Page 47 of He's The Reason Why

He laughed and held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, let’s try something different.”

Blake’s phone dinged. He checked it, then scowled.

“What’s going on?” Piper asked.

“We’re being invaded.” Blake walked away. “Be right back.”

He opened the front door but didn’t immediately move out of the way. “I told you we couldn’t do edits tonight. You do know how to read, right?”

Blake’s voice sounded relaxed, but he gripped the door like he wanted to shut it in the new arrival’s face.

“Come on, you didn’t really expect me to pass this up, did you?” a low, amused voice said. “Besides, I know how you get when you’re running lines. You’ve probably starved the girl half to death, unless she bolted in self-defense?”

Piper leaned over the edge of the couch to get a look at the speaker.

A dark-haired man in a sport coat and jeans stepped past Blake carrying a bag from Factor’s Famous Deli. “Oh good, you still have company.”

The man smiled at her, his eyes twinkling with delight. He was tall, with close-cropped hair and a George Clooney smile.

She knew that face. Every female on the planet knew that face.

Marshall Weston had just walked into Blake’s living room.

Piper blinked hard, twice. No, she wasn’t imagining things.

Blake had said his buddy Marshall was working onConnedwith him, but he hadn’t said it wastheMarshall.

TheMarshall Weston, who’d starred in her favorite show when she was a kid. The Marshall Weston who’d been on her bedroom wall with a red heart drawn around his face. She’d had such a huge crush on him.

Her heart was racing so fast and so hard it was actually going to leap right out of her chest.

“Hi.”

Hi? Did she really just breathe “Hi” at him like some love-sick idiot? She was going to die right here of lust and mortification.

She wasnota giddy teenage girl anymore. She would not act like one.

A helpless giggle escaped before she could stop it. “You’re Marshall Weston.”

Apparently, that teenage girl wasn’t as far behind her as she liked to think.

Marshall set the bag down on a nearby table and crossed the space between them.

He took her hand in both of his, and it was more of a caress than a handshake. “And you’re Piper Bellamy. I am absolutelydelighted to meet you. Shame on Blake for keeping you all to himself like this.”

“Shame on Blake for not telling the guards to keep you out,” Blake muttered.

Piper squeezed his hand. “I’m…wow. Marshall Weston. It’s really,reallynice to meet you.”

Marshall grinned. “It’s really,reallynice to finally meet you too. I’m a huge,hugefan.”

“Me too.”

She couldn’t take her eyes off his. They were a mesmerizing, playful, evocative, sultry brown with hints of gold. He was everything she thought he’d be, and everything her teenage self had wanted in a man.

She’d met musicians all over the world, but she’d never felt as girlishly giddy as she did right now.

“Are you going to stop feeling up her fingers any time soon?” Blake asked.

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