Steal My Heart

Cristiano opened his bottle of water as he tried to ignore Irina's constant complaints, he honestly thought that a few days apart would have helped with their problems, but since he had picked up Irina from the airport an hour ago, she had done nothing but whine at him and he was getting a little tired of hearing his girlfriend's voice.

" Are you even listening to me?" Irina asked, her cold eyes landing on Cristiano, she wasn't stupid she had noticed that he had been distant with her, normally he would have greeted her with a kiss, she barely got a smile out of him, she was beginning to suspect he was playing away again.

Cristiano forced a polite smile on his face, a smile he used for people he didn't like all that much" Of course I am listening to you" he replied.

" Okay then what did I just say to you?" Irina asked, her hands on her hips, while she narrowed her eyes at her distracted boyfriend.

Opening and closing his mouth, Cristiano had nothing and both of them knew it " You got me, I wasn't listening to you" he smirked a little, hoping his girlfriend would melt a little at his smirk.

" I am so tired of you ignoring me Cristiano" Irina muttered " Things feel so different between us lately and I am sick of trying to get you to open up to me" she added bitterly.

Cristiano ran his hand nervously over his jaw not wanting to fight with Irina right now " I am not ignoring you, I have just been a little busy with football" he retorted.

Irina rolled her eyes, she had been expecting that answer but she didn't buy it, Cristiano had been a lot colder towards her since he had arrived back from Portugal and she suspected Lily was the reason why.

" You used to call me everyday when we were apart now I am lucky to receive a text from you" Irina smiled bitterly.

Cristiano sighed a little as he stared down at the floor not sure what he could say that would get Irina off his back " I told you training has been crazy lately" he replied.

Irina shook her head as she stared at Cristiano he couldn't even look at her something had clearly changed and not for the better " Do you love me? she asked quietly.

" What sort of question is that?" Cristiano scoffed lightly. " I wouldn't be with you if I didn't love you" he smiled a little.

Taking a step closer to Cristiano, Irina stood right in front of him, she placed her hand under his chin and raised his head so he would look at her " Do you love me, its a simple yes or no answer" she said.

" Do we have to do this right now?" Cristiano asked, groaning a little " Wouldn't you rather step into one of your lovely bikinis and spend the day by the pool soaking up the sun?" he asked, directly avoiding Irina's question.

Irina took a step back from Cristiano, he may not have directly gave her a yes or no, but the fact he was avoiding her question spoke volumes to her " You still haven't answered me" she said rather harshly.

" I do love you Irina, we have spent so many years together.... Cristiano trailed off when he spotted the look in his girlfriend's eyes.

Irina stared coldly at Cristiano " But you are no longer in love with me are you?" she asked.

" I don't know" Cristiano shrugged " Things have changed between us over the last few months and I guess somewhere in those weeks we spent apart my love for you faded" he added honestly.

Wiping away the tear that fell down her face Irina didn't know what to do with the fact that her boyfriend no longer was in love with her " What about Lily?" she asked.

" Don't even go there" Cristiano warned softly, yes he may have grown closer to Lily over the last few months, but this had nothing to do with her. " This has nothing to do with Lily, this is about us and only us" he said.

Irina shook her head again refusing to believe Cristiano " I have seen the way you look at her" she spat " Those pictures of you two in Portugal were hardly innocent" she pointed out.

" This has nothing to do with Lily and everything to do with us growing apart, the last year has not been good for us, I could let us go on the way we are, but then that wouldn't be fair on either one of us" Cristiano sighed.

Irina laughed sarcastically " Things were good when Lily was not part of your life" she mumbled. " I want us to be together, I will even ignore your feelings for her" she added brightly.

Cristiano frowned at Irina, at her sudden change in attitude, shaking his head he played with the label on his bottle of water " I think we should just call it quits" he replied " We had a good run but it wouldn't be fair to you or me if I allowed this to continue" he said.

" You can't be serious" Irina yelled at Cristiano " I forgave you for the cheating and the lies and now you want to actually break up with me" she laughed coldly.

Cristiano just shrugged his shoulders, he knew deep down he was doing the right thing for both of them, it may hurt Irina now, but he knew she would get over it quickly.

" I am sorry Irina" Cristiano muttered.

Irina glared at Cristiano " If you do this, there will be noway back this will be us done for good" she warned.

" I guess we are done for good" Cristiano said quietly.

Picking up her bag and phone, Irina walked to the door without saying another word to Cristiano, she glanced over her shoulder at him, willing him to come to his senses but he just sort of waved at her then turned and walked further into his house.

" You will regret this" Irina yelled after him, before she grabbed the rest of her belongings and walked out of Cristiano's house, knowing she would probably hear from him in a couple of days once he realized his mistake.

***

" No Victoria we are not together" Lily smiled, as she stepped into Cristiano's house, " Things are fine" she lied, spotting Cristiano walking towards her with a less than impressed look on his face " victoria I have to go, I will call you later" she said before she hung up.

Cristiano stopped in front of Lily " You are late back from Lunch" he muttered.

Lily glanced at her watch " Yeah only like five minutes" she laughed, not picking up on Cristiano's bad mood right away, he had been so moody the past week so his recent moods just seemed normal to Lily.

" I don't pay you to be late" Cristiano huffed.

Lily frowned at Cristiano " I am sorry it won't happen again" she replied, hoping that by apologizing it would improve his mood.

" Make sure it doesn't" Cristiano muttered as he grabbed his coat off the rack " You are coming with me today" he said bluntly.

Lily just nodded her head and followed Cristiano out of the house " Where are we going?" she asked.

Cristiano just grunted something that Lily couldn't understand, she looked at Cristiano, he had a sullen look on his face " Are you okay?" she asked.

Cristiano directed another grunt at her before he climbed into his car, Lily just rolled her eyes as she climbed in beside him, wondering who had pissed him off today, her money was on Irina, even though the Russian model hadn't been around the last week or so.

An awkward silence filled the car, Lily turned slightly in her seat to look at Cristiano " You are not very chatty today" she said with a smile.

" I am not in the mood today" Cristiano said through gritted teeth.

Lily just arched her brow at him, she didn't like this moody Cristiano, she knew things between them were awkward even more so after his late night visit at her house " You know you can talk to me right" she said.

Cristiano glanced at Lily as he stopped at a red light " You are the last person I can talk to right now" he huffed.

" Okay fine don't talk" Lily snapped back, losing patience with Cristiano, she leaned over and turned on the radio anything to cut the horrible tension in the car.

Cristiano listened as Lily hummed to some song on the radio, he smiled a little at her out of tune humming, Lily spotting the small smile on his face, smiled herself.

After they drove in silence for ten minutes Cristiano finally spoke " I broke up with Irina" he said.

Lily stared at Cristiano in shock that had been the last thing she had expected to come out of Cristiano's mouth " You broke up with her?" she asked.

Cristiano smiled a little at the surprise on Lily's face " Yes It was for the best" he replied " We had grown part" he said quietly.

Lily felt a little guilt eat away at her if she hadn't kissed him then maybe he would have not ended things with Irina " This is not because of me is it?" she asked.

Cristiano shook his head " No Irina and I were done well before I met you, It just took me a while to realize that" he replied.

" How did she take it?" Lily asked.

Cristiano sighed deeply as he kept his eyes on the road " Not very well" he admitted " But am sure she will get over it" he smiled weakly.

" For what its worth I am sorry" Lily smiled back at Cristiano " Its never nice being the one to end a relationship" she said quietly.

Cristiano just smiled a little knowing deep down he had done the right thing " So Now Irina and I are done, How about us?" he asked, a playful smile his face.

" You are awful " Lily laughed, rolling her eyes, knowing he wasn't being serious right now " Just awful " she repeated.

Cristiano flung his head back a little and laughed " If I was being serious would you go there?" he asked.

" Of course not, you have just came out of a relationship, you need to deal with that first" Lily scoffed. " I don't think you will be ready to date for a while" she smiled a little.

Cristino just grinned at Lily " When I am ready to start dating again, I will come for you" he said dead serious.

Lily rolled her eyes again "You've been listening to a little too much Nickleback" she joked lightly.

" Nickleback? Cristiano asked, a puzzled look crossed his face.

Lily just laughed at the look on Cristiano's face " Never mind" she smiled, as she looked out of the window, wondering where they were going. " So where are we going?" she asked.

" I have a interview and shoot with a top football magazine" Cristiano replied

Lily just rolled her eyes so she would have to sit and watch Cristiano pose for pictures for most of the day " And you brought me why?" she asked.

" I guess to keep me sane" Cristiano joked, as he parked the car.

Lily just laughed as she undid her seat belt and climbed out, she didn't like football all that much, but she guessed that being out of Cristiano's tiny office all day was a good thing.

***

Lily rolled her eyes as she watched Cristiano flirt with the girl that was modeling with him today, his mood had perked up when the girls had walked in and he shamelessly flirted with each and every one of them, Lily knew he was just doing it as away of distracting himself from his break up with Irina but watching him with those girls annoyed Lily more than she would care to admit.

" Are you a fan?"

Lily looked away from Cristiano and to the guy standing in front her her, he was cute in a geeky Clark kent sort of way.

" Not really, he is my boss" Lily smiled politely.

The guy smiled back at Lily, interest clear in his eyes " So you are not his girlfriend?" he asked, as he sat down next to Lily.

Lily shook her head slowly " Nope, he is just my boss" she replied, feeling a slight twinge at her lie, they may not be anything right now but something was clearly growing between them.

" Forgive me for my bad manners, Hi My name is Nathan" he said, holding his hand out for Lily to take.

Lily couldn't help but smile back at Nathan " Lily" she replied, shaking his hand. " So why are you here?" she asked, kicking herself a little for sounding a bit rude.

" I am directing the shoot or supposed to be" Nathan replied with a cheeky smile.

Lily laughed softly, she was sure that Nathan's smile got him lots of girls but it wouldn't work on her " Maybe you should go back to work" she replied, glancing over at Cristiano who was standing on the other side of the room, watching them, a guarded look on his face.

" I will in a moment, I Just thought I would come and say hi" Nathan grinned.

Lily smiled, shaking her head, Nathan was flirting with her and wasn't even trying to hide it " Well now you said Hi" she pointed out.

Nathan frowned a little usually his cheeky chappy routine worked for him, but Lily seemed immune to him " Can I get your number before I go?" he asked.

" I am not available" Lily answered, it wasn't a lie, emotionally she wasn't available and even if she was she would have still said no to Nathan, she came across a lot of guys like him in the past and none of them turned out to be very nice men.

Nathan smiled at Lily but it never quite reached his eyes " That is a pity" he replied, getting to his feet he pulled out a pen out of his shirt pocket and wrote something down on a scrap bit of paper then handed it to Lily " In case you change your mind" he said with a wink before he walked over to Cristiano and the waiting Photographers.

***

" So what did Nathan want with you?" Cristiano asked as they walked to his car after the photo shoot was done, it had taken a while because Nathan kept saying no to everything. Cristiano had suspected he was only doing it so Lily would be around longer.

A small smile tugged at Lily's mouth " He wanted my number" she replied.

Cristiano opened his car door harsher than he intended " Did you give him your number?" he asked, not liking the idea of Lily with Nathan.

" Maybe" Lily teased lightly.

Cristiano stared at Lily hating that he was bothered about her new friend " Why he has a track record and Its bad" he sighed.

" A bit like you then" Lily joked.

Without saying another word Cristiano climbed into the car, Lily quietly got in beside him, she looked over at him, his jaw was clenched and his hands gripping on the wheel tightly, she was a little amused.

" No I didn't give him my number" Lily replied as she looked out the window " I told him I wasn't interested" she smiled.

Cristiano began to relax a little " Good because you can do better than that guy" he said quietly.

" Yeah like who?" Lily asked, daring Cristiano to say him, but of course he avoided her question " Maybe I should start dating again" she said, testing the waters a little, she wanted to see how Cristiano would react.

Cristiano just stared ahead, he hadn't even started the car up yet, " Do you want to start dating again?" he asked.

Lily shrugged her shoulders " Maybe with the right person" she replied.

" You know I have just ended a relationship and I am not looking to jump into another one so quickly" Cristiano sighed, looking at Lily wanting her to understand he wasn't trying to lead her on he just wanted her to know where his head was at right now " I Know there is something between us but I am not ready to explore that yet, so I guess if you want to date again then maybe you should" he added.

Lily frowned a little as she stared down at her hands " Who says we have to jump straight into a relationship?" she asked " We could just have a bit of fun and see where that takes us" she said quietly.

Cristiano shook his head " No I won't do that with you" he mumbled. " I think for the time being I need to be on my own, I was with Irina for a long time and I need to get over that before I think of jumping into anything else" he replied.

" Okay" Lily smiled weakly, turning away from Cristiano a little " You are doing the right thing for you" she added, totally understanding Cristiano's decision to take time for himself.

Cristiano leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Lily's cheek " Thank you for understanding" he said.

Lily just forced a smile on her face " We should go now otherwise we will be stuck in traffic" she warned, then went back to staring out of the window, she totally understood why Cristiano was reluctant to start anything with her but it didn't mean it stung any less, maybe they were just better off as friends.