Page 40 of He's The Reason Why

“You’re not weak. You have a great voice that you’re not using. That’s what’s so damn frustrating.”

He wouldn’t meet her gaze, and for the first time, she noticed something underneath all the charisma and bravado on his face. Something like embarrassment or shame. That flash of honesty undid the knot of frustration and angst that had weighed her down ever since they left the studio yesterday.

She sat down gingerly on the edge of one of the chairs. Paper crinkled under her in protest. “Can we pretend the last week didn’t happen and start over? This time, without all the shouting?”

“Sure.” He looked a little relieved by her suggestion. “If there’ssomething I’m not doing right, you’re going to have to tell me how to fix it. Break it down into steps. Assume I know nothing.”

“That won’t be hard.” She bit her lip. He was finally being honest with her. The least she could do was meet him halfway. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

He waved off her comment. “If you tell me what I can do to get better, I’ll do it. But I’m one thousand percent committed toScorched,andI don’t half-ass anything. I’ll keep trying until I get it right.”

“I guess we’re stuck with each other because I’m not the type to bail on a project either, but I know I have a lot to learn. How about I teach you how to sing, and you teach me how to act. Deal?”

The challenge flashed through his eyes. “Deal.”

She held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Piper Bellamy, and I’m your new vocal coach.”

“I’m Blake Ryan, and I’m your drama guy.” He squeezed her hand, and something conspiratorial passed between them.

“Okay. Good.” She nodded and stepped back. “You need to rest your voice. We can start fresh on Tuesday. Um, good luck with all this.”

Blake walked her to the door and watched her get into the car. She felt his gaze on her all the way down the driveway.

She could get lost in those stormy blue eyes.

Chapter Eight

Aweek filled with coaching sessions and do-overs later, Blake felt a sense of triumph as Piper finally declared their song acceptable. A few days after that, he crowded into the control room along with the entire main cast ofScorchedto watch his animated alter ego strut through an imaginary forest with Princess Jewel.

When his character hit the high notes, excitement tickled the pit of his stomach the way it always did when something landed exactly right.

Gina bumped his shoulder. “This is absolutely delightful. I didn’t know you had that in you.”

“Neither did I,” Blake whispered back.

Paul waved an anxious hand in their direction. “Shush, shush…this is the best part.”

On screen, Jesse swung from a tree branch and landed in front of Princess Jewel, proud and totally full of himself as he sang the last lines of the song, the ones Blake used to belt out as loud as he could. The same ones that had injured his vocal cords.

Once Piper taught him how to breathe from his diaphragm and support the note, he hadn’t had to shout.

“Well done! This is exactly what I hoped for,” Tamar said. She hugged Piper, then Blake. “You two are a perfect match. I knew you would be.”

“It’s really coming together,” Paul gushed as he grabbed Blake’s hand and shook it. Today, he was wearing a dark-blue shirt with bright-yellow pineapples all over it. “There’s a few places where the animation needs to be tuned but that’s neither here nor there. It’s going to be insane when it’s done. How did you do it? The first takes were nowhere near this perfect. Was there some sort of magic potion, or perhaps something more fun?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Blake knew what Paul was implying. It wasn’t unusual for two leads in a romantic movie to wind up in bed together, either because they were genuinely attracted to each other or simply for the sake of onscreen character chemistry. But this was an animated movie.

“I learned how to breathe,” Blake said.

Paul looked confused. “You mean you weren’t breathing before?”

Gina patted Paul on the back. “It’s a singer thing, Paul. Don’t worry about it. What Blake is saying is that he had an excellent vocal coach.”

She winked at Piper.

Piper looked like a kid on Christmas morning. “This is so cool.”

He couldn’t stop his answering smile. “It’s really coming together.”

---