Page 142 of Between the Lines

CHAPTER 50

AIDEN

“Where are we going?” Charlotte asks. She’s sitting beside me in the car, wearing a black dress and with a short jacket thrown over her bare arms.

She’s beautiful.

And was waiting for me when I came home. I saw her sitting cross-legged on the sun lounger and enjoying the view of LA. The small smile on her face when she saw me…

“We’re going out to dinner. It’s a disgrace that I’ve only treated you to takeouts so far or to meals with my business associates.”

She glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “You’re taking me out to a restaurant?”

I put a hand on her thigh. “Yes. Don’t overthink it, Chaos.”

“Okay. I won’t,” she murmurs. “What restaurant?”

“You once said you loved Chinese.”

“Really? Are we getting dim sum?”

“We’re going to the best damn dim sum restaurant in the city.”

The restaurant is upscale and trendy. Covers of popular songs play loud enough through the speakers that there’s nodoubt the crowd is young. The food is spectacular, and the place was awarded a Michelin Star last year.

I pulled some strings to get a reservation.

Charlotte smiles all through our first round of drinks. I love seeing that expression. I want to make her smile more.

I want to let her know what I’m doing to Blake. That he’s being cut from every show, and will never be allowed on Titan Media’s property again. That I’m taking care of her in all the ways I can think of.

But not yet.

I don’t want his name here, in this small oasis of calm we’ve created after the turmoil of the last twenty-four hours. I never again want to see her like she was yesterday. Panicked outside my office, with the instinct to flee stamped all over her face. It rattled something in me.

Her happiness feels like the most important thing.

Her foot rests next to mine beneath the table, and she smiles down into her drink.

“What are you smiling about?” I ask.

She looks up at me through her lashes. “Nothing. I was just thinking… you remembered that I said dim sum was one of my all-time favorites.”

“Of course I remembered.”

“I just didn’t think you would, that’s all.”

“I remember everything you’ve told me, Chaos.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Everything?”

“Everything.”

I move my leg closer to hers and grab a hold of my chopsticks. “After you’re done with this memoir,” I say. “Where will you go? To write your new book? I’m still looking forward to hearing your full pitch for it, by the way.”

She looks down at her dumplings. “You’re assuming I’ll get the deal.”

“You will. You’re working on the first few chapters, and you’re writing a killer memoir.”

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