by JA Low
She is breathing hard, her face flushed but she’s right. I may have said something to the men she was dancing with. I may have sent them on their way, only because they didn’t deserve her. They were douchebags and they wouldn’t treat her right. She was right, she didn’t get up in the brunette's face, she didn’t give me death stares, she kept up her end of the bargain. Maybe she isn’t affected by our time together as much as I am. Running my hand over my head, I feel depleted. Fuck, maybe she’s just not that into me. Rejection…now that’s a new concept. I shouldn’t have assumed anything, especially the fact that she is newly single and may get too attached to me. But most women do. This time it was me. I had become attached. “You’re right, Sienna.”
Shock crosses her face; she frowns before quickly hiding it with a smile. Heading toward her door, she turns and continues, “Good, as long as you understand. It’s going to be a long tour and this is only day one.”
Nodding, I reply, “I didn’t like the way those men were looking at you. I didn’t like the way those men were touching you.” My confession lets her know why I did what I did.
She lets out a sigh. “Don’t think for one second that seeing you with that woman didn’t hurt me; that I didn’t want to rip her hands off you.”
A growl comes out of my mouth at her words. She can’t say something like that to me and just walk away. “Sienna,” I breathe. My whole body tenses as I try to hold myself back. All I want to do is open the door, pick her up, throw her onto the bed and have my way with her again.
“Evan,” she exhales. The way she says my name sends chills over my body.
Taking a step forward toward her, my body is on high alert. I want her.
She keeps the door between us like a shield.
“Friends, that’s what we agreed. Don’t worry, I’ll get used to it, seeing you with other women,” Sienna whispers.
No, no, I don’t want her to get used to me being with other women because then that means I have to get used to her being with other men and that’s not what I want. But like a pussy, I let her say goodnight and close the door.
21
Sienna
It was an uneasy truce between Evan and I. Luckily the tour was in full swing so most of our days were spent dressing the boys for a million interviews they had in each new city. We were always busy, collecting and distributing clothes sent in from fashion labels for each of the boys as well as dressing them in between shows. The first dress rehearsal went horribly wrong. Trying to get their clothes off when they are covered in sweat was not easy. Arms and legs getting caught, people falling over each other – it was so embarrassing. Eventually we got it together by the time the concert came around. Stripping Evan down to his underwear was hardly noticeable after a while.
Who am I kidding? I noticed.
We had made our way through the UK, stopping in Edinburgh then Dublin for a couple of nights. Of course, the parties after each show were excruciating; watching the women all over Evan made me sick. But I tried to ignore it most nights. Derrick would always remind us of our European buffet of men – that kept me entertained enough to ignore the revolving women going through Evan’s door each night. No mistaking the walk of shame in the morning when it is thrown in your face as you eat your breakfast.
We arrived in Spain today. My old friend Yvette, who is a famous Spanish fashion designer, now living in Paris, has organized for me to catch up with her brother, Sebastien, who I haven’t seen in ages. He's a famous European chef, an enormous celebrity in Spain. We are going to catch up tonight at the after party. I haven't seen him since his very public divorce – it will be fun to catch up.
“You look smoking, Sisi,” Derrick whispers in my ear as we arrive at the after party.
I am wearing a gold sequin mini dress. It doesn’t leave much to the imagination, and I blow dried my hair straight for a change. The club was already full with beautiful people. On our arrival, the hostess showed us to our area and made sure the boys had everything before disappearing. It wasn’t long until people started to come by and say hello to the band. Photos were taken, autographs given, body parts groped – just a typical night with Dirty Texas.
“Fuck, I love Spain,” Derrick declares with a smile as he looks around the room.
He is right. They all look like they have stepped out of the pages of GQ magazine. The men definitely know how to dress.
“Come on, let’s dance,” Derrick says, grabbing my arm, pulling me onto the dance floor with Isla and Vanessa.
Hands snake around my waist during the night and a hard body pushes up against my back.
“Sienna,” the accented voice whispers into my ear.
Quickly turning around, there stood Sebastien. I wrap my arms around his neck giving him a welcoming hug.
“It’s so good to see you,” I say, getting lost in his dark chocolate eyes.
“It’s good to see you as well.” He takes a step away from me, giving me the once over, making me blush. “Looking beautiful as always,” he compliments.
Sebastien is always dressed to perfection. Tonight he is dressed in a navy blazer, white shirt and dark jeans. His hair has grown out since I last caught up with him; he has a sexy five o’clock shadow on his square jaw, and he smells delicious.
“Um…hello.” Derrick taps Sebastien on the shoulder.
“How could I forget you, Derrick?” He smiles, giving him a man hug on the dance floor.
“And who are your friends?” Derrick eyes the two men behind Sebastien, earning himself a chuckle.
“Of course, this is Javier and Antonio,” he introduces the equally gorgeous men to us.
Isla and Vanessa’s eyes widen at Sebastien’s friends.
“Come on, let’s dance,” Derrick grins, pushing the two of us together as he spins around away from us.
“Do you mind?” Sebastien asks, putting his hands on my waist.
“Of course not,” I reply, resting my hands on his shoulders, dancing to the music a little awkwardly at first but as the night continues we both relax and we are dirty dancing with each other by the end of the night.
“Come on, let’s grab a seat and a drink, I’m parched,” Derrick says, leading us off the dance floor through the club. Sebastien is holding my hand as we make our way through the crowd. Sitting down at the booth next to Dirty Texas, I slide in first with Sebastien taking up a spot beside me. Derrick sits on the other side of him and his friends fill out the rest of the booth with the girls. Our hostess comes over placing bottles in the middle of the table for us.
“Divorce suits you both,” Derrick states.
“I am so sorry to hear about your divorce, Sienna. Yvette told me all about it,” he consoles, putting his hand on my bare thigh, sending sparks all over my body.
“Must be the year for it, I am sorry about yours as well.”
Sebastien just shrugs. “It is what it is. But now I look forward, I do not have time for ex-wife drama.”
“I agree, it’s their loss.” We all raise our glasses in a toast to being single. Looking at Sebastien, I get lost in his chocolate eyes for a moment; my body starts to react to his attention.
“So, you are touring with rock stars?” Sebastien asks.
“Yeah, Vanessa offered me a job styling the boys and I took it. Who wouldn't want to visit Europe?” I say, taking a sip of my drink.
“Or hang out with rock stars,” he responds, giving me a wink.
“They’re pretty normal outside of the craziness,” I smile. “Like you can talk, you’re like a rock star of the culinary world.”
Sebastien laughs. “I am never going to live that interview down, am I?”
“What, you don’t like being named Bad Boy of food?”
Groaning he adds, “Please no, I am nothing like that. But now I am single my agent wants me to play it up for my media profile.”
Giving his shoulder a nudge, I admit, “I’m just joking, Yvette and I had a great laugh about it.”
“My siste
r is taking great delight in my misfortune. Will you see her?” he asks.
“Yes of course, when we go to Paris. I can’t wait to see her again.” At that moment, I can feel his thumb rubbing circles on my leg, making my skin react with goosebumps.
“I’m happy you organized tonight, It’s good to see you again, Sienna, under different circumstances,” he says, smiling at me as if he is about to devour me.
Leaning in closer and ever so slowly, I whisper, “It’s good to see you again too, Sebastien.” I take a sip of my champagne to steady my nerves.
Sebastien’s forehead falls onto my shoulder, a light bite against my skin before his lips touch my ear. “I have always thought you were a beautiful woman, Sienna. I, of course, respected our partners.”
Hearing his confession makes my stomach somersault. For the first time, a man has made me forget about Evan and what he was doing tonight. “Really?” I breathe, turning my head, our mouths inches apart, I can feel his body heat against mine.
Sebastien’s eyes dip to my mouth before returning to my eyes. “Yes.”
Nervously, I take another sip of my champagne.
“I have always found you very attractive and that accent of yours; Ahh, it does things to me.”
Funny, because I was thinking the same about his. I finish my glass of champagne not knowing what to say, my heart is racing, my body tingling. I must have sat in silence too long.
Sebastien pulls away out of my personal space. “Forgive me, Sienna, I am to forward.”
Grabbing his arm, I disagree, “No, no, you weren’t…” My hand is still wrapped around his thick wrist and I try to continue what I was saying. “I’m…it’s just…”
“New,” he says, finishing my sentence.
“Yeah, I forget that I am single and that I can talk and flirt with a good looking man.”
“Good looking man, hey?” he says, grinning.
I slap him on the thigh; fuck, that was a strong leg. “You know you are good looking Mr. Playboy Chef. All the women walking past definitely think so.”
Chuckling he adds, “I’m not worried about them. What do you think?”
My heart is thumping in my chest as I answer, “You’re not too bad.”
“Not so bad, hey?” He moves in closer, his arm hanging loosely behind my shoulders. “What do I have to do to get you to change your mind?” He entices me while his hand rests back on my thigh.
Fuck, I want to cross my legs because I can feel the ache starting between them.
“I think you might have your ways,” I respond as my eyes fall to his luscious mouth where his bottom lip is larger than the top, All I want to do is sink my teeth into it.
“Me vuelves loco.” The way his voice rumbles over the words makes my tummy flip.
“What does that mean?” I ask as Sebastien’s lips meet my neck.
“You drive me crazy,” he mumbles against my skin.
I try to hide the shiver over my body but I can’t which makes him laugh.
“Te quiero besar,” he whispers. “I want to kiss you,” he translates.
My whole body is on fire when he speaks Spanish to me.
Sebastien leans in and there is a moment, a moment that I can pull back from the kiss that I know is about to happen but I don’t, instead his lips touch mine, gentle at first, tentative as if warming me up to the idea. We have known each other for years but now our relationship is changing, we have stepped over a line into something else with this kiss. A strong hand cups my face pressing his lips closer to mine. I open up to him; he tastes like rum as we hungrily explore each other.
“Sienna.” Evan’s deep voice filters into my conscious. Why the hell am I thinking about him when I'm kissing Sebastien? Then I feel an elbow in my side breaking my kiss with Sebastien. Turning toward Derrick I ask, “What was that for?”
My eyes look across the table.
There standing before us is Evan, looking pissed with an enormous red stain running down his white shirt. Is he bleeding?
“Evan?” What the hell was he doing there?
“Someone spilt their drink on me and I need you to help me.”
The table goes quiet. Looking at Vanessa, I am hoping she can tell me what is going on. But she ignores me. Bitch!
“I have to go back to the hotel and as it's your job as my stylist to help me find something to wear…” His voice is laced with anger.
I am genuinely shocked and embarrassed by his command. Looking at Sebastien, I say, “I’m sorry, Sebastien, it seems I have work to do.” I stand, grabbing my purse to leave.
“Carino, that is okay. Will you be back?” he asks, kissing my cheek.
My eyes turn to Evan asking him?
He just shrugs.
“I’m not sure. But please stay, have fun, maybe we can catch up tomorrow?” Because I did want to see him again, maybe finish that kiss.
“Of course, let me cook for you tomorrow, I will message you,” he confirms. I smile, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
“Okay,” I say, excusing myself from the group.
Evan is storming off in front of me, pushing through the crowd.
I have to jog to keep up with him. Sean, the bands bodyguard, meets us at the door ushering us into the waiting limousine. The space between us feels like an ocean.
“Want to tell me what that was all about?”
“Some drunk spilt red wine all over me and I need to go back to the hotel and get changed,” he said. He didn’t even look at me.
“I get that, I see the stain, but why the hell do you need me to pick out a shirt for you. I’m pretty sure you can do that all by yourself,” I huff, folding my arms across my chest.
“Oh, I’m sorry to interrupt your make out session, so you could do your job,” Evan yells back at me.
“You’re right, Evan, how could I fucking forget that I am just your employee?” I yell back at him, turning my back to him now.
“Sienna.”
“Don’t. Let’s get back to the house, grab you a new shirt so you can get back to your adoring public.”
We are staying in a luxury home in the exclusive Salamanca area. As we arrive, Sean opens the door for us and I storm upstairs toward Evan’s room. Opening the door, I ignore his scent lingering in the room. Walking toward his closet I pull it open and search through the racks of clothing, pulling out a navy shirt.
“Here you go, no need to worry about stains with this one,” I growl, slamming it into his hard stomach.
“Sienna,” Evan barks, grabbing my wrist.
“What?” I yell back, feeling the anger bubbling just below the surface.
Letting go of my hand he takes a step away. “Sorry.” It was all he said before he started to undress. Taking off his ruined, white shirt and throwing it onto his bed, he exposes his taut, tanned stomach. I hated how my body still responded to him; it wasn’t fair. It didn’t take him long to dress again in the navy shirt.
“Okay, well you better get going, your fans will be wondering where you are,” I quip, turning around, trying to get as far away from his bedroom as I could.
“You're not coming back?” he questions. I could feel him behind me; the heat radiating from his body.
“Not in the mood anymore,” I answer. Not giving him a chance to respond, I hurry down the hallway toward my room and slam the door. My back pressed against it, the tears start to fall onto my cheeks.
22
Evan
Fuck, I’m a prick. I didn’t mean to let my jealousy get the better of me. It's been so fucking hard watching Sienna dancing and flirting with men when we go out. Even worse watching her kiss them, watching as their hands slide over her body, knowing exactly the way she feels under their fingers. But hearing about this Sebastien guy, knowing that he has been in her life for a while, was too much for me.
The look on her face when she saw him – hurt like hell. The way she wrapped her arms around him, pushing herself up against him, I didn’t like it at all. As the night p
rogressed, they got closer and closer until finally he kissed her. That’s when I had to stop it. I’m not proud of pulling the boss-employee card, the drunk fan was the icing on the cake giving me an excuse to pull her away from him. But I think my jealousy may have fucked things up. Should I let her go? Or should I try to fix it? I hesitate for a moment, working out my next move. I promised Sienna I wouldn't hurt her, and tonight I did. Walking down the hallway to her room, taking a couple of deep breaths steadying myself, I knock on her door.
“Go away, Evan,” Sienna sniffles.
Shit, she’s crying. “Sienna, please open up.”
There is silence on the other side of the door. I wait, hoping for a miracle when finally, the door opens. Sienna’s eyes are red-rimmed with her makeup smudged around them. She still looks beautiful. Holding the door open, but not letting me in, she huffs, “What?”
Grabbing her face between my palms, I whisper, “I’m sorry, Sienna, I'm so sorry I made you cry.”
Her eyes don’t meet mine, Shit! “Sienna, please look at me.”
Finally, her jade green eyes look up at me.
“Baby, I’m sorry. I just…” Just what Evan? You need to have a damn good enough excuse to pull her away from some guy and demand she come home with you. In all honesty, I didn’t have an excuse other than being jealous. Words are not going to cut it right now, so I let my lips do the talking. Capturing her mouth in a kiss, a kiss that I have wanted for weeks, my body responding instantly remembering exactly how she feels, how she tastes. I want more. Except I feel hands on my chest pushing me away. I look at her and take a step back dropping my hands from her face.
“You think you can just knock on my door, kiss me, and I will forget about how much of an asshole you have been? If you think I am one of those girls you are sorely mistaken, Evan Wyld,” she yells, as she slams the door in my face.