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His eyes glittered in the low light and I kissed him, because there was no better response. It was a gentle, easy kiss. The kind of kiss people would share if they’d been in love for a long, long time.
“Yes,” I said. “If we don’t hop in now I’m liable to pass out.”
The rush of the shower hit us once we were inside, and I was surprised when he lathered me up first, cleaning every inch of me.
I was letting someone else take care of me.
Just a few months ago, this simple act would have been hard for me to believe, but I’d never been more comfortable with anyone before.
I cleaned him off next, letting him feel just as taken care of, too. By the time we changed the sheets on his bed to clean ones that weren’t covered in cum, I knew I was going to fall asleep the minute my head hit the pillow.
But then Charlie tucked his head onto the top of my chest. His still-damp hair smelled like his herbal shampoo, and he was the only one to fall asleep quickly. I lay there for at least half an hour, thinking about everything and nothing at once.
Earlier, I’d told Charlie that I’d be in his life no matter what—even if we were temporary fake boyfriends, or just friends. I knew now, with certainty, that I didn’t want that.
I had to tell him I wanted him to be my boyfriend. My actual partner, in a real, committed relationship.
And tomorrow, at the premiere, I was going to go for it.
I was going to be direct. I knew Charlie might get scared again. But I knew damn well that he wanted me, too.
A surge of adrenaline filled my chest already, lying here in the dark with him, his body cozy against mine. Ask him. Tomorrow. And don’t chicken out, I told myself silently, trying to be my own cheerleader in my mind.
13
CHARLIE
“I think it’s time for a breakup,” Kim told me in a strategic voice, like she was plotting the next battle in a war. “A messy, ugly, very public breakup. Juicy, huh?”
My chest went cold.
We were in the back of a limousine, heading toward the fancy club in Denver that the production company had rented out for our premiere. I’d never been in a limo before, and I’d expected it to be like the movies, with raucous laughter, champagne bottles popping, and music blasting.
Instead, I’d felt like I was in a pressure cooker from the moment we’d stepped in.
Nathan and Shawn were seated across from me, flanked by two of the production assistants on either side. The front end of the limo, right in front of the driver’s partition, was where the camera crew was seated, each of them equipped with a giant rig, filming this night so that it could be in some episode later on.
Everyone seemed nervous for the premiere tonight other than Kim, who had taken the spot next to me.
I shifted uncomfortably on the leather seat of the limo, already worried about wrinkling the back of my suit.
“Time for a breakup?” I asked Kim, keeping my voice low even though I knew the camera crew didn’t have microphones on us right now.
“It’s the best way forward,” she said, still clinical. “You and Jax have been absolutely perfect to drum up interest in the first season of The Fixer Brothers. As they watch season one, fans will be able to follow you two from a blossoming crush at first, into the relationship near the end of the season.”
“Exactly,” I said, a strange, icy worry still clutching at my heart. “The fake relationship has been great. So what are you saying about a breakup?”
A hint of an excited smile passed over her face, like she was a mad scientist creating a weapon in a laboratory.
“Comments and interactions are already starting to fizzle out on social media posts where you and Jax kiss. They expect you to be a couple, now. It’s not news anymore. Not exciting. If the two of you break up, though? Right as the first season is starting, right after tonight’s premiere? It would be sensational.”
The limo went over a bump on the road, making me feel slightly sick to my stomach.
I felt like Kim had just decided to hit me with a blunt object, completely out of left field. I scratched at the back of my neck, wishing now more than ever that Jax had been allowed to come along in the limo with us. Instead, he was making his own way to the club for the premiere, meeting me there to head in together for photo ops.
I wanted him here. He would know the best way to tell Kim she was out of her fucking mind about this breakup idea.
“I thought we were already on the right track,” I told her, struggling for the right words. “I thought that the whole story was that I’d been unlucky in love for so long, and I’d finally found my Prince Charming?”
