Page 121 of Beauty
“Noah,” Hannah squeals. “What the hell? Why didn’t you say it was you?”
“Why wouldn’t you check the peephole before talking like that? I could have beenanyone.”
She huffs an impatient breath. “Come inside and open your damn eyes so you don’t trip over the toys. I’m dressed.”
I ease one eye open to confirm before committing to it. When I notice the candles on almost every surface, I grimace and take a step back. “Sorry, I’ll get out of your hair.”
“Have a drink with me before you go.” She flicks on a light in the kitchen and nods toward the fridge. “I’m guessing Daniel got held up at the arena?”
I shrug. “Probably.” I raced out of there, singularly focused on getting to Sienna. Though clearly that was a pointless endeavor.
Hannah holds up an open bottle of red. “You just missed the girls. Everybody rushed out of here, in a hurry to see their husbands.”
I rough a hand over the back of my neck. “Oh yeah? Who was here?”
She opens a cabinet and pops up on her toes. While she struggles to reach the glasses, I bump her out of the way and pull two down. “The usual suspects. Plus Liv and Sienna.”
Excitement pulses through me, but I do my best to hide it. “Oh yeah? I didn’t see Sienna in the hall. When did she leave?”
My segue is ridiculous. Why would I see her in the hall? It’s not like she camps out there. But it’s the best I can come up with, and I fucking need to know where she is.
She breaks into a grin that makes my stomach sink. Shit. I’ve been caught. Though maybe this is a good thing. I came over because I needed to unload my feelings anyway.
“Oh,” she says, her eyes flashing. “Sienna has a hot date at a sex club tonight.”
What. The. Fuck?
I stagger back, my vision going blurry. “What do you mean she went to a sex club?”
She fills two glasses and slides one down the counter to me.
“Hannah,” I grit out through clenched teeth, taking a step closer. “Explain.”
She has to tip her head back to look me in the eye when we’re this close. “What is there to explain? She’s a hot single female and she was invited to play. Honestly you should check this place out. Maybe it’d help you relax.”
Ignoring the casual way my stepsister mentions my sex life, and beyond irritated that she won’t just answer my fucking question, I chug half my glass of wine. I doubt it’ll do me much good, but one can hope it’ll soothe my nerves a little.
Instead, it only further raises my body temperature. “Where is this place? And who was she going with? Did she specifically say it was a date?”
Hannah leans back against the counter, a smirk playing on her lips. “Oh my god, I thought I saw some interest there, but this is worse than I thought. You have itbad.”
I shake my head, teeth gritted. The moment she used the wordssex clubin relation to Sienna, all interest in discussing my feelings vanished.
“I haven’t seen you like this since you came back from the Bahamas all those years ago,” she says, practically vibrating with excitement. “It’s like yourhave a daygirl all over again.”
I down the rest of my wine and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. Fuck it. “Sheismy have a daygirl.”
For the first time in the more than two decades I’ve known her, Hannah looks truly at a loss for words.
She blinks, her mouth dropping open. “What?”
“Sienna is the girl I met in the Bahamas,” I say. Fuck. I don’t have time for this. I need to know where she is. “Sienna isthegirl.”
“Why didn’t you ever mention your have a day girl was Sienna Langfield?” my sister grouses. “That’s a big part of the story to leave out. And how come you didn’t just call her?” She straightens, her face lighting up. “Oh my god, have you been secretly seeing one another for all these years? Is that why you both moved back to Boston?”
Fuck. If only that were true.
“No.” I deflate, sinking back against the counter. “We didn’t share our last names. It was just the two of us. No interference from the outside world. No real lives to think about. We both had a lot going on, though we steered clear of all of that too.”
