Many were the times she’d been so fascinated by what he said, she’d forgotten where they were until the director had suddenly called out, “Places, everyone!” To her chagrin, those precious moments would be gone.

Alex would once again take on the persona of the seasoned charmer Fabio, who attempted to pursue Carly at every turn. For the last year on the show, it had been his mission in life to try to seduce the vulnerable, somewhat shy twenty-three-year-old with his experience and gorgeous male body.

Then six months ago Reese’s aunt Lilian had passed away unexpectedly from an aneurysm. From that time on Alex had been aware of her grief and had encouraged her to talk to relieve the pain. He’d turned out to be a wonderful listener.

So wonderful in fact that their talks had caused something to change for Reese. She couldn’t separate fantasy from reality. When the cameras were rolling and they got into those embraces where she would give in to Fabio before pushing him away, she might be kissing Fabio as the script dictated, but she found herself trying to reach the elusive Alex.

He was the person to whom she responded. She wanted their on-screen relationship to continue after they called it a day at the studio.

When she had realized what was happening, she had known it was time to leave the show. Without hesitation she had phoned her agent, who, after the proverbial weeping and wailing over a bad, bad career move, had taken care of the legalities.

To her surprise it had sent a minor shock wave through the cast and crew. She was no superstar. Far from it. Yet she and Alex had been voted the favorite couple at the soap opera awards. That had brought up the show’s ratings.

In front of everyone, Phyllis had flat out told her she couldn’t leave. Did she want more money? What? Phyllis hadn’t accepted it, and had urged her to think about it some more over the Christmas break.