An epic motion picture! A gay Napoleonic War love story! Ballrooms and battles at sea! Romantic happy endings on the silver screen! And a film that’ll change everything for its stars ... Jason Mirelli can’t play adrenaline-fueled action heroes forever. He’s getting older, plus the action star parts have grown a little thinner since he came out as bisexual. This role could finally let him be seen as a serious dramatic actor, and he needs it to go well -- for his career, and because he’s fallen in love with the story and the chance to tell it. The first problem? He’ll be playing a ship’s captain ... and he hasn’t exactly mentioned his fear of water. The second problem? His co-star: award-winning, overly talkative, annoyingly adorable -- and openly gay – box office idol Colby Kent. Colby’s always loved the novel this film’s based on, and he leapt at the chance to adapt it, now that he has the money and reputation to make it happen. But scars and secrets from his past make filming a love story difficult ... until Jason takes his hand and wakes up all his buried desires. Jason could be everything Colby’s ever wanted: generous and kind, a fantastic partner on set, not to mention those heroic muscles. But Colby just can’t take that chance ... or can he? As their characters fall in love and fight a war, Colby and Jason find themselves falling, too ... and facing the return of their own past demons. But together they just might win ... and write their own love story.

Seaworthy

A bit of earlier wobbliness came back to punch him in the gut. Maybe he hadn’t been—maybe Jason wasn’t feeling up to this after all—maybe Colby’s silly late-night idea hadn’t been good enough to make any sort of difference, and perhaps he shouldn’t try, perhaps he should go back to his hotel room and not impose himself on anyone—


Perhaps he should not be near anyone in any case, after a morning swamped by handshakes and interview questions and polite teasing jokes about why he’d had to cancel last time, which he couldn’t answer, but he’d tried, he’d acted like someone who could get through an interview and unfamiliar hands doing makeup and prep work without his skin crawling—


He’d acted like the old Colby Kent. As much as he could. Performing.


Fake. As Jason had also accurately said, once before.


He’d stopped walking. Standing in place under overhead beams and rigging. Boots immobile on the floor.


Chapter 48