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Siena hummed, her chest vibrating. “I have full confidence that you can do whatever you put your mind to.”

“You might be the only one.” Jamie couldn’t stop the comment, but it was how she truly felt. She’d never been able to pull her head out of her ass, and now wasn’t any different.

“We have one more thing we need to talk about before we get to work,” Siena said, cupping the back of Jamie’s head and keeping her right in the circle of her arms.

“What’s that?” Jamie muttered, really not wanting to step back at all. She wanted to stay right here for as long as shecould. And that was the problem, wasn’t it? She never wanted to leave Siena’s embrace. She wanted to live here.

But she had to move.

Pulling away, Jamie took a step back and looked up just as Siena’s lips covered hers. The kiss was soft, a gentle plying of lips against lips. Jamie breathed in Siena’s scent, remembering those moments of being surrounded by her. On the few times that she’d allowed that to happen. Siena tilted her back slightly, tracing her lower lip with her tongue.

Jamie sighed. Her eyes fluttered shut, and her entire body rocked into Siena’s. She just needed Siena to catch her, just this once. Jamie gripped onto Siena’s sides, fisting her hands in the soft, silky fabric of her blouse under her jacket. And she held on with everything that she had. She couldn’t let go.

Siena pulled back, breathing a little harder than before, and she pressed their foreheads together. Jamie held onto the silence, scared of whatever words were about to happen. But she knew them even before Siena said them.

“Us. We need to talk about us.”

thirty-one

Siena hadn’t expected this. Not today of all days. But when Jamie had walked in, all that false bravado she carried with her gone, she couldn’t help herself.

“This isn’t casual,” Siena started. She knew she’d have to be the one to do this. Jamie wasn’t ready for it, not fully, but Siena needed some kind of conversation between them. Backing away, she looked down into Jamie’s baby blue eyes, her parted lips that were so damn kissable and were beckoning her to kiss them again. “And I don’t want it to be casual.”

“Siena…” Jamie had been abnormally quiet. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Tell me what you feel and what you want.” Siena hated backing away, but she also knew that Jamie likely needed the space to think. Holding her, caressing her during this conversation was only going to slant it in a way that Jamie might not want it to go.

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” Jamie whispered, pulling a face like she hadn’t expected to say that. “I can’t stop thinking about fucking you, that’s for sure.” She grinned up atSiena again, and there was the woman that Siena had fallen in love with.

That thought had never felt more right. This was far from the convenience of her relationship with Tori. Siena had to work for Jamie, not just for her but with her. But she wanted to, and she could only hope right now that maybe Jamie did too. Tori was right—again—Siena had to stop pushing her feelings to the side and actually deal with them up front.

“Like if I had my way, I’d take you on that couch right now.” Jamie gave a nervous laugh.

Siena flicked her gaze to the couch. The thought had occurred to her, on more than one occasion. And she’d definitely had sex there before, though it had been years and a divorce ago. But right now wasn’t the right time.

“And then what?” Siena asked. “Leave it at sex?”

Jamie shook her head before she frowned. “No, I don’t want to leave it at just that.” Jamie took an intentional step forward, wrapping her arm around Siena’s back and pulling her in closer. “I want more than that.”

“What exactly do you want?” Siena whispered the question, almost afraid to voice it out loud. She’d wanted this moment for weeks now, for them to actually talk about what their relationship might mean or what it could mean in the future. She’d tried before, but Jamie hadn’t been ready.

Was she now?

“I want you.” Jamie bit her lip. “I want to not be a bitch.”

“You’re not?—”

“I can be,” Jamie countered. “And so can you. We all can, but I didn’t care before if I was. Now I do.”

“Why?” Siena lifted Jamie’s chin up with a finger and her thumb, gazing into those eyes. The ones that could come off as so cold, but instead Siena found them absolutely alive with energy and joy and life and passion.

“Because someone pointed out that people care about me.”

“Someone? Jessie?”

“No. You.” Jamie’s lips curled upward, and her gaze decidedly dropped to Siena’s mouth. “You did, and I tried to avoid you and I just… can’t stop thinking about you. You vex me most days, but I think there’s a reason for that.”

“Is there?” The tension in Siena’s shoulders slipped away, easing the ache that had started in the center of her back.