I sent the contract to Lukas to look over, and within twenty-four hours he signed and sent it back to me. After that, we agreed to set aside an afternoon to meet and discuss how we wanted to get this project started.
But that’s when things got a bit strange. I thought it would be fine to keep meeting in public, but Lukas insisted that we meet somewhere private, explaining that some of the subject matter wasn’t stuff he wanted to talk about where other people might hear involuntarily.
After a bit more back and forth, I agreed—for his comfort—to meet him at his house. I thought he might live in the city, but he was on the outskirts in a quiet suburb filled with olderhomes, the kind my parents would turn their noses up at. Old neighborhoods were only acceptable if they were accompanied by old money. Not houses with fading paint, the odd crooked shutter, and cute little walksways surrounded by flowers.
Far from the biggest or the nicest house in the neighborhood, Lukas’s was well kept, with a white picket fence, a fruit tree in the front yard, and a recently cut lawn.
I rolled up to his house a little early and contemplated sitting in my car for fifteen minutes until it was time to knock on the door, but that just made me feel even more stupid, so I gathered my things off the back seat and headed up to the front door.
Lukas opened it before I could ring the bell, which made me feel better about not waiting around in his driveway like a weirdo.
“Sawyer, I’m glad you made it. Come in, please.” Lukas stepped aside and a rather big, rather old-looking German Shepherd came lumbering over. “She’s friendly.”
I held my hand out and let her sniff me before I gave her a scratch between the ears. After that, she must have deemed me acceptable and unimportant because she lumbered back the way she came.
“What’s her name?”
“Lara. After Lara Croft, tomb raider.”
When I gave Lukas some serious side-eye, he held up his hands.
“I adopted her from the shelter with that name. Her original owners had to move and couldn’t take her. That’s the name she came with. They told me I could change it, but she’d already lost her family, so I wasn't going to take her name from her too.”
“Well, that’s definitely going in the biography.” I slid my messenger bag off my shoulder and unbuttoned my coat.
“Where did you want to set up?” I asked after I hung my coat up on a hook by the door.
“I have an office, but it’s a bit of a mess right now. So how about we set up in the kitchen? It’s got a breakfast nook we can work at and it’s closer to the coffee.”
“Suits me just fine.” I could see why Lukas had gone into film. He was one of those men who were meticulously groomed. His beard short and neat, his black hair styled in that just rolled out of bed but still the sexiest thing you’ve ever seen kind of way. He was undeniably attractive.
I followed him into the kitchen and pulled my laptop out of my bag. I got it set up and while it booted, I pulled out a couple of notebooks and set them to the side. “I never got a chance to google you to see if I’d recognize any of your work. I’m not exactly a film buff, though. I mean, the last one I saw in theaters was one of the Spiderman movies and that’s because my date wanted to see it.”
Lukas turned and gave me a funny look. “Thurston told you what I do, didn’t he?”
“Yeah. He said you’re an actor.” I paused, realizing my mistake. “Oh, sorry. Are you, like, a theater actor? Like Broadway or something?”
Lukas’s shoulders slumped, and he let out a sigh. He abandoned the coffee pot and pulled a chair out for me. “Have a seat, Sawyer.”
I dropped down into the chair that he pulled out for me and watched as he pulled one out for himself. He sat down and immediately he looked about five years older and about two decades more exhausted than he had when I’d walked in.
“I’m just going to give it to you straight, and if you want to cancel the contract, there’s no fault.” Lukas took a breath and raked his hand through his hair. He muttered a curse to Thurston under his breath before turning his attention back to me.
“I’m an adult film actor.”
My face must have displayed a blank expression because he continued on.
“I’m a porn star, Sawyer. Well, I was. I haven’t been on the other side of the camera in a couple years. But I still direct and produce. I’ve been in the business since I was eighteen.”
Lukas was a porn star.
Since he was eighteen.
“That’s so young though. Shit, sorry.” I furrowed my brow. “So you… you film porn.”
“If that’s a problem for you, like I said, we can cancel the contract.”
“I—it’s a surprise, but no. No, I’m fine. I just assumed. I should have clarified. Or googled.” I felt my cheeks go fire fucking red at the thought that I could google this man and see exactly what he looked like naked. I could watch him fuck… other people. Which might be hot. I’d watched porn before. Who hadn’t? But it wasn’t something I paid attention to. Most of the time, when I needed some visual assistance, I found a random video and went for it. I didn’t have any subscriptions, and I didn’t follow any of the studios.
