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Rising to her feet, Sierra paced across the room, staring at the draped windows, feeling closed in, feeling that same anger rising inside her as she realized that, once again, Marlena was winning. She had won the first time when she managed to get John’s ring on her finger, the second time when John had taken Sierra and hadn’t even remembered it.
She was winning now. She was winning because Sierra wouldn’t have the chance to gain his heart. By the time this was over, he would be eager to rid himself of the trouble she brought to his life.
“Wonderful. ” Mockery filled her, surprising even herself with the depth of it. “Just what the hell I needed—Marlena Genoa screwing up my damned summer. ” She almost laughed. She would have laughed, but even mockery could fire enough amusement for that. “You know, John, for as long as I’ve known her, she’s been a pain in my ass!”
John stared back at Sierra in surprise. This wasn’t exactly the response he’d expected. And he’d be damned if he’d ever seen Sierra quite this angry. Or this strong.
There was no fear, there were no tears.
“I thought it was a random crime. ” She threw her hands up as she turned back to him. “I couldn’t imagine what I had done, or why it was happening to me. I couldn’t figure it out. I couldn’t figure out how I had been careless enough to allow myself to be targeted, you know?”
He tilted his head and stared back at her curiously.
“Random crime doesn’t exactly happen that way, Sierra,” he pointed out, trying to hide his amusement.
Here was his Sierra. Angry, yes, but that fire, that flame of stubborn determination, was back in her eyes. And there was something more.
Her hands were propped on her shapely hips. “To me, it would,” she snapped back at him. “I’m careful. I rarely talk to strangers. I stick to what’s safe. Haven’t I always stuck to what was safe? Admit it. ”
“Oh, I admit that. ” He nodded. And it was the truth. Sierra was perhaps one of the most cautious people he knew, outside of her questionable choices in sex partners. As she said, she rarely took chances.
“She was cheating on you. She was marrying you for your money and whatever the hell she needed to get into some stupid crime family, and she was using your so-called best friend to screw you over, and she thinks I should pay for this?”
His brows lifted. “You always were one to catch on rather fast,” he pointed out, holding back a chuckle.
Her eyes narrowed on him.
“How many men do you think I’ve been with, John?” she asked then.
The question surprised him.
“What does it matter?” It wasn’t something he wanted to think about. He didn’t give a damn how many men she had been with, and he didn’t want to know.
“I deserve an answer to that question. ”
“At least three,” he snapped back. “You weren’t exactly trying to hide it when you were with Bobby Worthington. Jack Marsden, Martin Kincade. And if there were more, I don’t want to know about it. ”
Sierra glared back at him. “Wrong. ”
“What the hell do you mean, wrong?” Damn her, she made him crazy. She could make him see red faster than any other woman in his life.
“Figure it out, dummy,” she snapped back at him. “Because I’m not explaining it. ”
She wasn’t explaining anything to anyone anymore. Bobby had started out as a friend until he told everyone he had slept with her. The other two had been close, she admitted. There had been a chance of a relationship with them, until for one reason or another, seeing John again had interfered in it. Reminded her of what she wanted, who she wanted, and she had broken it off.
Now she was paying for what she hadn’t done.
Well, she wasn’t paying for it, except for the fact that John would never believe she had been a virgin that night.
Damn Marlena Genoa. She had managed to completely fuck Sierra’s life up and she hadn’t even really tried until now.
John’s arms crossed over his broad chest.
“You know, Sierra, I remember why you make me crazy,” he growled. “You have to be one of the most stubborn women I’ve ever met. ”
“I’m not one of anything,” she informed him heatedly. “Trust me, John, I am the most stubborn woman you’ll ever meet, you’ve just never pissed me off enough to prove it until now. ”
“Hell, Sierra. ” He couldn’t blame her. His own decisions had slashed back on her with a vengeance. “I can’t even blame you for being pissed. ”
