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He rolled his eyes and sat back, full. "You mean when you threatened to blacklist him in the industry? He told me."
Ah, all right. "I followed through, too."
"You mean…"
I nodded. "Before our flight, I made some calls. It's not impossible for him to get work, but he can kiss the major studios goodbye." And I wasn't even sorry. "He threatened me, Julian. I don't respond well to that. I want us to go out in public; case in point—" I waved a hand at where we were. "But it will always be on my terms—or ours, obviously. That cocky little shit needed to be taken down." Seeing he had food left, I pointed to his plate next to mine. "You gonna eat that?"
He shook his head in amusement. "Go ahead."
I fished out what was left of the lamb chop and dug in on the ratatouille and bread.
"I ended things with him, you know." He gave my thigh a squeeze. "That was why I showed up intoxicated at the LA wrap party. I called him to say I didn't want him in my life anymore, and he felt the need to tell me I was pathetic for pining after you. I suppose it struck a chord. Or eleven. So I had a few drinks."
Perhaps I'd call a couple more people to ensure Nicky would have the mother of struggles to get anywhere.
"For his sake, he better not show his mug around me again." I scooted my chair closer to his so I could kiss his cheek. I didn't know if all restaurant tables were tiny in Paris, or if it was just here outside, but it worked for me. I could stuff my face and be handsy at the same time. "Topic change? I wanna focus on us."
"I'm okay with that." He seemed to think it was funny how much I ate, but he couldn’t be surprised. "This is certainly about us: do you think we can keep things professional around work and colleagues?" He bit his lip, appearing nervous. "You know I feel guilty about being your PA without even having applied for it, and adding romance to it…"
I understood that completely. Work was for work. It was how I wanted it, anyway. I couldn’t afford distractions on set.
"Besides, I've been thinking," he went on. "At some point soon, I need to tell my grandparents I'm gay. I don't have to tell them we're doing couple shit if you're not comfortable; this is very new. But I have to be honest about who I am. I've hidden that for too long."
I took that as progress. "I'm with you every step, baby." Perhaps it meant he was ready to say why he'd felt the need to hide his sexuality. Aside from some slight apprehension around Tennyson and Sophie when they'd learned he was dating Nicky, Julian had acted pretty natural. As if he'd been out for a longer time. "You're prepared for them not approving of us, right?"
He nodded and looked down. "Yeah." When he faced me again, he wore half a smile. "It won't stop me, though."
Damn, that tugged at the heartstrings.
I swallowed and gripped his chin, quick to kiss him. "It wouldn’t have stopped me, either." He needed to know this was big for me, as well. "I want this—you and me."
He nodded quickly and kissed me harder, and we spent the rest of the dinner being sickeningly lovey-dovey and talking about more sights we could see when we were off work.
It almost felt too good to be true.Chapter 17
Two weeks later
"From the second mark!" Lucia hollered before turning to me. "We have approximately forty minutes before we lose too much light."
I nodded and turned, and Julian extended my little notebook and my coffee to me. "Okay, let's get crackin', then. Cheers, kid." I took a sip of my coffee, waiting for the actors to get back to their marks.
Sophie crossed the cobblestone street to the door that was supposed to lead to her apartment, and the two men playing her brother and ex—also the father of her son—took their marks on the curb.
Going through my notes, I frowned and wondered why I wasn’t satisfied with the scene. Something was missing, but I didn't know what. I squinted over at Sophie. Brooklyn was doing a quick touch-up, and it hit me. Sophie wasn't looking unkempt enough.
We hadn't shot the scene that followed this one yet, so I could add changes. Walking over, I told them about my idea, and Brooklyn got started. Sophie suggested a tear in her dress, and I ran with that. Indecency wasn’t the picture of good parenting, so a three-inch rip exposing more of her chest would sure as fuck work.
"Should I worry about the fact that you are undressing my wife, Noah?" Tennyson called from behind us.
