Backstage Romance: An Austen-Inspired Romantic Comedy Box Set by Gigi Blume (ebook reader with highlighter txt) 📕

hashing up my past while eating a Reuben in the theatre parking lot. My reaction gave her pause, so she did her best to drop the subject, but not before sneaking in one more thing.

“I didn’t want to bring up your ex, but you’re not letting it go. All I’m saying is don’t let your bad experience ruin your opinion of all Hollywood types.”

Her advice made a lot of sense in theory. But in practice, it was a disaster waiting to happen. Why should Will Darcy be any different than all the rest of the Hollywood slime balls I’d encountered? And I was the lucky girl who had to dance with him.

I didn’t know why Colin decided lifts were the best choice to choreograph right after lunch, but the Reuben sandwich and fries sitting cozily in my belly might have made a good argument against it. After reviewing the moves from the morning session in which pirates chased the Stanley sisters all over the stage, Colin paired each of the girls with their mate. The pirates would capture all the sisters and have their pirate ways with us until the appearance of Major General Stanley. This whole encounter consisted of only ninety seconds of the song, but Colin wasn’t one for simplicity. Oh no. The sequence consisted of a series of complicated lifts, flips, and an array of acrobatic aerials. Once the vignettes were established, he had each couple or small group work independently.

He took Will and me into the lobby and said, “Have I got something special for you.”

He clapped his hands together, actually expecting we’d be as excited as he was, and he explained our choreography.

“Beth, you will run stage right--away from a group of pirates where Will is waiting to catch you. Now, Will, stretch out your arm and catch Beth.”

I swallowed my pride and ran into Will as instructed. He reached for my hips to stop me, and the skin of his hands seared through my spandex pants. We immediately recoiled from one another.

“No, no, no.” Colin waved his arms wildly. “Catch her, dip her, and then kiss her.”

Oh, the things we do to entertain the masses.

My eyes locked onto Will’s. We were sharing the same thought. Dread. I took a fortifying breath and ran into him once more. He caught me, dipped me…and held me there for a long, uncomfortable moment, staring into my face. He held me there so long, I started to get a cramp in my side.

“Kiss her.”

Will and I turned our heads toward Colin at the same time. Did we really need to practice the kiss? It was only a choreography rehearsal. Right?

The cramp in my side jabbed with more force, and I jerked my body in the most ungraceful way imaginable, falling onto Will’s shoes. Colin turned his eyes to the ceiling and huffed.

“Again. Do it right this time.”

Sheesh. Did the term learning curve mean anything to this guy? I picked myself off the floor and repeated the sequence again. Will’s hands were strong and sure as he caught me. They were of such an impressive size, they almost wrapped completely around my waist. His thumbs grazed unintentionally along the skin where my t-shirt met my yoga pants. The sensation sent a shockwave through my veins. I was acutely aware of each nuance of his touch, and I hoped and prayed he didn’t notice. Somehow, the rational part of my brain no longer sent signals to the rest of my traitorous body. The fact he was undeniably gorgeous momentarily shut down every ounce of logic I possessed. It was a natural reaction. One I expediently shoved down. I wasn’t some randy animal, after all.

He faltered in the dip for just one moment. It was hardly perceptible, and most likely we were the only ones who noticed, but it was there. A slight hesitation. Because we both knew what was next. When his lips pressed onto mine, my heart galloped unwittingly. His lips were soft and warm, and the stubble of his afternoon shadow grazed against my skin. In that miniscule moment, our eyes met, and I could almost guarantee he looked horrified.

Was it the sauerkraut in my Reuben?

Colin clapped his hands to hurry us along. “Now throw her over your shoulder.” Will and I were both so flustered, we dumbly went along with it. He picked me up like I weighed nothing at all and perched me over his shoulder. The next bit was more complicated. It was basically an acrobatic lift in which I ended up suspended over his head.

My job was to keep my body (and core) very stiff, otherwise we’d both topple over. Needless to say, we toppled over quite a few times. To compound the difficulty, all this was to be done while singing the lovely operatic score by Gilbert and Sullivan. My sandwich tumbled resentfully in my stomach.

When Colin left us to practice the dance on our own, Charlotte’s words rang in my memory like a Bieber song on repeat. Make the most of the opportunity. Be nice to the guy. Don’t burn the Frau Schmidt bridge. I didn’t want to talk to him. I didn’t even want to be in the same room with him. I was at first resolved to speak as little as possible and get the Von Trapp out of there, but the little devil in me thought it might aggravate him all the more if I coaxed him into conversation. It was one way to let him know I was aware of his dirty games with Jorge. I thought it best to begin with a benign subject and work my way from there, and so, I made a cheeky observation about the choreography. He made a short reply, not giving me a hint to whether he agreed with me or not and then fell into a lengthy silence. He was incorrigible.

“It’s your turn to talk now,” I said after I fell on the floor for the twentieth time. “Care to