One True Thing (27 page)

drama?”

I nodded. “But, Dusty, it’s pictures only. I

swear.” I had to get it all out before he walked off.

“I’m a relationship guy. I don’t fuck around. I did

kiss Josh once, but it was before we started dating.

I told him it wasn’t going to go any further even

before I had the possibility of you being in my life.

Now? God, I’d never do anything to ruin us.” I

lowered my head and squeezed my eyes shut. They

were hot, and the pressure had started building.

Jesus, if I cried on top of everything else, my night,

and my life, would just be the biggest joke ever.

I’d had him for a few brief weeks, and it had been

heaven. I hated myself.

Dusty reached out and lifted my chin. “So, it’s

just work, huh?”

I opened my eyes but had to blink away tears.

Jesus. “Y-yeah. Just work. I don’t even like it.

That’s the irony of all this.” I couldn’t take it. I had

to look away.

“Ash, look at me.” It took me a few seconds,

but I did. Dusty’s eyes were big and gorgeous, and

the anger was draining away. For the first time

since I saw him by the pool I started to hope. “I

don’t care about the damn porn photography. I’m

not a nun or a virgin. I’d be a big hypocrite if I got

all conservative on you.”

“Really?” I could almost breathe again.

“Yes, really. It’s fine.” He tightened his grip

on my chin. “I
will
care if you fuck around on me,

but I believe you if you say you’re not.”

I couldn’t take it anymore. I pulled Dusty into

my arms and hugged him as tightly as I could.

“Never. I wouldn’t even want to touch anyone

else. Just you. Always you.”

I love you.
It had taken feeling like I was

going to lose him for the words to solidify in my

mind. I loved him. Real love. Consuming, all

encompassing, never-want-to-look-at-another-guy

kind of love. It wasn’t the time to tell him. Not

when we’d barely survived the night.

“So, do you think I caused enough drama to

get you fired, or is it cool?” He leaned back and

made a rueful face, wiping at my cheeks with his

thumbs.

“I don’t even care. Let’s just go.” As long as I

had Dusty, that damn money meant nothing.

“No. I won’t do that to you. How much is it

anyway?”

“Two grand.” I really didn’t care anymore. I

just wanted to be at that beach cabin, wherever it

was, cuddling with Dusty after a day in the sand. I

wanted to rewind, make a different choice, and be

nowhere near the porn mansion and Dusty’s hurt

eyes. Our relationship would never be untouched

again.

Dusty choked and looked at the ground.

“Okay, I’m really not going to do that to you. Why

don’t we get you back in there and hope… who

hired you?”

“Dom. The director.”

“Let’s hope Dom has a sense of humor.”

“Are you serious? You’d come in there with

me?”

Dusty shrugged. “Sure, why not? A few naked

chicks aren’t going to make my eyes spontaneously

combust. Besides, I’d like to meet this Josh kid.”

“Marking your territory?” I dared to smile a

little.

“Maybe.” Dusty raised his eyebrows. “Let’s

go.”

“Wait, hold on.”

“What?”

“If you weren’t talking about the porn back at

The Banana Leaf, what did you mean?”

“Oh, only that I’d heard you were a total

player, always screwing around with different

guys and girls. I mean, it’s obviously not true.”

I shook my head. “Wonder how many people

think me and Archer are the same person. He is

always with a different guy, and I’m there with

women all the time. As clients. It’s an easy place

to meet and go over my different photo package

options.”

“How come you haven’t been there lately?”

I smiled and rubbed my thumb on his jaw. “I

haven’t had many new clients lately. I’ve been, um,

a bit busy.”

“True.” He grinned slyly.

“Besides, I thought you didn’t like all of this,

so I didn’t want to run into you there and parade it

in front of you. It just seemed easier to avoid the

situation. Turns out I could’ve saved both of us a

headache if I just said something a long time ago.”

Dusty pulled me down for a short kiss. “It’s

okay. Really. Let’s just go out there so I can meet

everyone.”

INTRODUCING Dusty around to my porn friends was

surreally kind of nice. A couple of the girls had

known me through my few failed relationships and

many months of singlehood between. They were so

sweetly enthusiastic about Dusty, gushing at how

adorable he was and how much he made me smile,

that I grinned even harder and pulled him close.

The meeting with Josh wasn’t quite as amazing, but

I had to give Dusty credit for being nice.

“Hey,” Josh said as we walked up. Dusty and

I were holding hands. We had been touching in

some way ever since we walked back into the

party.

“Josh, this is Dusty.”

Josh’s

forehead

crinkled

up.

“Your

boyfriend.”

“Yeah. He’s my boyfriend.”

“You a model?” Josh asked.

Dusty coughed. “Don’t you think I’m a little

short?”

Josh turned red. “That’s not the kind of model

I meant.”

“Oh.” Dusty blushed as well. It was kind of

cute. Well, as cute as the porn-star-meets-

boyfriend scenario could be. “Well, no, not that

either. I’m a stylist.”

“At a real salon?”

Dusty chuckled. “Yep. It’s called Embellish.

Not all that far from Asher’s place, actually.”

“Is that how you two met?”

“Nope, we just ran into each other on the

street,” I said. I looked down at Dusty. “It only

took me about two seconds to realize I wanted to

be with him.”

“Yeah, me too.” Dusty’s voice was hoarse.

Josh looked down at the tiled pool deck.

“That’s really cool. Hey, listen, I have to get to

work. I’ll see you around.”

Dusty left when the actual shooting started. It

would be nearly impossible for me to concentrate

on my job with him around, and he made a little

face at the idea of watching straight porn. We did

say good-bye at the gate with a kiss, and I

promised to give him a call when I got home the

next day. We seemed okay. I really fucking hoped

we were.

I was glad to get out of there at the end of the

weekend. The shoot wasn’t bad. The usual. Pretty

boring, honestly. But I was so
done
with the whole

scene. Even more than I ever had been before. I

wanted a regular job, I wanted to be at home with

Dusty, I wanted to take my two grand and not go

back. Too damn bad most of that was impossible.

At least I still had Dusty at the end of the weekend.

I’m not sure what I would’ve done if he’d ended it.

It helped to deposit that big fat wad of cash in

my savings account. I couldn’t say I’d never be

going back, because I just couldn’t rely on regular

jobs enough to flat out quit, but I wanted to slowly

get out of it, do more weddings, prom pictures, the

stuff that didn’t pay as well but at least got me out

of the porn industry.

I had one of those jobs the next evening. A bat

mitzvah in Brentwood—for less than I usually

made from one portfolio client. It was work,

though. And it was something I could show my

parents, put in a portfolio, and not feel

embarrassed by. So I did it. And when I came

home, tired and grouchy from hours of talking and

clicking pictures of spoiled teenagers and

overprotective parents, Dusty had dinner waiting

for me and a glass of wine. I didn’t expect it, and I

felt like I didn’t deserve it, but damn, it was nice.

I could get used to this.

Chapter Twelve

Dusty

“OKAY, I’m not going to lie. I’m excited.”

I smiled at the sound of Rue’s voice and

glanced over my shoulder at him and Erik, who

were sitting in the back of Asher’s station wagon

with Alice. We were heading to Disneyland, of all

places, and it had actually been Asher’s idea.

When he’d found out that Rue and I had never

been, he’d insisted we check it out for the

experience alone. And so the five of us found

ourselves headed to Anaheim in the middle of the

week on a hazy early-November morning.

It had taken some work to find a day we all

had free, but after a couple weeks of planning,

even
I
had to admit I was looking forward to it.

Alice was a little young still, so no rides for her,

but there were plenty of things for her to see. That

was the sole reason Erik had agreed to go, I was

sure. He looked pale and nervous, though, and his

leg had been bouncing in place for nearly the entire

trip. I think it was only the white-knuckled grip he

had on Rue’s hand that kept the panic at bay.

We would have to wait and see how he did

once we actually got there. I had a feeling he

would pull it together, for Alice if nothing else.

He’d walk on fire for that baby girl. He could

handle Disneyland. I hoped.

“Almost there,” Asher said from behind the

wheel.

I reached over to grab his free hand and

threaded our fingers together. He looked away

from the road long enough to shoot me a smile, and

my belly quivered. God, even two months after

we’d officially decided to be together, my body

still reacted to every small thing he did.

Aside from the near-disaster with the porn

party a couple of weeks back and Archer’s

occasional sniping whenever we ran into him, our

relationship had been perfect so far. I had no

delusions that our honeymoon phase would last

forever, but I thought we were getting to the point

where we’d be solid enough to work our way

through whatever problems might spring up.

Neither of us had mentioned love yet, and that

was fine. I knew how I felt about him, and I was

pretty certain he felt the same way about me. I

didn’t need to hear the words until he was ready.

But that feeling I’d gotten the first time I’d seen

him, and all the times after, that rightness, it hadn’t

gone away. My skin buzzed and hummed whenever

we were close, whenever he touched me, and I

didn’t think there could be anything,
anything
,

better than the feel of him inside me.

Whether it was fate or not, I couldn’t say. But

I thought it might be.

After we’d paid the fee and parked in a lot

across the street from the entrance of the park,

Asher and I were already out of the car before I

realized Erik’s nervousness had apparently gone

from a simmer to a rolling boil. I could see him

shaking his head through the window, and neither

he nor Rue had made any attempt to get out of the

car.

A few moments later, Rue cracked his door

and gestured me over. “Hey, Dust, can you get

Alice out of her car seat and grab her stuff from the

trunk, please? We need a minute, okay?”

I nodded, glancing at Erik long enough to see

that he was trembling a little and visibly stressed. I

gave him my most reassuring smile, then looked at

Asher over my shoulder. “Hon, can you get the

supplies from the back?”

“Sure.”