Dreamspinner Press Year Seven Greatest Hits Page 19

  Thank you for saving me… again.

  Rebecca flashed Elliot a stern look from the side of the radio booth. He knew he’d be hearing about that little slip up later.

  “ELLIOT. Here’s the scene. This girl has just broken up with her boyfriend. She’s here at the resort with her friends, and they’ve been consoling her. Then she meets you, and you give her a rose, and you look like you’re about to kiss. Later in the video, she’s going to go back to her boyfriend and break your heart.”

  Elliot wanted to roll his eyes. Really?

  They’d landed up in the mountains outside Vancouver, BC, the night before. The snow and the gorgeous resort had been picked by the producers as a background for Static’s first ever music video. The boys had all been excited, but it turned out that filming a music video was harder than it looked—especially for the guy who had to “romance” the girl.

  Elliot turned back toward the others, who are all snickering at him. Why did he have to play the romantic one? With a flower? He’d never given flowers to anyone in his life, and now he was going to have to hand some chick he’d never met a rose and act like he wanted to make out with her? Talk about cheeseball city. Elliot’s neck got hot. He thought of trying to convince them that Webb should be the romancer, that it would be better if Tate or Reece smiled at the girl and made her swoon, that he’d do much better if it was Danny he kissed. Yeah. They’d take that pretty well. He figured there wasn’t much hope for it. He was better off just sucking it up and kissing the damn girl.

  So, time to make a fool of himself. Literally. It helped that Reece and Webb were wearing matching sweaters and Tate had on these ski goggles that made him look like an idiot. At least he wouldn’t be the only one. Danny, of course, looked gorgeous. He had on a cable-knit sweater and ski pants, his cheeks were pink and his hair was swept perfectly off to the side. If anything, the fresh snow and the chill only brightened his colors, made him more vibrant. Elliot sighed. Time to quit looking at Danny. There was an actress waiting over by the benches, where other extras waited with skis and poles for when the shot panned to them.

  The director waved her over. She approached slowly. At least she looked sweet. She had a big smile and a friendly face.

  “Hi, I’m Elliot,” he said, sticking his hand out. Might as well be nice.

  She giggled. “I know. I’m Emma.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and smiled again. “This is a little awkward, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “Just a bit.” Elliot rolled his eyes. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. You just have to pretend I’m the most interesting person in the world for a few minutes, then lean in to kiss me.”

  “Yeah. I got it.”

  Five takes later, Elliot wasn’t so sure he did have it.

  “You’re looking at her like she’s your little sister, Elliot,” the director called. “Remember, you want to kiss this girl, not take her shopping.”

  “Okay,” he called back. He gave the director a thumbs-up sign for emphasis. Elliot didn’t want to be difficult. It would suck to get that kind of a rep on his first shoot. But he couldn’t look at her that way. He was awful at acting. “One more take. I’ll get it this time.”

  Emma smiled at him. “I understand, you know.”

  “Understand what?” Elliot panicked.

  She tilted her head. “You don’t want to kiss me. It’s fine. My feelings aren’t hurt.” She winked. “If it helps, pretend I’m him.”

  “What do you mean?” Elliot knew his voice squeaked. He tried to play it off as a cough.

  “Danny,” she whispered. “I’ve been watching you two all day.”

  “You’ve been… watching us?” His heart started to pound fast and hard and panicky.

  “Yep.” Emma grinned. “Bromance, my ass. I know love when I see it. I’m sorry you have to do this.”

  Jesus. Is there anyone who can’t tell? Elliot wondered why he and Danny even bothered to hide. It sure seemed like the most un-secret secret he’d ever kept.

  “We’re not—” he couldn’t even spit it out. He had plenty of experience not saying anything at that point, but to actually deny it out loud? It didn’t sit right.

  “Hey, it’s okay. Don’t freak out, I’ll keep quiet—even though I don’t know why you bother.” She smiled. “You guys are so sweet with each other. It’s… I just hope someone looks at me that way someday.”

  Elliot didn’t bother trying to deny it anymore. She knew. Everyone who came within fifty feet of them knew. It was probably going to get him and Danny in a lot of trouble someday very soon, but until then there was no point in playing any games.

  “Thanks, Emma. I’ll do my best, okay? And really, don’t take it personally.”

  “I won’t.”

  The director called another take, and Elliot leaned forward, mouthing the words of his solo as he handed Emma a rose and went to steal a kiss. He thought of Danny, the way they’d kiss in bed at night, the way Danny’s lips felt, soft and sleepy in the morning, his skin, his taste…. Elliot let his eyes drift closed and smiled.

  “Cut!” the director called. “That’s what I wanted. You got it, Elliot.”

  “THIS place is sick!” Webb crowed into the huge emptiness of the cabin the label had rented them at the ski resort. It more than made up for a long day of filming.

  The place was gorgeous, with soaring timber ceilings and glamorously rustic furnishings. Danny dropped his bag by the front door and wandered over to one of the huge plush couches, where he dropped down onto his back and stared at the ceiling. He was nearly dumped to the floor when Reece plopped down next to him.

  “Can you believe this? I’ve never been anywhere so nice.”

  Danny had, of course, but it didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate it all the same. “It’s gorgeous.”

  “Wonder why Blue Horizon shelled out like this?”

  “Rebecca said they had some news for us. Maybe it’s good.” Their new publicist had barely been able to contain her grin. The news had to be good, Danny felt it.

  Elliot, Tate, and Webb grabbed seats around the huge stone fireplace that took up nearly one entire wall. They sat there grinning at each other for a few long silent moments while Rebecca puttered around putting papers in her bag, whispering with Peter, their manager.

  “You two are killing us over here. What is it?” Webb tossed a pillow at Peter and Rebecca. Danny felt sorry for them sometimes. It couldn’t be easy to be in charge of him and his unruly friends. He imagined they were both paid well for their efforts, though. Rebecca’s phone rang.

  “It’s Sasha,” she said with another barely concealed grin. She put the phone on speaker. “Gather round, boys.”

  “Gentlemen,” Sasha said, his voice tinny and faraway through the speaker of Rebecca’s cell. “I have some news.” None of them spoke, just leaned forward, breathless, and waited. Danny’s heart sped up, tried to wriggle its way out of his throat. “Congratulations,” Sasha continued. “‘Fool for Love’ hit number one today. You boys are a hit!”

  “What?” Elliot squeaked. “That’s… are you for real?”

  Sasha chuckled. “I’d never joke about something like that. The cabin is yours for the night. Celebrate, have fun. We’ll see you at home in a couple of days.”

  Rebecca beamed at them as she ended the call. “I know I haven’t been with you boys long, but I’m really proud,” she said. “You deserve it.”

  “You do,” Peter added. “Congratulations.”

  Danny didn’t know what to say. Their song. Their song. It had really happened.

  “We’re going to head down to the hotel, boys, but we’ll be back at eleven tomorrow to get you. Have a good night. Please don’t do anything irreversibly stupid.” Peter cringe-smiled and backed toward the door of the cabin, Rebecca in tow.

  “’Night, Becks,” Webb called. Danny wondered sometimes if their flirtatious brother had a bit of a thing for their pretty young publicist. “’Night, Peter!”

  �
��’Night!” Elliot, Reece, and Tate echoed. Danny waved, the grin still threatening to break his face in two.

  When the door closed, they all turned to each other. None of them spoke. If they were feeling anything like Danny, nobody knew what to say. He sure didn’t. He didn’t know who moved first, who reached out, who grabbed, but the next thing he knew, Danny was in the middle of a five-way hug, tight arms, foreheads resting against each other, even some shaky shoulders.

  “Love you guys,” Tate muttered into the huddle. “I wouldn’t want to be here without you.”

  “Me too,” Reece added. Murmurs and nods went all the way around the circle. “Holy shit, can you believe it?”

  “All for one?” Elliot asked. One by one, they pulled back and stuck their fists into the circle, just like before.

  “One for all,” Webb said quietly.

  “Fuck yeah!” Reece shouted, breaking the somber moment. “Let’s have a good time!”

  “WHERE’S Danny?” Elliot realized he hadn’t seen him since their toast nearly a half an hour before.

  Webb shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought he was with you, but here you are.”

  Reece and Tate were playing with the foosball table, and Danny was nowhere in sight.

  “Weird.”

  Elliot was about to go back to see if he’d fallen asleep in their room when Danny emerged into the cavernous living room. He stopped for a moment to talk to Reece and Tate, smiled at Webb, then slid into place next to Elliot and ran his hand lightly down Elliot’s spine until it was in its customary place right where Elliot’s jeans hung.

  “You tired?” Danny asked.

  Elliot wasn’t tired, but he was pretty damn sure that’s not really what Danny was asking anyway. “Yeah,” he answered. It was hard to bite back a grin.

  “Jesus.” Webb tried to look disgusted, but he still chuckled.

  “’Night, guys!” Danny called. Then with a giddy laugh, he dragged Elliot off toward their bedroom.

  “THAT was a little embar—” Elliot froze. The room was decked out in candles and flowers, and Danny had music playing in the background. “What’s all this?” he asked in a whisper.

  “Nothing. You just had a tough day. I wanted you to smile.”

  Danny looked so gorgeous. His skin gleamed ruddy in the candle light, his hair, his eyes, his whole body seemed to glow. “You look different tonight. Did you do something?” Elliot asked.

  “Nope. C’mere.” Danny had sat on the bed, bigger than they were used to and covered in a luxurious, fluffy down comforter. Elliot sank down onto the bed and reached for Danny’s hand. “El…,” Danny started.

  Elliot’s heart stopped. “Y-yeah?”

  Danny coughed and looked at the ground. “God, how do people do this?” he said to himself.

  “Are you trying to end this?” Elliot couldn’t imagine what they had being taken from him. Not so soon, not ever if he got a choice. “D, I don’t want us to be over.”

  “No, no, no. You’ve gotta stop thinking that. It’s nothing like that. El, what I’m sitting here trying very awkwardly to say is that I’m in love with you. I know it’s only been a couple of months, but I feel it. The flowers and the candles were supposed to help, but—”

  Elliot crumpled into Danny’s body and hugged him as hard as he could, cutting off his rambling. “I love you too. I have the whole time. I thought you were trying to break up with me. I swear, it’s like my worst fear—that you’ll decide all this is too much damn trouble, and it’s easier just to find a girl.”

  “No. No.” Danny cupped Elliot’s face and turned it, gentle but firm, until he was looking right at him. “I was in here the past hour trying to figure out how to tell you that I could happily wake up next to you every morning for the rest of my life.”

  “You mean that?”

  Danny nodded. “Yeah. I do.”

  “Jesus,” Elliot whispered. “Who would’ve thought this would happen? We’re eighteen.”

  “You think we’re too young?”

  “To know what we’re feeling? No. Most people probably would say it’s infatuation at our age, but I really fucking love you. I know it’s real.”

  “Me too.” Danny pushed a stray curl off Elliot’s face. “So what now? I don’t want this to just be some… thing anymore.”

  “Me neither. I never did.”

  “Good.” Danny smiled, that fond, intimate smile nobody ever got but Elliot. “I love you,” he murmured. “I just wanted to say it again.”

  Elliot shivered. He dove forward and buried his face in Danny’s neck. He wrapped his arms around Danny and held on as tight as he could. “Love you too.”

  After a few minutes, Danny pulled away enough to brush a kiss across Elliot’s lips.

  “Hey, El?”

  “Yeah?”

  Danny smiled again. This time his smile went sweet and sly and hot as hell. “You wanna go to bed?”

  Elliot nodded. He didn’t need to say anything. He always wanted to be in bed with Danny. Always.

  They stripped their clothes off, sweaters and warm-up pants and big wooly socks strewn carelessly all over the rug. Moments later, they snuggled up under the big down comforter, naked skin and arms and legs happily tangled together.

  “Mmmm best feeling ever,” Danny murmured into Elliot’s neck.

  “I know. It sucks when we’re on the bus and we can’t sleep like this.”

  Danny snickered. “Can you imagine Tate’s face if he came to wake us up one morning and we were naked in our bunk?”

  “He’d kill us,” Elliot groaned. Tate was all for their relationship, but he was conservative. “Webb would probably just laugh, though.”

  “Yeah, and take pictures. And tweet them.”

  Elliot chuckled and shimmied down on the bed until his lips were even with Danny’s.

  “Kiss?”

  Of course Danny complied. He smiled into the kiss and slung his thigh over Elliot’s hip. “I never get used to how good you feel,” he said quietly against Elliot’s lips.

  It was mutual. Elliot hadn’t gotten used to it either. How perfect they felt together, the fact he got to touch Danny like that. It was too good to be true. Except it was true. “I want you,” he said.

  They’d gotten closer and closer, touched each other in a hundred different ways, but neither of them had brought that up. Maybe Danny was just as nervous about asking as Elliot. Elliot hoped he wanted it as much.

  “I want you too,” Danny answered on a moan. Then he paused. “Wait. What do you mean?”

  “I mean I want you.” Elliot flipped them over so his thighs were cradling Danny’s hips. He pulled on Danny’s perfect round ass, dragging him as close as he could get him. They slid together, and Elliot tilted his hips so Danny hit him right where he wanted pressure the most. Elliot groaned.

  “Are we ready for this?” Danny asked, eyes wide and a little scared.

  “Yeah,” Elliot said with a soft smile. “I think we are.”

  Elliot had been carrying lube around in his bag for weeks. He’d wanted Danny far longer than that, but he didn’t know how to ask for it. They’d come so close so many times. Elliot spread his legs farther. It felt so familiar to have Danny there, grinding and hard, but the implications of where things were going made his heart race.

  “Love you,” Danny whispered against his lips. Danny’s elbows were on either side of Elliot’s head, his fingers tangled in Elliot’s hair. Their kisses had grown slow and deep, addictive. Breathtaking. Elliot couldn’t get enough.

  “I love you too,” he answered. He raked his fingers down Danny’s back, wanted to touch every bit of skin he could get to, wanted to pull Danny into him and never let go. But Elliot didn’t want to rush it. Sure, he was dying to have Danny in him, to feel him in every way possible, but he wanted to kiss him too, and touch him in all the ways he always did and even a few he hadn’t yet. Maybe it was dorky of him, but what they were about to do? It was special. Elliot flipped Danny over onto his
back and scooted up to him, stomach pressed against long golden flank, legs tangled together. He ran his fingers down Danny’s chest, his belly, his thighs. He didn’t want it to be only about turning each other on. Just his fingers on Danny’s skin felt so good.

  Danny groaned. “Your hands. I love the way you touch me.”

  Elliot grinned and leaned over for a kiss. “Never get sick of it. Your skin is gorgeous, all golden and smooth.”

  Danny caught Elliot’s hand and brought his palm up for a kiss. “Your skin is gorgeous too, silky and pale and perfect.”

  Elliot had never felt perfect in his life, just tall and geeky and awkward. But Danny made him feel that way when he looked at him with his green eyes hazy and lids heavy with desire. Danny turned so they were facing each other, blankets pushed down to their hips.

  “Sometimes I still can’t believe that this really happened. I remember how I was back in the spring with Katie and my normal life and can’t believe that I’m here, doing all this with you. It’s still so surreal.”

  “Me too. I mean, I’d have never thought someone like you would fall for me. But you did.” Elliot’s throat felt tight. Sure, he was being corny, but he meant it. Every time Danny touched him it felt like a dream.

  “Of course I fell for you. Who wouldn’t love you?” Danny asked. Danny pulled Elliot’s thigh over his hip and curled fingers around his erection. Elliot shivered. He was used to Danny touching him. Sort of. Maybe he’d never be used to it. He did the same, running his hand down Danny’s body until it was grasping warm, hard flesh. They touched and looked at each other for a few minutes, trading intense slow kisses.

  “Will you?” Elliot pulled one of Danny’s hands between his spread legs until it was at his entrance. “I want to know what it feels like.”

  “Fuck.” Danny shuddered. “Yes.”

  “I have—” Elliot couldn’t say it. Instead, he slid out of bed quietly and rooted around in his bag. “Here.”

  “O-oh.” Danny took it and held the covers for Elliot to get back into bed next to him.