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My heart did that annoying thing where it skipped a few beats. “I just…get busy and forget. I’m trying to remember, I promise.”

He brought me to a room with a black leather couch and ugly blue carpet, and what looked to be a mirrored vanity. “This is where they stage some of the things you see on screen during the show. It’s not really backstage, but the fans think it is.” Carefully setting me down on the couch, he remained kneeling beside me and held out his hand, palm up. “Hand me your phone, please.”

With a puzzled expression, I pulled the cell phone from my tiny, completely impractical handbag and handed it over. He quickly pulled up the menu from the home screen, tapped a few buttons, and handed it back to me. The clock app still showed. Next to my
wake up goddammit you’re going to be late!
alarm were two new alerts—noon,
time for lunch beautiful
and six-thirty,
time for dinner gorgeous
.

Where my alarm titles were typically rude—I cursed at myself in almost every one—his were sweet and endearing. I couldn’t even be mad that he’d just set a reminder for me to eat, something my parents used to do when I was a kid.

I pulled myself up to a sitting position so I could give him a kiss—which was interrupted by a very familiar voice shouting from the door.

“Woah, woah, woah. Wait a minute. Did I miss something here?” Keith stood just outside the room, leaning against the doorframe, a Cheshire cat grin on his face.

“What are you…” I began, but realized Evan still kneeled in front of the couch—on one knee. And Keith walked in to see us kissing. Wasn’t hard to see why he’d put two and two together. The only problem was, in this case, it equaled five. “No, it’s not that.”

“Charlie felt faint so I brought her in here to lie down for a minute.” Evan explained.

Keith barked out a laugh, “She needed mouth to mouth for that?” He winked at me and stood up straight. “I’m kidding. Glad to see you two happy is all. Hey, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.” He turned and gestured to whoever stood to the side of the entryway.

A stunning redhead walked in, her gorgeous green wraparound dress setting off her bright jade eyes in a way that made them pop all the way from across the room. If she had a stylist, I wanted their name. She waved shyly, “Hi. You must be Evan and Charlie. I’m Samantha, Keith’s girlfriend.”

“You mean you finally found someone who can tolerate you?” Evan laughed and stood to go slap Keith on the back and shake Samantha’s hand. “I’m kidding. Keith is one of my best friends here, even if we don’t always get along.”

“I’ve heard all about you,” she replied as she yanked him into a hug. The shocked look on Evan’s face was almost enough to make me laugh myself off the couch. “Thank you for putting up with this one for as long as you did.”

“Just doing my job as friend and roommate. Hey, I need to grab Charlie some juice,” Evan said as he looked back at me. “She isn’t feeling that well. Do you mind sitting with her for a minute, Samantha?”

“Not at all.” She crossed the room and sat next to me on the couch while the boys took off to wherever the juice was.

I figured they wanted to talk about us and sound manly without having us glare at them, so it was only fair that we did the same. When they walked back in, Samantha had me rolling with a story about the time Keith decided to try on her lipstick, not realizing it was actually lip
stain.

“Shit. I knew we shouldn’t have left them alone. I bet they’ve divulged all our secrets,” Keith said, holding a grape juice out for Samantha.

She shrugged and twisted the top off with a flourish. “Your fault for leaving us by our lonesomes.”

I took the apple juice Evan handed to me and clinked it against Samantha’s bottle. “Hear, hear.” The twinkle in my eyes must’ve let him know I was joking, because he laughed as he handed me two packets of crackers.

“It’s not much, but it should hold you over for a little while. If you want something else, just ask one of the stagehands. They know who you are, so they’ll do whatever you ask. Unless it’s illegal. Then, we might have to have a talk.”

We sat in the fake dressing room until time for the guys to go get dressed in their wrestling gear. Samantha led me to a lounge where a few other people, mostly women, sat near a giant television. This was where we’d sit during the show.

After the opening when Evan called Keith a bunch of names and told the world how hard he’d kick Keith’s ass, he sat in the seat beside me to watch the show. I rolled my eyes a few times during the first couple matches, but by the third or fourth one, I nearly jumped out of my seat to yell at the screen when the one I decided I liked got punched in the head.

“He’s the face,” Evan explained, pointing to the guy in jean shorts who called himself James Mesa. “The face is the ‘good guy.’ The one the crowd is supposed to cheer for. The character I play is a heel right now. He’s the ‘bad guy.’”

“Why are you a heel ‘at the moment’? Isn’t someone good or bad all the time?” I almost clapped my hand over my mouth. It was so obvious I’d never seen an episode of wrestling. And Evan had brought me. He must’ve been so embarrassed.

But when he answered, he didn’t act like it. Just explained everything to me patiently and held my hand through it all. He even seemed excited that I’d taken an interest—several months after we started…whatever it was we were doing.

“Sometimes the character will turn heel or face temporarily. Either because they’ve been wronged or because they’re acting like they’ve changed into a good person—usually to turn on the face they’ve teamed up with and hit them over the head with something. In my case, Keith hit me in the head with a chair during a match.” At my look of horror, he quickly added, “It was scripted, of course. I didn’t get hurt.”

Someone wearing a headset and holding a clipboard signaled to him from the hall. “Beast, you’re up.”

He pressed a kiss to my hand and left with Headset. Samantha took his place. “Looks like our guys get to duke it out for a while. Keith won’t tell me who’s supposed to win. He likes me to be surprised at the results, the brat.”

Ten minutes into the match, I chewed on my nails with my eyes glued to the screen. I cringed every time Evan took a hit and cried out as he tumbled over the side of the ropes.

“Don’t worry about him, sweetie.” Samantha smiled at me, her eyes kind as she reached for my hand. “I’m sure he’ll be sore after, but he’s fine.”

I didn’t take my eyes away from the screen. “How do you manage not to go insane, watching Keith do this all the time?”

I could sense her shrug rather than see it. “While we’ve only been together a few months, we’ve been friends forever. You kind of get used to it...” She winced as Keith took a fall and appeared to hit his head on the steel steps. “On second thought, you don’t. It’s easier when you remember they’re trained for this. They’re very careful not to hurt each other. It happens, of course. You can’t prevent everything. But they do their best.”

“We’ve got to stick together.” She winced as Evan pinned Keith yet again, but missed the three count.

“
We
?” I asked, resisting the urge to curse.

“The significant others. No one else understands what we go through except each other.”

“You’re right…” I cut myself off with my own joyous shout as Evan got the pin and won the belt.

When Evan and Keith appeared backstage, I threw myself into Evan’s arms, not caring how sweaty and slicked up he was. “That was amazing! And terrifying! And
awesome
!” I stood on tiptoe to give him a kiss, but couldn’t reach his mouth until he leaned down—even with the ridiculously high-heeled shoes I wore.

He lifted me and spun me around in a dizzying circle. “Thanks, beautiful. So does that mean you’re a fan now?”

“Oh, Evan. I’ve always been
your
fan. But if you’re asking whether or not I’ll watch from now on…I suppose I will. Just to see you in these teeny tiny wrestling shorts. A girl’s gotta have her priorities, you know.”

***

It seemed we’d never get home. There were endless interviews, a party, and the seemingly ten thousand-mile ride in the limo, which no longer held any charm for me. I was so tired and my feet ached so badly, I thought I’d never be able to walk again. Evan removed my shoes and used his amazing hands to rub the arches of my feet as I fell asleep, my head leaning against the door.

When I woke, he was kissing me, his hands cupping either side of my face. Somehow, he was kneeling on the floorboard beside me. I wondered how he’d managed it without waking me, but all coherent thought flew from my mind as he deepened the kiss.

My hands found their way to his shoulders, down his arms, and up his back. I wanted to touch every part of him, to feel every inch of his skin with my fingers. I fumbled with the buttons on his black shirt, desperate to have my hands on him. “Off.”

He grinned wickedly against my mouth. “Can’t right now, beautiful. We’re almost home.”

I frowned as I sat up, glancing outside the car. We were turning onto my road. Less than two minutes left. “He’d better hurry. I want you
now
.”

Evan thanked the driver as we made our way to the door. The car drove out of sight as I struggled with my keys and the stupid lock. Evan pressed himself against me from behind, kissing my neck and letting his hands roam over my body.

We shoved our way inside; he grabbed my hand and spun me, back landing against the door, which latched with the loudest
click
ever. His hands fumbled with the buttons of my blouse before he became frustrated and ripped the fabric from my body.

I gasped aloud as he took a lace-covered breast into one hand, his other working to unzip the side of my skirt and shove it off me.

I unbuttoned his shirt and shoved it aside, raking my nails over the flesh I exposed, trailing down to dip my fingers into the waistband of his pants. I unsnapped them and reach my hand inside, surrounding his length with my fingers, making him groan in response.

“Mmm, Charlotte.” He trailed his tongue along the edges of my bra and I shivered. He pushed the fabric aside before taking my already erect nipple into his mouth. My back arched against him, and I shoved down at his pants for better access.

He kicked off his shoes and managed to get out of his slacks as he flicked the clasp of my bra open. I could barely remember wiggling out of it, but I stood there wearing only my panties and pearls.

His hand moved down my body, skimmed along the waistband of my underwear, then dipped into them to cup me, finding my warmth, and slipping a finger, then two, inside me.

My entire body was on fire. “Now. Now. Now. I need you
now
,” I whimpered.

He tore the scrap of silk away and lifted me, wrapping my legs around him as he pressed me against the door and pushed into me.

I cried out his name, a long low moan. His hips pistoned against mine, and my nails clawed at his back, leaving a trail of angry red lines.

My body stiffened as my orgasm slammed into me. I screamed his name as he began to shudder with his own release.

He lowered me to the floor as we both panted, breathless and spent.

He kissed me hungrily and my heart tripped over itself again. “Thirsty, beautiful?”

I nodded. “Parched.”

He kissed me again before he made his way into the kitchen. “Water?”

“Please,” I said as I turned to lock the door and pick up the things we’d shed upon our arrival. Sometimes I wondered if my OCD was a blessing or a curse.

I picked up the few pieces of clothing I could reach. They were scattered throughout the room and paused when something fell out of the pocket of Evan’s slacks. The blood drained from my face as my fingers closed around the little foil packet.

“What’s wrong?” Evan frowned as he noticed my expression. He paled when I held up the condom package. “Oh.
Shit
.”

I nodded. “Oh shit.” I moved to lower myself onto the couch and pulled on Evan’s discarded shirt. I watched as he set my water on the table and pulled on his slacks, then sat next to me.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m…I’ve got an IUD. It doesn’t expire for several years. And I’m disease-free, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

He gave me a look, “I wasn’t worried about that at all. If I thought that was even a remote possibility, I wouldn’t be sleeping with you.”

“Same goes.” I sighed. “So, what now?”

He glanced at the clock, then made a show of yawning. “I was thinking we’d go to bed.”

My lips pursed together. “I meant about this.”

“I’m not worried. I’m not ready for kids right now, but if it happens, it happens. I trust you, Charlie. We got caught up this time. Notice I said
we
and not
I
or
you
. We’ll have to be more careful in the future, that’s all.” He scooted closer and wrapped his arms around me, pressing a kiss to my temple. “You ready for bed?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty late.” I wasn’t sure how to take this, but I was so tired I didn’t want to make a poor attempt at dealing with it. I made a mental note to keep a close eye on my calendar as we made our way to the bedroom.