BACKSTREET BOYS - CARTER ACCUSED OF CHEATING ON HILTON

BACKSTREET BOYS hunk NICK CARTER has been accused of causing the end of his romance with PARIS HILTON by cheating on her.

Carter and Hilton were inseparable during their seven months together, and even proved their devotions through tattoos earlier this summer (04), only to break up just weeks later late month (JUL04).

And 20-year-old CRYSTAL SOTO, a talent agency manager with ACTOR'S REPS OF LOS ANGELES AND NY INC, has declared she's the cause of the split.

She tells American tabloid the NATIONAL ENQUIRER, "Yes, Nick was cheating on Paris - I should know, I slept with him.

"I met Nick outside my office on Thursday, May 13. My friend and I were leaving the parking garage when we spotted Nick. We pulled up next to him to ask him for an autograph."

The 24-year-old pop heart-throb then invited them to his house in Beverly Hills, claims Soto, who continues, "Once we were there Nick brought out a bunch of booze. After a few shots I was really drunk and wasn't thinking straight.

"Nick walked out of the room for a while and when he came back, he said Paris had just called. I asked him if they were still together and he snapped 'absolutely not!'

"My friend had passed out when Nick suggested I take a warm bath in his giant sunken tub. He said it would 'sober me up'.

"After I got into the tub Nick came into the bathroom, stripped off his clothes and jumped in the water with me. The next thing I knew he started kissing me and pulling me closer. Before long he took me into his bedroom and we made love."

Soto says that the morning after the encounter, she left for work, but Carter kept in touch with her over the next few weeks.

She adds, "I returned one of his calls on Thursday, July 22, and left a message on his cell. That's when all hell broke loose!

"(Paris called back and) started screaming about how I was 'stalking her boyfriend'. I told Paris everything that happened. In the end she said, 'I totally believe you. I know he's just lying to cover his a**!'

"By this point she was very sweet to me. She said she wanted to meet up with me and we exchanged phone numbers. And that night Nick must have gotten what he deserved, because the next day I heard on the news that Nick and Paris had broken up so that Paris could 'concentrate on her career'."