Method Acting: An opposites attract, found family romance (Center Stage Book 2) by Adele Buck (web based ebook reader txt) 📕

cheekbones. Her eyes looked a bit tired and hollow, and her makeup seemed…not her somehow. Too formal, too glossy for the casual shirt and skirt she was wearing.

The TV show. Of course. That explained the strange makeup and new smell to her hair. She must have just come home from work where others would have done her face and her hair.

“How have you been?” His voice was practically a croak.

Her lips pressed together, and her chin trembled. “Awful. You?”

“Wretched. Rubbish.”

“Is that British for awful?” A slight smile quivered on her lips, but her eyes were shiny with unshed tears.

“It’s British for worse than awful,” he rasped.

“Oh.” Her voice was very small, and a tear trickled from one eye. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to the droplet, the taste of the salt making him want to weep as well.

“Don’t cry, darling.”

“Saying that just guarantees I’ll cry.” Her mouth went square, and her eyelids squeezed together.

He pulled her against his chest and held her there as she began to sob. “Shh.” Stroking his hand up and down her back, he said whatever soothing nonsense he could think of.

“I’m ruining your tie,” she mumbled against his chest.

“It doesn’t matter. Use it to blow your nose for all I care.”

This produced a watery chuckle, and Colin pressed her more tightly to his chest for a moment before releasing her, using his tie to wipe at her tear-stained face until she laughed weakly and batted him away. Looking at the ruined length of silk he shrugged and pulled it off, dropping it onto her coffee table as Alicia composed herself, running her fingers under her eyelids to wipe away the smeared makeup. Her face looked more normal, more her without it.

Glancing back down at the table, he saw the letter he had sent. A rushing surge of emotion swelled in his chest as he remembered the laborious drafts he had gone through, peeling away layers of caution and reserve until he had the essence of his feelings for her and his hopes for them both distilled to a single page.

Wiping her eyes again with careful fingertips, Alicia felt exhaustion overtake her. It had been a long day and a very long time since she had been this emotional.

“Are you all right? When was the last time you ate?” Colin’s eyes were shadowed with concern.

“Do I look that bad?” Her voice scraped, her throat swollen from crying.

“No, you look beautiful. Just a bit peaky. Are you…eating properly?”

Alicia’s breath caught a bit, remembering their last argument. How it had all started with him asking her what she wanted to eat, her disclosure that she had the upcoming nude scene. His expression told her he remembered too.

“It got cancelled, you know. The nude scene.” Her jaw set slightly as she blurted the information and watched his face for a reaction.

His eyebrows lifted. “Ah. Is that a good thing for you?”

She nodded, her chin jerking. “Yes. I didn’t really want to do it, and definitely didn’t think it was necessary, but didn’t think I had a choice. But the director is a woman. She didn’t want it either and fought to have it taken out.”

“Isn’t the director the boss? Doesn’t she get to say whether something stays or goes?”

Alicia chuckled at his naïveté. “You have a lot to learn about the TV and movie business.”

Fine lines fanned from the corners of his eyes as he smiled at her. “I’m sure I do. Are you willing to teach me?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now can I take you out to dinner? I’m starving.” He ran his hand over his now closely-cropped hair, and Alicia felt a pang of loss for the shaggier locks she had loved to run her fingers through.

“In a minute. There’s another thing. Gracie got in touch with me.”

His expression went from puzzlement to enlightenment as he remembered. “Your sister. What did she say?”

“I don’t know yet. She contacted my agent, asked Melissa to pass along her contact info, to tell me that she got out. I guess she got away from our family. I haven’t called her yet.”

“Why not?”

Alicia laid a hand across her fluttering stomach. “Because I had just gotten your letter and I knew there was nobody else in the world I wanted to tell. There’s nobody else who knows what this means to me.”

His beautiful lips curved in the tiniest smile. “You have no idea how honored I am to hear you say that. But it doesn’t explain why you haven’t called her.”

Alicia swallowed. “I’m scared of what she might say.”

“Why are you frightened?” he asked, stepping toward her and running his large, warm hands up and down her bare arms. Paradoxically, the contact made her shiver.

“What if she hates me?”

“Why would she hate you?” Concern and tenderness shone out of his eyes as he looked at her.

“Because I ran. I left her behind.”

“It sounds like she ran too. I would guess she has more empathy for you than you can guess.”

“Maybe.”

“Call her. Then I’m taking you to dinner. Then I’m shagging you silly. How does that sound?” Colin’s pupils had expanded so only the barest sliver of deep brown iris was visible.

A zing of heat flared through Alicia. “That sounds just perfect.”

Colin traced Alicia’s lower lip with his index finger. “Do you want me to go somewhere while you call your sister? If we decide on a restaurant I could go first and you could meet me.” The last thing he wanted to do just now was let her out of his sight, but he knew offering her privacy to make the call was the right thing to do.

“No. I want you here. I’m…not sure I can face this on my own.” She picked up her phone from the coffee table and looked at the black, blank screen.

“You don’t have to. If I have my way, you’re done facing things on your own.”

Her eyes flicked up to his, uncertain and slightly wary.

“But you get to choose,” he said, his voice low