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Sienna sat back and beamed at me. “Wow. You really want me with you that much?”
I frowned at her, surprised that she questioned my need for her. I was fucking obsessed with her and could barely stand to share her, let alone be away from her when she was at school. Some days I couldn’t get through it and ended up driving to campus and working in my car in front of the science building until she was done. Then I’d text her that I would pick her up and drive up as though I’d just arrived. I didn’t want to scare her with my fanatical need for her, but she shouldn’t be questioning my devotion.
That reminded me of the little box in my desk. I didn’t want any son of a bitch assuming she wasn’t taken and hitting on my woman. I would more than likely put them in the fucking hospital. So, I made a split-second decision. She deserved a romantic proposal, and I intended to make that happen when we returned. But, for the moment, I needed to brand her as mine.
Swiveling slightly in my chair, I opened the top drawer on the left and retrieved the little blue box. “I want you to wear this while we’re there,” I said as I opened it, removed the ring, and slid it on her finger.
8
Sienna
The ring was undeniably gorgeous. Breathtaking even. Owen’s non-proposal... not so much. Quite the opposite really. Staring down at the biggest diamond ring I’d ever seen before, I almost flinched away from him—the pain was that intense. “You want me to wear this while we’re in California?”
“Yes.” His finger rubbed my skin, just above where the ring rested. Goosebumps spread across my arm and for the first time since we’d met, I wanted to curse my reaction to him.
“Why?” I rasped out.
“Because—”
Between the strange pause and the strangled sound of his voice, my head jerked up so I could search his face. His green eyes were locked on my finger, more specifically the ring that encircled it.
Maybe there was more to his request than it first sounded like there was? My heart started to beat wildly in my chest.
“It will make things easier.”
And there went any hope that the ring meant anything.
“I don’t understand. How will me”—I yanked my hand out of his grasp and waved it under his nose—“wearing this monstrosity make things easier?”
“Monstrosity?” he growled, rising to his feet as he set me on the desk in front of him.
“Look at how big it is!” I growled right back. I wasn’t really upset about the size of the ring, but I also wasn’t going to tell him why I was so pissed off. But if I kept taking pot shots at him or the ring, then he was bound to know I was upset. And once he knew, there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d let me get away with not telling him what was wrong. I needed to get a handle on my anger first. “Damn. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called it a monstrosity. The ring is big, extremely big, but it’s also extremely beautiful.” I cocked my head to the side as I stared at it, thinking out loud. “Especially when you consider how a natural diamond is formed. All those years under extreme heat and pressure, changing how the atoms in the carbon bond together. And if the temperature isn’t between nine hundred and thirteen hundred degrees Celsius or the pressure isn’t between forty-five and sixty kilobars, the carbon turns to graphite instead. There’s one heck of a difference between pencils and diamond engagement rings like this, that’s for sure.”
“Sienna,” he interrupted.
“Eep! Sorry for geeking out on you.” I felt my cheeks heat.
His green eyes twinkled. “I love it when you get so excited talking about something that you chatter nonstop.” He brushed a soft kiss against my lips. “Can I assume this means you like the ring?”
“I do,” I whispered. “But I still don’t understand how me wearing it makes anything easier.”
“Taping these kind of shows can be intense since they cram so much into such a short period of time. I’ll want you by my side as much as possible.”
“I’m not just your... girlfriend.” I stumbled over the last word since it felt weird calling myself that, even though it was true. “I’m your assistant, too. Wouldn’t it make sense for me to be nearby in case you need anything?”
“I want you closer than an assistant would need to be, Sienna.” He trailed his fingertips up the inside of my thigh, leaving me in no doubt of what he meant. I blushed furiously, thinking about how awkward it would be for us to be all over each other in front of strangers who’d judge me for being his assistant and sleeping with him. I already felt weird knowing that Andy knew what we were up to when we were together in his office a lot of the time, and she’d never been anything but supportive. So maybe he was right about the ring making things easier while we were in Hollywood. It didn’t make it hurt any less, but at least I understood his reasoning a little better.
“Plus, the producers are sticklers for secrecy. You’ll have to sign an NDA, no matter what, but they’ll give you more freedom as my fiancée than they would as my assistant.”
“Well, then I guess I’d better where it while we’re there.”
For the first time ever, I was thankful for mid-term exams because they gave me the excuse I needed to distance myself from Owen. The Thursday and Friday before we were scheduled to leave, I had tests which accounted for a big chunk of my grade in several classes. I’d told Owen that I needed extra time to study, and he’d been completely fine with it—as long as I did my studying in my office instead of the library on campus. It didn’t give me as much distance as I’d hoped for, but it was enough for me to get past the sting of hurt I’d still been feeling over the ring incident.
It had also made me to miss all the time we usually spent together. I realized how quickly I’d become used to being close to him whenever I wasn’t in class. How addicted I was to Owen.
Not that I didn’t spend each night wrapped in his arms. There was no way he would have let me sleep anywhere else... after I’d passed out in an exhausted heap because of all the orgasms he’d wrung out of my body since I was “depriving him of his afternoon snacks,” as he’d put it. I didn’t feel too guilty since I figured he insisted on making up for the loss with an early morning snack.
As I shifted in my seat on the private jet Owen had arranged for our flight to Los Angeles, I felt the after-effects of our bedroom activities we’d barely finished when the limousine driver had called to say he was five minutes away from picking us up.
“A limo and a private jet? This is a heck of a lot fancier than the last trip I took.”
He reached over and lifted my feet into his lap, sliding my shoes off so he could rub my arches. “Where did you go?”
“Hmmm?” I sighed, not understanding his question. It was hard to think with his strong fingers gliding back and forth.
“On your last trip.”
“Oh, just to Chicago. My parents and I drove up during my summer break for a week to visit my brother. I’ll take this over an eleven-hour road trip with them any day of the week. Not that I don’t love them, but I could easily get used to this kind of pampering when I travel.”
“I wish I could take all the credit,” he chuckled. “But my agent worked my travel arrangements into my contract as a perk since the producer wanted me on the judging panel more than I wanted to take on the project.”
“So what you’re telling me is that I shouldn’t plan on getting used to the five-star treatment?”
“No way, baby. If you want limousines and private jets, that’s exactly what you’ll get.”
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I wiggled my toes, blushing when they brushed against his hardened length.
“That’s the other advantage to not flying commercial.” He jerked his hips up, pressing his arousal against the soles of my feet. “It makes the mile-high club a possibility without the risk of having our names added to the no-fly list.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, not liking how familiar he sounded with that particular club. I yanked my feet off his lap and crossed my arms while I glared at him. “Oh really?”
His lips tilted up in a smug grin as he unbuckled my seat belt and lifted my stiff body onto his lap. Before he wrapped his arms around me, he tilted my chin up so I was staring into his face. “I thought I was the one with the green eyes in this relationship.”
“I’m not—” I started to deny the obvious truth.
“It’s fucking hot as hell, seeing you jealous, baby.” He dropped a quick kiss on my lips. “Don’t bother trying to deny it, and don’t ever apologize for it. Not when I’d react the same at the idea of you with another man.”
“Which isn’t something you need to worry about,” I grumbled.
“Damn straight it isn’t. Nobody but me gets to touch you.” He rested his forehead against mine. “And you don’t have to worry either, baby. I wasn’t speaking from experience; I’m all yours, too.”
“Oh,” I sighed, dropping my head on his shoulder and cuddling into his body.
“Yeah, oh,” he chuckled.
As I smiled up at him, a yawn snuck up on me—so wide that a tear leaked out of the corner of one of my eyes.
“Rest, baby,” he murmured. “It’s been a long, stressful week for you, and the mile-high club can wait for our trip home.”
“Mmmm,” I hummed as my eyes drifted shut. It was certainly something to look forward to once the taping was done.
