Page 17 of Play Room Actor

Noé snickered. “Talk to him. He’ll be thrilled. He looks nice.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’d love it if you talked to him.”

“Just smile. That usually works wonders.” Noé gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder before disappearing into the crowd.

There were moments when I wished I could be in one of my “moods,” and right now, I wouldn’t mind a bit of exaggerated self-confidence. That was when I felt invincible and knew I could handle anything.

Still, I set my cup aside and walked over to Dominic. On my way to him, I grabbed two glasses of water from a tray since his glass was already empty.

“Hey! Nice to see you here!” I said, offering him one of the glasses.

He gaped at me, completely dumbfounded. His mouth hung open, and he didn’t say a word. Then he swallowed, and like a switch had been flipped, his expression changed. I smirked, amused by how easily he fell into a role. Funny, though, he didn’t seem to know what role to play, because as I handed him the glass and placed my hand on his shoulder, the mask slipped right off.

“Did Karl tell you where to find me today?” I teased with a slightly mocking tone. “Or what brings me the honor?”

“The honor?” he asked, pushing my hand off his shoulder. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m on the list.”

He squinted, slightly irritated. “Anyone can get in here.”

“This list,” I said, pulling a flyer from my jacket pocket.

Dominic stared at the paper, swallowing. He was clearly at a loss for words. I couldn’t tell if it was for good or bad reasons.

“Then you’re Kilian?” asked the brown-haired guy in the suit next to me.

“Yeah, uh …”

“Hector,” the man said, shaking my hand—thankfully just briefly. “Looking forward to what you’ll show us later.”

“Oh, you’ll love it,” I assured him calmly.

Hector laughed, and that’s when I noticed the blond guy was staring at me.

Is that Dominic’s boyfriend? I knew he was into guys, but that one?

The silence between us got Dominic moving again.

“Oh, sorry. This is …” He cleared his throat and took a sip from the water I’d brought him. “My roommate, Nico. And, his boyfriend, Hector, you’ve already met …”

The roommate. I smiled at Nico, pleased. I can live with that.

“Nice to meet you,” Nico said, eyeing me like I was the new guy in the house. “And you two …?”

“We work together,” I said, nudging Dominic with my shoulder. “Right?”

“Yeah,” he answered quietly, taking another sip. As if just realizing I’d brought him water, he searched around for a catering staff member walking by with a tray of drinks. When he found one, he traded his glass for some white wine. I couldn’t help but grin when he took a large gulp. Nico, though, raised an eyebrow, confused. Or was he worried?

Whatever. I felt relieved when he left us alone and headed over to the blue painting featuring the goat, with Hector in tow.

“I don’t know what your problem is. It’s not such a big deal that we’re meeting here. You’re acting like it’s the worst coincidence ever.”

“Sorry,” he said in such a calm tone that I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

His vibe had shifted. He wasn’t fully relaxed, but some of the tension had left his muscles.

“Whoa!” I stepped back in surprise. “What did you do to Dominic? Where did he go? He would never just smile at me like that.”