Page 38 of He's The Reason Why

Her accent came through thick and heavy the longer she spoke. She cleared her throat.

“What the hell is a hot toddy?”

“Call me when you’re sick and I’ll make you one.” She looked down at the basket. It was almost empty. “It’s probably a Southern thing.”

Blake peered into the basket. “What’s the whiteboard for?”

“Oh.” She pulled it out, along with the dry erase markers and the miniature eraser. “This is so you can write what you want tosay instead of talk. Vocal rest is the absolute best thing to do when you’ve pushed it too far.” She handed the board and a marker to him.

He took them, then barked out a laugh. “I’m not doing that.”

“Why not?”

“Talking is literally what I’m paid to do.” He set the board down in the basket and dropped the marker on top of it.

“You’re not going to take the time to let your throat heal?” A little of the resentment she’d felt yesterday resurfaced. “Does your next super-important project require you to speak? Or are you going to pantomime everything?”

“The apology was going so well until just then.” Blake carried a box of throat lozenges over to the couch and sat down.

“Excuse me?” Piper stalked over to the middle of the living room and stood between him and the TV.

“You’re obviously feeling guilty.” Blake gestured at the items now scattered all over the table. “So you came over here to tell me how sorry you are.”

Shehadbeen feeling guilty. Until he’d said that. “I’m not sorry. I’m concerned that your slap-happy attitude is going to ruin this movie.”

“My…what?” He looked up at her, rolled the lozenge around on his tongue.

Why was this man so infuriatingly annoying? “Look, do you know how to sing or not? Because I was under the assumption that someone who was cast in a musical movie would know how to sing. Was I wrong?”

“Of course I can sing. What do you think we’ve been doing all week?” He flung the box of throat drops onto the coffee table.

“I didn’t ask if you could sing like you’re in a karaoke bar. I asked if you knewhowto sing.”

“Hey, my karaoke skills are legendary.” He leaned to the right. “Can you shift to the left a little? I can’t see the game.”

She stared at him. Her fear was confirmed in the shifty way he kept avoiding her gaze and the deliberately casual attitude. “You don’t know.”

“Know what?”

She closed her eyes and counted to ten. “You really don’t know how to sing.”

“Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?”

She opened her eyes to find Blake giving her the strangest look. It was part confusion, part defensive, with a whole lot of attitude.

She wanted to pick up the eucalyptus and hit him with it. When she was done with that, she wanted to ask Tamar just what the hell they were thinking, casting this…this…

Damn, his eyes smoldered when he argued. It wasn’t fair.

He raised an eyebrow at her and sat back with a negligent arm crooked over one of the sofa pillows. “Don’t tell me you lost your voice. Surely a professional like you wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Oh I have a voice. I’m just refusing to let you bait me into screaming at you like you deserve.” She gathered up every ounce of patience she had. “Why are you doing this movie?”

“I’m under contract.” He shrugged.

“But…why? You obviously hate music, and you’ve never done any singing professionally. You act like standing next to me in the studio is pure torture. So why do it? Why not move on to that great thing you have waiting for you?”

“I don’t hate music.” He clenched his jaw and shifted as if the couch had suddenly become uncomfortable. “I’m doing this project because I said I would. Period.”

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