Something inside her curled up and stopped breathing. Whatever he hid separated them more than the distance between their homes. "You said you believed in me. Did you mean it?" Anyone but Charlie could doubt her, anyone. He lay still, his chest heaving as she climbed from the bed and pulled on a robe. "Oh my God, you didn't."
"Of course I meant it." He sat up, his expression closed and professional, no emotion. "But there's a reason I didn't get placed on administrative leave too. I've been cleared. You haven't."
She took the blow as if he'd hit her. He never would, but this unexpected emotional punch hurt more. "How could you come here, touch me, enter me, whisper all those things if you think I'm a thief and a liar?"
"Making love with you has nothing to do with the corporation and never did." The edge to his voice, the hard bitterness, cut her like a knife. "Peg asked me not to discuss this case with anyone, especially you. She asked the same of you, didn't she, because our jobs are on the line?"
Peg, short for Margaret, Christine realized as numbness seeped through her, and the promotion. Oh God. "You two are old friends and she cleared you because you're the Golden Boy. I'm expendable. It doesn't even matter if I didn't steal the money; it's all about protecting the corporate image."
Charlie thrust a hand through his hair. "Stop before we both say something we regret. Just stop, Christine. Please."
Fury overrode all her common sense. "Have you only come here to see if I'll admit what you and the corporate heads think I've done. Some after sex pillow talk? Were you to search my house for missing money and forged orders while I slept exhausted from our bouts of sexual release? You're part of the corporation's rat patrol, their ultimate secret weapon with those sweet Hawaiian words. I bet they don't even translate like you said. They probably mean 'stupid fool' or 'trampy slut'."
"For God's sake, don't be ridiculous." He pounded a pillow flat. "I shouldn't even be here, but I couldn't stay away. Think whatever else you want, but the truth is you and I share something unique."
"We do? Really?" Christine couldn't believe anything anymore. He wouldn't say he believed her incapable of being a thief and hadn't come to investigate her. The fury, the fear, and the grief made her cruel. "So it's okay to fuck me like a whore as long as you get the promotion, and I take the fall."
Charlie's gaze fired as his jaw tightened. "I've never considered you a whore nor would I ever. And I didn't fuck you."
I won't cry. Damn it, I won't. "Oh, excuse me. Since I got on top, guess I fucked you and used you as my boy toy."
"Christine."
"Did you take the money?" Her heart broke as she asked. "Did you set me up and like some brainless idiot, I fell for you?"
His jaw dropped as he stared at her. "How can you even ask me that?"
"You believe I did. Why shouldn't I think the same of you?" Christine swept her hand around the room. "Especially when you only came here for a good fuck."
"Stop saying we fucked!" His shout rattled the windows as he climbed from the bed. "We didn't fuck; we made love. You mean something to me."
"Stop lying. I won't listen to anymore." Christine ran through the hallway, the living room where the Celtic Woman still played, and into the kitchen. Charlie caught her arm by the oak dining table. She swung her fist, barely missing him as he jerked her body to his. Drums and fiddles pounded in the air, louder than her heart. She'd break soon. She had to get away before she shattered at his feet.
"Christine." Charlie lowered his head so his lips were near her ear. "I believe in you. I trust you as I do no other person. Just you. I'll tell you every minute of the day until you hear me and know it's true. You're innocent. I know and I believe."
Her body sagged. "Don't play games with me. If you ever felt anything for me, don't pretend now. If you're here because of the investigation, if you're part of it, just tell me outright. Because I can't take this, Charlie. I can't."
"I can't talk about the investigation with you." His lips caressed her ear, hands trembling on her arms. "I swear on my soul I'm not part of the corporation's investigative team. I could never deceive you, never be a part of anyone or anything to hurt you."
"I want to believe you, I do." Christine fought to keep desperation from her voice, hearing it leak through regardless. "Something's not right, something you aren't telling me. I feel it. It's the true wall; the one you said isn't there but is. I can't do this. I can't pretend." She almost felt the struggle inside him as her tears fell. "I can't."
He kissed her with tenderness, his heart pounding steadily against hers. "It's a choice. I'm making it by being here."
It slammed her, the truth and the reasons, and his choice. "You're putting your promotion on the line?"
"Trust me. Please trust me, trust us." He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's a lot to ask. It could be everything. Just let me protect you."
"Protect me?" She shook her head. "You have more to lose with the major promotion, a dream you've talked about almost every day, on the line. Why would you risk it?"