“There you go. That’s more like it.”
Nally smiled at Jude’s words, then promptly turned to jelly when Aled Jones finished whatever he’d been recording in the studio and entered the anteroom at the same time as Hannah Peel came in from the hallway. Nally was caught in a celebrity sandwich, but the weirdest part of it was the way both Aled and Hannah complimented and gushed over him, saying how much they loved his work.
“You’re one to look out for,” Aled said as he headed for the door. “And if you ever compose any vocal work, give my agent a call.”
Nally was left stunned as one of his idols left the room. Jude chased after him to give him a business card of some sort.
“What was that?” Nally asked once he came back, as Hannah moved into the studio, where the producer was already setting things up for the interview.
“Your card,” Jude answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “In case he’s serious about working with you in the future.”
“I don’t—” Nally had no idea how to finish his sentence. He was convinced he didn’t know what he was doing, he didn’t deserve the accolades, and at any moment, someone would figure out he was just a weird kid who was overly obsessed with classical music and completely unlike most guys his age.
“Nally, we’re ready for you in here,” the producer said, sticking her head back into the anteroom.
“What am I going to do?” Nally asked Jude in a panic. “I’m not ready for this. My whole life is going to change. I can’t do it. I can’t be famous.”
“You can do this and you will do it,” Jude said, grasping Nally’s head in his hands as if he were keeping him from floating up into the stratosphere.
“No, I can’t,” Nally insisted, eyes wide. “I’m nobody. I can’t go in there and?—”
Without warning, Jude surged against him, slamming his mouth over Nally’s with crushing force.
Nally’s brain stopped. Every panicked thought he had was blasted away as Jude kissed him. All Nally was aware of was Jude’s scent and heat, the softness of his lips and the quick swipe of his tongue against the seam of Nally’s own lips.
He wanted this. He wanted everything Jude was giving him. Despite the past, despite the near catastrophe of Timothy, despite everything. It unfurled something within Nally and made his body go slack with a strange sort of peace that made no sense to him. All there was in the world was him and Jude. Nothing else mattered.
Then Jude pulled away. His eyes were bright and his pupils dilated as he stared right at Nally. “There,” he said breathlessly, letting go of Nally’s face. “If that didn’t shock you back to your senses, I don’t know what will.”
“I…um…yeah.” Nally still couldn’t string two thoughts together.
“Now go in there and ace that interview,” Jude said, grabbing Nally and turning him to face the doorway, where the producer was beckoning. “You’re going to be amazing.”
Jude shoved Nally’s back, causing him to stumble forward toward the smiling producer. He had no idea what had just happened or what was going on. All he knew was that his heart had never beat harder in his life.
SIX
It was a mistake.Or was it? Jude couldn’t decide. All he knew was that his lips continued to tingle long after Nally took a seat at the control table with Hannah Peel and put on the headset he was offered. Jude felt as stunned as Nally looked, but he was much better at hiding his emotions than his friend.
“You’re going to do just fine,” Hannah told Nally, the sound broadcast into the anteroom through a pair of speakers in the front corners of the room. “We’re just going to talk about your work, your inspiration, and what’s coming next for you. I won’t bite.”
Nally’s glazed-over look lifted, and he managed a smile. It was one of those sweet, winning smiles that made Nally look beautiful without even knowing it.
A shiver passed through Jude that he tried to ignore. He shouldn’t have kissed him. Nothing good could come out of kissing his best friend like that. Shades of Timothy were everywhere. He couldn’t go through that crash and burn again.
Except that Nally wasn’t Timothy. Their friendship was so much stronger than his with Timothy had ever been. Maybe good things could come out of taking things further. The bestand healthiest relationships Jude knew started with friendship. Maybe he and Nally….
No, he was playing with fire to even entertain the idea. Nally wasn’t Timothy, he was so much more. Trying and failing would kill him. There was no such thing as friends with benefits.
And why was he thinking about sex with Nally anyhow? He should be focused on Nally’s career, both the interview he was sitting through now and everything that might come in the future.
Nally did a fantastic job with the interview, of course. Hannah Peel was incredibly nice to him, and once he got over his initial jitters, Nally answered all of her questions easily and insightfully. Jude stood on the other side of the glass, listening to everything, smiling at Nally, and taking a few pics for social media. Fuck, he was proud of his friend!
“Do you want to grab a bite to eat somewhere?” he asked an hour later, as the two of them left the studio.
Nally was considerably more relaxed now that he knew he could ace an interview. “Yeah, I guess. But I’m not really in the mood for people right now.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” Jude huffed a laugh. Technically, he wasn’t sure where Nally was coming from, but he felt something prickly and sensitive that made peopleing in London the last thing he wanted to do. “Want to get some sort of takeaway and head back to my place, since it’s closest?”
