Page 7 of Beyond the Darkness
She shrugged.“I didn’t think it was important.I’ve been assured we won’t even know he’s here.”
“Don’t you thinking having a stranger in the room is going to throw us off our game when we’re only beginning to make advances?”
“Why would it?It’s one man from the local newspaper, not a fly-on-the-wall documentary crew.”
No doubt you’ll be keeping that for the London run, if it ever happens.“We don’t need it.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Rav interjected.“We need all the good press we can get.It’s not enough to pay for publicity anymore.We need word of mouth.This guy is the first step.He might just be local, but he’s good.Respected.If we’re going to take this play to the West End, then this Blyham production needs to be a sell-out.Every night—full houses for the entire run.Luke Kamal is an integral part of making that happen.”
Hudson sighed.He knew what Rav was saying made sense, but it still rankled.“Couldn’t you bring him in for the last few days, or for previews?Why does it have to be now, when the play is in such a raw state?”
“Because that’s the angle.He’s not just writing a first night review, he’s going to cover all aspects.There might even be a book in it if the transfer looks likely,” Rav said.“You won’t even know he’s here.”
Little chance of that.Luke’s smouldering good looks would be a distraction, anyway, never mind the reason he was here.
Hudson realised there was little to gain by arguing with the producer and the director.Their minds would not be changed, and his energy would be better focused elsewhere.He’d hoped to be in a better mindset ahead of today’s run-through, but he’d been wound up about the press sitting in on the rehearsal, and he was not as well prepared as he should be.He took his script and his coffee into the far corner of the room and read through the opening pages.Luckily the dialogue was already fixed in his mind—it was a case now of working out how he wanted to play it.
Luke arrived early, before any of the other performers.Hudson looked up carefully from his script, merely observing, not yet ready to engage.He was too far away to make out what was being said between him and Rav and Andie.Any hopes that they might have sent him away were dismissed when Luke took off his jacket and hung it over the back of a chair.
Shit.He’s staying then.
Luke wore jeans and a dark shirt which skimmed the striking contours of his torso.For a reporter, he was clearly very active to have a body as perfect as that.He moved well too, opening a battered leather satchel to take out a laptop, a notebook and pens.Then he glanced across the room and caught Hudson looking straight at him.
Hudson returned his attention to the pages in front of him but found it impossible to concentrate.The words became an indecipherable blur.He realised too late that Luke was walking straight towards him.
“Hi,” he said.“I feel like I owe you an apology for last night.”
That deep, sexy voice had an unnerving power behind it.Hudson found himself responding.He put down the script.“You weren’t to know,” he said at last, keeping his own tone firm.He wasn’t ready to back down on this matter.From his experience, journalists were not to be trusted.Just because this one came in an attractive package, it didn’t make him any better than the rest.“But all the same, I can’t pretend to be happy that you’re here.”
Way to go.Make him hate you from the start so he’ll do a real hatchet piece on you in print.
“I’m very excited about this play.About you being in it.I want to assure you that I have nothing but huge respect for everyone involved.”
The face, the eyes, the voice, it was almost enough to make Hudson melt.He couldn’t resist sneaking a look at his crotch and spotting the noticeable bulge inside his jeans.In an instant, he imagined what it would be like, dropping to his knees and pressing his face against that bulge.Feeling it harden and grow.The dampness that would form in Luke’s underwear.Damn.Why does he have to be a fucking reporter?Especially when he was so hot.
“I’ve been burned by your type before,” he said, getting his mind out of Luke’s crotch, forcing himself to focus on his face.
A smile flickered across his mouth.“My type?”
“You know what I mean.Don’t tell me you haven’t screwed someone over in print because your story was more sensational that the truth.
He shook his head.“I’m interested in art and theatre, not celebrity gossip.I hope I can convince you of that in the coming days.”
Don’t crack.“We’ll see.If you can stay out of the way, that’s good enough for me.”
The rest of the team started to arrive, and Luke went over to introduce himself.Hudson wanted to believe he was genuine, mainly because he was so gorgeous, but he’d been badly burned by the press in the past.He wasn’t about to lower his guard for a hot piece of ass.
No matter how badly he’d like to get into that ass.
Chapter Four
“He Used to Be a Real Hottie”
Later that night, Hudson found himself outside The Viaduct, the sex bar close to his apartment building, wondering whether to go in.Working with Luke close by all day had got him into a state of sexual frustration, the likes of which he hadn’t known in a long time.He had caught Luke glancing in his direction more than once throughout the day, and hadn’t been imagining it—he recognised mutual attraction when it stared him in the face.But it was out of the question.Mixing business with pleasure was a disastrous idea, even more so when it involved a dalliance with the enemy.
He knew he was being uncharitable to think of Luke as the bad guy, but if that’s what it took to maintain a distance and put a damper on the juvenile lust he felt for him, then that’s the way it would stay.
Despite that, he was horny.
