Page 25 of Work It Out
On the other hand, arguing with her was fun. Pierce might be too much of an idiot to see it, but Rayah was hot all worked up. Those big brown eyes turned molten, and she all but vibrated with energy.
He took another drink of water to hide his smile. She excelled at getting what she wanted. But she’d met her match. She just didn’t know it yet.
“Alek York,” a small, high voice said, then squealed. “Oh my God, Sammie. That’s totally Alek York!”
Damn. Jake turned away in a vain attempt to hide his face. It was probably too late, but he had to try. Rayah would rip him a new one if he disrupted her class.
“Miss Summers!” another voice shrieked and Jake winced.
A loud thud, then a softer groan. “Sammie! You scared me to death.”
Jake whipped around to find Rayah on her butt on the mats next to a balance beam. She did not look happy.
“I’m real sorry, Miss Summers. I didn’t mean to make you fall. But it’s Alek York!” yelled a girl around nine years old. Her brown hair was in a bun so tight it pulled at her eyes. Her unitard highlighted her every rib as she quivered in place.
Rayah brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. “Alek who?”
Jake choked on a laugh. Of course she didn’t know his character’s name.
The brunette’s blond friend, however, had no such problem. “Alek. York,” she said slowly, as if Rayah might’ve jostled her brain in that fall. “FromAll About Alice. He’s Alice’s big brother.” Her face twisted in a mulish expression as she turned to Jake and shouted, “How could you let them send you away to college? You’re the best one on that show. Alice is so whiny.”
Jake swallowed. He wasn’t about to tell her his role had shifted into an occasional cameo situation. They hadn’t written him out completely, but his character had aged out of the demographic as much as he had. He’d always had a baby face, but he couldn’t pull off awkward high school kid anymore, especially if he managed the transformation he was attempting here. The show’s choice to write him into an out-of-state school had been the push he’d needed to go for the superhero role. Cameos and residuals might pay the bills, but not as well as he’d become accustomed to.
Rayah bounded to her feet in a lithe move that stirred his blood.
Everything she did stirred his blood.
Her eyes flashed. “Oh, no. That’s just—that’s Chris.” Her laugh held a panicked edge. “He does sort of look like that Newman guy, though.”
He bit his lip to keep from smiling. When that didn’t help, he said the hell with it and let the sucker go. With what was likely the most ridiculous grin on his face, he strode into the room, right up to Rayah, and wrapped her in a hug.
For half a second, he thought she might punch him in the gut, too, but he couldn’t help it. Showbiz was brutal. It’d been so long since someone tried to protect him. Hell, maybe that was why he’d been so checked out the last couple of years. But this pint-size warrior seemed determined to be his personal guardian angel, even after he’d cluelessly kicked her out of her home and turned her world upside down.
The instant he touched her she went rigid. It dawned on him too late that not only might she not welcome his hug, he was sweaty from his workout. Not came-in-out-of-a-hurricane drenched, but certainly soggy. He started to pull back, profuse apologies at the ready, when she melted against him. Arms came up around his waist, and a contented sigh caressed his chest as she snuggled into his embrace like a happy kitten.
Paying attention certainly had its benefits.
The change in her astonished him. She didn’t seem like the most demonstratively affectionate person. Even that hug she’d laid on Blaine had been different, more distant. In this moment, she’d not only accepted his affection, she returned it. It settled something deep inside him, something he hadn’t realized was out of alignment until she effortlessly nudged it back into place. He closed his eyes and squeezed her tighter. “Thank you,” he murmured against her hair. Then, despite every instinct to the contrary, he backed away.
“Hey, guys,” he said with a genuine smile as a boy rushed over with the third, smaller girl to join the group. “Can you keep a secret?”
The girls’ eyes filled with the fanatical gleam only juicy gossip could garner. They nodded, buns bobbing. The boy was older—maybe thirteen—and more cynical. His eyes narrowed, bouncing between Jake and Rayah. “Depends.” He took a small, challenging step forward. “You Miss Summers’s boyfriend?”
Ah, so Rayah had a junior fan club of her own. He’d have to tell Blaine they had competition.
“No!” Rayah all but shouted as she tripped over herself to put some distance between them. “He’s a client, Mason.”
Mason smirked at Jake, the shit.
Jake grinned at her. “You don’t have to sound so offended, cupcake.”
“Cupcake?” Pierce repeated as he jogged into the room.
“Are you marrying Miss Summers? Is that the secret?” Sammie picked up speed as she spoke, the words coming faster and faster as her excitement gained momentum. “Is that why you aren’t her boyfriend, ’cause you’re gonna be her husband?”
Blondie’s eyes grew wide. “Can I be the flower girl? I’ve always wanted to be a flower girl my whole life, but nobody ever picks me.”
“No way, Angelica,” Sammie interjected. “It wouldn’t be fair if Miss Summers just picked you.” Then she clapped like a manic seal and squealed, “But she could pick all of us! We could all be flower girls!”
