First they would shoot the make-out portion—only that—until Ellen had it from every possible angle. After that, they’d move on to the simulated sex. Liam’s stomach was coiled tight, because pretending over and over again felt like the surest way to forget where pretending stopped.
“Ease into it,” Ellen said softly. “Let it build. Don’t rush.”
Liam slid under the sheets first, the fabric rumpled high around his waist. Jacob followed a moment later, settling beside him. They turned their faces toward each other, eyes locking, and the cameras rolled.
The first kiss was everything it was supposed to be; mouths moving just enough to sell the illusion before pulling apart. The second mirrored it, precise and planned, except Liam already felt it—the spark hidden behind Jacob’s restraint. His inhale caught a little too sharply, and the closeness hummed with something no script could write.
By the third, it shifted. The press of Jacob’s mouth lingered, and the contact pulsed with something alive. Liam couldn’t tell who leaned in harder, who tilted first, only that the kiss deepened into something not meant for the cameras. Heat curled low in his spine, his ribs aching with how tight everything pulled.
Jacob’s thumb brushed his side—unscripted—and Liam’s lips parted on instinct. The next kiss landed heavier.
And then—tongue.
Just the briefest flick, but it shocked Liam’s body like a jolt of electricity. His breath stuttered into Jacob’s mouth before they broke apart. Their eyes locked in the charged space between them, something raw and irreversible sparking in the air.
Jacob’s mouth returned, deeper and hungrier. The no-tongues rule was forgotten, the kiss turning messy and consuming. Liam opened under it, clutching Jacob’s arms with bruising force.
They cut, reset, and tried again. Except nothing really reset; the cameras started over, but Liam’s body didn’t. Each new take blurred more lines than the last. Mouths pressing harder, hands gripping tighter, every movement slipping further from the boundaries they had agreed upon. His pulse hammered and his lungs strained, as Jacob’s hand slid lower than it should have. It didn’t matter how many times they pulled apart for a reset—something had already broken loose.
“Alright,” Ellen called. “Let’s move on to the spicier part—the simulation. Let the rhythm guide you, don’t overthink. Keep the movements natural.”
Neither of them responded, only shifting into place. Jacob moved over him, bracing on both hands. His blue eyes searched Liam’s face as if looking for consent, or maybe offering a warning; Liam didn’t know which. Then the cameras rolled again.
Jacob lowered his body until their bare chests met. Heat spread through Liam so suddenly it shot straight to his cock, already hard and aching for longer than he wanted to admit. With Jacob’s body pressed to his, he couldn’t hide it any longer.
Now it was his turn; his legs lifted as he wrapped them around Jacob’s waist, pulling him closer and locking him in. Theposition was foreign, a vulnerability he wasn’t used to, and it shook him to his core.
That’s when he felt it. The hard, unmistakable length of Jacob against him. He couldn’t deny it or pretend it away. His hands fisted in the sheets as Jacob’s hips pressed forward, a pressure that sent every nerve sparking.
He told himself this was just acting, the illusion they were hired to sell, but it didn’t feel like an illusion. His body arched up before he could stop it, his breath broken and desperate. There had been no choreography for this. No plan for what it would do to him to be touched like this, to feel Jacob hot against him. His body betrayed him with every movement and every sound that clawed from his throat.
They kissed again, sloppier now, and Liam moaned into it, shameless and uncontrollable. His hands slid up Jacob’s spine, anchoring him closer, pulling without thought. Their hips ground together in a rhythm driven by need. A guttural sound broke from Jacob’s throat, and Liam knew it wasn’t planned either.
He clung tighter, his mouth crashing into Jacob’s. One take blurred into another; the breaks between them shrank until it felt like they weren’t stopping at all.
After a while, Liam had lost the shape of the scene entirely. There was no acting left, no map of where they were supposed to go. Jacob’s grip on his hip was rougher now, commanding, dragging him into each grind. Liam matched it without thought, hips rolling, throat torn open with sounds he couldn’t contain.
They were taking it too far. He knew it. He felt it in the frantic rhythm of Jacob’s thrusts, in the scrape of stubble, and in the way his body screamed yes when his mind whispered stop. He couldn’t stop. He didn’t want to.
Jacob’s mouth dragged lower, teeth catching his neck, biting where the script had promised nothing but kisses. They were lostnow. Jacob was pushing him toward a ledge he wasn’t ready for, but couldn’t avoid—until he broke apart under the force of it.
“Fuck,” Liam gasped, the word ripped from his chest. A hoarse, wrecked sound he didn’t recognize left his throat. Then heat crashed through him, sharp and blinding. He seized, his body shuddering as release ripped through him under the bright lights.
It broke something in Jacob. His body went rigid, a primal sound tearing free as tremors racked him. A beat later he gave in, collapsing against Liam’s chest, heavy and undone.
“Cut,” Ellen said quietly.
Silence followed. Then even softer: “That’s the take.”
Liam couldn’t move. His forehead rested against Jacob’s shoulder. His heart was still beating wild and uneven, and his breathing was ragged. He didn’t dare lift his head, because if he looked up, he would see Jacob’s eyes, and Jacob would see his. There would be no more hiding left.
Chapter 19
Jacob
He didn’t make it far, only down the hall to the first door with a lock.
His robe was already wrapped around him, handed over by the intimacy coordinator the moment Ellen called cut. His shorts were damp, a humiliating wet patch staining the front. He prayed no one had noticed it before he covered up. He hadn’t looked at Liam, just kept his head down and pushed through the blur of crew, their silence louder than words.
