dug around a bit, and it appears we're looking at a single source who won't say anything else."

Julian and I exchanged a quick glance before he cleared his throat and faced Tennyson.