as he leaned forward and punched the number for his floor.
He didn’t owe Charlie anything—so there was absolutely no reason for him to feel guilty about making a date with another woman.
No reason at all.
CHARLIE DROVE HOME on autopilot, her mind whirling as she tried to process what had happened.
She shouldn’t have said yes to lunch. She should have stuck to her guns and played it safe and kept Rhys at a distance.
We had sex because we’re really into each other… I knew exactly what I was doing and who I was with.
She shook her head, trying to shake Rhys’s words loose.
Until he’d spoken, she’d been sure she understood what had almost happened between them as they lay on the grass—it had been an emotional morning, the sun had been shining, Rhys had gotten caught up in the moment…
But then he’d said all those things…and he’d pursued her.
Charlie sat at a red light, clenching and unclenching her hands on the steering wheel as she tried to reconcile what he’d said with what she knew—what the world had shown her, again and again—to be true. Men like Rhys Walker were not attracted to women like her.
He was gorgeous, smart, funny. He walked into rooms and heads turned. He spoke and people listened. He could have anyone. Anyone.
So why would he choose her?
Someone behind her leaned on their horn and she realized that the light had changed. She put her foot down, forcing herself to concentrate on the road. She drove past the turnoff for Balmain and into the neighboring suburb of Rozelle. She pulled into the guest parking spot at Gina’s workplace ten minutes later. She turned off the engine and pulled out her phone, dialing her friend.
“C. What’s up?” Gina asked.
“Are you busy? Do you have time to talk?”
There was a small, telling pause. “I can make time. Do you want me to come over to your place?”
“I’m out front.”
“Five seconds,” Gina said.
Charlie had barely put her phone in her handbag when Gina exited the building, phone in one hand, bag in the other. She opened the passenger door.
“Please tell me everything’s okay with the baby,” Gina said, her face a study in concern as she peered in at Charlie.
“She’s fine. Healthy and moving and complete.”
“Thank God. It was the first thing I thought of.” Gina slid into the car and pulled the door shut. Then she suddenly smiled, her eyes brightening. “You said she. Does that mean you’re having a little girl?”
Charlie nodded.
“Hey, that’s so cool,” Gina said. “A little girl.”
“Yeah.”
Gina shifted so that her body angled more toward Charlie. “So if the scan was okay, what’s up?”
Charlie tried to work out what to say, where to begin. After a few seconds she shrugged. It was all such a mess, there was probably no easy place to start.
“Something happened today. With Rhys. And I don’t know what to do with it.”
“What sort of thing? A good thing or a bad thing?”
“He tried to kiss me.”
Gina cocked her head. “Since when do you not know what to do when a hot guy tries to kiss you?”
Charlie dropped her gaze to where her hands were clasped in her lap. “Rhys isn’t just a hot guy.”
“But you agree he’s hot?”
Charlie made a frustrated noise, but Gina held up a hand to silence her.
“I’m not yanking your chain by asking you that. Believe it or not, whether you’re still attracted to Rhys is kind of a big deal in this situation.” Gina cocked an eyebrow. Waiting.
“I’m attracted to him,” Charlie said quietly. “But that just makes me one of about a million, from what I can tell.”
Gina frowned. “Why do you keep doing that?”
“What?”
“Deflecting. Or maybe it’s distracting. Every time I ask if you like Rhys or are attracted to him you tell me that it would be impossible not to like him and that, of course, you find him attractive, because who wouldn’t? I want to know what you think, Charlie. What you want.”
Charlie couldn’t hold her friend’s gaze.
“Do you even know?” Gina asked after a moment, her voice low with sympathy.
So many thoughts and feelings were jumbled inside Charlie’s head, she knew she couldn’t even begin to articulate them.
“I’m not setting myself up for failure.”
“Why would you be setting yourself up for failure by acknowledging you’re attracted to a man who tried to kiss you? Call me crazy, but it seems to me that he’s kind of flagging a few things here. You know, like the fact that he wants to