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** Brian **

I took a step backwards out of Abigail’s personal bubble and gave her a small smile. I couldn’t remember the last time that I had felt so completely and utterly awkward. It was like I was a teenager all over again; afraid to make the wrong move. It was one thing to pose with some random woman who I would never see again. It was something entirely different to be asked to put my hands all over a co-worker who I would be seeing every single day for the next six months.

Although none of us had been expecting the shoot to be quite as revealing as it had turned out to be, I had pretty much known what it was going to involve when I had agreed to it. Although he had hidden it much better than Nick, Kevin had admitted during our coffee run that he, too, had lost control during his session with the statuesque red-head that Miles had paired him with. Of course, Kevin and Nick could easily laugh off their embarrassment; content in the knowledge that they would never see their partners again. What was I going to do? If anything were to happen during our shoot, chances are that Abigail and I would never be able to look at each other again without thinking about it.

“Let’s go!” Miles snapped his fingers for the umpteenth time. “I need the two of you over here!”

I clenched my teeth to keep myself from unleashing a stream of obscenities at the scrawny narcissist and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself down. I needed to relax. All I had to do was pose for a few stupid pictures. I had posed for millions of pictures. This wasn’t going to be any different.

“Good luck you two.” AJ winked at me and Abigail as we shuffled past him and the other guys. “Abby, remember to cut Brian some slack. He gets excited pretty easily.”

I jammed my middle finger into the air and narrowed my eyes at AJ’s smirking face. “Asshole.”

“Shirt off, now!” Miles flapped his arms in my direction as soon as Abigail and I stepped up next to the bed. He quickly snapped a few test shots, presumably to assess the lighting, while he waited for me to follow his instructions. “You’re a bit shiny, Church Boy.” He lowered his camera and wiggled his fingers in the air to summon one of the make-up artists. “Powder! Powder, now!”

A woman with a brush appeared by my side in record time. She somehow managed to whip the brush across my entire face even as I pulled my shirt up and over my head. I unintentionally caught Abigail’s eye as the make-up artist applied even more power to my forehead, and she hastily pulled her own eyes away from my chest; seemingly embarrassed at having been caught looking.

I wiggled my eyebrows playfully to ease some of the tension as I tossed my shirt towards the couch that the rest of the guys were sitting on. “There’s nothing hotter than a guy who wears foundation, right?”

“Censor!” Howie’s high-pitched yell drowned out Abigail’s giggle.

Nick snatched my shirt out of the air, and made a big show out of hugging to his chest. “Get ‘em B!”

“Don’t ya’ll have something better to do than watch?” I yelled back. I could feel my neck starting to get hot.

“Nothing in life is better than watching you embarrass yourself!” Nick laughed manically. “Besides, ya’ll watched me pitch a fuckin’ tent!”

I closed my eyes briefly and swore softly under my breath. When I opened my eyes, Abigail was staring back at me with an amused expression on her face.

“You’re friends are really great people.” She teased. “Soooo supportive.”

“I hate them.” I stated with mock seriousness. “I hate every single one of them.”

“Get together!” Miles screeched from his position atop a small step-stool. “Brian, come on now, put your hands on her hips and pull her close to you. Abigail, or Abby, or whatever the hell it is that everyone calls you, put your hands up on Brian’s chest! Let’s get this done, people! I still have to shoot the tattooed thing!”

Sensing my hesitation, Abby tentatively made the first move. She stepped forward and brought her hands up to my chest; her fingers sliding over my skin before coming to rest close to my shoulders. I followed Miles’s instructions and placed my hands on her hips. She licked her lips as I tightened my grip, and I found myself wondering what was going on in her head. Was she feeling as self-conscious as I was? Was she at all worried about how awkward this was about to become?

“Jesus Christ ...” Miles lowered his camera and gave the two of us a withering look. “You could fit a whole other bloody obese person in-between the two of you! Get close to each other! You both look fucking terrified.”

Abby tilted her head so that she was staring directly into my face. “I’m totally over thinking this.” She admitted. “It’s just work, right? Let’s just go ahead and get this done so that we can all make it to the production meeting on time. It will be over faster if we just do whatever it is that Miles wants us to do.”

“Okay.” I swallowed some of my anxiety. “I just – I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine.” Abby smiled reassuringly. “It’s just work. Pretend that I’m, like, a backup dancer or something.”

“It needs to look like the two of you are about to kiss.” Miles was still barking instructions. “Abby, hook one of your hands into the front of Brian’s pants and bring the other one up behind his neck. Close the bloody gap for fuck’s sake! He’s not going to attack you!”

This time, Abby followed Miles’s instructions without hesitation. She curled her right hand under the waistband of my jeans and pulled my towards her as her left hand snaked up into the hair at the base of my neck. I responded instinctively; leaving my left hand on her hip and moving my right hand to the small of her back to bring our bodies together. For a moment, I forgot all about the camera. I leaned forward and parted my lips; my eyes closing ...

“Got it!” Miles exclaimed. He pulled his camera away from his face and quickly reviewed the shots. “Damn! Some of those are actually super hot.”

My eyes immediately snapped open. I hastily stepped away from Abigail and gave her what I hoped was a non-anxious looking smile. The blood was pounding in my ears. I felt like I had done something wrong, even though I knew that I hadn’t.

“Okay, let’s get the second shot.” Miles motioned for his waif of an assistant to reposition his step-stool closer to the bed. “I can’t decide who should be on top for this one.” He rambled on as if he were talking about something completely generic. Miles turned to me. “We’ll have her straddle you first just to see how it looks. Go ahead and lie down on your back.”

I balked at him. “Are you sure? I mean, can’t we just ...”

“Of course, I’m sure.” Miles shot back. “You know what you agreed to; one standing shot and one lying down shot. Relax, Church Boy, most of your buddies have already done it and none of them have been struck down by a lightning bolt.”

I sighed; mentally cursing Jenn and her stupid idea and her even stupider decision to hire Miles. Realistically, I knew that I had no choice. I also knew from what had just happened that my body had absolutely no concept of the fact that this was ‘just work’.

Knowing that I had no way out, I flopped down onto the bed; being careful not to glance in the other guys’ direction as I waited for Miles to give Abigail her instructions. Less than a minute later, Abby appeared above me looking, thankfully, as uncertain as I felt. She swung one leg across me; straddling my hips as Miles’s starving assistant covered our lower halves with the duvet.

I should have kept my eyes on the ceiling as Abigail followed Miles’s instructions to lean forward. Instead, I allowed my attention to wander to the tops of her breasts and to the ever-increasing strip of bare skin as her tank-top slowly slid up her stomach. I swallowed hard as Abby moved her body over mine. I could feel myself starting to twitch as our chests pressed together, and my heart started to beat faster. I needed this to end – now!

“I need you to be higher up.” Miles barked at Abby. “Move closer; like, you’re going to nuzzle his neck.”

I inhaled sharply as Abby dragged herself upwards and her body pressed down onto mine. I knew that she could feel my growing excitement as she wiggled around and tried to reposition herself, but her attempt to avoid it was only making things worse. Her breath was warm on my neck; her lips dangerously close to my skin.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered; mortified by the fact that my jeans were growing increasingly tight. “I just ...”

“Don’t think about it.” Abigail whispered back; her lips grazing my neck as she spoke. “Just let him get the shot.”

“I’ve changed my mind! Raise your head and look at him!” Miles screamed at Abigail from behind the camera.

Abigail shifted her weight once again. She raised herself up so that her face was now in line with mine and, subsequently, provided me with a direct view of her cleavage. I dug my fingers into the soft skin of her waist as her hips, once again, pressed down against mine. I couldn’t help it; I let out a barely audible groan of enjoyment as she twisted against me.

“Please stop moving.” I begged. My voice sounded strained even to me. I could only imagine what it sounded like to her.

“Okay! That’s it!” Miles announced. As he did before, he stepped down off of his stool and began to quickly scroll through the shots. He laughed softly to himself. “These are going to turn out so well ...”

“Are you – are you okay to get up?” Abigail slid off of me immediately after Miles made his announcement. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, but made sure not to disturb the heavy blanket that was still covering the lower half of our bodies. “Do you need a minute?”

I needed more than a minute. I needed to be alone. I needed to not be wearing skinny jeans.

“I’m okay.” I lied. I forced myself to look her directly in the face; to smile as if everything was normal.

“Out of the way!” Miles waved his hands at us as if we were a couple of pesky flies. “I need to re-set for the tattooed one.”

Abigail snorted and rolled her eyes. She slipped out from underneath the duvet and crawled off of the bed, leaving me to sort myself out.

“Here.” AJ sweetly handed Abigail her sweater as he walked over with his underwear-clad co-star in tow. He tossed my t-shirt at my face and grinned down at me. “How you doin’, Bri?”

This time, my groan was fully audible. I sat up and pulled my t-shirt over my head. My body was still throbbing, but at least I had calmed myself down to the point where I could stand up without fully embarrassing myself. I swung my feet to the floor and glared at AJ. “I’m doin’ just great.”

AJ wiggled his eyebrows and leaned forward so that he was whispering directly into my ear. “Maybe I should have fought to keep Abby as my partner. It looks like she gave you a pretty good show. We all saw you checkin’ her out. What were your hands doin’ underneath those blankets, huh?”

I narrowed my eyes; fully prepared to ream AJ out, but Miles stole my opportunity by beginning to hurl instructions at just about everyone in the room. I let out a sigh of defeat as I was hastily pushed to the side by one of the make-up artists. The last thing that I needed was for the other guys to give me a hard time every time that Abby was around. I just wanted to move on and forget all about the pictures and all about the fact that Abby and I had likely just violated every single line in Planet Hollywood’s professional relationship policy.