Noah

"I love you." I kissed his cheeks, his nose, and his eyelids. He shuddered, riding out his orgasm. "Sometimes I can't fucking believe how beautiful you are."

"Oh God, Noah…" He collapsed on top of me, panting and shivering.

I hummed and pressed my lips to his damp skin. Wherever I drew my fingers, goose bumps rose. His weight on me always felt good. A perfect fit. And I was fucked for life. Getting this sappy was another new experience, though it only made me grin now.

Eventually, Julian regained his breath and pulled out of me, only to roll over next to me instead. I winced at the soreness, but it felt oddly hot, too. Add an orgasm and I'd grow to want him to fuck me plenty.

"Are you all right?" he asked softly.

I nodded and turned my head to him. "More than." I gazed at him, wondering if we were both waiting for the moment to pass so we could discuss the point he sure as hell made. "For the record, I'm on board with you taking my ass." I cracked half a smirk to test his mood.

He narrowed his eyes, irritated but not doing very well to hide his amusement, small as it may be.

I sobered. "I'm really sorry, Julian. I wanted to help." He hadn't been totally emo or anything since his grandparents spoke their piece, but there had definitely been moments of sadness. "I hated seeing you upset, so I reached out in an attempt to fix things."

"I know." He was clearly still bugged, but I took comfort in him shifting closer and using my shoulder as a pillow. "I know you. But you should have told me."

"I won't make this mistake again, I promise." I was such a shit. I couldn’t help but smile.

He saw it and scowled. "Do you think this is funny?"

"No!" But that made me grin wider. "Fuck, I'm sorry. I'm so goddamn sorry, but I love this. Our first fight?" I shrugged, feeling like an idiot. "Maybe it's stupid, but it means something to me."

He stared at me for the longest time, and then he sighed and scooted even closer, close enough to kiss me. "You jerk," he murmured. "You romantic, goddamn jerk." The corner of his eyes crinkled, and there was tenderness in his gaze. "As long as you will do your best not to pull a stunt like this again… It hurt getting that text this morning."

"You have my word." I held him to me and drew the duvet over us. "I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"Water under the bridge," he replied. "You had my happiness in mind. That matters."

I breathed a sigh of relief and shifted a bit, though that made me wince again. He'd really gone to town on my ass. "Next time you fuck me, I need wining and dining first."

Of course, Julian being Julian, he didn’t see the humor and went straight to worry. "Are you hurt?"

"No." I chuckled and gave him a hard smooch. "You and I both know I could've stopped you. I wanted this, and I'll want it again. With a side of whiskey and a blow job."

That finally earned me a smile. "I can help you with one of those right now."Chapter 22

A few days later, I got a weird phone call right before my lunch break was over, and I was having one of those days. My second unit was off shooting, a few crewmembers were down with food poisoning, I had to have another budget meeting with Tennyson later, and adding another distraction was too much.

I told Lucia to take over until I returned, and then I jogged over to Sophie's trailer. She didn’t have a scene today; we were shooting with Joel and the others, but she liked being on set. Said it helped her stay focused.

She opened the door after I'd knocked twice, and I wasn’t surprised to find her with a script in hand.

"Hey, you. What's up?" She smiled, and Kayden popped his head in the doorway and waved.

"Hey, kid." I smirked and jerked my chin at him, then faced Sophie again. "I just got a call from your publicist."

"Oh?" Sophie frowned.

"Yeah, she said the interviewer was on her way with a photographer." I cocked a brow. "From back home, Wright. They're flying them out."

That only happened to the A-listers, and that was aside from the whole question of…what the fuck was a reporter coming for? Obviously to interview me and Julian, but we weren't supposed to do that until later—if the film was accepted at Cannes.

"That’s so strange," Sophie said and gestured for me to come in. "Maybe there was a misunderstanding? I'll give her a call."

"Okay, thanks." I climbed the two steps and entered her trailer, only to have a little hurricane called Ivy crash into me. "Hey there, sunshine."