have become a little more relaxed around here. Instead of Mr. Talsman, he insists we are all on a first-name basis so we bond as a unit, making everyone more comfortable.
“Iris, can I have a moment?” he asks.
“Sure.” I throw the pin on the table and turn to face him.
He smiles. “The performance you just gave ranks up there with some of the best I’ve ever seen in my twenty years on Broadway.”
Heat floods my cheeks and I can’t fight the grin that stretches across my face. “Really?”
He nods. “I really mean that, and I’m sure once the reviews start popping up about the show, other directors will come knocking on your door. I have a feeling that you’re bound for great things.”
“Mark, your car is here,” Shelia says as she continues to glance down at her phone.
“Okay,” he says to her before turning back in my direction. “Congratulations, Iris. I’ll see you for tomorrow’s performance.”
I fight the urge to squeal like a twelve-year-old girl who has just found out her crush likes her back. That’s the nicest thing Mark’s ever said to me, and it’s boosted my confidence in myself tenfold.
Still floating on cloud nine after I remove all my stage gear, I push through the side door of the theater smiling. I take a deep breath of the crisp evening New York air, and then it instantly whooshes from my lungs the moment I spot a familiar face.
There, standing on the sidewalk, is Ace in a black leather jacket and faded blue jeans. He’s just as sexy as I remember, and that pisses me off. It makes it a whole lot harder to hate him when he looks so good, but that’s not going to stop me from giving him a piece of my mind.
My eyes drift down to the single red rose he’s holding in his hands before they focus on the hopeful expression he’s wearing. Does he honestly think sending me flowers and showing up here on the most important night of my life automatically earns his way back into my good graces?
Gah! This is unbelievable.
I shake my head. “What are you doing here?”
He licks his lips slowly, and damn it, I wish I could say the action disgusts me, but it does just the opposite. It makes me miss his mouth and the crazy way it made me feel when he used to put it on me.
“I came to see you.” He takes a step toward me and holds out the flower. “This is for you.”
I pull my lips into a tight line but refuse to take it from him.
He frowns after I make it obvious that I’m not going to make his apology easy. He hurt me and I don’t know if I can forgive him for it.
He pulls his hand back, taking the rose with it. “Did you get the others?”
I sigh. “I did. Thank you.”
It’s the lamest show of gratitude I’ve ever made, but it’s impossible to fake being happy over receiving them, especially since my initial reaction to them was anger.
His hand holding the rose falls limply to his side and he shoves his other hand into his hair. “This isn’t going anything like I envisioned.”
It’s almost as if he only meant to think that last statement instead of saying it aloud, because his eyes snap to mine the moment I fire back, “What exactly did you expect, Ace? Did you think that just because you decide to acknowledge my presence again that I would just be so glad that you’ve finally come to me that I’d just jump right into your arms? No fucking questions asked? Do you not know me at all?” Tears leak out of my eyes and I bat them away. “Fuck you, Ace. Just fuck you, all right. I poured my heart out to you over and over again and you didn’t give a damn.”
Pain flickers across his face. “That’s where you’re wrong. I stayed away because I did give a damn. You told me to leave. I was just doing what you asked me to do.”
“I told you to leave to protect you!” I shout, causing a few passersby to jerk their heads in our direction. “It killed me to lie to you—to say things that hurt you, but I didn’t know another way. I was hoping you’d call me out and see through my bullshit, but I understand why you ran. I didn’t expect you to accept my apology easily, but it tore my