Charles cleared his throat quietly, fidgeting in his seat. He couldn't seem to sit still; he thought if he did, he might explode. He could feel the sweat on the back of his neck, hell, he thought he could feel every nerve in his body. He loosened his tie, trying to relieve some of the pressure that he felt building inside of him. His eyes flickered back up to Liza, trying to tune out the words she was saying.

They had fallen back into a comfortable place with each other over the past few weeks. They had bonded over the struggles with Bryce, over the Edward LL Moore clusterfuck that had them all sitting together in this room, listening to Liza speak.

"I lay on the bed, quivering, my hands lingering over my panties. I could feel my woman pulse throbbing through the lace…."

He tried to tune her out again. Her voice was causing parts of his body to throb too. Her voice was soft and sweet and sexy. She could be reading an encyclopedia and he thought he would be mesmerized. He could feel his blood rushing to the southern regions of his body. Listening to her talk like this was igniting a primiative, primal lust in him that was proving difficult to gain control of.

He shifted in his seat, crossing his legs. He had Diana to one side, Radha to the other. A glance out of the corner of his eye showed a visibly annoyed Radha. Her arms were crossed, her lips pursed. He could tell that she didn't like Liza. He thought he was doing a pretty good job at hiding his feelings for Liza, but maybe not. Or maybe she was just pissed because she had lost out on the opportunity to rub elbows with Gwenyth Paltrow.

"And as I slid my fingers inside…towards the place no man could ever fully penetrate, I felt my flower begin to blossom…"

He smiled slightly as he saw Liza's face redden from a distance. She was modest but brazen, and it was sexy as fuck. The words she were ready were ridiculous, but she made them sound like poetry. He wished they were alone in the room, in any room. His mind was clouded with visions of them, limbs intertwined, lying naked in bed, bringing these words to life.

Liza disappeared from the room the instant she read the last words on the page. That had been the most humiliating thing she had ever done for work. She wasn't a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but that had been nearly pornographic. She had only lifted her eyes from the page a few times, first meeting Kelsey's amused grin, then catching Charles's eyes. He had been staring right at her, boring a hole through her. He had no idea the affect he had on her.

She slipped out a side door, onto a covered patio, letting the cool area bring her body temperature back within normal limits. She needed a drink, or something to soothe her nerves.

"I thought I might find you out here."

Liza gasped as she heard the deep male voice behind her – she hadn't even heard the door open. Charles leaned against the doorframe, holding two glasses of scotch. "I thought you might need a drink."

She nodded, feeling herself flush again. Why did he have to be here tonight? It was bad enough that she had gotten stuck reading those pages to a crowd of strangers, it was worse that Charles had been witness to it. They were just settling into a new, comfortable normal. They were both with other people and had been inching slowly towards friendship. Of course, it hadn't been visions of Josh that had been flying through her head while she read, it had been Charles.

"Thanks," She accepted the drink from him, immediately taking a swig. "That was, uhh, embarrassing." She turned away from him, slowly pacing around the edge of the patio. She needed to put some distance and some furniture between herself and Charles.

"You handled yourself well. Not a lot of people would have had the courage to get up there and do that. And you saved us from having to deal with the fallout from the revelation that Aubrey Alexis is, in fact, a sleazy old man. Not the kind of press we need right now."

"Agreed. I still can't believe it." She shuddered and stuck her tounge out in disgust, eliciting a laugh from Charles. She watched as he wandered through the maze of patio furniture towards her. He settled onto the stone wall next to her, his arm brushing up against hers.

"How are the girls doing?" Liza asked, needing to redirect the conversation.

"Good. Really good, actually. They've been pestering me to have you come over and hang out with them. They talk about you nonstop." He secretly loved that the girls adored Liza. Radha, not so much. He had invited her over for dinner a few times with the girls, and they had yet to warm up to each other.

"I'd love to come see them. I can babysit anytime, Charles."

He swallowed the last of his drink and sighed. "Maybe you could come over and not babysit. Come over for dinner one night. Friends have each other over for dinner, right?"

"What about Radha?" Liza asked quietly. He couldn't be asking her on a date. He was with someone else and was too much of a gentleman to cross that line. Plus, his kids would be there. Get your head out of the gutter, Liza, she told herself.

"What about her?" Charles answered, his voice husky. He leaned in closer to Liza, tilting his head down. "Just say yes, Liza, please." The last part came out pleading, but he needed her to know how much he meant it.

"There you are, Charles! I was wondering where you got off to. Ahhh, Liza, you again. Hello." Radha stood in the doorway, her arms crossed, her eyes accusing. "What are you two doing out here all alone?"

Charles coughed and stood up straighter, moving a few inches away from Liza. "Just getting some fresh air."

"Well, I'm ready to go." She pushed the door open and leaned against it, indicating for Charles to join her. He raked his fingers through his hair, frustrated.

"Goodnight, Liza. I'll see you at work."

"Goodnight, Charles. Thanks for the drink." She smiled weakly, finishing off her drink. She met Radha's eyes over the brim of the glass, rolling her eyes as the door closed, leaving her once again alone.

"Can you drive a little faster, please?" Charles leaned back against the seat of the SUV, sighing and tapping his fingers impatiently on the seat next to him. His worry for Liza was all consuming. All he knew was that she had been in some sort of accident running an errand for Diana and was in the hospital. He had tried calling Diana, but her phone had gone right to voicemail. He was thankful that she had informed the legal team at Empirical, otherwise he wouldn't have known until work the next day, and that would have bothered him deeply.

He was still slightly incredulous that Radha had given him that ridiculous ultimatum in the middle of the street. What was he supposed to do? Pick a dinner with her pretentious friends over checking in on an injured employee, an injured friend? He'd pick Liza time and again. And apparently she knew that. Charles knew he should be more upset about them splitting up, but the feelings for her weren't there. The only thing that mattered right now was Liza. He needed to see for himself that she was alright.

"You can let me off here." He directed his driver to pull over in the hospital parking lot when he spotted Diana exiting the hospital lobby. He barely waited for the car to stop before he was springing out of it.

"Diana! Is she alright?" He didn't bother to mask the urgency in his voice, and Diana furrowed her brow as she took in his haggard expression.

"Yes, yes, she's fine. The doctor's aren't sure if her collarbone is broken or if it's something minor. But she's alright." She paused, a guilty look on her face. "She's in a lot of pain. They haven't given her anything for it yet. I feel terrible, Charles. She was running an errand for me. A personal errand."

"What even happened?" He could feel his heartbeat start to slow down. At least he had confirmation that she was stable.

"She was picking up my metro bike, riding it back to the docking station. Apparently some construction worker cat called her and she hit a car that stopped short. Flew over the handlebars, hit the car, then the ground." Diana shuddered, closing her eyes briefly.

"Jesus Christ." Charles raked his hand through his hair.

"Her roommate is up there with her. You didn't have to come out here, Charles. She's taken care of."

"I know, but I did. We're a family, Diana. I'd do the same for you, for Kelsey. I'm gonna head up. Thanks for the update."

He bid her goodbye and jogged into the lobby of the hospital, pausing at reception to ask for her room number. He was thankful for their generous visitor policy. He knew he if he wasn't able to see her that he probably would have paced the lobby all night. He glanced over at the gift shop and on a whim decided to pick up a bouquet of flowers for her. He selected a colorful wilflower bouquet and had the clerk put them in a vase and tie a ribbon around it. It was overkill, but he didn't give a damn.

Liza lolled her head against the pillow, feeling the effects of the morphine starting to kick in. The doctor had finally stopped back, confirming that her clavicle was fractured and setting her up with a morphine drip.

"Maaaaaggggggs" She giggled as she tried to get Maggie's attention.

"You're really starting to feel that stuff, aren't you?" She felt Maggie lean over her and smooth her hair. She really was the best friend. "What's up?"

"Where's Josh?" She felt like she knew the answer to her question, but she couldn't remember.

"He got stuck at the shop. He'll be here as soon as he can."

"Mmmmmhmmmm. Can you get me another pillow?"

"Of course. I'll go ask a nurse. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."

Liza leaned back against her pillow and sighed, feeling the pleasant warmth of the pain meds oozing through her system. She could feel herself slowly drifting off to sleep, but somewhere in the depth of her mind she heard the door open and a deep voice that definitely did not belong to Maggie. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times, bringing into focus a tall man in a black suit. James Bond. No, not him. Charles. Charles Brooks. Handsome, sexy, intelligent, kind, and holding a giant bouquet of flowers.

"Heeeeyyyyyyyyy." She drawled, a silly smile taking over her face. She wasn't sure why she was so happy to see him, but she was.

"Hi," He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him and setting the flowers off to the side. "Are you okay, is it your arm?"

Why did he look so worried? She was fine. F.I.N.E. He looked so sad, like a lost puppy. She wanted to hug him.

"Are you in pain?" He sat down in the chair beside her, leaning in close. Liza blinked away tears. He was so nice. And he smelled so good.

She patted the bed next to her and he shifted so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed, his body touching her legs. She wiggled her fingers, reaching out to take his hand.

"I'm okay." She mustered the energy to try to string a few sentences together. "Broken clavicle. I'll be good as new tomorrow."

"No. You're taking a few days off. Boss's orders." He reached up with his free hand to brush a strand of hair out of her face.

"If you insist. Thank you for the flowers, Charles." They really were beautiful. Like a rainbow.

He wanted to crawl into the bed with her, to cradle her and kiss away her pain. But that wasn't his job, though he noticed that her boyfriend was no where to be found. "I should let you rest." He trailed a finger down her face, brushing her cheek with his thumb.

"No, wait. Wait!" She yawned and shifted so she was sitting up. "I want to tell you something." She squeezed his hand lightly. "I just wanted to say…" She yawned again, feeling a surge of drowsiness. "That thing that happened between us meant something to me." She felt her eyes start to flutter and her hand slipped away from Charles. "Maybe, if we were different people, or in a different place, and like, a different time, things would be different."

Charles sat there speechless, watching as Liza dozed off, not even giving him time to respond. He wasn't sure if it was the drugs speaking or if that's how she really felt, but he felt his heart swell, felt a warmth spread through his body that had been absent for weeks. Maybe there was hope for them after all.