Billionaires Runaway Bride

I watched Tony leave and paced around for a little while before ending up by the stairs. I leaned against the railing. I was too anxious to sit in my car again, and the pacing was amping up my heart-rate. I was alone with my thoughts for almost ten minutes before she came out.

She stopped on the stoop and stared at me.

“Hey, Sienna. Can I help you with that?”

She was holding a garbage bag. “I got it.” She lugged it over to the bin and tossed it inside. She pulled her keys from her pocket and went back up the steps to lock the door.

I watched her. Neither of us spoke. Her eyes darted in my direction as if she thought I was going to disappear at any moment. Even if she wished I would, I was going to get some answers. If I had been the one to do something wrong, I should be the bigger man and apologize. But not here, and not until I figured out what happened. Whatever had happened spurred from a night at her diner. We needed a different place. I glanced at my car. Being in an enclosed space with her in this mood was dangerous.

“How about we walk down to the pier?” I suggested.

“Okay,” she said, clipping her keys onto the belt loop of her shorts.

The pier was only a short walk down the road. I hoped the fre

sh air and expelling of energy during our walk would help ease the tension in her. But she held firm to the scowl across her face, so I knew I’d have to do a lot of apologizing to bring back her smile.

“I wanted to talk to you about Saturday night,” I said.

“Did you have a good time?” she asked.

“I did.” I tried to gauge her response, but she was making me work for this. “The parts I remember.”

She looked over at me; the skin around her eyes was tight and I wasn’t sure if it was the sun or because she didn’t believe me.

I scratched the back of my neck. “I start to get a little fuzzy around the time I ate dinner.”

“What do you remember?”

“The strippers,” I said, chuckling. “The delicious food, and the good conversation.” I hoped the use of flattery might get me somewhere.

“Well, after that, I took you home.”

The way she said it made it sound like there was an “and” at the end of the sentence. But she didn’t expand on what happened. Was she going to make me beg for it? I probably deserved it, but this game was starting to grate on my nerves. Sienna had a knack for pushing my buttons, and this situation wasn’t any different.

“And that’s it?” I pushed.

We’d made it to the end of the pier before she whirled around on me. “What do you want me to say, Parker?”

I shoved my hands into my jeans pockets. “I want to know why you’re so mad at me.”

She rolled her eyes and dropped her head into her hands.

I reached for her and moved her hands away from her face. She stared up at me. Without her sunglasses, the light from the sun made her irises appear lighter, and the green shone through.

“Did we sleep together?” I asked. It was what I’d worried about for almost two days.

“Sleep together? No.” She let out a sardonic laugh that made me wince. Neither of the two women in my life could imagine sleeping with me. That really helped my ego.

“Then what? What happened that made you not contact me for an entire day?”

Her lips flattened. “You have a phone too, Parker.”

“Are you mad because I didn’t call you?”

“Stop saying I’m mad. I’m not. Nothing happened. It’s better that you forgot, anyway.” She brushed passed me and I lunged for her. She wasn’t getting away that easily. Her tendency to run wasn’t going to win this argument.

I took her arm. “Sienna, please.”