Page 22 of Between Love & Ruin

“You can extend your stay here and we can work on the beginning of this project together. You can go back to your place once the first half of it is done, and when the production and the rest of the process starts, you can come back here.”

She shares a look with Aisha, and she shrugs in response.

“I think we can work something around,” Aisha tells her.

“I will have to discuss this with my boyfriend before I commit to anything,” Sienna says. “Give me a day’s time.”

I stop myself from checking my ears to see if I heard her correctly.

Did she just say boyfriend?

“Very well,” I barely manage to get out.

It feels like someone has poured ice-cold water on my head and woken me up from something that was a dream. A beautiful dream.

“You have twenty-four hours,” are the last few words I say to her before standing up and heading straight out.

I think I need a glass of whiskey to get over whatever the hell this was.

* * *

It is funny how all your optimism, your dreams and wishes get destroyed within a second of someone opening their mouth.

I shouldn’t even be getting this annoyed after knowing that Sienna has a boyfriend.

Of course she does. After all, she is beautiful beyond one’s imagination. Her beauty isn’t loud or flashy. It is so simple and warming; you can never get tired looking at her face. Even when she is glaring at you.

And that’s not all. She is wise. So smart that you wouldn’t even see it coming. I could tell by her writing, by her words and by her ability to weave emotions into her words that she was wise beyond her years.

And I wasn’t even wrong. She is witty and smart and beautiful and kind and all the adjectives you could probably find.

So, it was natural that someone was there to adore her as well.

I just didn’t expect it to come to me in the way that it did.

I don’t even know why my chest constricted after hearing the word “boyfriend”. I don’t do relationships, especially with people who I am involved with professionally.

“I so badly want to say “I told you so” but I won’t,” Myra says as we go back to our office.

I glare at her because I am not in the mood for her theatrics. Not only did she consistently try to ward off Sienna during our meeting, she also didn’t perfectly do her research. When I asked her to let me know everything, I meant it.

“You don’t get to gloat when you failed at doing your job perfectly. When I asked you to get me every single detail about her, I meant it.”

“So, who says I didn’t know she had a boyfriend?”

I narrow my eyes. What the hell is she playing at?

“I just didn’t tell you details about her personal life because I didn’t think that was crucial after you said you only had professional intentions with her.”

“Still doesn’t change the fact that you hid stuff from me,” I grit out. I am hanging on a thin thread of patience, and I am afraid I will lose my nice guy act with Myra soon if she keeps getting on my nerves.

“You know, I could fire you for that,” I add.

Her eyes blaze as she loses that smug smile off her face.

“Don’t threaten me with that,” she counters. Only if she knew that it wasn’t a threat. I am nice to my employees, but I am friendly with only her because of how early she joined us. It wouldn’t take me a second to put her back in her place, though.

I don’t play when it comes to work.