Blake did his best to be a supportive boyfriend, but the way Rami seemed to avoid the topic of sex in his e-mails put Felix into gloomy moods regardless of how much affection Blake showed him. The only cure would be if Rami agreed to a night or two of casual sex. Even if that happened, there was the question of what Felix and Rami would become to each other. That fed the sliver of jealousy in Blake’s heart.

Rami spent a day hanging around L.A. with his brother, and the day after he met up with Felix and Blake for brunch. Blake picked a table inside the restaurant by a quiet corner. The conversation he anticipated was best kept amongst themselves. It was a Monday, so the midday crowd wasn’t exactly flooding the place, but it only took one nosy person to complain to the manager and possibly have them removed, or to recognize Felix and start harassing him.

The amusing thing in all this was that Felix calmed himself by using the same meditative breathing technique that helped him last through long shoots without cumming too early. Blake chuckled and murmured, “Remember, no pressure. You don’t have a dozen crew members watching you, or any cameras to please. Relax, be yourself, and if yourself is a doofus, well, I’ll still love you.”

That put a smile on Felix’s face. However, it wasn’t as wide as the one he had when Rami finally walked in the door. Rami scratched at his short black hair while he checked his phone, no doubt confirming he was in the right place. Felix waved to get his attention. He took Blake’s hand and whispered, “I’m gonna be okay?”

“Yeah,” Blake whispered back. “He’s just a hot guy; you work with plenty of those.”

Rami came over and shyly introduced himself. “Felix?” he asked.

“That’s me!”

“And Blake?”

Blake nodded. “Nice to finally meet you. Have a seat. We didn’t order yet.”

Rami wavered between the seat next to Felix and the one next to Blake. He chose the one next to Blake, opposite from Felix. “Cool, I’m famished. What’s good here?”

“They make good stuffed French toast,” Felix said, speaking a bit faster than he normally did. “The eggs are good, too. They can make them, like, seven different ways. And they’ve got good brunch appetizers, like biscuits and hash browns and doughnuts. The doughnuts are good. So ... yeah, there’s, um, a lot of good things here.”

As much as Blake didn’t want to damage Felix’s confidence, he found himself quietly chuckling at his boyfriend’s behavior. He noticed the slight crease of worry in Rami’s face. “Sorry,” Blake said. “Honey, I’m about to embarrass you a little, but I haven’t seen him this nervous since he did his first scene with Nadja Vixen.”

Felix smiled sheepishly. “She was my favorite actress at Wild Card. Now it’s all backwards. I’m the porn star and I’m still the one who’s nervous.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I kinda feel like I’m gonna puke,” Rami said. His eyes grew wide. “Not like that! I mean, my stomach’s all in knots, even though it keeps growling for food. So ... maybe I’ll stick with something light, and maybe a glass of fruit juice.”

“Sounds good,” Blake said. He gestured to the waitress who had given them their menus and she came around a moment later to take their orders.

The three of them dodged around the elephant in the room until well after their food had arrived. They talked about what it was like in New Mexico, what it was like in California, who Rami met at the premiere, anecdotes from Blake’s and Felix’s relationship, anything except the offer Felix had made. Blake didn’t know if it would be best to bring it up and get it over with or wait until Rami was comfortable. At least Felix had calmed down a bit. He was usually a composed guy, but every now and then he worked himself into a frenzy over making good impressions. Blake was thankful that they had first met when he almost ran Felix over with his car.

Halfway into his poached eggs and biscuits, Rami finally dove into the most important question. “So ... about ... what you asked ... um ... why ask me?"