Chapter 151: Lift me

Charlotte Damien didn’t leave my side. He stayed, pulling me into his chest and rubbing circles on my back—an otherwise incongruous place, given the openness of my office. Did I stop him? No. Was I interested in stopping him? No. I needed this just as badly as anything else. I hadn’t stopped hyperventilating, but it was only reducing by about a tenth of a second every minute, meaning I had been holding on for quite a long time. “You’re fine,” he said. “You good? Whenever you’re ready to talk about it…” His words entered my ear and seemed to come out the other side, as I was mostly focused on the sound of his voice rather than what he was actually saying. His words seemed important, but in that moment, I couldn’t grasp their significance. He continued to rub my back, his hands moving over my arms and pulling me closer, but not in an overly sexual way—in a comforting way, which was much better. Finally, I found myself completely relaxed and no longer hyperventilating. I was actually