Page 9 of Spicy Sapphic Christmas

At least business was something Bunny could manage to talk about. “And you think we’ll give you the okay?”

“I don’t think she needs your approval to make her own decisions.”

Oh, this one is feisty,Bunny thought. She had to hide her smile in her beer. She loved a good challenge. “Siena doesn’t, but she asked for it. Which means there’s something about you that she’s not certain of yet.”

Bea’s full lips parted, her eyes widening. She curled her hair behind her ear and then turned her glass in front of her, staring at it instead of Bunny.

Fuck.

Bunny had already screwed this up. “What’s your angle?”

“Excuse me?” Bea jerked her head up.

“What’s your angle? Everyone has an angle. Why do you want to work with Siena?”

“Because she’s good at what she does.” Bea clenched her jaw. “Not everyone has an angle, you know. We want to be represented by someone who understands the business, who has experience working with duos, and someone who is queer.”

That last word sent a shiver of panic through Bunny. Did they know? Did the whole world know at this point, and was she just oblivious to the fact that she’d been outed somewhere? Bunny had to resist the urge to get on her phone and check every news site to see if she and Piper had been found out. If Jamie Kettlehouse had gotten hold of some information again, Bunny would have her head. The rumors of them being together would run amok, and it couldn’t be further from the truth.

“We want to do this right. And Siena Frazee can help us do that.” Bea gave Bunny a firm look. “Isn’t that what you did?”

“Kind of.” Bunny fingered the dewdrops on her chilled glass as they fell toward the tabletop. “So you want to be as famous as us? Or more?”

“I want to earn a good, healthy income, and I want to make music.”

Bunny nodded along, having heard all of this before, so many times. Yet it was rare for someone to make it into their level. It was rarer still for someone to make it above them. Bunny wasn’t stupid. She and Piper had a fantastic fan base. They made enough money to earn a respectable living, but they didn’t bring in billions every year either. That had never really been their dream.

“And you want to work with Siena because she’s queer?”

“Yes, wouldn’t you?”

“Wouldn’t I what?” Bunny tensed. She probably shouldn’t have brought up this conversation, but she wanted to know for sure. Was Bea queer?

“Want to be represented by someone who gets you.” Bea canted her head to the side, her curls falling over her shoulder.

Bunny leaned in, her hand flat on the top of the table as she lowered her voice so that Bea had to lean in and hear her. “I don’t have to be a lesbian to understand lesbians.”

“It’s easier sometimes.” Bea’s lips pulled upward as if in a half-smile. “At least I find it easier to work with other people from the community.”

Confirmed!

Internally, Bunny leapt for joy. But on the outside, she kept the same calm, cool, collected persona that she always had. She gave Bea a grin before pulling back and taking a long sip of her cold beer. “How do you plan on marketing your little duo?”

“Many ways.” Bea’s eyes lit up. “But I’m not sharing any of our trade secrets.”

Bunny snorted hard, the beer coming back up into her nose and burning it. She hated when that happened. She couldn’t fault Bea though. Trade secrets were just that—secret. It wasn’t like Bunny was willing to share any of her techniques for getting to where she was. Not yet anyway. Not with someone she’d just met and couldn’t quite trust.

“Duly noted.” Bunny raised her chin at Bea and then glanced at Piper and Jo, both of whom were staring at the two of them like they were deer caught in the headlights. “What?”

Piper shrugged. “Nothing.”

Bunny narrowed her gaze suspiciously. “Seriously. What?”

“Nothing,” Piper said again. “Jo and I were talking about dancing for a bit.”

“So go dance. You know that’s not my thing.” Bunny waved her hand, trying to convince them to go. She’d nearly forgotten they were even at the table.

“Order us a second round, will you?”

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