He had a crush on her, but Alyssa Milano doesn't mind - she thinks "he's hot."

Nick Lachey told Access Hollywood that he had to tell his Charmed co-star about his former crush to avoid the humiliation of having her find out from someone else.

Lachey plays Milano's love interest in an upcoming six-episode arc on the WB show. "The first day I came I said, 'I'm just going ... to tell you right now that your poster was hanging in my locker. Because you're going to hear about it and I don't want to be embarrassed later on.' "

Milano says the feeling is mutual. "His eyes are like lavender," Milano told the show. "I can't even look at him when I'm working with him ... Yeah, he's hot."

The new season of Charmed premieres Sept. 12.