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I’m on my feet, staring him down, my blood boiling, a sense of losing it that I feel right before I drop my gloves on the ice and land myself in the sin bin.

“He’s got a fucking nerve even showing his face in the same room as you, Sienna.”

Her hands come down to my cheeks and she turns my face so our eyes meet. “Hey, look at me, Jax. Just me. I’m right here, not over there, and I’m fine. He can’t touch us. He can’t hurt us unless we let him.”

I lean my forehead onto hers. I want to kiss her. I want to kiss her so much my entire body is aching with it. But I don’t want our first kiss – our first proper kiss – to be born out of jealousy or performance. She’s right, Carl doesn’t deserve that.

“He tried to get you kicked out of the country, Si. I can’t let that slide,” I tell her, knowing I’m failing at pushing the proverbial red mist aside.

“Hey, you two lovebirds…” I take my focus from Sienna, and Carl, and my fucking dad, turning the complete opposite direction to see Mitch, sickly sweet smile on his face and arms outstretched, as if to say, get a grip, you two, this is a charity bash. “Sienna, might I be able to borrow you for a minute? I’ve been chatting to Dominic…” He steps back to welcome a tall guy, maybe Mitch’s age, into the conversation. “He’s the VP of Comms for the New Jersey Vipers and his husband is trying to convince him to take a sabbatical.”

Sienna slips into work mode, holding out a hand for Dominic to shake, so without a clue as to why, and still intensely raging at what’s happening across the other side of the room, I follow her lead.

“In a nutshell, Dominic is looking for a consultant to step into his shoes for a few months and Sienna is looking for a temporary role once I’m back at the Dragons.” I narrow my eyes on Mitch, who’s already looking at me, with something like a twinkle in his happy crow’s feet. “Like I said, she’s splitting from her previous business and setting up alone but the girl’s Canadian.” He raises his arms from his sides. “What you gonna do?” The three of them laugh, while I’m still playing catch up. “In the interim, she needs employment for her visa. It could be a win-win.”

She’s trying to stay in the USA; that’s not news to me. But what is news is that she’s willing to take another temporary job to stay. So as I stand on the periphery of their business conversation, I am fucking spiraling. Is she willing to take another job to stay for us? Or because she has no intention of relying on our marriage for a green card?

30

OCTOBER

Sienna

Don’t Fall Out with Your Family

After discussing the potential for work with Dominic, I’m buzzed, distracted in that way I get by work. Suddenly forgetting the fact Carl is in the room and slipping into networking mode, trying to drum up contacts, because Dominic giving me temporary employment might buy me more time to get a business off the ground. Visa and Mantel restrictions ignored.

And… more time to see if there could be something more than a fake marriage between Jax and me.

Because when his mom embraced me earlier, when she chatted to me about wedding parties, and when Sas and I fell into sisterly conversation, it all felt real. So real. Jax has an incredible family and, like I’ve enjoyed seeing him with his found family at the Dragons, I want to be part of his life, however he’ll have me.

Five and a half weeks doesn’t seem long enough to figure everything out. Especially not as I retake my seat next to him for dessert of our three-course meal and Carl unsteadily heads for our table. He’s drunk. Not uncommon for him at work events – he’s never known when to stop once that first drink has lowered his inhibitions, which is why I have been the one historically to go to the large-scale networking events.

Tonight though, the stagger in his step and the laser focus in his eyes sends a chill down my spine. Call it a hunch but I’d guess trouble is about to land at my dinner table, with Jax’s family, Mitch, Lauren, Tray and Amelie.

“Heads up,” I hear TJ say from the opposite side of Jax, who instantly stiffens, as if he’s been on red alert and waiting for the inevitable.

“Sienna, can we talk?” Carl asks, which is something. He doesn’t want a showdown and I’ll take the opportunity to move the conversation away from this table of people I care about.

I stand, dabbing my mouth with my napkin, then set it down on the table.

Only, Jax stands, too.

“Just her,” Carl says, pointing at me, belittling Jax in front of his family and friends in the process.

“We come as a two for one these days,” Jax replies.

Mitch is closest to Carl and stands from his seat. “Carl, go home, you’re drunk and we all know that this isn’t the time or the place. It’s a charity gala and you’re here in a professional capacity. Stop embarrassing yourself.”

“Sit down before you fall down, Mitch,” Carl snaps.

I swear there’s something satanic in him that I never truly saw until he started screwing Marcela. Until I walked away. Like the Green Goblin, this green-eyed monster has become my ultimate nemesis. All my life, I’ve taken pride in being outwardly composed but here, now, with Jax beside me, I think maybe it’s time I relinquish some of the hold I’ve had on my emotions for too long. There’s a quiet voice in my brain telling me not to speak out of turn at this table, with friends and family, at a gala dinner, but it’s not louder than the voice that says, “What’s wrong, Carl? Didn’t your own plus one want to play with the grown-ups tonight?”

He cackles – honest to God, witch like. “Ironic, Sienna, when you’re in the middle of a PR stunt you’re calling a marriage with this kid.” Jax stiffens beside me but it’s my turn to be strong and to defend him.

I take hold of Jax’s wrist, holding him back, as Carl says, “Because he’s a playboy and we both know it. The season’s barely begun. Do you really expect him to keep it in his pants after eight months on the road? With a puck bunny falling over him every time he walks into a bar after a game?”

“PR stunt?” I hear Jax’s mom ask, and I can’t bear to look at her.