“No. I’d be miserable and thoroughly disappointed in my terrible husband, even though I’d also probably be thinking it was very thoughtful of him to bring me a replica of my wedding bouquet for Valentine’s Day.” He grinned a little at her and she rolled her eyes. Shrugging, he added, “And I’d be thinking ‘geez, he’s making a tremendous effort here. He must really reallyreallywant me back with every cell in his hot bod.’”
That worked. Sienna burst out laughing, which spurred him on.
“I’d be thinking ‘oh, I’d like to run my hands all over those muscular arms of his.’”
She snorted and laughed some more, a part of her aching for things to go back to how they were. Moments like this.
His smile faded. “So? Is that a yes? Should I skip the movie and go pack my bags?”
And the moment was over right there. He was pushing her to say yes while at the same time telling her there was no pressure whatsoever. “Honestly, I’m not… over what happened.”
“Of course. Totally understandable.” He got back to work on the cheese, then casually dropped his follow-up question. “Do you know when you might be?”
“Did you seriously ask me that?”
He held up both hands in surrender. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. I have no right to ask you that. It’ll take as long as it takes,and even if it’s ten years from now, I’d be lucky to get another chance.”
She set her jaw. “I’m not going to make you wait ten years before I decide.”
“I appreciate that. But you could, and I would happily wait for you.”
He wouldn’t. They both knew he’d wait around another six months. A year tops. Then he’d fall for someone even younger than Claudia with long legs and low expectations. And that thought made her feel sick, which surely must be a sign that she should take him back.
“I would, you know. You’re my forever girl. I love you every bit as much tonight as I did when you first walked down the aisle carrying flowers like these. It’s an image I can’t get out of my head, not even if I wanted to.” He gave her that smile again. “I’d have to go in for a lobotomy or something. In fact, if you divorce me, maybe I’ll see if I can get one so I can forget how much I love you.”
“Well, that is just… weird.”
“Too much?” he asked playfully.
She fought her grin. “Way too much.”
“I’ll dial it back.”
“Thank you.” Needing to change the subject before she gave him an answer she might regret, she said, “All right, what was the other thing?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think I should bring it up right now.”
“Why not?”
“Because I already pissed you off by pressuring you into giving me an answer, then I creeped you out with the whole lobotomy thing, so you’re probably going to say no.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m flattered by your awkward attempt at wooing me.”
Hope filled his eyes. “You are?”
“All right. Settle down. I’m not flattered enough to forgive and forget. But you’re here now. You might as well come out with it.”
This time, she kept her gaze trained on the job before her. She knew if she looked into those eyes again, a sick part of her would turn to putty and she’d agree to whatever it was he was about to ask, even if the ‘important something’ was a quickie in the powder room. Actually, now that she thought about that, she realized she’d agree to itespeciallyif it was a quickie in the powder room. But then thoughts of him naked in bed smiling at Claudia zapped her right in the lady bits, and she went back to glaring at the mushrooms. Yes, that was better.
“I know it’s a big ask, but…” He trailed off in that way he did when he was trying to act like a shy schoolboy. “The thing is … Mike really loved you, and you loved him, and the concert wouldn’t be the same without you there.”
She stilled her hand, letting the knife hover above a wobbly mushroom, but said nothing. Her gut reaction was a hard no, and that would probably be her real answer too.
He cleared his throat, then said, “Kitty and the kids are coming. And it’ll look strange if you’re not there. Like you couldn’t be bothered or something.” He quickly followed that with, “Obviously no one who knows you would think that, but you know … celebrities are the worst gossips. Anyway, more than all of that, I need you there.”
Sienna raised an eyebrow at him. Crap. He had his sincere face on. She had trouble resisting that one.
“Oh no, not the eyebrow!” he told her, clutching his heart and grinning at her. His smile faded and his voice grew thick. “But seriously, I do, Sienna. I need you with mefor this. It’ll be the first time in my entire life that I’ll be up on stage without him. I don’t know if I can do it.”
