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“Breathe,” she murmured as she closed her eyes and forced herself to focus on the sun on her face and the sound of the waves. Once she did that, some of the tension left her body and she could turn her brain off for a little while.
“Hey,” Mick said sometime later. “Sorry that took so long.” Coming up beside her, he kissed her cheek. “I’m thinking Thai for lunch and having it delivered. What do you think?”
“Ooo... that sounds good.”
Mick pulled out his phone, and they scrolled through the menu of a local place he loved and placed the order. “Thirty minutes,” he said before going and sitting on a chaise. Reaching out his hand to her, she joined him.
The feel of his arms around her always helped her relax, and right now she needed it again because she couldn’t put the conversation off any longer. “So...” she said quietly.
“So.”
“What should we do for dinner tonight?”
He laughed softly. “How about we get through lunch before we think about that?”
“Oh. Right.” She sighed and figured it would be best to rip the bandage off. “What’s on your agenda after I go? Any big meetings coming up?”
Nice ripping, genius.
“Nothing earth shattering. With the holidays coming up, most tours are temporarily winding down. I’ll work on some pre-production stuff for Shaughnessy and start mapping things out for next year.” He shrugged. “There are some acts I’m interested in seeing and potentially signing, but that’s all routine for me.”
She nodded. “Local acts?”
“Yeah. It’s rare that I travel to see anyone. If I happen to be in the city where they’re performing, I set something up. Otherwise, they can send me links to videos and then I decide if I want to see them in person.”
“Gotta love the digital world, right? Everything’s right at our fingertips.”
“Mmm. I guess.
They sat in companionable silence, and Sienna thought she’d go mad. “You want to know something funny?”
“Sure.”
“We’ve spent the better part of the last thirteen days talking non-stop, and now when we really need to talk, we’re both quiet. Why do you think that is?”
She thought he’d say something vague or trivial, but she was wrong.
“It’s like I told you our first night in Anaheim, I didn’t want to bog down what was supposed to be a fun time with a deep topic. I’ve spent a good portion of my life not shying away from things most people don’t want to talk about. I’ve had to confront friends about their drug addictions, affairs, lack of talent... and I’ve never shied away from it. Sometimes I even enjoyed the confrontation because I knew it was for the best.” Pausing, he rested his head against hers. “But with you... I’m afraid to say the wrong thing and send you packing.”
“I’d hardly call myself a flight risk,” she countered, slightly miffed that he was basically admitting to handling her with kid gloves.
“Not that you’re a flight risk,” he repeated. “Just... I didn’t want to scare you with how I was feeling.”
Twisting slightly so she could face him, she frowned. “Which was...?”
“I told you, Sienna. I told you how I felt back then, and those feelings are still there now. Seeing you in New York was like divine intervention or something. Sitting next to you at dinner that night made it feel like no time had passed. It wasn’t awkward, it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was like we picked up where we left off.” Pausing, he gently moved her forward so he could stand.
“I felt the same way,” she admitted, watching him walk over to the railing before facing her. “I couldn’t wait for Jason and Bree to leave, because there was so much I wanted to say to you and I knew I was going to have to be bold or you’d push me away again.”
Raking a hand through his hair, Mick growled with frustration. “There was a reason for that!”
Now she stood. “I know and I understand that now, but at dinner that night, I didn’t want to take any chances!” She let out her own huff of annoyance. “None of this is new information. We need to talk about what happens now. I’m getting on a plane tomorrow night. What happens after that?”
“What do you want to happen after that?”
Mimicking his words from Anaheim, she asked, “Answering a question with a question, Michael?”
She knew the instant he realized what she was doing. “Fine, I want it all, Sienna. I don’t want this to end. I realize you need to go back to North Carolina and that you have a life and a job there, but I want you here with me, too. There’s a lot to work out and I know that, but whatever it takes to make that happen, I’ll do it.” Slowly, he walked over to her, and those strong, warm hands cupped her face. “I fell in love with you when you were too young for me, and I’ve been in love with you ever since. I never stopped.”
