Read Online If You Want Me by Kayla Perrin - Free Book Online

finds someone new. Please? You’ll be great.”
    “Okay, I’ll talk to her. But she may not want me.”
    “Who wouldn’t want you?” Mia asked. She took Alice’s arm. “Come on.”
    Mia led Alice through the crowd of children and parents toward the right of the stage. Before they could round the corner into the semidarkness, a figure appeared out of the shadows. The person took a couple more steps toward the light, then stopped dead in her tracks.
    And Alice’s stomach dropped to her knees.
    Tanisha Barrett, her old nemesis, stood two feet in front of her.
    “Hi, Tanisha,” Mia said. “Aunt Alice, this is Tanisha, the theater’s director.”
    No, not Tanisha. Anyone but Tanisha.
    “If it isn’t Desirée LaCroix,” Tanisha chimed, her tone sarcastically sweet.
    “Tanisha.”
    Tension filled the air between them, but thankfully, Mia didn’t notice. “Tanisha, is there a new teacher yet?”
    “Not yet, Mia. But I’m working on it.”
    Hearing her niece address Tanisha so familiarly was strange. She’d done the same with Marcus at the hospital. When Alice had been young, she’d never have called an elder by his or her first name. But times had changed.
    Yes, times had changed, and she was Alice Watson, successful actress, not the school joke. She squared her shoulders, determined to present the confident image she’d worked so hard to hone.
    “My aunt’s back in town and she’ll be here for a while, so I was thinking maybe she could be our new teacher.”
    Tanisha chuckled, a hollow sound. “I can’t imagine Desirée wanting to work here.” Her eyes met Alice’s. “A busy Hollywood actress like yourself.”
    Tanisha’s voice held a note of jealousy, and Alice couldn’t help it—a sense of power washed over her. Tanisha had always wanted to be an actress, but she had never quite been able to make it.
    Alice had to agree with the saying—success was the best revenge.
    “Actually, I’ll be in town for a while,” Alice told her. “I’d be happy to help out.”
    “Oh, that’s right. A bit of trouble in paradise, hmm?”
    “Excuse me?”
    Tanisha ignored her. “I do appreciate your offer, Desirée, but I don’t think that will be necessary. In fact…Oh, here he is now.”
    Alice turned, looking in the direction Tanisha’s eyes went, and her heart instantly went into overdrive.
    Marcus Quinn was hustling down the aisle.
     
    Marcus was slightly out of breath after running from the parking lot into the theater. Tanisha had called him at the last minute and asked if he could help her out at the theater today. Why she hadwaited until the last minute to ask if he could teach the students he didn’t know, but hadn’t Tanisha always done things last minute? Marcus had never figured her out.
    Marcus supposed it was his fault that she still felt she could turn to him. After he and Tanisha had split, he’d continued working at the theater because he really enjoyed working with the kids, despite his feelings for Tanisha. The theater meant a lot to him, and he knew funding was tight, so he didn’t mind helping out when he could.
    As he hurried down the aisle toward the stage, he saw Tanisha walking toward him. Then he noticed Alice and Mia right behind her.
    The sight of Alice caused him to pause midstride. He hadn’t expected to see her here. He hadn’t expected to see her at all. He’d expected her to be on the first plane back to Hollywood now that her mother was back home.
    Yet she was smiling at him from behind Tanisha, as though she was happy to see him.
    He continued walking toward them.
    Today she wore a long, pink dress imprinted with tiny blue flowers. It was a simple dress, but it hugged every curve of her body and made her look like a million bucks. She folded her arms beneath her breasts, and his eyes were immediately drawn to their full lusciousness. The next instant he glanced away, uncomfortable that he was seeing her in a way he never had years ago.
    It was just that every time