“I need to brush up on my lore, obviously. But seriously, are you okay?” His footsteps approach the bed. “Why are you in the dark?”
“I’m just tired.” It’s true. Iam, but it’s a lot more than physical fatigue. Jack doesn’t need to know that, though.
“I’m not surprised.” He takes a seat on the edge of the bed. “You’ve been working crazy hard—and not just since we got here. Madi says you were going full throttle for the election, too.”
Not full throttle enough.“I’m fine, honestly.”
“How was the date?”
I can’t even suppress my sigh.
“That good, huh?”
“It was fine. The food was amazing, the location was incredible, and Philippe was…” I don’t know how to finish. He wasn’t disrespectful or pushy or anything. But I still feel a little disappointed with what happened. I’m not sure what I was expecting.
Jack’s brows pull together. “Did he do something?”
I laugh softly through my nose. Jack’s so quick to want to believe the worst of Philippe. “Are you going to challenge him to a duel?”
He smiles, and I look away. That smile has gotten me into trouble too many times now.
“He’d probably sentence me to death or something. But you didn’t answer my question. Did he do something?”
“Holster your pistol. He was perfectly respectful.”
He nods. “Good. So, you had a good time?”
I stare at the ceiling. “Yeah, I did.” Mostly.
He’s quiet for a second. “Planning for round two?”
“No.”
There’s a pause. “Why not?”
I sit up, not wanting to answer. “What is this, twenty questions? Why do you care so much?”
“Sorry. I was just curious.”
My frustrations bubble up like shaken soda, spurting out now that Jack’s poked a hole. “Curious about what? It wasn’t a big deal, Jack. You know that. Just like what happened between us wasn’t a big deal.”
He stares, the whites of his eyes obvious in the dark room. In his surprise, I can see how irrational I’m being. He doesn’t deserve this rage, but I can’t stop myself. I scoot toward the edge of the bed, trying to steer clear of touching him at all. “Just for once, I’d like tobea big deal to someone.” I head toward the door, no particular destination in mind except to get away. If I had a swimsuit, I would join Ethel in the pool. Take out my frustrations with some splashy elbow jabs and body rolls.
Jack grabs my hand, stopping me. I don’t even turn. Looking at Jack has never done me any favors, and I’m clearly in a dangerous headspace. Ethel is my only hope.
“Siena,” Jack says, his hold on my hand firm. “Youarea big deal.”
I shake my head. Trite reassurances are the last thing I want right now.
“You’re a big deal to me.”
I force myself to breathe, not to take him too seriously. Jack’s a charmer, and I put stock in what he’s saying at my own peril. He’s just trying to get me into a good mood. But I don’t want to be in a good mood right now. I want to be mad at all men everywhere.
“When I said your date with Philippe wasn’t a big deal,” he says, “I was trying to convincemyself, Siena. Not send some cryptic message to you about what I thought of our kiss.”
I shut my eyes. I’m still turned away from him, but he’s got my hand, and I’m not even trying to break free. My body language is the communication equivalent of quantum mechanics. “You kissed me the first night you met me, Jack. That’s your MO, according to Madi.”
Jack tries to pull me to face him, but I stand my ground like a stubborn toddler, so he walks around until he’s in front of me. He stares me straight in the eye. “First of all, that’snotmy MO. Call me old fashioned, but I don’t bring my sister along with me on dates for her to evenknowmy MO. But more importantly, I kissed you outside my apartment that night because I felt something different with you.”
