Chapter Two
Carrie’s eyes grew wider than normal as she walked into the studio and dumped her bag on a chair. “What the hell am I missing? Who the hell was that?”
Sienna pulled a face. “Nobody important.”
“Really? Why am I finding it hard to believe you? Oh, I know, because he was super hot and going on about great sex. Are you sleeping with him? Fantastic! I’ve been saying for months and months you need to get laid.”
Sienna’s breath caught in her throat. “No, I’m not sleeping with him.”
“I see.” Carrie raised her eyebrows. “That doesn’t explain the whole great sex thing? Clearly, you two have been wanting to bonk for ages, or have been bonking for ages. C’mon girl, tell me, tell me. You know how much I hate not knowing things.”
“I’m not sleeping with him.” Damn it, her cheeks were on fire. “Now shut up and get your clothes off.”
“Oh.” Carrie wriggled her curvaceous hips with haughty enthusiasm. “Who’s a touchy artist today?” She stopped, casting Sienna a contemplative look. “Are you okay?”
Sienna let out a ragged sigh. “Yeah. Just a little annoyed.”
“Because of Mr. Destined for Great Sex?”
Dropping into a nearby chair, Sienna tucked a few wild strands of hair behind her ears. “Okay, you’re my best friend, Carrie. You know that, right? I mean, I wouldn’t have been able to get through Dad’s trial sane without you.”
Carrie preened with comic exaggeration. “I know I’m indispensible in your life. Which is kinda why I’m wondering why I don’t know what’s going on now. I mean, really, some Adonis is at your place going on about the pair of you getting it on, and this is the first I’ve heard of it.” She pouted. “I’m cut to the bone, girl. Cut to the bone.”
Sienna let out a soft chuckle. “You know I love you, but…” She shook her head. There wasn’t much Carrie didn’t know about her, and vice-versa, but she’d never been able to tell Carrie everything about her teenage years as Platinum Joe’s daughter, nor about what happened with Clinton. It was too painful.
She closed her eyes and rubbed them for a second. God, this is going to hurt.
“Okay. You remember Clinton?” She looked at Carrie, her stomach a mass of butterflies. “That guy I shared an apartment with for a while after you abandoned me for Richard?”
Carrie rolled her eyes. “I didn’t abandon you. I got engaged. And, yeah, I do remember that guy. I always thought he was cute. A little mysterious and a touch stuck-up at times, but cute. I could never work out why you didn’t go for him.”
“He was just a friend. We were close, but that was it. At least that was it for me. He used to joke about us running off together to Hawaii, or Bali, or someplace like that.” She ran her fingers behind her ears again. Stupid nervous habit. One day she’d kick it.
Yeah, just like I’ll kick my masochistic attraction to James Dyson.
Carrie frowned. “Are you sure he wasn’t serious? I know Richard and I took off for Europe only a little while after Clinton moved in, but it looked to me like he was gone for you even in that short time. Big-time gone.”
Big-time gone. That was an understatement.
She snorted, the sound wry and full of embarrassment. “I figured that out the night he proposed.”
Carrie’s eyebrows shot up. “God, Sienna, couldn’t you tell?”
Sienna shook her head. “I didn’t know. Not really. I mean, I suppose at times I suspected his feelings were more than just friendship, but I thought it was because I’d helped him face up to his father. I’ve got great experience in that, remember? Besides, after you abandoned me, I desperately needed someone to share the rent. There was no way I was asking Dad for help, and Clinton offered to pitch in.” She pulled her knees up under her chin and let out a wobbly sigh. “In the beginning, I thought I might fall for him. He was cute, sensitive, a brilliant artist, but it never happened. It just wasn’t there.”
Carrie chewed on her bottom lip, her eyebrows pulling into a frown. “So what’s the connection with the hunk that just left?”