Method Acting: An opposites attract, found family romance (Center Stage Book 2) Adele Buck (e novels to read .TXT) 📖

couldn’t decide if she was glad of the light waking her or disappointed. Her dream had been one of those vivid, hyper-real ones that sometimes played through her mind just before waking.

It had started with Colin opening her door for her and walking away, same as last night. But when she locked up and turned into her apartment, he had been inside. For some dream-logic reason, this had neither surprised nor alarmed her. Nor had she been thrown off when the scene shifted them to her bedroom, touching, kissing, undressing each other…

And then the sun had sent the whole thing dissolving into fragments of light and hard-edged reality.

Hard-edged reality that included a relentless, restless throb between her thighs. Removing the forearm from her eyes, she slid her hand down her naked body under the light sheet, fingers seeking to release the ache.

Her phone shrilled on the nightstand. Groaning, Alicia rolled to her belly, blowing up the hair that flopped into her eyes with an irritated puff of breath. She grabbed the ringing phone and unplugged it from the charging cable, looking at the screen to see who was calling. Swiping her thumb to answer, she flopped over and lay back against the pillow.

“Morning, Melissa.”

“Almost afternoon, Alicia.” Her agent’s voice crackled.

Alicia brought the phone back in front of her face to squint at the time and said, “Even for you, ten in the morning is not afternoon.”

“Fine, whatever.”

Alicia’s jaw clenched at the smoker’s rasp in Melissa’s voice. “Regardless of the time, what’s up?”

“Well, if you can get your sleepy ass in gear, I may have something big for you.”

Alicia sat up, the sheet spilling into her lap, fingers spearing back through her hair. “What is it?”

“Well, before I give you the details, how would you feel about staying down in D.C. for a while?”

Alicia, remembering her idle thoughts about how she enjoyed the city, smiled to herself. “Totally fine. I like it down here. What’s the gig?”

“Well, if you’re good with being that far from civilization…”

Alicia gritted her teeth. “I know. Everything west of Riverside Drive is wilderness to you. The gig?”

“Prestige cable series. Political. Those are all the rage nowadays, it seems. The role is an up and coming Congresswoman. ‘Buttoned up in the House Chamber, a tigress in the bedchamber.’ I’m reading from the casting sheet, in case you think I could possibly come up with anything that ridiculous.”

Scooting off the bed, Alicia raced to the closet, leafing through her clothes to find a conservative suit. “When’s the audition?”

“Today. Someone in the cast dropped out and they had to hold an emergency audition. You have a slot at 12:15. Can you do it?”

Alicia threw her clothes on the bed and raced to the bathroom to turn on the shower. “Just e-mail me the sides and the address. I’ll be there.”

A tap on his open office door arrested Colin’s attention from his computer screen. “Am I interrupting?” Brandon Oberst, one of his partners in the firm, stood in the doorway.

“Not at all.” Colin gestured to the pair of guest chairs in front of his desk. “How are the wedding arrangements progressing?”

Brandon sat and scrubbed a hand across his face. “To be honest, it’s a nightmare.”

“Mari’s mother?” Colin schooled his expression away from his natural inclination of “horrified” toward something more closely resembling “sympathetic.” Brandon’s fiancée Mari was sweet and geeky, but it had only taken Colin one instance of meeting her mother to decide the woman was a veritable harpy.

Brandon leaned back, the leather guest chair squeaking. “That’s about the size of it. And I can usually handle Nancy just fine. But this…it’s a whole other level of meddling. She’s involved in everything. We should have just eloped like her sister Ellie did. I think we’re getting the backlash because they sidestepped Nancy completely.”

Colin waved an airy hand. “So, just let her plan everything. Show up. Be the groom. Get married and go home and be happy with Mari.”

“You make it sound so easy. But Mari’s got opinions.” His expression grew pensive and he ran his fingers through his sandy brown hair. “Yet, with a limited application…the strategy could have merit.” Brandon’s eyes creased with humor. “But I didn’t come over to discuss my impending marital drama or my mother-in-law to be. How are things with the table for the USA Science Fair Gala? The assistant to Austen Software’s CEO called to ask. I think they’re worried about their sponsorship.”

“Full.” Jeanette had given him the good news earlier in the day that the firm’s table for the annual black-tie event celebrating extraordinary high school students’ achievements in science was sold out.

“If only we get such a response with the RSVPs for our wedding.” He paused, his face cautious. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, what with…everything that’s happened in the last few months, but…you have a date, right?”

Colin blinked. “A date?” He hadn’t even considered trying to get a date for his colleague’s wedding. He floundered, trying to remember when Brandon was getting married. Surely it wasn’t so soon? He couldn’t remember getting an invitation yet.

“For the gala.” Brandon looked at him with wry amusement. “A date. You know. A woman you bring with you. Or a man, but I didn’t think you swung that way.”

“Ah.” Colin smirked at nothing at all.

“Indeed.” Brandon rose to his feet. “Make sure your tux still fits. Looks like you’ve been hitting the gym.”

“Like you’re a stranger to the weight room.” Colin nodded at Brandon, who was thick with muscle.

“I’ve abandoned it for my real loves. Table placement and floral arrangements,” Brandon said with a wink as he walked out of Colin’s office. But for all of his joking, Brandon seemed relaxed and happy.

Colin couldn’t decide if he felt jealous or relieved that he wasn’t in Brandon’s shoes.

Alicia looked around the small, bleak waiting room and took stock of the competition. It looked to her like there was little consensus on what sort of look the production was going for.