“Go, Carly!” some of the cast chanted.
When it appeared Alex was enjoying her abandoned response and had no intention of ending it, Reese had to be the one to break it off.
“Whew!” She turned a flushed, smiling countenance to the audience and fanned herself. “In your face, Melissa!”
The cast roared with laughter.
At this point Leah took over the mike. “Don’t anyone leave until we raise our glasses to Reese in a toast.”
To Reese’s dismay, she’d left hers behind on the table. Maybe it was just as well. She would have choked on her champagne.
“To Reese. Health, happiness and a long life wherever your road takes you.”
While the others clicked glasses and finished off their drinks, Alex made another surprise move by sipping his champagne, then putting the glass to Reese’s lips. She had no choice but to drink a little of it from the same place on the glass where his lips had been.
Her legs wobbled like jelly.
“Hey, Reese?” Brad called to her. “I need to talk to you for a minute.”
For once she was thankful the show’s publicist never gave up. “Coming!”
Without daring another glance at Alex, she handed back the empty glass to him and followed Brad into the hall. But once she’d moved past the doors, instead of stopping to chat, she kept on walking down the hall toward the front entrance of the building.
While she made her escape, Brad had to run to keep up with her. “Where’s the fire?”
“To be honest, I don’t have time for an interview right now. I’m sorry.” She wiped her eyes so he wouldn’t see the tears.
“I know it’s tough to leave. Just give me a few words while I walk you to your car.”
She whipped out of the front door and kept up her fast pace clear across the parking lot.
“Where will you be going to school? I need a little information for the show’s Web site. The word’s going to leak out that you’re no longer a cast member. Soap Craze will start hounding me. You know how that goes. I’m going to be besieged with questions.”
“I’d rather not say. The sooner I’m anonymous, the better.”
“Winter semester won’t start for another week. What’ll you do in the meantime?”
“Volunteer work.”
“What kind?”
“Hospitals. Kids.”
“Who’s the latest man in your life?”
She climbed in her car. “I don’t have one, Brad. If you value your job, don’t quote me wrong.”
“Would I do that?”
“Yes. That’s what you’re paid to do. Go pick on Alex. Maybe you can find out the name of the secret woman in his life.”
His brows lifted. “Oh, yeah? You know something I don’t?”
“No. That’s your department. I’m out of here.” Flashing him a bright smile, she shut the door, turned on the ignition and started to back up.
Brad shouted something to her but she kept on going. Right into another car.
“Oh, no!” she cried as she heard the clank of metal against metal. For once in her life she’d forgotten to look first.
With her adrenalin surging, she jumped out of the car to see how much damage she’d done and ran straight into Alex. He steadied her with his hands. What was he doing out here?
“I hit you?” She half gasped the question.
His lips twitched. “Let’s just say you caught the rear bumper of my truck.”
“I’m so sorry-” She tore her eyes from his and moved away from him to see how bad it was.
She couldn’t find anything but a scrape mark on his fender, but the back left door of her car had a good-sized dent.
“It’s my fault,” she moaned. “For once I didn’t look where I was going.”
“It’s both our faults,” he muttered. “I wanted to block you off before you got away.”
With those words Alex had her full attention. Her heart started to race. She turned toward him. “Why would you want to do that?”
He eyed her intently for a moment. “After you call your insurance company, I’ll tell you. But first we need to get our vehicles out of the way. Why don’t you park yours? Then I’ll join you.”
Without waiting for her response, he got in his truck and moved it to the nearest parking space while Reese moved her car back where she’d parked it before. In another minute he’d climbed into her passenger seat.
She’d already pulled out the insurance card she carried in her wallet and had started to make the call. Soon she was able to give out the details. “Yes. It was my fault. I forgot to look.”
The man on the phone asked for her opinion of the damage to Alex’s truck. Reese bit her lip before looking at him. “How much do you think it will cost to fix your bumper?”
“The scrape mark can be rubbed out. Don’t worry about it.”
“But-”
“Here. Let me talk to them.” He took her phone from her. “This is Alex Kieris. I’m the one who caused the accident, not Ms Bringhurst. Send the bill to my insurance company.”
Reese listened as Alex gave the man the particulars. After hanging up, he handed her back the phone. “Why don’t I follow you to your car dealership? Then we’ll talk.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to put you out any more than I already have. These things take forever.”
“Work’s over for me today. I have no plans. Are you in a big hurry to be someplace special?”
“I was.”
“Then let me help you.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because you’re not nearly as brave as the front you put on for everyone today. You may not want to be an actress, but it still couldn’t be easy to walk away from all the people your aunt loved, only to go back to her empty condo.”
“You’re right.” Reese’s voice throbbed. “I was going to take a long drive.”
“Then let’s do it together.”
“Why?” she asked him again because, so help her, she couldn’t think, let alone speak when he was sitting in the intimate confines of the car with her.
“Would you believe me if I told you, ‘I’ve grown accustomed to your face?’” He sang the last. Alex had a nice singing voice.
“No.” She laughed to hide her chaotic emotions. “With a talent like that, you could perform on Broadway.”
“Wrong side of the country. I’d rather spend the rest of the day with you.”
“And?” she prompted him.
His mouth curved upward. “You know me well, don’t you? Actually, I’d like your opinion about something. What do you say? It would be doing me a great favor.”
She found herself staring at him. “Considering that I ran into you, you’ve put me in a position where I can hardly afford to turn you down.”
His eyes flickered in satisfaction. “Good. I’ll meet you at the dealership.”
This time Reese looked before backing out. Only now did she notice that Brad had disappeared a long time ago. By the time she reached the gate of the studio parking lot, Alex was right behind her.
She knew why he was doing this. He was the sort of man who didn’t forget a kindness. Her aunt had taken a special liking to Alex. In the early days, she’d invited him to the condo where she could teach him some of the acting tricks of the trade. The fact that he was a quick study artist was a testament to his natural acting prowess.
Reese had looked on with great interest and pleasure, occasionally being pressed to act a part to help Lilian put over a point. Now that she had passed away, he felt it incumbent to be Reese’s friend on this day of transition from actress to ordinary mortal waiting for school to start.
It was his way of paying Lilian back for those hours of friendship and instruction that had bonded the two of them. But some time during that period, Reese had also grown attached to the charismatic man who’d treated her as he might treat a sister.
He showed her the greatest respect. It was a tribute to his professionalism that he was careful how he handled their love scenes. Off the set, he never touched her or made comments that could be misconstrued.