Page 47 of His Choice

I sighed, then looked at Mikey. “The sooner we give them what they want, the quicker they leave.”

“I’ll be interrupting you with directions,” Marv explained. “Don’t worry. My voice will be edited out before the scene airs. Ready? Action.”

Mikey was silent, so I started the conversation. “I meant what I said at dinner, Mikey. I appreciate how hard you tried to make something special with the cake.” He nodded again. I leaned into him under the guise of kissing his neck, but I whispered in his ear instead. “Say something. Don’t be scared.”

“Uh, and I’m sorry again that I shot my cream on you,” he blurted before grimacing at how that sounded.

“It was fine.” I chuckled. “Tell me the truth. Had you done that on purpose?”

He was genuinely mortified. “No! I would never do that.”

I tilted my head. “Well, don’t sound so horrified by the idea of repeating it.”

“Good! Keep flirting like that,” Marv instructed. “Mikey, put one of your hands on Cliff’s pec muscle. Make the viewers envious of how you get to touch his magnificent body. Look into his eyes like you want him to kiss you.”

I thought Mikey would balk out of shyness, but he was compliant. When he placed his warm hand on my chest, he did it with a sense of wonder. He raised his eyes as if to question whether I was okay.

“I like you touching me,” I said. It wasn’t a lie.

He nodded. “You’re so handsome, Mr. Walker.”

“Cut!” Marv yelled. “Mr. Walker? Have we transitioned into some kind of teacher-student roleplay here? If we have, I’d better see something kinky in the next few minutes like a bare-bottom spanking on the lounge chair. Otherwise, call him by his first name, for Christ’s sake! You’re trying to seduce Cliff, not sell him a pool vacuum.”

Mikey gulped. “Sorry. I just didn’t want to be forward.”

“You’ve got your crotches pressed together and are seconds away from a tongue tango. I think you’re past the need to be proper!” Marv snapped. “Now, take it from the moment you tell him he’s handsome, except don’t use that word. This isn’t a gay remake of The Golden Girls.”

Mikey darted his eyes back and forth between me and Marv, but Marv didn’t stop the action. “Uh, you’re really…hot?”

“Cut!” Marv yelled. “Are you asking him or telling him? What are you…a virgin or something?”

I remembered what Aaron had confided in me about that very thing. I was about to tell Marv to take the camera and shove it.

“Listen, give us a minute, okay? I’ll walk Mikey through this, then you film, and let’s be done with it,” I suggested.

Marv raised his hands as if asking for help from the heavens. “Can we get it right before evening? I need to pay overtime to the union members if we go past six o’clock.”

I nodded, pulling Mikey closer to the other edge of the pool where the crew couldn’t hear us.

“I know this is awkward,” I started.

He scratched his shoulder, frustrated. “I’m bad at this. Daryl would have known what to do.”

“No, Daryl would have gone under water, yanked down my suit and started blowing me,” I pointed out. “And that wouldn’t have been the right thing to do at all. Look, I think we need to give them sexy, but we don’t need to make this dirty. Just be yourself. Make believe we’ve known each other longer than we have and we’ve been intimate. Say what you would if that were the case, without censoring yourself. They can edit whatever you don’t want aired. We can get through this together, right?”

He was wide-eyed through my whole pep speech, especially when I referenced us pretending that we’d been together physically. But he nodded, seeming determined that he wasn’t going to mess up again. “Okay.”

“Okay,” I repeated. “Come on.”

We waded back to our previous position in the pool and resumed the pose we had had earlier. This time, Mikey caressed my pectoral muscle some, the desire in his eyes real.

“Action!” Marv shouted.

“When I first met you, I wanted to be touching you like this,” Mikey said.

That was a good, bolder line. I ran my fingers through his wet hair. “Yeah? So, the attraction to me is real? This isn’t a game for you?”

His mouth opened before he answered. “I promise it isn’t. You’re one of the most hand…hottest guys I’ve ever seen. And you’re smart, classy, and so nice to everyone.” He peered into my eyes. “I wish we could stay like this forever.”