Page 46 of He's The Reason Why

“Is it just me, or was Tamar being a bit of a pain today?” Rachel asked. She’d crept up next to his left elbow and now hovered like a queen bee. “She didn’t seem happy with something. Poor Piper.”

He made a noncommittal noise while he watched Tamar and Piper walk out the door, deep in discussion about something.

“I can’t believe we haven’t moved on to the next scene yet. This movie is already so far behind,” Rachel commented. “But it’s certainly not your fault. You make a perfect Jesse.”

“Thanks. I like what you did with Elaine.” His reply was automatic.

What was Tamar telling Piper? She’d improved a ton since the read-through, no question, but today hadn’t been great. Piper had seemed distracted by something ever since the first bathroom break.

Rachel touched his arm, and he turned to give her his full attention.

“Join me for dinner?” Rachel cocked her head sideways in a gesture that meant she had no intention of eating.

This was aboutConned. She sniffed big-budget productions better than a bloodhound, and she probably thought she had an easy in.

Not a chance in hell. No way. Not happening.

He put on his best Hollywood smile. “Sorry, I can’t. I’m running lines with Piper tonight.”

Anger flashed through Rachel’s eyes. She smothered it withanother too-sweet smile. “That’s so sweet of you. I can see how much she needs the help. I’m sure she’s grateful for anything you can give her.”

She trailed her hand along his back as she left. “Another time. See you later.”

It was meant to be a romantic gesture, but it felt more like a spider sizing up an after-dinner snack. Blake had to control a shudder as he watched her saunter out the door.

Piper was doing so well, but they’d spent too much time on his singing and not nearly enough time on her acting, and it showed.

Running lines with her was a good idea.

He sent a quick text to Marshall.Can’t do edits tonight. Running lines with Piper.

Now, all he had to do was let Piper know before Rachel spilled those beans.

Chapter Nine

Piper glared at Blake with all the venom she could muster, considering it was eight thirty at night and they’d been rehearsing for four hours, on top of spending all day in the studio.

“What was wrongthattime?” she demanded as she stomped out of the office.

“Nothing, if you were trying to portray a nervous fifty-year-old virgin,” Blake said. “If you were trying to be a young princess about to hook up with an attractive, funny, slightly annoying, definitely-in-the-way prince, then, well…”

He shrugged.

“Idon’tsound like a fifty-year-old,” she grumbled. “You’re just doing this to mess with me.”

“No more than you messed with me,” Blake said. He sounded sincere, but there was a twinkle in his eyes, and his lips did a quarter smile thing that meant he was suppressing a laugh.

“Jerk.” She’d learned over the past few weeks that while his pretend emotions were easily visible for the camera, his real ones were a lot more subtle and harder to read.

No matter how many times he patiently went over Acting 101 with her, she couldn’t seem to fall into character the way he did. The worst part was she was pretty sure it was the student, not the teacher, at fault.

He made it all look so easy. One second he was Blake Ryan, the next he was Jesse, with no visible transition between the two. She could tell when he’d flipped the switch, though. Blake was the cool kid. Jesse was the bad boy.

“I swear there’s something you aren’t telling me. Like a recipe, you know? Grandma’s meatballs, which she swore was in the family cookbook, but when we made them according to her recipe, they never tasted the same. She left out an ingredient and nobody will ever know what it was and I swear she did it on purpose.”

“Am I supposed to be Grandma in that scenario?” He furrowed his forehead. “Nobody’s ever called me Grandma before. That’s a new one.”

“You’re leaving out an ingredient. Fork it over.” Piper put her hands on her hips.

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