Page 26 of Heartless (Scathing Hearts #1)

Jake

Sienna’s birthday party was in full swing.

I slid the patio door shut behind me and scanned over the poolside. Bianc’s friends, two young guys, and one woman with pink hair had arrived a couple of hours ago and were socializing.

They’d brought flowers and stuffed toys that Sienna had accepted with stunned smiles and quiet ‘thank yous.’

Last night, I’d fallen asleep with Sienna draped over me until she’d stirred and woken up in the middle of the night. After I’d taken her to bed, I’d tucked her in and forced myself to leave her room.

Cam had gotten six chafing dishes worth of junk food. Music was filtering through the concealed outdoor speakers. The group had settled on the daybed and around the coffee table. Sienna, holding a glass full of a colorful cocktail, grinned at one of the young assholes seated beside her.

From the moment he’d seen her, the dickhead had been eye-fucking her. I couldn’t blame him. Didn’t mean I had to watch him slobber over her.

When Bianc said something that made the group laugh, the fucker talked into Sienna’s ear, and she gave him her soft smile.

“Happy looks good on her,” Sile said from behind me.

It did. Since she had come out of her quarters, wearing that slip of material that showed more skin than it covered with her hair waving down her back, my hands had been itching for the feel of her skin.

“Yeah.”

Sile clamped a hand on my shoulder. “So why do you look like you want to rip someone’s head off?”

I pushed my fists in my pockets. Because that fucker was too close.

Sienna said something that got his arm around her shoulders while Bianc moved away from the group and headed our way. She got close, pulled her shades up, and grinned.

“You and Cam did good,” Sile said.

She nodded. “My friend Matt is enamored with Sienna. He’s a poet who was published two years ago. They make a cute couple, no?”

Sile scoffed. “When did poets start to look like gym rats?”

“When they decided they wanted to get laid, caro,” she chuckled.

The dickhead made her laugh. And he watched her do it.

Sienna laughing with that sensual abandon was pure aphrodisiac, and I knew exactly which of his heads was doing the thinking.

I went to my office where I poured myself a drink.

Then I sat in front of the monitors to watch beautiful Sienna being happy.

****

Sienna

Yesterday had been blissful. In the morning, a little army of professional estheticians had arrived at the house to take care of us. After a massage, mani-pedi, and my least favorite: waxing, Camila, Bianca, and I had spent the day talking, laughing, and eating.

After dinner, we’d danced again, and to my embarrassment and the girls’ hilarity, I’d fallen asleep in front of the romcom movie they’d put on.

My suggestion of a horror movie had been met with gasps of shock.

Then apparently, Jake had carried me to bed.

Again. But this time, I didn’t remember because I hadn’t woken up.

Now, lounging by the pool under the sun and the cool breeze, I grinned at Matt whose arched brows furrowed while Lauren shook her pink curls and gaped at me.

“Never?” she asked.

When I shook my head, Matt muttered, “I think even the Amish had tacos.”

That made Vince, Bianca’s other friend, laugh.

We made for an eclectic group. When the guests had started to arrive, Bianca had tugged my hand, and we’d greeted them under Silas and Jake’s watchful gazes.

Matt’s smile had been dazzling while he’d handed me a huge bouquet of flowers. “Happy birthday, beautiful stranger.”

“She’s a writer, too,” Bianca said.

To which he replied, “Beautiful eyes and beautiful soul.”

Her other friend, Vince, a professional choreographer, had given me a stuffed pink elephant, and a slow once over.

“Girlie, aren’t you just all legs?”

Then, it had been Lauren, a super pretty sculptor, who’d handed me the biggest box of donuts I’d ever seen.

The conversations had been quick-fired, easy, and funny.

Lauren had just commented on how impressed she was by the food options, and when I’d replied I’d never had a taco, she’d sputtered in her drink.

This was, by far, the most crowded birthday party I’d ever had, and I loved it. So much so in fact that I hadn’t found time to eat.

Matt jumped to his feet and took my hand. “Now, I have to witness you having your first taco.”

We headed toward the family room where Camila had organized the awesome buffet that included cotton candy and deep-fried everything. There were only eight of us, but the amount of food she’d ordered and made could have fed five times as many people.

I curled my fingers around Matt’s. He often looked at my mouth, which I’d read somewhere was a sign he wanted to kiss me.

He was cute and interesting. He was also forward in demonstrating his interest in me with no other agenda that the one he’d made abundantly clear.

And feeling desired by someone I was at ease with and who made me laugh was a powerful turn-on.

Our tastes in books were hilariously opposite, but our shared passion for the written word connected us in a way I’d never experienced with anyone before. He was funny. He was fun.

Matt and I got past the sliding door, and I squeezed his fingers. “Matt, are you—?”

He stopped abruptly, and his grip on my hand tightened.

A little jarred, I glanced up at what caused our sudden halt.

Jake was standing by the table, and his hard gaze was affixed on my hand in Matt’s.

I’d seen a lot of variations of his clenched jaw and intense stare, but I had to admit this one was off the scale.

My heart managed to both plummet to the bottom of my stomach and speed up in my throat. Without a word, he stalked farther into the house.

****

Jake

Someone knocked on the door of my office.

“Come in.”

Cam’s smiling face peeked in between the doorjamb. “We’re going to bring the cake out. Are you coming?”

“Yeah”

She stepped farther in and closed the door behind her. “Is everything okay?” She glanced at the desk. “You’re working?”

It was either that, or track Sienna through the house like a fucking creep. “Not anymore. Let’s go.”

I followed her into the family room where everyone had gathered. Sile was talking to Bianc by the dining table, and the others were lounging on the couch. There was no sign of Sienna, nor of the dickhead, and I tensed.

Cam perused the room. “Where’s the birthday girl?”

The pink-haired woman, half slumped over the slick guy, pointed her chin at the closed door of Sienna’s quarters.

“Sienna and Matt are talking books in there.”

The guy scoffed. “The Kama Sutra is a book.”

My fists clenched, and I locked my body into place to refrain from dragging him out of her room.

Back in my office, I turned on the monitor to catch Sienna and the asswipe in her library.

They were sitting side by side on the couch.

Both their heads were down, and she was pointing at a page of the open book in her lap.

While she was talking, he lifted his hand to her neck and swept her hair off to the side before his head descended toward her shoulder. His mouth was working the side of her neck, and she shut her eyes.

Get the fuck away from her.

After she’d flipped the book closed and placed it back on the shelf, they walked out to the living room.

When she reached for the door handle, the jackass grabbed her by the waist. Instead of pushing him back, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

His head bent down toward hers, and my temples throbbed.

I moved. In the hallway, Bianc’s head popped out of the kitchen. “Perfect timing. Can you grab the plates?”

That fucking dickhead was going to eat his fucking plate. Piece by piece.

She shifted closer. “Babe, are you okay?”

I unclenched my fists. “I’ll get the plates.”