Chapter 1
Ben
If I saw one more naked body part I was seriously going to throw something.
I swiveled in my desk chair, turning away from my computer, where a group of naked individuals got off on my screen. It was the sixth pornographic scene I’d watched in the last four hours, and it was all part of my job.
I had thought becoming a director of porn was going to be fun. And it had been…at first.
What red-blooded male wouldn’t want to work in an industry with hot women and access to sex twenty-four hours a day? But a few months ago, I’d been promoted to Vice President of White Lace Productions, the largest producer of adult entertainment in Canada, and I had to face facts: I was in way over my head. I was floundering in a sea of corporate tasks that I had no idea what to do with. I was now responsible for production schedules, budgets, casting, and actor relations, and I was so out of my realm.
I was an artist.
I was the visionary, for fuck’s sake.
I watched as cars traveled east and west on the main road in front of the office building, the harsh moans and grunts playing in the background—the soundtrack to my life. But lately, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there had to be more to life than porn.
My office door swung open, tearing my attention away from the monotonous traffic, and a familiar voice blurted behind me.
“I think I’ve just done something reckless and you might have to talk me off the ledge.”
I swiveled around and watched my best friend, Max Levin, stalk into my office.
Did I mention he was the traitorous asshole who used to be VP and left to pursue his passion, opening a boutique hotel in downtown Toronto?
And he’d left me to figure it out all on my own. The dick.
But with the way his body vibrated with tension, I couldn’t be mad right now. Especially because the vein on the side of his forehead looked like it had its own pulse. Max was seriously freaked.
“What did you do?” I rose from my seat, chest and stomach tight with dread.
Max was always the picture of calm. He was the most collected and in-charge person I knew, but this man standing in front of me was a stranger. He had one hand fisted at his side, the other grasping the handle of a white shopping bag. His black hair looked like he hadn’t touched it since he emerged from his last shower and the designer suit that always adorned his body was wrinkled and dull.
He slowly reached across his body and his hand disappeared into the bag. Immediately my brain went American Horror Story on me and I braced for the sight of a severed head or some other bloody appendage. But no matter how much I prepared myself for the worst, nothing could have prepared me for the sight of the tiny blue velvet box that was placed on the desk in front of me.
It felt like I’d walked into an invisible wall, my breath expelled from my mouth in a long whoosh. I had thought I had more time before my best friend left me for the dark side. Deep down, I had thought that things were going to stay the same despite Max finding a girlfriend. But I’d been terribly wrong.
So I did the one thing I did best.
“Maxy, you know I love you, but I don’t love love you.”
He wasn’t impressed with me making light of the situation. And even I couldn’t laugh any longer when he pulled out another box. He opened both, diamonds sparkling up at me in a disgusting display of happiness.
“You bought two rings?” Just like the way Max carried himself, the rings were modest. They were beautiful, but unrepresentative of his means. He could afford diamonds fit for royalty, but that wasn’t how he lived his life. And it only made me admire the man even more.
Max shrugged. “I couldn’t decide.”
“So you’re going to ask Everly to marry you.” It wasn’t a question. It was fact. Not only because of the bling sitting on my desk, but because the moment I had said her name, Max’s face softened and the smile he’d had permanently etched on it since the moment Everly Parker had walked into his life returned. There was a lightness that followed him around now, making everything he touched, looked at, felt, more beautiful. I knew it in the way he smiled whenever her name was mentioned. In the way his eyes brightened whenever he was in her presence.
I’d known Max more than half my life, and I hadn’t seen him this happy since…ever.
“Am I totally crazy?” Max walked around my desk and joined me in front of the window. We turned and stared out, watching the cars drive past on their way to destinations unknown.
He wasn’t crazy, but having this conversation while women squealed and men grunted dirty commands in the background might be certifiable.
“You’re moving in together this weekend,” I said, looking over at him. I noticed the vein in his forehead throbbed a little less. “Marriage would be the next logical step.”
There was nothing logical about love. There was even less logic in letting a woman get so close she fucked with your confidence.
“We’ve only known each other for five months, but I just can’t…” His words trailed off, but he didn’t have to finish his sentence. I already knew.
He just couldn’t imagine his life without her.
If he weren’t my best friend, this display would have made me barf. I didn’t believe in love or soulmates, because those things didn’t exist, not really. I had resigned to living my life unattached, and I was content with that. Because I wasn’t worried about me. I worried for the day my best friend woke up and it was all taken away from him.
“Logical.” Max nodded, as if trying to make himself believe he was doing the right thing. “It’s the next step.”
I clapped him on the back and his head turned toward me. “It’s the right choice, man.” Max let out a heavy breath, relief washing over him as I spoke the five simple words that let him know I supported his decision.
Not that he needed it.
/> “Now…” I gestured behind us to my desk. “Put those things away. I’m going to need to have major eye surgery if I have to keep looking at them.”
Max laughed, his old self returning as he collected the boxes and slipped them back into the bag. When he was done, he caught sight of the action on my computer screen and one eyebrow lifted in curiosity. “Kayla’s a redhead now?”
You knew you worked in the porn industry too long when the first thing you noticed about an orgy scene was the color of an actress’s hair.
“I thought we should give it a try since we only have two other redheads.” I couldn’t find a redhead willing to do porn if my life depended on it. I’d even settled for a woman with auburn hair, but that only served to remind me of the one I let walk away.
You can’t lose something you never wanted in the first place.
“Good call.” Max rounded my desk and sat across from me in the metal chair that had black leather cushioning. “How are things going?”