All Areas Accessed - Sequel to Access All Areas

Chapter Seven

When Clara decided to face me again, I actually felt nervous and grateful at the very same time. As she stepped into my dressing room, her heels were hitting the floor with some obvious apprehension.

I had done that.

I had made her feel that way.

Wanting to relax her right away, wanting to wipe away all of her uncertainties about me, I was inviting with my smile when I said that we could finish off the interview. Clara was just as nervous as me, so when she fumbled around for her dictaphone, I knew I had to apologise. Placing my hand gently on hers, that is what I did. "Before we do this, I need to apologise."

Clara blinked hard, her stunned lashes framing those enticing teal eyes of hers. "For what?" She had asked, just to be so beautifully polite.

I explained I had been a jerk, and she had tried to sweetly tell me that it was okay. But it wasn't okay. None of my behaviour was okay.

When she had brought her other hand down onto mine, that chemistry that always seemed to silently sizzle between us, was there again. I made some stupid joke about us having to agree to disagree about me being a total jerk, before I gave in to the overwhelming urge to kiss her. It was at this point, that Clara asked if I was okay. I knew she was trying to go where many other females had never been before.

I said I was. Because I really was okay. With her hand touching mine, I really was okay. Then from out of the blue, she asked me whether she had upset me at the studio. I was just starting to get Clara thinking that I wasn't a total jerk, so I wasn't about to admit that I was jealous of her and Cam. So I said that she hadn't upset me, keeping my pride very much in tact.

But Clara is intelligent. Intelligent enough to doubt what I had told her. With a small frown, she went on to say. "It's just that when me and Cameron came back into the studio, you looked at us strangely." That's when I felt hot all of a sudden, like the dressing room walls were closing in on me. This woman had me upside down and sideways about my feelings for her, now she wanted me to admit that I was jealous. No way in hell was I about to admit that. So I pulled my hand away, needing to distance myself from the unwanted question. I went on to explain to Clara that my mom had called, a call that was the reason why I had been so pissed back at the studio. No matter how much I didn't want to open up, the urge to lock lips with Clara Thorn had indeed got stronger and stronger. "Want to talk about it?" She sweetly then asked, causing such an inward conflict, that I honestly didn't know how to rightly respond.

"It's private, Clara." Defensively fell right out of my stupid mouth. Yeah, it was private, but I didn't want to be so guarded and private with her.

So now, here I am, stuck in this intolerable and awkward situation where I've hurt the one person who I never wanted to ever hurt. My need to guard Maci's drug addiction has intruded on my growing need for Clara.

Now, she's sitting here beside me, mumbling out all of the reasons why I shouldn't trust her, and I feel like a total dick again.

She's different...don't be the same. Is what I now tell myself.

And my conscience is right.

This woman is different.

I know she's a journalist. I know I probably shouldn't trust her. But watching her now, squirming in her seat as she tries to justify why I don't want to talk to her about my private life, only makes me want to tell her it all. Because I know that Clara feels more for me than she is letting on. I'm not just any old celebrity that she's interviewing here—I am more to her than that.