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“I’ve missed you too.”
They lay there in companionable silence and he wasn’t sure if maybe she was tired and wanted to sleep, but he knew he wasn’t ready for that yet. There was no way they were going to make up for all the years they’d been apart in just one night, but there was just so much he wanted to know about her.
Plus, Mick wasn’t someone who romanticized anything; he was always very level-headed and business minded. But this moment right here, right now, was quite possibly the best moment of his life. Lying in bed with Sienna Ashley was everything he had fantasized about and more.
Shifting slightly, he got a little more comfortable, kissing her again, and felt a contentment that he hadn’t felt in years. “So why do you think you’re restless?” he quietly asked as he went back to caressing her arm and playing with her hair. “Other than the conversation with Eleanor.”
She tangled her legs with his and let out another soft sigh. “I honestly don’t know.”
Tapping a finger under her chin, Mick waited for her to look up at him. “Sienna, you’re a brilliant woman. I find it hard to believe that you don’t know what’s making you feel this way.”
With an annoyed huff, she mumbled, “Fine.”
Now Mick wasn’t sure if he should have pushed or not, because the last thing he wanted was to ruin the mood, but they’d already tackled one incredibly depressing topic and he was too curious to let this go.
“I’ve spent almost my entire life going to school and doing research. You have no idea how hard I’ve worked to get to where I am. People treat me a little like I’m a freak because I graduated high school at sixteen and had a master’s degree at twenty.” Pausing, she shifted beside him. “So I’ve been working and working and working, and it’s all that I do. I look at Jason and Bree and see how they travel, and they have kids who keep them busy, and there’s a part of me that feels like I’m... like I’m missing that. Eleanor’s little speech just made me accept the fact that I am actually missing that.”
It was getting a little eerie how they were on the same page on so many things.
There was so much he didn’t know about her—so much of her life that he missed—but he had no idea how to ask her about all of it.
“I was engaged once,” she went on. “He was a fellow scientist, and we dated for five years before he proposed.”
He already hated the guy.
“What happened?”
“Apparently, neither of us were overly interested in planning a wedding or a life. Everything just stayed the same—staid and boring. There was no dramatic breakup, we just sort of... quietly walked away.”
That didn’t fit the picture of the girl he remembered. She was always full of joy and excitement and always up for an adventure. What could have possibly happened to steal that from her?
As if reading his mind, she explained more. “After you left, I sort of... I don’t know... shut down. I thought if I could get through college quickly that I would surprise you out in L.A. But the more I studied, the more there was to do. I was excelling in all of my classes and being offered internships and opportunities that I would have felt guilty turning down.” She paused and placed yet another small kiss on his chest. “I’ve accomplished everything I ever wanted career-wise, but I gave up a lot of myself to make that happen.”
It would probably sound trite for him to go with, “Yeah, me too”, even though he could completely relate to what she was saying. Instead, he thought he’d go another way.
“If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would you go?”
She hummed sleepily. “I’m kind of happy with where I am right now. I wouldn’t mind staying here for the next two weeks.”
“Sienna...”
The sexy little growl she made was adorable. Pushing up again, she looked at him. “Everywhere,” she said quietly. “I go to conferences all over the world, but I never make the time to see anything. I’ve literally been to a dozen different countries and all I saw was the airport and the hotel where the conferences were at. I mean...how pathetic is that?”
“I wouldn’t say it’s pathetic...”
She snorted. “Please, it’s pathetic. You don’t have to pretend otherwise.”
“Okay, but...”
“Several of my colleagues have mentioned how they love to go on cruises. They even invited me once or twice and all I could think of at the time was how unappealing it sounded because it wasn’t some sort of science or research cruise. I thought it would be a waste of time. Ugh...there’s no way you can say that’s not pathetic.”
He wasn’t going to touch that comment with a ten-foot pole.
“Okay,” he replied slowly. “Baby steps. You don’t have to overthink this. Let’s just take it one step at a time. Where would you like to start? What is one place you want to see more than anyplace else?”
“Do you promise not to laugh?”
His lips twitched, but he nodded.
