Page 153 of He's The Reason Why

She’d said there was no way a woman would kiss his character in this situation.

Time to find out if she’d been right.

He took his place next to the bar. His insides were a jumbled mess of anxiety and eagerness, but hopefully it didn’t show on the outside. He channeled his character’s inner calm and waited for the leading lady to arrive.

Heads turned as Piper walked in. She’d changed into jeans, a white lace crop top, and boots that made her look at home in a setting like this. Her hair billowed around her as she crossed the room like a country singer in a music video. He thought he heard one of the extras whistle, but it might have been his imagination.

She stopped exactly on her mark, which put her about a foot away from him.

“Ready, kids?” Marshall asked. He took his mark by the pool table and picked up a cue.

“Places,” Wally shouted.

Extras moved silently into place. Some went to the pool table, others sat in the booths, and a few climbed up onto barstools. They smiled and pretended to be having conversations, but no sounds emerged from their lips. Background noise would be shot separately and added later so they could be sure to catch the main dialogue.

“The girl next door to me growing up never looked this good,” Blake said as he gave her an appreciative once-over.

It wasn’t the line he was supposed to say. It wasn’t even the line he’d rewritten. But it was exactly what he thought.

Piper glanced down at the outfit. “Thanks, I guess. You picked it, right?”

“Every guy in this place wants to take you home tonight. Probably some of the girls too.” He kept his gaze locked on her. “But I’m hoping you turn them all down. I’m hoping you’ll come home with me.”

She stilled, her body tensing as she tried to figure out what was going on.

Marshall hit a pretend shot and didn’t look in their direction, though Blake knew he was listening to every word.

The extras had no clue anything was different. The scene was going exactly as it should have been, as far as they knew.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

The line could have worked for his character, but he meant it for himself.

“Yes.” She sounded a little unsure, but like their sessions in the living room, she was trying to go with the yes and format. “I…I needed time to think, and it’s hard to do that around you.”

“Why?” Blake asked.

“You know why. Are you…is this live?” Piper looked around at the cameras. “Are we recording? I didn’t hear him say action.”

Blake grimaced. “Always assume someone is recording. I learned that lesson the hard way.”

“What is this?” She crossed her arms. “Is this some kind of game?”

“This is me trying to apologize to the most beautiful, stubborn, amazingly talented woman I’ve ever met.” Blake gazed intently into her chestnut eyes and said the words he’d been trying to say ever since that awful night. “I’m sorry. I never should have said those things. I should have walked away.”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Okay. Why didn’t you?”

“I was in a bad mood.” He winced because it sounded so lame, like a bad excuse, but pushed on. “She baited me, and I was too wound up in my own crap to notice until it was too late. But what I said…it wasn’t about you, and none of it was true. You need to know that.”

“Oh it was true.” She looked like she was going to keep arguing, so he put a hand on her arm to stop her.

“No. It wasn’t. I was talking complete bullshit about someone I didn’t even know. I figured out by the end of that first day how amazing you are and how wrong I was. You’re the best singer I’ve ever heard. You’re an amazing performer, and you’re one hell of an actress. Then you helped me with this.” He gestured to the cameras and the room behind him. “If the movie is a success, it’s because you invested your time and money in it despite the fact that I was being a stubborn ass.”

Piper crossed her arms over her stomach in a self-hug. “I shouldn’t have gone behind your back like that. I should have told you up front.”

His lips twitched. “You did. I just wasn’t listening.”

“But now you are? Why? What changed?”

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