Page 121 of He's The Reason Why

“Rachel will be so pissed if I do this.”

“Rachel’s never, ever getting this part. I don’t want her. I want you.”

Why did she get the feeling he was offering more than just a movie role with that statement?

“You don’t have to answer tonight,” Blake said gently. “Just think about it, okay?”

“Yes.” The word popped out before she could even think about how she felt.

He stilled. “Yes as in you’ll think about it? Or yes as in…yes?”

“Yes. I’ll do it.” She’d been smiling so much today her face hurt. She massaged her cheeks but couldn’t keep her happiness from showing.

“Yes!” He punched the air. “Yes. Fantastic. Thank you. You are the sexiest, most perfect girl next door I’ve ever seen and you’re mine. Yes!”

She laughed. “You know this means I’ll need more acting lessons, right?”

Blake leaned forward slightly, as if he were trying to touch her through the phone, and grinned. “Merry Christmas to me.”

Something he’d said tickled her memory, and she held up a finger. “Wait a second. You said you didn’t want me to take this the wrong way. What other way could I have taken it?”

He cleared his throat and looked a little sheepish. “I thought it might look like a casting couch situation. It isn’t. At all.”

She considered that. “You’re right. There’s no way they don’t make that connection, even if nothing else happens between us.”

“Plus,” Blake said, “it’s not a great idea to get involved with a costar. It’s one of my rules, actually.”

She thought about their first night together, and the second, and snorted. “You suck at following rules.”

“So do you,” he countered. “You flirted nonstop with me the entire time we were in the studio. How am I supposed to stick to my principles when you’re looking at me like that?”

“I’m looking at you because I’m talking to you.”

“Exactly.”

His eyes burned her through the phone screen. It felt like he was a million miles away and right next to her at the same time. She wanted him so much her body ached with it.

She shouldn’t have to choose between a life-altering career opportunity or being with someone who made her feel so seen. “Dammit. Why should it matter what we do in our personal time? So what if we met at work? Lots of people meet at work.”

“My mom thinks it could actually be great publicity for the movie. She told me to embrace the mess, and she should know. Her relationship with my dad was total chaos.”

The way he said relationship implied a lot more than just a random night of sex. The idea settled around her, all cozy and comfortable. “I guess I can see how it could look bad if people knew we were…do you think if I say yes, we have to stop…I mean, not that we were seeing each other, not exactly. Oh my God, I’m babbling.”

“Yes, you are.” His lips twitched. “It’s adorable.”

“Maybe I should say no.” She was teasing, but the uncertain look that passed through his eyes made her drop that. “Just so youwouldn’t have to chance a conflict of interest. Because I plan on seeing you naked afterScorchedpremieres. Often.”

“As long as I get to seeyounaked too. But that’s not part of the job offer. This isn’t a quid pro quo.”

“Right.” She snuggled her feet up under her. “We keep personal interests completely out of this.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“Hear me out.” She held up a finger to stop further protests. “At work, treat me just like everyone else. Don’t go easy on me. Don’t give me a free pass. I want to do right by you and this film, okay? The other stuff we might get up to on the side is completely separate and private. Deal?”

“I can live with that as long as thereisother stuff. What’s the penalty if we don’t stick to that?”

“The first to break…let me think.” She pretended to ponder, but she already knew what she wanted her penalty to be. “First to break has to spend a week naked, the plaything for the one who didn’t.”

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