Page 63 of House of Desire

“I am over my ex-wife.”

“You might be in here,” she says, tapping my forehead, “but you’re not in here.” Her hand settles on my heart and all I can do is stare at it, confused.

“I don’t love her anymore,” I tell her, agitation starting to take over at having to repeat myself.

“I didn’t say you did, but that doesn’t mean you’re over the pain she’s caused you in here.” She taps my chest with one long nail. “Until you do, you’ll never be able to fully love anyone.”

She gives me a sad smile, and walks away. I down my drink, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. I want to take a second and go find somewhere to sit in private to digest what Carmen just told me but I can’t. This night is about Charlie and the last thing I would ever want to do is not be around to celebrate her.

Making my way through the considerably thicker crowd, I head back outside.

A waiter offers me a glass of champagne, which I take. Charlie greets everyone, but I only say hi to the people I know. After what seems like hours, I look over at the red carpet and standing in the shadow, just before she steps into the lights, is Anastasia. My heart seizes while pins and needles dance up my left arm. For a moment, I consider she’s a hallucination brought on by a stroke or heart attack, but quickly rule that out.

“Is that her?” Charlie asks and all I can do is nod. We watch her make her way down the carpet. The photographers take her picture and she smiles, but it’s not the smile she’s given me so many times. Charlie shoves me as Anya gets to the end of the lights, almost tripping me while whispering, “Go talk to her!”

Throwing back my glass of champagne, I make my way toward her, straightening my jacket. My palms start sweating. What if she doesn’t want to talk to me? All I want to do is apologize to her, but Charlie’s movie premiere isn’t the time to have the conversation we need to have. And since Anya doesn’t like having the spotlight on her, would I be trapping her into a conversation? I should turn around and go back to Charlie’s side, but the draw to Anya is too strong.

“Hi,” I say. Completely moronic.

“Hey,” she replies. Her eyes dart around the party as she shifts uncomfortably. She looks everywhere but at my face and my fingers scream to make her look at me.

But I don’t touch her.

“You look beautiful.” And she does. Her cream dress is stunning and hugs every curve.

“Thanks.” When her honey brown eyes finally flick up to mine for a moment, I almost drop to my knees to beg her forgiveness. “You look pretty great yourself.”

“What are you doing here? Are you with someone?” I ask, thinking of how Carmen has already found someone else, and my blood pressure starts to rise.

“Do you not want me here? I can go,” she says, starting to move away from me. My hand whips out and stills her.

“No, stay. It was just curiosity, not an attack. Sorry.”

“Oh. Lorelei invited me.”

I whip around, looking for Alec’s devious sister. She gives me a mocking wave and blows me a kiss. Apparently, Anya has shared something with her since we stopped filming. I glare at her before turning back to the most beautiful woman in the house.

We stand there awkwardly for a moment, just watching each other.

“Well, I guess—”

“Would you like to meet everyone? My friends?” I blurt out, interrupting her. “Or I could take you to the bar? Get you a drink?”

“I’m confused. Don’t you hate me?” she asks, a tinge of anger to her voice and guilt dumps into me.

“I don’t hate you. I could never hate you. Anya, I’m so sorry for the way we left things and I want to talk about it with you, apologize for real, but I don’t want to do anything that ruins Charlie’s night. Please believe me.”

Her honey brown eyes search my face.

“I’d love to meet Charlie, if that’s okay?” She shifts, still uncomfortable, but I see a little bit of hope on her face. Relief almost makes me drop to my knees, but I keep myself standing tall.

“And I know she would love to meet you,” I say, offering my arm to help her across the grass. She looks at it and I wonder if my words from the failed proposal will keep her from touching me. As her fingers settle on my elbow, I reach over with my other hand and rub them gently over hers.

I go slowly with her, aware her shoes are tall and probably hard to walk in. Charlie and Alec moved inside while I talked to Anya, but by the way my best friend’s face lights up as we move closer, I know she was watching the exchange through the glass. I widen my eyes slightly at her for a moment as we step into the house, trying to tell her not to embarrass me too badly.

Anya drops my arm the second we stop moving and I want to grab it and put it back, but instead I introduce her to my best friend.

“Charlie, Alec, this is Anastasia Reynier. Anya, Charlie Price and Alec King.”

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