Zach shut her up with a laugh and a cushion to the face.
She fell back into the sofa, grinning. “Get your arse to bed, boyo. It’s late.”
He nodded, rising to his feet. “Okay. See you in the morning.”
“You, too, Zach.”
“Oh, by the way, sis.” Mischief danced in his eyes. “You’ve got a hickey.” He touched the side of his neck, just under his left ear. “Right there.”
She slapped her hand to her neck. What the—
He laughed. “Busted.”
…
How could a home filled with such luxury be so empty?
After Sienna left, James made his way to his bathroom—granite and marble opulence he’d never been ashamed of until that point in time—and proceeded to take a long, cold shower.
The attempt to deal with the tension in his body with his hand failed. Woefully. Even as his release left his body and washed down the drain, his heart and soul still ached for her.
Killing the water, he stepped from the shower and, water dripping from his face and body, stared at his reflection in the mirror.
His life, his goals, and his plans turned upside down in such a short space of time. Surprisingly, he was okay with that.
What did it mean? Was he in love with Sienna? It seemed like it. When she smiled, he smiled. When she looked at him, a contented warmth filled him. He’d never experienced anything like it before she’d entered his life.
How was it possible to fall in love with the very person he’d sworn to destroy? And to do so so quickly? Did that make him weak?
The answers failed him. Another occurrence that would have, until now, worried him. The Dysons weren’t weak.
But they weren’t idiots, and denying his life had change for the better since getting to know Sienna would be the actions of an idiot.
So when was he going to tell her his original intentions for her? He had to. At some point he’d need to confess.
His gut churned. How could he possibly explain the actions he’d instigated six months ago without losing her? Actions involving his subtle influence on major art buyers in Australia to avoid her work so she became dependent on Mason Xavier? How would she react to such revelations?
Staring hard into his eyes, he drew a slow breath.
She would hate him. Again.
He didn’t want her hating him. He wanted her wanting him. Liking him.
Loving him.
A tight knot twisted in his chest. He turned from the mirror, the torment and wretched guilt in his eyes too much. “What the hell do I tell her?”
Keeping secrets wasn’t new to him. In business, it was the Dyson way. But this wasn’t business. It was personal.
His life.
He grunted, the low sound tearing at the back of his throat. Who would have thought one day he’d separate his life from his work? An inconceivable notion only a short while ago.
It should have irritated him. Unsettled him. Sienna Roberts had knocked his world off-kilter. Instead, it filled him with a sense of anticipation and excitement he hadn’t experienced since…since…
He snatched a towel from the rack and knotted it around his waist. Since forever, that’s when. Sienna had awoken in him a taste for life he’d never had before. He couldn’t wait to see where that took them.
Them. Not him. Them.
Together. Wherever it takes us, we’ll be together.
He smiled. He and Sienna. Together. Spending time with her tomorrow, the next day, the next week, hell, the next year. It really couldn’t get any—
“Shit.” The next day? The first insinuation of Sienna’s gold-digging ways was meant to surface on one of DMC’s online news site the day after tomorrow. “Shit.”
An icy chill rippled through him. He had so much in play. Six months’ worth of moves and actions planned to the minute detail. Sienna Roberts’s destruction had been his focus for so long, he’d almost forgotten a time when he wasn’t thinking about her.
“Shit.” Shut it down. He needed to shut it down. All of it. Now.
Hurrying to the kitchen, he plucked his mobile phone from the Bose dock and tapped out a message for Clarinda Simmonds.
“Kill everything scheduled and arranged for Sienna Roberts. The situation has changed. J.D.”
Heart wild, he hit send and returned his mobile to the dock, counting his heartbeats as he willed Clarinda to text back that she understood.