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

the fabric and pulling her close. Alicia let herself lean into him, lifting her hands to wind her fingers through his hair and humming happily as his mouth covered hers.

“Thank you for the bath. It was delicious,” she said when he pulled back a little.

“My pleasure. Those kids exhausted you, and it was all my fault.” His fingers stroked intoxicatingly down the back of her neck, and Alicia resisted the urge to close her eyes and purr like a contented cat.

“It was tiring, but fun. Different. I like a new challenge.”

“Good. I’m thinking of taking a page from your book and ordering takeout. What do you want for dinner?”

Alicia thought about her upcoming job and wrinkled her nose. “Nothing too heavy. I’m going to have to start watching my figure like a hawk.”

Colin chuckled. “I could watch it for you…” He laughed outright when she smacked his arm. “But really—why the sudden need for diligence?”

“I have a nude scene I have to shoot in a couple of weeks.”

Colin sucked in air, winded as if he had been punched in the gut. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure I heard you correctly. Did you say ‘nude scene?’” he asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.

Alicia stiffened in his arms. “I did.”

He blinked, trying to assemble something like a coherent thought. Alicia started to move away from him, her face shuttering.

“Wait, stop,” he said. “You surprised me, that’s all.”

Alicia shrugged, but stopped pulling away. “Yeah, well. Part of the job.”

“You don’t seem very thrilled about it,” he said, running his hands up and down her back, yearning for a return to the relaxed warmth they had shared just a moment prior to her revelation.

“Thrilled? No, but what am I going to do? Otherwise, it’s a great gig.” Her voice was easy, but her eyes were fixed on a point somewhere over his shoulder, not meeting his.

“This is the one you pictured me for the audition, isn’t it?” Dread rolled over Colin in a sick wave.

Alicia’s eyes returned to his face. “Yeah.”

“So…presumably the guy playing the lobbyist you pictured as me…will be touching you? Kissing you?”

Fixing him with a steady gaze, Alicia nodded. “What did you think? You’ve seen television, I’m pretty sure. Premium cable can get pretty steamy. You think people who do those shows are imaginary? Virtual people? They’re actors. Like me.”

Colin’s stomach did a sick roll. Tried to reassure himself that it was her job. Not like any job he’d ever had, but…

This isn’t like Tressa. Really. It’s not infidelity if it’s…acting. And it’s not like she’s going to really sleep with the guy. It’s all pretend. Right?

She looked at him, her face hard.

“I’m still catching up,” he said. “I…don’t know what to say.”

Alicia did pull away at that. Colin felt his arms hang, limp and useless at his sides.

“I’m not sure why you have such a big issue with this,” she said, crossing her arms. “It’s not like it’s your body.”

Colin hesitated, his mind slipping like a misfiring engine. “I have to admit I don’t like the idea of anyone else touching you, let alone…the other things. It hadn’t ever occurred to me that you…that…”

“You saw me play an old lady and didn’t think I would get any other kinds of jobs?” Alicia threw out her hands, half turning away. “For fuck’s sake, I told you about the audition. It was so sexy it turned you on. You didn’t think the job would have anything to do with that?”

Alicia’s pulse thudded in her ears. She had let her guard down. Idiot. The bath, the care that Colin had taken for her, had left her so relaxed, happy, and warm.

But now the air conditioning was too cold. Her legs prickled with goosebumps, and she wrapped her arms around herself, his borrowed shirt riding up her thighs, exposing her. Stealing a glance at Colin, the helpless expression on his face softened some of her resistance. Reaching out a tentative hand, her fingertips skimmed his arm.

“What’s this about, really?” she asked.

It was, somehow, the wrong thing. “What is what about?” he snapped. “How about when were you going to tell me?”

Alicia rocked back on her heels, the hand she had touched him with flying to her throat. Heat and pressure in her skull built, an early warning beacon for her temper.

“Tell you about…what, exactly?” Her own voice was a silky, dangerous growl.

His eyes flicked up to meet hers, the dark brown depths seemingly fathomless. “When were you going to tell me that you were going to be taking your clothes off for cameras?”

Her fragile hold on her anger snapped. “How about you explain to me what the fuck business it is of yours?”

His head reared back as if he had just inhaled a foul smell, and he looked at her as if she had turned into a new person, a stranger. “How about you consider how I might feel to be blindsided by the fact that you’re apparently going to be getting your kit off and snogging someone else?”

The fact that he might have a point only increased her rage. “It’s a job, Colin. It’s not like I’m looking to ‘snog’ anyone else. It’s not like I asked to whip my top off and flash my tits.”

His eyes narrowed, thinking. “So, you’re not okay with it then?”

Alicia’s hands flew out in a gesture of pure exasperation. “Who cares? Sometimes we have to do stuff we don’t want to do to get to do the stuff we do want to do. And sometimes we have to do stuff we actually hate, just to survive. That’s life. Or, news flash, Mr. Big Shot, that’s life for those of us who weren’t born into money and privilege.”

Colin’s eyes narrowed as Alicia’s words burrowed into him like a dart. “Is that what you really think of me? Some sort of privileged bloke who never had to do anything he didn’t want to?”

“I don’t know,” Alicia said, her eyes widening and her