Second Act (His Chance Book 1) Read online

  “It’s not like that. I might have to attend a meeting in the morning, so we decided to stay in town.”

  “You can’t let such a hot man go to waste,” he insisted. “In fact, failing to jump his bones tonight would be un-American.” That made me laugh.

  We chatted for a few more minutes, and when I hung up Lorenzo said, “You didn’t mention the movie.”

  “I refuse to tell anyone until I have a signed contract in my hands, not even my parents.” I was dying to call them and let them know what was happening, but I just couldn’t get their hopes up. I’d done that to them way too many times over the last decade, only to watch it all fall apart.

  Chapter 4

  After a quick stop at a grocery store, we drove to West Hollywood. Our destination turned out to be a four-story apartment building that could pass for a nice hotel. Lorenzo had a set of keys to one of the apartments on his keyring, and when I asked about it, he said, “I lived here for several years before I went to Mexico City, and then I moved back in when I returned to the U.S. I didn’t last very long the second time I lived here, but Sam insisted I keep the keys. He hopes I’ll move back in eventually, even though I’ve told him that’s not going to happen.”

  “Didn’t he rent out your room when you left?”

  “No. His parents own the building, so he doesn’t actually need a roommate. He just likes my company.”

  As I followed him inside, I said, “This is a gorgeous apartment. Why didn’t you want to stay here when you came back to California?” It was spacious and sunny, with a jewel-toned color scheme, bold artwork, and high ceilings.

  “My former roommate is a great guy, but he loves to party. He and this place hadn’t changed at all during the four years I was in Mexico, but I was a completely different person when I returned. It felt like stepping back in time, and I couldn’t shake the feeling I didn’t belong here anymore.”

  Those years in Mexico City were when Lorenzo fell in love, then lost his partner to cancer. No wonder he’d had a hard time with his party boy roommate when he returned to California. That would have been the last thing he needed while he was in mourning.

  We reached the royal blue and white kitchen and unpacked our grocery bags, which contained ingredients for dinner, snacks, alcohol, and a few essentials for spending the night, like toothbrushes and shampoo. I’d almost tossed a pack of condoms in the shopping basket, but that had seemed presumptuous.

  While I made us a pitcher of martinis, Lorenzo stuck a bottle of champagne in the fridge. He’d bought it to toast the movie role he was sure I was going to get. Then he called his cousin and got permission to keep the car overnight. When he got off the phone, I handed him a martini and said, “It’s pretty early for happy hour, but I think we need to break the rules today.”

  “I totally agree.” He tapped his glass to mine before taking a sip and muttering, “Wow, that’s strong.”

  I grinned and said, “Yeah, I wasn’t messing around.”

  We took our drinks into the living room, but I was way too wound up to sit still and muttered, “I wish I could work out, so I could burn off some of this excess energy.”

  “You could dance it off instead.”

  “I’m not in the mood for a club.”

  Lorenzo got up and said, “I’m talking about something much nerdier than that.” He led me to an adjoining room with a huge TV and a white leather sectional sofa as he explained, “Sam has a huge collection of video games, including some dancing games that are actually pretty fun.”

  “Okay. Will you teach me how to play?”

  “It’s easy. Just try to match your moves to the character on the screen,” he said, as he cued up a game on the TV.

  “Sounds easy enough.” I took off my jacket and he removed his flannel overshirt while a countdown flashed. We began gyrating wildly when the first video started, and then we both burst out laughing.

  After flailing our way through two songs, we turned to face each other and just danced to the music. “This is much better,” I said, as I ran my gaze down his body.

  “Agreed.”

  He moved closer, and his hands circled my waist as he kissed me. Lust flared in both of us at the same time, and when he pulled off his T-shirt and tossed it aside, I tackled him. He laughed again as we tumbled onto the couch.

  The next few minutes were spent kissing, caressing, and stripping each other. Once we were both naked, he leaned over and rummaged through a drawer in the end table. It surprised me when he produced a fistful of lube packets and a few condoms, until I remembered the person who lived there was a party boy.

  Lorenzo squirted some lube into his palm before grasping both of our cocks with one hand. It felt incredible as he jerked us off, and I let the sensations carry me along for a while. But the need to feel him inside me was so strong that I found myself murmuring, “Fuck me, Lorie.”

  “You sure?” When I nodded, he kissed me tenderly. Then he slid a lubed finger into me and began alternately massaging my prostate and working me open.

  All those years working as a prostitute had made sex seem impersonal, almost mechanical. This was so totally different that it caught me off-guard. It wasn’t just the intense shockwaves of pleasure he was sending through my body, it was the incredible intimacy of what he was doing. It didn’t matter that random clients had done the same thing to me in the past. This was an entirely new experience, because this time my emotions weren’t disengaged.

  I didn’t know what to do with all I was feeling, and a whimper escaped me as I buried my face in his shoulder. He kissed my earlobe and wrapped his arm around me as he whispered, “I’ve got you, Will.”

  Those words were exactly what I needed to hear, but because I was already overwhelmed, they almost made me fall apart. To distract myself, I slid off his finger, then knelt between his legs and sucked his cock until it was rock hard and leaking precum.

  When I sat up and handed him a condom, he met my gaze with a question in his eyes. I responded by taking his hand in both of mine and closing his fingers around it. Yes, we’d both been tested, and I’d always practiced safe sex with my clients, but what if some part of him was still concerned about fucking a former prostitute? I wanted him to be able to relax and enjoy himself.

  He put on the condom and slicked it with lube while I got in position on my knees and leaned on the arm of the couch. Facing away from him was a conscious decision. As much as I needed him in me, I also needed to pull a wall or two back up. I just wasn’t used to feeling so vulnerable.

  He slid into me, and then he grasped my hips and began fucking me, slowly at first. When I murmured, “Harder,” he did as I asked, and soon his hips were slamming into my ass. I rocked back onto him, meeting each thrust, and just concentrated on making both of us feel good.

  It was fast and rough and just what I needed. He reached around and began stroking my cock, and I let all that pleasure and sensation carry me along. After a while, he pushed deep into me and came with a moan. I could feel a tremor running through him as he leaned on me.

  Then he straightened up and took me with him, pressing my back to his chest as he held me with a strong arm around my shoulders. He let go of my cock long enough to grab his T-shirt and toss it on the arm of the couch, and then he went back to jerking me off with firm, hard strokes. I came a few moments later, shooting onto the shirt as I cried out.

  By the time I finished, his arm was the only thing holding me up. He kissed my shoulder as he slid out of me. Then he eased me onto the couch and removed the condom as he said, “I need to get cleaned up. I’ll use the guest bathroom, and you can use the one that’s right through that door if you want to. When you’re ready, meet me in the guest bedroom at the end of the hall.”

  I nodded, and he kissed my forehead and gave me a sweet smile before leaving the room. He seemed to sense I needed a little time to myself, and I was grateful for that.

  When I thought my shaking legs would support me, I got up and went through th
e door he’d indicated. After I cleaned up and used the facilities, I went back into the TV room. The soiled shirt was gone, and a neatly folded pair of sweat pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt were waiting for me on the sofa.

  The outfit was big on me, but not unreasonably so. After I put it on, I gathered and neatly folded my clothes, then went to the guest bedroom. It was small but attractive, with lavender walls and deep plum bedding. I could hear a shower running through the slightly ajar bathroom door, and I sat on the bed and waited for him.

  Lorenzo emerged from the steamy bathroom a few minutes later, dressed in nothing but a pair of loose-fitting basketball shorts. He smiled when he saw me and climbed onto the bed, and because his eyelids were heavy, I said, “You look like you could use a nap.”

  “I really could, but I’m trying to fight it.”

  “Why?”

  He joked, “Because I don’t want you to think you’re with an old geezer who needs to pass out after sex.”

  I curled up next to him and pulled a blanket over both of us. “I’d never think that. In fact, I could use one, too.” He drifted off soon after, and I tried to do the same. But even though I was tired, my mind wouldn’t stop racing long enough for me to fall asleep.

  After a while, I returned to the TV room and found my phone. That was when I discovered Sylvia had sent a text just minutes before, which read: You got the part! Call me to discuss details.

  My heart leapt, and when I called her back, she answered with, “Congratulations, Will!”

  “It’s really happening?”

  “Yes it is. I’m meeting with the studio and one of their lawyers at nine a.m. tomorrow to negotiate your salary and draw up the contract.”

  “This doesn’t feel real.” I dropped onto the couch and took a deep breath.

  “I’m sure it’ll take a while to sink in,” she said. “Meanwhile, we need to get busy. I’m looking online at flights as we speak, and there’s one tomorrow night at nine-forty. Assuming you come in to sign the contract around noon, will that give you enough time to get back to Catalina, pack, and get to LAX, or should I look for a later flight?”

  “You think I should fly up Thursday night? Not Friday morning?”

  “It’s going to take a while to get you to Mendocino. You’ll need to fly into Santa Rosa, which is two hours away, and there’s always the possibility of flight delays. We want to make sure the wardrobe department and hair and makeup get the time they need with you before the weekend.”

  “Okay, I can make it work. Do I have a place to stay when I get there?”

  “You will, but I don’t know the details yet. It’ll be on the studio’s tab, since you’re filming on location. They’ll probably give you whatever they’d booked for Trent Chambers,” she said. “Oh, while I’m thinking of it, don’t cut your hair between now and Friday. Don’t shave, either. The character is described as scruffy-looking, so we want to give the hair and makeup team something to work with.”

  “No problem. Hey, do you think I can bring my cat?”

  “I’ll make sure of it. If whatever they reserved for Trent has a no-pets policy, I’ll have them move you someplace that allows it.”

  “Thanks, Sylvia.”

  “One more thing,” she said. “I’m hiring you a personal assistant for the duration of filming.”

  “I can’t afford that.”

  “Consider it a gift. I’ll pay their salary out of the commission I’m making on this booking.”

  “That’s nice of you, but do you really think I need a P.A.?”

  “Definitely. You’ll need to devote all your time and attention to the film,” she told me. “That means someone else will need to worry about things like buying groceries, fielding calls, and managing your schedule.”

  “Instead of hiring someone, couldn’t I just ask a friend to come along and help out?”

  “I’d strongly advise against it. You need someone who can take orders and get the job done. The fastest way to ruin a relationship is to treat a friend like an employee. You also need someone who knows their way around a movie set, can handle the press, and can also manage your social media. That means hiring a pro.”

  She had a point. I thanked her again and said, “You’ll be there tomorrow when I go in to sign the contract, right?”

  “Absolutely. I’ll send you the flight information in a few minutes, and we’ll discuss any last-minute details after our meeting at the studio.”

  I hesitated before asking, “This is for sure, right? They’re not going to call back in an hour and say they found someone they like better, are they?”

  “No, they won’t. We have a verbal agreement, and they’re not going to renege on that. The part is yours, Will.”

  We spoke for a few more minutes, and when we ended the call, I murmured, “Holy shit.”

  No matter what she said though, I wouldn’t totally believe the part was mine until the signed contract was in my hands. I’d just been disappointed too many times, in too many different ways.

  I put my phone down and scrubbed my hands over my face. So far, the new year had been such an emotional rollercoaster. Did I really just go from quitting acting to landing the biggest role of my career? That was already almost too much to process, before adding what had happened between Lorenzo and me to the mix.

  I chewed my lower lip for a few moments, and then I picked up my phone and sent a text to my oldest friend, which said: Hey Beck. Do you have time to talk?

  He video called me a few seconds later, and when I answered, his smiling face appeared on the screen. His blue eyes sparkled, and his short, light brown hair was disheveled, as if he’d recently rolled out of bed. “Happy New Year,” he said. “I hear we missed one hell of a party last night.”

  “Everyone seemed to be having a good time. Are you and your husband still at your apartment?”

  “We are, and we had a wonderful celebration for two last night.” He tilted his head and asked, “Where are you right now? That doesn’t look like Seahorse Ranch in the background.”

  “I’m at Lorenzo’s former apartment in West Hollywood. His friend is on vacation, and he’s letting us spend the night.”

  “I feel like I’m missing some key pieces of this story,” Beck said. “What happened after Leonidas and I left for L.A. yesterday afternoon?”

  “So much. Here are the highlights: Lorenzo and I slept together, and tomorrow night I’m leaving for a month, because apparently I just landed the biggest movie role of my career.”

  Beck yelled, “Oh my God, Will!”

  I told him about the job first, and he literally screamed with excitement. Then I said, “The part about Lorenzo and me is a lot more complicated.”

  “Start at the beginning. Not the part where you’ve had a crush on him forever, because I already know that.”

  “Well, it began with a New Year’s Eve kiss.”

  I told him what had happened over the last several hours, and then he said, “I’m surprised you don’t seem happier, given how long you’ve been pining for Lorenzo. Wasn’t it like you’d hoped it would be?”

  “I just didn’t expect the emotional overload that hit me in the middle of it.”

  He asked, “Was this the first time you’ve had sex since you quit working as a prostitute? If so, I could see why that might happen.”

  “Yes, and it was also the first time I ever had sex with someone I actually care about.”

  “Really?”

  “You know my story, Beck, so why do you sound surprised? I was a virgin until I moved to California, and then I was all about the random hookups. Once I became a prostitute, I lost any desire to have sex for fun, and I sure as hell didn’t date.”

  He looked sympathetic. “No wonder this threw you off.”

  “I was totally overwhelmed. I’m not used to that kind of intimacy, and I’m definitely not used to feeling so vulnerable.”

  “I hope you’re planning to talk to Lorenzo about this.”

  “I will, but
not today. That must have been a lot for him too, since I’m the first person he’s slept with since Javier died. I don’t want to make it more complicated for him.”

  “I see what you mean.”

  I hugged my knees to my chest, and after a moment I admitted, “I’m scared I might be too damaged to ever really let my guard down with Lorenzo.”

  “You’re not too damaged, Will. I promise. Just take it slowly, and it’ll all work out.” I really wanted to believe that.

  Chapter 5

  The next day, at 12:13 p.m., I signed a contract to play the title character in the film adaptation of a bestseller I’d loved since I was a teen. It felt absolutely surreal.

  When I met Lorenzo in the studio parking lot afterwards, I had a death grip on a manila envelope containing my copy of the signed contract, the script, and a big, fat check. He asked, “Did everything go okay?” I removed the check from the envelope and held it up so he could read it, and he said, “Wow, I’ve never seen a check for twenty grand before.”

  “Me neither.”

  “I’m glad Sylvia was able to get you that much money.”

  “This is only a third of what she was able to negotiate. The studio wanted to pay me scale, but she played hardball and got them to increase it, because this was all so last-minute.”

  “Holy shit!”

  I burst out laughing when Lorenzo lifted me off my feet and swung me around. When he put me down again, I asked, “Can we please go to a bank? Like, right now? I’m terrified something’s going to happen to this tiny piece of paper.”

  “Definitely.”

  As we climbed into the red convertible, I said, “I think I’m in shock. I keep expecting to wake up and find out it was all a dream.”

  Lorenzo smiled at me and said, “Well, good news, Sleeping Beauty. This is really happening.”