He snapped his gaze to mine. “What?”
“Don’t play stupid with me, Charlie,” I said, tears trembling in my eyes. I balled my hands by my sides and finally turned toward him. I really didn’t want to hear that he had, and I didn’t want him to lie to me, but we had to talk about it at some point. “Nadia.”
His blue eyes widened. “You know who she is?”
“Of course I know who she is!” Tears fell down my cheeks. “She only shows up in the comments of every single one of your videos, saying how she can’t wait for you to finally be inside her.” A sob escaped my lips, but I pressed them together. “So? How was it?”
“I didn’t do a scene with her,” he said.
While I wanted to believe him, I didn’t … I couldn’t.
“You’re lying,” I whispered. “You’re lying to me.”
Charlie moved closer and gently grasped my elbow. “Athie, I?—”
I shook my head and tightened my crossed arms. “You slept with her.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You were at a sex club with her, Charlie!” I exclaimed, staring up into his sea-colored eyes. My feelings were all over the place right now. My chest hurt. My eyes burned. “How can I not think that you slept with her when I see the guy I love at a sex club with a girl who’s prettier than me?!”
“She’s not prettier than you, Athena. Nobody is prettier than you!” Charlie, who had been staring down at me with so much conviction that I might actually believe him, suddenly paused, his eyes softening. “Wait … what did you just say?”
I opened my mouth to say it again, but then realized that I had … I had stupidly told him that I loved him. And all this jealousy definitely screamed that I loved him more than a friend. But he … I …
“What do you mean?” I whispered.
His features softened. “You said that you … that you love me?”
After I gulped down all my fear—because this was the worst thing that could possibly happen—the elevator doors slid open. When they did, I turned on my heel to run out as quickly as possible. I needed to get out of here, to get some air.
It was all stuffy with feelings in here.
But before I could step outside the elevator completely, Charlie seized my wrist, tugged me back inside, and pressed his lips against mine.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
ATHENA
“I love you more,” Charlie said in an open-mouthed kiss, his lips hungrily all over mine. He pressed me up against the elevator wall and interlocked his long fingers with my smaller ones. “So much more.”
Warmth exploded through my body.
Charlie loves me? Surely, I had to be hearing things.
“No, you don’t,” I whispered to him.
“I’ve loved you for seven years, Athie,” he murmured against my lips. “Seven years.”
While I didn’t want to believe it—because why hadn’t he told me?—I could do nothing but kiss him back. I laced some fingers into his blond hair and tugged on it, my heart racing. This was … really happening!
“Now say it again,” he murmured against my lips. “Tell me you love me.”
The words sounded almost desperate, as if he had been waiting for me to confess my love for years now, just like I had been waiting for him. I curled my fingers around his shirt, scared if I said it again, then there would be no going back.
“I love you,” I whispered, pulling him closer. “I love you, Charlie Easton.”
