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

have to give one of the awards this evening. Why don’t you go home and send the driver back here to wait for me? I’ll take you downstairs.”

When the Lloyd-Hudsons were out of earshot, Alicia said, “I can’t believe you guys did that.”

Colin picked up his drink again and took a slug. “I’ve never liked her,” he said.

“Me neither,” Mari said, lifting her wineglass. “Anyway, the Lloyd-Hudsons were seated at our table and now at least we don’t have to spend the rest of the evening with her. Ding dong, the witch is dead.”

Chapter 9

Standing under the hotel’s portico as they waited for the car to arrive, Alicia looked at Colin from under her lashes and considered her whipsawing impressions of him.

First, she had noticed that he was handsome.

Second, she decided he was an asshole.

Then, she found him intriguing.

Tonight, she had learned that he could be kind. His attentiveness to the kids, his defense of her…

This new realization made her feel dangerously tender toward him. He seemed unaware of her scrutiny, eyes scanning the street for the town car’s approach, but his hand found hers and held it, threading his fingers through her own. The gesture, so casual and yet somehow so intimate, sent a flush of pleasure through her.

“So,” he said. “You mentioned in your e-mail that you thought you owed me?”

Her stomach fluttered with nerves. “Yes.”

He looked at her when she didn’t elaborate. “Am I ever to know how I served you, fair lady?”

She bit her lip, uncertain of how he would react. Would he feel used? Would he think it was funny? “You really want to know?”

His expression was enigmatic. “Why do I feel like I was the unwitting dupe in a bank heist?”

Alicia suppressed a laugh. “Nothing that bad. You were half of my secret weapon when I auditioned for the role I just got.”

He turned to look at her more fully. “Oh really? And how do I qualify as a secret weapon, since I wasn’t there?”

She paused. Considered. Sighed. “The audition scene was my character bantering with a lobbyist. The scene had to be both buttoned-up and sexy at the same time. I envisioned you in the role of the lobbyist.”

Both his eyebrows went up. “And that helped?”

Alicia couldn’t repress the broadening of her smile. “Oh, it helped.”

His smile matched hers, white teeth gleaming. “You said that was half of your ‘secret weapon.’ What was the other half?”

Their car pulled up in front of them at that moment, the driver jumping out to open the door for her. Putting a hand on his shoulder to bring his ear closer to her mouth, she whispered, “The other half was that I wasn’t wearing any underwear under my very proper business suit.”

Pulling away, she saw that his gaze had sharpened, pupils spreading black across the velvety brown of his irises. Inhaling sharply, he said, “Is that true?”

“Yes. It’s also true now,” she said as she got into the car.

Colin’s mouth went dry. Alicia gave him the smallest of prim smiles as the driver shut the door. Launching himself around the back, Colin got in on the other side and tried to control his breathing. And everything else. The blood pounding in his ears was like a drumbeat demanding he take this woman in his arms and find out just exactly how much…nothing she was wearing under that stunning dress.

“Well that’s an anticlimactic reaction.” Alicia’s voice was cool as the car moved out.

He blinked. “Sorry to disappoint. I’m trying to sort out how exactly a gentleman should respond to such a declaration.”

“And here I was hoping I could get past that trademarked Very Proper British Reserve.”

Colin took a deep breath, scanned her outraged profile, leaned across the space that separated them and murmured in her ear. “You smashed it to smithereens. But my upbringing and the fact that we have the driver to contend with kept me from grabbing you immediately and doing some very indecent things.”

She shivered and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “How indecent?”

Colin’s finger traced the soft skin of her thigh exposed by the slit in the skirt of her evening gown. “Very. Indecent.” Sliding his hand under the silk, he inched higher. Her skin was warm, strong muscles tensing under his palm. He focused on her face, assessing her reaction. Her eyes were locked on his, and her breath was coming a little fast.

“How indecent would you like me to be?” he whispered. He had to know. Could not leave her intention to chance.

“Very.”

“Would you come home with me? Come to bed with me?”

Her eyes opened a little wider, pupils flaring. “Yes.”

Alicia stood at the foot of the short flight of stairs that led up to Colin’s front door. His house was one of a series of row houses on a street less than a mile from the apartment she was renting. The brick façade was painted a dove gray, the window trim a crisp white. Colin opened the glossy black door and reached out, helping her up the steps. Her heels wobbled slightly on the uneven bricks, and his large, warm hand was a welcome assistance.

Pulling her inside and shutting the door, Colin took her tiny evening bag and put it on a small side table. Placing his hands on the back of the door to either side of her face, he paused, eyes boring into hers. She swallowed as he dipped his head, lips fastening to hers. She returned his kiss, running her hands up his shirt front, behind his neck, and up into his hair. It was smooth and silky and felt as good between her fingers as she had hoped. She tugged gently and felt him smile against her mouth, then tugged harder, eliciting a harsh groan.

His hands pulled away from the door and slid down her sides, coming to rest at her hips. He pulled her tight to him, and her breath caught as she felt the long, hard