Page 41 of A Vicious Love

I stopped in front of him. Nodded my head slightly. A small, polite acknowledgment.

“Jamison.”

Jamison looked at me for a long moment, eyes moving over my face, my dress.

“Who sent the dress?” he asked.

I blinked. “Crow styling.”

His jaw shifted.

“I assumed you knew,” I added quickly, then stopped.

Quickly was the girl who rushed to fill every pause before he filled it with cruelty. I closed my mouth.

Marcel appeared with Emmie a moment later. Emmie’s face warmed when she saw me, then grew cautious when she read the air between Jamison and me.

“Sienna,” she said. “You came.”

“Yes.” I smiled at her. “The hotel is beautiful.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Her eyes softened. “You look beautiful too.”

“Thank you.”

Marcel greeted me with a kiss beside my cheek. “How’s your ankle?”

“Better, thank you.”

Harrison lifted his glass. “She’s using full sentences with us. That’s promising.”

Jamison looked at him.

Harrison smiled with no fear at all.

Normally, I would have laughed. Tonight, I lowered my gaze.

The silence that followed was awkward enough that Emmie tried to rescue it.

“Have you started rehearsals again?”

I felt Jamison beside me.

A large, dark presence I had trained myself to monitor without looking.

He hated when I talked too much.

So I answered Emmie carefully.

“Yes.”

Her brows drew together slightly. “That’s good. Are you happy to be back?”

“Yes. Very.”

Another pause.

Harrison’s humor faded.