Page 12 of He's The Reason Why

Piper held the last note of the opening song until she’d emptied all the air in her lungs, but she noticed Rachel Morris managed to make it a beat longer.

“Thank you!” Piper waved to the room full of professional actors and flashed what she hoped was a grateful-looking smile at her pretend sister.

Rachel wasn’t just talented, she was skilled in a way few other mortals could match. She’d honed her voice and her attitude to razor-sharp edges that left everyone around her walking barefoot on broken shards of glass.

“You were fantastic, Rachel.”

Rachel the Diva offered a self-deprecating dip of her head, then swept back to her seat.

Piper had spent a lifetime dealing with divas. If it were an Olympic sport, she would have twenty gold medals and counting. As long as Rachel felt important, rehearsals would run smoothly, but the second she suspected she wasn’t the center of attention, the claws and teeth and snotty comments came out.

Della was used to being the center of attention too, but Rachel demanded it where Della simply received it.

Piper had a brief vision of Rachel and Della singing together on stage. They’d probably vocally duel each other until someone’s head exploded.

After Rachel sailed past the cast without so much as a nod of acknowledgment, Piper stopped to squeeze hands and give her personal thanks to the group of lingering singers. They’d just made magic, and they’d done it together. It wouldn’t have sounded half as good without their backup and support, and they needed to know that their efforts were appreciated.

Everyone deserved to be acknowledged.

“Excellent!” Tamar shouted through cupped hands. “Do it exactly like that in the studio. Now let’s move on to the second scene.”

Piper drifted back to her seat with her heart thumping in her chest a lot harder than it should have been. She was high on the adrenaline of performing for so many big names in such a small setting. The connection to her audience had been intensely personal and a lot more immediate than she usually felt on stage. It was exhilarating and more than a little nerve-wracking.

She shouldn’t be this nervous. It was a simple five-minute song. She routinely did sets that lasted for hours, in front of thousands of people. Today, though, her audience included legends of the entertainment industry and Blake Freaking Ryan.

She still couldn’t believe she was sitting next to Hollywood’s Hottest Man. She swore the gravity in the room shifted every time he smiled. He was heads-turning, jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and he sat in the chair next to her like it was a normal, everyday thing.

Blake was the prom king and the football star, magnified a thousand times. People shouldn’t be allowed to walk around in public looking like that. And how was she supposed to focuswhen he smelled so good? That heady mix of woody musk and citrus made her want to bury her nose in his neck. It was distracting and completely unfair.

Piper found herself surreptitiously checking what he thought the entire time she was singing. They’d revoke her confident woman card, but she didn’t care. She really wanted to impress him, but for the first half of the song he just sat there looking stunned. She had no idea what to make of that. Maybe he hadn’t expected them to have a full show rehearsed?

He watched her walk back to her seat with his lips twisted into a disbelieving smile that implied he was impressed or maybe relieved by what he’d just heard.

Some of her performance high curdled in her stomach.

Blake golf clapped as she sat down. “Great job. You really held your own.”

She grew up in the Deep South. He might as well have added a bless-your-heart at the end of that sentence. What a condescending jerk!

Some of his prom king glow faded away.

What had he expected, that she’d fall flat on her face? Did he think because Della was always front and center that it meant she couldn’t sing? Annoyance prickled up the back of her neck.

Two could play the Southern insult game. “Thanks. Your opinion means the world to me.”

Blake blinked, then turned his attention to the script pages in front of him.

Tamar rang a loud bell several times. “Scene two, Douglas, please read.”

Douglas, a young man with a booming baritone and thick beard, read the stage directions as if they were a movie trailer. “Princess Jewel hears a loud bang, then a scream. She races to the door just in time to see the evil sorcerer Malignon scoop Elaine up into a flying machine. Elaine struggles, but he has a glowingdagger at her throat so she can’t get away. Princess Jewel rushes outside, afraid for her sister and angry at Malignon. It’s raining. The castle guards ready their weapons, but they don’t dare attack. It’s a standoff.”

Blake tapped the script in front of Piper. “You’re up, Princess.”

Piper flushed and turned her attention to the page she was supposed to be reading.

Right, her sister was being held captive by the evil sorcerer.

“Let my sister go!” She read the line with a lot more force than she’d intended.

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