Chapter 2

Sam had gone home that night and jerked off to fantasies of doing just that. Then prayed that Elijah wouldn’t get the part. He had no idea how he was supposed to act the part of a disdainful brother. The last thing in the world he felt toward Elijah was disinterest.

“I should probably go over my lines,” he said with an easy smile. “I’ll see him when we get on set anyway.”

Alma accepted his excuse with a shrug. “Okay. You want me to walk you to your trailer?”

“No, I think I can find it.” He headed back to the door. “But send out a search party if I’m not back in an hour.”

His thoughts were on Elijah as he slipped his sunglasses back into place. Rumor had it the other man was queer, but Sam had no way of knowing if it was true or not. Their sole contact with each other had been at the damn screen test. He’d acted friendly but professional, and if he’d noticed Sam’s erection, he hadn’t said a word. That didn’t rule out the possibility of preferring guys, but it didn’t make a difference to Sam. The fact of the matter was, he had to work with him for the next month. Closely.

How was he ever going to keep this strictly professional?

The questions plagued him for the next two hours. Every attempt he made to run through his lines failed, until he finally gave up and decided that if he didn’t know them now, he never would. It wasn’t like the girls flocked to his movies to listen to what he had to say anyway.

By the time he showed up on set just after eleven, dressed in the crisp suit that served as his costume for the party scene, he was a jangle of nerves. The soundstage was packed, the extras playing partygoers corralled into one corner, gaffers running around with last minute changes. Gordon stood in the middle of the set, staring up at the cinematographer perched on the crane, preparing the opening aerial establishing shot, while Alma hovered at the edge, ready to jump at a moment’s notice.

The only semblance of calm was in a small circle of director’s chairs, reserved for named cast members. One of the three was already filled, and not by Eva Del Grande, the actress cast as the love interest coming between the two brothers. She wouldn’t come out until the very last minute; Sam knew that from experience. No, the lone occupied chair held a man with impossibly broad shoulders. His head was bowed, his gaze fixed on something in his lap, and the strip of skin visible between the edge of his closely-cut black hair and the hard line of his coat collar made Sam’s mouth water.

Slowly, he slid his hands into his pockets and discreetly adjusted his thickening cock.

Might as well get it over with.

Elijah didn’t look up until Sam was only a few feet away, but the gaze leveled at him nearly made Sam stop short. It was difficult to tell if Elijah’s eyes were black or brown, though at that moment, they appeared black. And they were unwavering. Like Elijah knew a secret, or sensed some unknown fact about Sam that Sam himself didn’t even suspect. After a beat, he nodded a greeting.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

Sam gave him a crooked grin. “Yeah, they’ll let just about anyone in these days.”

Ambling forward, he kept his hands in his pockets even after he’d passed the chairs. His cock was at full mast. He needed to get it under control before he could even think about sitting down. Though he gazed over at the set, his back to Elijah, he didn’t see the crew putting down the final tapes on the floor to designate the actors’ marks. He saw bodies pressed against each other, dancing in a whirlwind of color and music, sweat rising to skin as the temperature rose. He saw Elijah leaning against the wall like the script commanded, but instead of Eva being the one to go to him, to draw him into the throng, it was Sam.

“Any word on how much longer?” There. That sounded normal.

“Shouldn’t be much longer. Gordon told me twenty minutes, and that was ten minutes ago.” Sam could hear the smile in Elijah’s voice—the same smile that had graced newspapers and magazines throughout the country. “Of course, that probably means it’ll be another hour.”

“Eva will love that.” He glanced back, careful not to turn too much lest his arousal became apparent. He’d been right. Only Elijah could pull off that kind of smile. It could have looked completely false and too calculated, but on him, it appeared utterly genuine. “You ever work with her before?”

“Nah. Almost did a few times, but it never worked out. You’ve done a picture with her, right?”

He nodded. “My first year here. I was still a day player then, but that just means I saw exactly how close she always cut her calls.”

“I’m sure Gordon’ll straighten her out. So, Alma told me you were surprised to hear I got the part.” It wasn’t quite a question, but Sam could hear the curiosity in his tone.