Page 112 of Between the Lines

“Terrifying, to think I’ve invited a stalker into my home. I’ll end up on one of those documentaries that Titan produces.He liked his roommate. She liked him dead.”

I feel warm inside. The soup, most likely. “I wrote more chapters about you tonight.”

His smile turns into a frown, and his hands tighten around my hips. “Tell me you didn’t, Chaos.”

“Why not?”

“You had a headache.”

Right. “I mostly revised, after my Advil kicked in.”

His thumb moves in a slow circle. “Still. I don’t want you to kill yourself over this book.”

“I’m not killing myself. I’m actually excited to show you some of my new content.”

“You need to stop working.”

I rake my nails down his cheek, and his eyes darken. “Are you gonna take your own advice? Because I’ve never seen someone work more hours than you.”

He kisses me again. It’s another one of those languid, leisurely kisses, and I feel like it’s all too close to encroaching on rule number one. But it’s also too good to turn down.

“Come on. You can show me your writing in bed.”

I slip off the stool and push the empty soup container away. I grab my favorite chocolate bar. “Mine or yours?”

CHAPTER 41

CHARLOTTE

Whenever I’m alone with him, it’s like he occupies all the space in the room. I can’t see past him or the muscles of his forearms, the handsomeness of his face, or the eyes that rarely leave me.

Like I take up just as much space in return.

Aiden is standing by my bed. It’s still made but rumpled from when I was lying on it.

I look down at my laptop. “I wrote the prologue and a chapter about your college years. I also spoke to one of the Board members and now I’m trying to outline that chapter.”

“Damn.” He sets down one of the giant bottles of mineral water on my nightstand and takes off his shoes. This whole thing feels far more intimate than I initially intended.

I sit down on my bed with my back to the large headboard. He does the same, climbing on beside me.

“Okay,” I say.

“Okay,” he echoes. His voice sounds amused, his hand resting between us on top of the covers. “Hit me with it.”

“I can’t believe you’re not sleepy. You’ve been working since… Did you work out this morning, too?”

“Yes.”

“You’re a machine.”

“I’m not,” he says, and when he says it, I know that he’s tired. He could have picked up the banter baton but he chose not to.

I hesitate, my laptop slightly turned toward him. “We don’t have to do this, Aiden.”

He shakes his head. “I won’t be able to sleep anyway. What have you written?”

“This is an attempt at a gripping first chapter.” I’m nervous about it. It’s prologue-style, opening with what the audience knows well. The day his father was arrested by the FBI, and the lens of an entire business world turned on Aiden and on Titan. When speculations ran through newsreels. “It’s short, and compelling. But it cuts right before you enter the… the courthouse. The next chapter flips back to your early life.”

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