But she hadn’t.
Although she’d had second thoughts about this silly seduction plan, the way Nate so carelessly brought up the past had seriously grated. Yes, she’d seen some guilt in his eyes, but she’d hoped for more. It’s been a long time. Fifteen years, and those were the first words he said to her? How about, Fuck, Charlotte, I’m so, so, so sorry for what I said. For ripping your heart out and stomping on it with my boot. For making you so insecure you couldn’t have sex for four years after what I did.
But no, she got It’s been a long time.
And then when she’d acted as if his betrayal didn’t bother her, his face had brightened up like a kid’s eyes on Christmas morning. He’d probably been thinking, Hey, I got off easy. She doesn’t even care that I dumped her three seconds after taking her virginity.
Jerk.
Though really, what had she been expecting? That he’d get down on his knees and grovel for her forgiveness?
Well, no. But she’d at least hoped to see some shame on his part.
I never got to apologize to you.
Then do it now, she’d wanted to yell. She might have lied and said she’d forgiven him, but he should have still apologized, still tried to explain his actions. Instead, he’d let it go as effortlessly as she’d pretended to.
“I own all your records.”
His husky voice jolted her from her angry thoughts. Surprise joined the anger when she registered what he’d said. “You do?”
“You’re so talented, Charlie,” he said roughly. “I always knew you’d make it to the big time.”
The nickname made her heart somersault. Damn him. Why did he still affect her this way?
Before she could reply, a tall brunette hesitantly approached them, a napkin and pen in her hand. “I don’t mean to bother you, but would you mind signing an autograph?”
Charlotte pasted on a smile, all the while trying to figure out who the woman was. Cara something or other. Or was it Tara?
“I’m Tara,” the brunette added with a tentative smile. “We had P.E. together senior year.”
Right, Tara. Charlotte resisted the urge to glare as she suddenly remembered precisely who Tara was and what she had done. Tara and a few of her friends had stolen Charlotte’s clothes from the locker room after gym class one afternoon. They’d probably hoped she’d venture out in the hall, in all her nude glory, looking for help, but Charlotte had simply sat down on the hard wooden bench. And cried. Naked. For five hours, until the female janitor finally came into the locker room hours after school ended and scrounged up some clothes for the sobbing teenaged girl.
Fun times.
“My daughter is your biggest fan,” Tara confessed as she held out the napkin. “She said she’d kill me if I didn’t ask for an autograph.”
Clenching her teeth, Charlotte kept up the smile. “What’s her name?”
“Winnie.”
Taking the pen, Charlotte scrawled a quick note and signed her name with a flourish then handed the napkin back to her former tormentor.
“Thank you. She’s going to love it.” Tara smiled again, but the cloud of guilt in her eyes was unmistakable.
She remembered, just as Charlotte did, the locker room incident. With a tiny nod, Tara dashed off.
“That was nice of you,” Nate remarked.
She shrugged. “Part of the job.”
“Yeah, but you could have refused.” There was a knowing glimmer in his gorgeous gray eyes. “She’s the one who stole your clothes.”
Her heart did another flip. “You remember that?”
“I remember everything about you, Charlie.”
Their gazes locked, and, despite herself, Charlotte found herself reacting to his nearness, to the gentle expression on his handsome face. Her thighs squeezed together, her breasts suddenly felt achy and her pulse kicked up another notch.
She swallowed hard and attempted a flirty tone. “I’m not the same girl you knew in high school. I’m all grown up now.”
His eyes raked up and down her body, heating her skin.
Gathering up some much-needed courage, she set down her champagne flute on the counter behind them and placed her hand on his forearm. “What do you say we get out of here?”
Nate blinked. “Are you serious?”
She nodded.
“Don’t you want to stay and catch up with everyone?”
Her lips twisted in a self-deprecating smile. “What do you think?”
Nate laughed softly. “Sorry, stupid question.”
“Besides,” she said, lowering her voice to a sexy pitch, “there’s only one person I want to catch up with. And I think it’ll be way more fun if we did the catching up in private.”
A beat of silence. Nate’s strong, corded throat bobbed as he swallowed.
For a second, Charlotte feared he might turn her down, but to her relief, he gave a brisk nod, cleared his throat and said, “Let’s go.”