Oughta Be a Movie: a Sugar-&-Spice romantic comedy Read Online Free PDF Page A

this pageant schedule?”
    Ali lifted his arm to glance at his watch. “Crap. I need to grab Bree’s make-up bag from my room and take it to their suite before they do their big grand finale.”
    Standing, he pulled her to her feet; a second later his hand landed a firm swat on her rear end. “Then we’d better get moving.”
    Her gasp morphed into an “ow” but ended as “whoa.” When his hand lingered for a split second, his fingertips flexing in a caress, all her playful bits were suddenly organizing that forbidden Macarena. And dammit, he winked again! His cocky half grin said he’d read her signals loud and clear.
    Her hands were trembling. But the chairs on the terrace weren’t shaking, the plants weren’t falling over, the stone wall wasn’t cracking, but surely tectonic plates were shifting. This quake was off the Richter scale, and the friend-zone crevice didn’t just widen a bit. It shattered. And crumbled to dust.

Chapter 4
     
    Ali was fidgeting, wringing her hands like some damsel in The Perils of Pauline . He couldn’t remember ever seeing her fidget. She was either as unsettled as he was by these last few minutes or in shock from his detonating their friend zone. Maybe both. Taking her right hand in his didn’t stop her jittery movements. She just switched to running the knuckles of her left hand back and forth along the pearls at her neck.
    As he opened the door to the ballroom, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, “We’re okay,” hoping she heard conviction, not “What the hell did I just do?”
    She looked at him, searching for something, studying him like an exotic new species she’d encountered by chance. An expression he couldn’t read flashed in her eyes, but at least she stopped the nervous gesture and nodded.
    As they stepped inside, his dad waved at them from a nearby table, and Ben steered Ali that way. Ed Harrison had always been fond of Ali, said she always made him smile. Ben got that. He listened to her talk with his dad about the weather changing tonight. But when their conversation morphed into a discussion of “organic computing devices” for weather forecasting, Ben’s thoughts drifted. His dad, a software engineer, was in his element.
    It was good to see him happy. He’d gone through some pretty dark periods, especially after the divorce. But even at the bleakest times, Ben might have been lonely, but he’d never doubted his dad’s love. Different story with his mom.
    Ali had asked him about the screenplay he’d told her about three years ago. Not until he was struggling with the ending, did the irony occur to him. He was writing a story about a parent trying to find—connect with—an abandoned child. Some shrink could have a field day with that.
    When his parents had split, there was never any question but that Ben would live with his dad. His mom hadn't run away or disappeared. She'd sent cards and gifts at all the right times, called occasionally, showed up for his graduations, but she'd never once suggested he live with her in Austin. He probably would have lived with his dad anyway, but her indifference still cut.
    He shook off the moment of useless self-pity and watched Ali gave Ed a hug. When she left to grab her bag and see if Bree needed anything else, Ben tried to keep up a conversation with his dad while watching her cross the room. “So where’s your Plus One?”
    Ed laughed and gestured across the room to the attractive, middle-aged brunette with a streak of gray in her hair who was talking with a group of people and laughing. “On her way back from the ladies’ room, making new friends along the way.”
    Ben heard the affection in his dad’s voice. Donna wasn’t just a wedding date; she was the magician that had turned Ed’s life around. Four weeks after they’d started dating and the day after his dad had screwed up royally on her birthday, she’d told him to choose between her and his friend Jack—Jack Daniels, she’d meant. His