Sienna pulled on her bottom lip with her teeth, uncertain about what they had just shared. “That…?”
He looked back at her, a small frown creasing his forehead. Amazement filled his face and a smile began to stretch his mouth. “That wasn’t what I’d—”
“Who the fuck are you?”
Zach’s question cracked the room. She flinched. Heat flooded her cheeks. Damn it, she forgot her brother was there? What kind of person did that?
Stumbling away from James, face growing hotter, she turned to Zach. Guilt and embarrassment overwhelmed her. “Zach…”
Zach stood at the parted studio curtain, a large mug in each hand, wisps of steam rising from both. The aromatic smell of coffee filled her nose, and she groaned, her heart twisting. Coffee. Her brother who hated her had made her coffee.
Could his timing have been any worse?
Could hers?
Pulse pounding, she took a step toward him. “Zach—”
Contempt flashed in his glare. “So do you kiss any wanker that comes knocking?”
“Zach, that’s—”
“Shit.” Sienna’s heart twisted more at the confused hurt she saw hidden in his scowl. “I thought it was just a delivery or somethin’ and here you are tongue fucking a—”
“Zach.” She took another step closer to him. “That’s enough.”
“Who the hell is this guy?” He jerked his scowl to James. “He doesn’t look like another dead-beat artist. Is this how you’re planning to get the money to pay for the violin? Fucking your way out of debt?”
At the sound of James moving behind her, she spun to face him. Don’t, she mouthed, holding her hands out, palms forward.
He stared hard at her, cold fury etching his face.
Why the hell was he angry? She was the one her brother had just labeled a whore. Did it offend him Zach thought he would need to pay for sex?
Doesn’t matter. Zach’s pain. Fix it. Now.
She turned back to Zach, forcing her voice to stay composed. Serene. “Zach, please calm down.”
He snarled. “Fat naked chicks one day. A porn show the next.” He flicked a glare at James before returning his gaze to her. “Too weird. It’s too fucking weird here.”
He dropped the mugs, the sound of them shattering on the floor like a gunshot in the tension. She flinched, a soft gasp escaping her.
Zach’s eyebrows knitted. His bottom lip began to quiver, his eyes shone, and then he stormed away, the studio curtain swinging in his wake.
She let out a breath. “Shit.”
Moving to the mugs, she squatted down, collecting the broken pieces of ceramic as she slowly counted to ten. She didn’t stop when James approached. Her nerves were too frayed. “Please go.” Plucking another shard of ceramic from the puddle of hot coffee on the floor, she shook her head. “I don’t want you here. It’s not good.”
He didn’t move or say a word. His stare prickled her back. It made her want to scream. And throw herself into his arms.
“Go,” she said again, louder this time. She desperately needed time to think. She couldn’t deal with everything until she had time to think. Until she considered what had just passed between them. She’d been able to accept that they were in lust with each other, but that kiss? It had nothing to do with lust.
And poor Zach. What was she going to do about Zach? What was she going to tell him about James? There was no answer she could give him that wouldn’t have her sounding like a slut.
Hey, Zach, I lived with James’s younger brother, but then he committed suicide because I wouldn’t marry him. And this is only the fourth time James and I have met. We don’t even like each other, but whenever he touches me, I melt.
Shame flooded through her. She dropped her burning face into her hands. “Please go, Mr. Dyson.”
Silence stretched through the studio, charging the air. “I can help.”
“I don’t want your help. I want you to go.”
She didn’t raise her head at the sound of his feet on the floor behind her.
At the sound of the door closing, she let out a sigh.
Damn it, when had her life become so confusing? So messed up?
Finishing with the broken mugs, she wiped the spilled coffee from the floor, washed her hands in the studio sink, and then went to find Zach. She still had no idea what to say, but she needed to tell him something.