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“Speaking from experience?”
“My experience is very limited,” she said, before she could stop herself, but she found she didn’t regret sharing the truth. After all, it was exactly that: the truth. Something he should probably know before they took this any further.
“But you know I like women,” he said thoughtfully.
“It’s obvious you have all the experience I’m lacking,” she said with a wry grimace. “I doubt you can walk past a woman on the street without flirting just a little.”
He shook his head. “That’s not entirely accurate.”
“Halfway?”
He moved to the other side of the bench, directly opposite her. “Is our difference in experience going to be a problem?”
“You tell me?”
“How inexperienced are we talking?” He asked after a moment.
Her heart twisted and her breath burned as she felt the peril of this moment. And just like that, any doubts she might have had about what she wanted evaporated completely leaving only certainty. The idea that he might leave, if she were to tell him the truth, showed her just how much she wanted him to stay. But not enough to lie.
“I’ve had one boyfriend,” she said, refusing to look away. “It was years ago. After my brother died, and Dash came to live with me, there hasn’t really been time.” Or opportunity. She thought of Maggie’s parents and their implication that they’d go to the judge if they thought Charlotte was involved with someone unsuitable. It had terrified her to think how perilous her place in Dash’s life was, and so she’d stayed resolutely single.
“And Caleb?”
“Just a friend,” she said, her cheeks heating up as she blinked away.
“You both feel that way?”
Her skin flushed and she sipped her wine. “I can’t really speak for his feelings,” she said unevenly.
“I think you can,” Alessio murmured. “But I respect that you don’t want to.”
Her eyes, widened with surprise, met his. “Thank you.”
“If anything,” he said, after a moment. “The fact you have not been with a man in so long makes me think you need this, even more than I do.”
“You pity me?”
He frowned.
“I don’t want you to take me to bed out of pity,” she said forcefully.
“Believe me, that’s not it.”
“Caleb says you date supermodels,” she blurted out, a moment later. “Why do you want me?”
“Caleb has about as much nuance as a potato,” Alessio muttered, and despite the shifting currents of their conversation, Charlotte smiled. “I do not dateonlysupermodels. My last girlfriend was a human rights lawyer, but my half-brother would have no idea about any of that.”
Charlotte had been intimidated before, now she felt on completely unsteady ground. “When did you break up?”
Alessio scanned Charlotte’s face, his own showing a hint of consternation. It was just a flicker of emotion, but enough for Alessio to understand that he’d said something he regretted.
“Last month.”
“How long were you together?”
“Is this necessary?”
“You don’t want to talk about it?”
