“That felt unreal,” she gasps against my neck. “Taio, your advice. It was everything?—”
And then she kisses me.
Her mouth crashes against mine with such force our teeth nearly collide. It’s graceless and desperate, and exactly the way we need to be kissing. She tastes like salt and adrenaline and something forbidden I’ve been starving for. Her hands don’t just fist in my hair—they pull, sending sparks of electricity down my spine that pool hot and urgent in my groin. When her mouth opens, her tongue slides against mine with deliberate, devastating intent. There’s no hesitance, no hint at the fact that Charlie’s inexperienced.
She’s kissing me like it’s the only thought in her head from sunup to sundown.
I kiss her back like a man equally possessed.
My hands grip her ass hard enough to bruise it, lifting her higher against me as I press her into the wall. The heat of her body burns through her sweat-soaked costume, and when my thumb grazes the sliver of bare skin at her lower back, she arches against me with a gasp that turns into a moan so raw it makes my blood roar. I can feel her heartbeat hammering against my chest, or maybe it’s mine, thundering out of control as her legs tighten around my waist.
Our gasps and rustling clothes bounce off the bare walls, transforming this stolen moment into something that sounds obscenely public in the empty corridor.
This isn’t just crossing a line. This is obliterating it completely.
This is real, and it’s dangerous, and God help me, I’m no longer in control.
Her tongue slides against mine and I go weak. My will is completely, utterly useless. I press her harder against the wall, securing her so my hands are free to explore. One hand bracing beside her head, the other cupping the curve of her ass through her tights. My senses are on overload, it’s all warmth and sugar, and pressure in the best way. Her hips are locked into mine, shehas to feel my growing erection. She doesn’t shy away. Instead her fingers are tugging at my hair, and the way she keeps making these tiny desperate sounds?—
Voices.
Distant, but approaching. Footsteps echoing down the corridor.
Reality crashes back like a bucket of ice water.
I pull away. Set Charlie on her feet. Step backward so fast I nearly trip over my own legs.
She blinks at me, dazed, lips swollen, chest heaving. For a moment she just stares, like maybe I got hurt or caught on fire. But then I watch understanding dawn, followed immediately by disappointment.
“What’s wrong?” Her voice is raw, wrecked from singing and kissing and God knows what else.
“I heard someone coming. I don’t want to get caught.”
The words land wrong. I know it the second they leave my mouth. Her face shutters, that vulnerability hardening into something defensive.
“Get caught,” she repeats flatly. “Like I’m something to be ashamed of?—”
“That’s not what I?—”
“There’s nothing wrong with me liking you, Taio.” She steps toward me, closing the distance I just created. Her hand lands on my chest, right over my heart, and I know she can feel it hammering. “We’re just two people. That’s it. That’s all this has to be.”
“Charlie—”
“Don’t.” Her eyes flash. “Don’t you dare stand there and pretend there’s nothing between us. I felt it. You felt it. I don’t easily connect to men, Taio. So sorry if I’m coming on too strong. If you don’t feel the same, I’ll?—”
“I’m not saying I don’t feel…the same,” I manage. “I’m saying it’s complicated.”
“So uncomplicate it.”
“Charlie, your celebrity status and publicboyfriendare just the massive cherry on top of that already impossibility that is us. Have you forgotten who I am and what I actually do?”
She’s not backing down. If anything, she’s getting closer, her hand still pressed to my chest, her eyes demanding answers I don’t have. “I don’t care, Taio. You’re not some dirty little secret to me. You make me feel…good. So what’s the problem?”
The problem. Where do I even start?
“The problem,” I say slowly, “is that the only reason I’m here is to cover up a lie. Your lie about Grayson. My lie about being your bodyguard. Lie upon lie upon lie. Who wants that?” I shake my head. “That’s not how happily-ever-afters begin, Charlie.”
The fire in her eyes dims. I watch her shoulders drop, her defensive posture crumbling into something smaller. Sadder.
