Page 152 of Between the Lines

Her gaze turns cautious. “What do you mean?”

“The things you told me. The song? The T-shirts?” My voice rises, and I force it back under control. “You should have gotten paid for that.”

“I don’t want any money from that show.”

“People exploited you and what happened to you, and you got nothing from it. The DJ, with the song?” I shake my head, anger making it hard to stay calm. “You’re owed royalties. It was your voice they remixed into that music.”

Pink highlights her cheeks. There are more freckles over the bridge of her nose, a testament to the sun we’ve been out in today. She’s so beautiful like this. Bathed in the fading light, with her hair windblown and wild around her.

“It’s been years,” she whispers.

“Still, it wasn’t right. Let me handle that part of it. Please, Charlotte. Let my lawyers look into it. You deserve more than what you got.”

She’s quiet for a long moment, and I see the rise and fall of her chest. But then she nods. “Okay. I... okay. Thank you. No one’s ever thought about that. Except me, at the time. Now… Well, I believed it was a losing battle.”

“It’s not. I’ll fight it for you, sweetheart.” And I won’t stop. I’m already in contact with a journalist, too, and I’ve fed her astory idea. To look into just how problematic some reality shows can be. I want to discredit Blake publicly.

I don’t just want to fire him. I never want him to be hired by another TV network, either.

She blinks rapidly a few times, and then she falls onto my chest with a big sigh.

I wrap my arms around her. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

“Why are you so nice to me,” she mumbles against my neck.

I chuckle. “What do you mean?”

“You’re making it very, very hard to stick to rule number one.”

“Yeah. Won’t apologize for that, Chaos.”

She leans back and smiles at me. I smile at her in return.

“Is there a clear view of this patio from the beach?”

“Not if we move back a bit, no. Only the whales and the dolphins could possibly see us.”

She brushes her lips over mine. “Good.”

Charlotte kisses me, and I groan at the excitement of her touch. She’s sweet. I won’t use that word again, but there’s no denying that she’s sugar. Addictive and glorious. I grip her tightly and pull her onto my lap.

It’s easy, so easy, to untie the strings at her neck. Her bikini cups fall down, and I run my thumb over the hard peak of her pink, pert nipple. We make out until she’s boneless in my arms, her hands searching between our bodies to reach down to my hardness.

But maybe… it’s time for me to make it up to her in a different way. To apologize properly.

I pull her up off the sun lounger and lead her toward the house. I turn us, and gently push her back so her back’s to the wall.

She giggles, and fuck, I love that sound.

“What are you doing?”

“I want you to have a nice view.” I start at her neck, kissing down to her tits. They’re perfect.

I tell her that.

She shakes her head a little. “You don’t have to say that. Now that you know…”

I take her hands and pin them over her head. “Chaos,” I tell her. “I was obsessed with your tits before I knew of the nickname. You know that.”

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