Page 66 of Heartless

“Okay,” she mumbled against his chest.

After Sienna had taken a couple of pills and drunk a glass of water, I pocketed the pills and scooped her up in my arms.

On a small gasp, she hooked her hand around the side of my neck.“Jake, I can walk to my room.I’m fine, I—”

I started toward her quarters.“I’m faster.”

“It’s just a cold,” she whispered, but she did it nuzzling the crook of my shoulder, and I tightened my hold.

Once under the covers, she rolled to her side, facing me.

I crouched by the bed.“Get some rest, sweetheart.”

Her head jerked back on the pillow.“Don’t call me that,” she rasped.“You called me that all the time when you pretended to like me...Don’t call me that.Please.”

“Okay, baby.Sleep now.”

She closed her eyes, and I waited until her breath deepened.

I brushed a curl of her hair off her cheek.All the signs had been there.Right in front of my fucking face.She was an innocent with an unguarded, beautiful heart.And I’d made her cry rivers of silent tears.

When I exited her bedroom, Cam and Sile were in the family room, standing side-by-side by the bay window.

Cam got in my face.“You couldn’t let her have one freaking day of joy on the first birthday after her mother died?”

“I know, Cam.I fucking know.”

She blew out a breath and shook her head before turning to Sile.“What do we do now?”

“She’s got us now.I say we start doing right by her,” he replied.

When she’d been scared, Sienna had asked for him.“She looks to you when she’s scared.”

His brow cocked.“Yep.”

Cam whirled toward the window.“Shit, it’s raining.I’d better get home.I’ll see you tomorrow.”

****

Sienna

As Camila glided onto the smooth, blueish grey granite stones of the pool edge, carrying a tray loaded with bowls of cut fruit, cheese, bread, and olives, I sat up and made some room on the long rectangular table.

It’d taken a whole week, but my cold was finally gone.So when Camila had suggested lunch by the pool, I’d enthusiastically agreed.

This morning, while I’d been waiting for my coffee to brew, her face had tilted slightly to the side.“You’ve just missed Jake.”

I hadn’t missed him.I’d waited in my quarters until I’d heard the front door closing.He’d been friendlier, which made him even more devastatingly handsome.He’d smiled and chatted with me while I’d been having breakfast.Gently tilting my chin up when I’d reverted to talk to his chest.But I still couldn’t stay in the same room as him for too long, and the change in him stressed me out because every time, my heart had raced.Then, the words I would never forget had made it shrivel back into my chest.

The weather was perfect.After Camila and I had cleaned up the kitchen, I’d changed into my brand-new black, high neck one piece suit with gold seams I’d paired with a short, black crocheted matching cover up.

Camila pointed at my notepad on the side table of the daybed.“Are you working on anything?”

I still hadn’t written a single word since Mom’s funeral.What if I’d lost my ability to write?To hide the pinch in my chest she’d unknowingly poked at, I popped the last piece of pineapple into my mouth and leaned back against the wide armchair.“Not at the moment.”

Camila snatched the empty bowl.“I’ll get you more before I go home to study.”

She’d enrolled in a business night school program.