Chapter 12
Anger fumes from Sienna as she presses herself against the door as far from me as she can get in the SUV. The glass is going to fog up if she continues at this rate.
After I carried her outside and put her on her feet in front of the open door, her face was red. Not just a little dusting of blush like the one that made my dick so hard last night. But a deep crimson red.
“We’ll be at the airport in a few minutes,” I say to her as a way of breaching the thick silence.
She turns further toward the window, giving me the cold shoulder.
“You can pout all you want; it doesn’t change anything.”
“Pout?” She turns rage-filled eyes on me. Unshed tears sit on the brim of her eyelids.
I’ve seen this look before. Those aren’t tears of sadness. No. This woman is ready to drag her claws across my face.
“Yes, Sienna. Pouting won’t get you anywhere with me.”
She opens her mouth like she’s going to unleash hell on me but snaps it shut.
“Children pout, Dmi— I mean, Kaz. I’m not a child. I’m trying to keep myself from killing you,” she says in a low tone while facing away from me.
I’m not entirely sure I’m supposed to have heard her.
The car comes to a stop as Mikhail deals with the airport security gate. Our plane waits for us on the tarmac, ready to take off as soon as we board.
Taking off tonight hadn’t been the plan, but neither was finding her walking down the aisle toward me. It would be better to believe it’d had no effect, seeing the woman who’d kept me up half the night wondering if I could somehow find a way to see her again.
It would be better. But not true.
“You’re right. You’re not a child. You’re a grown woman who should know how to behave properly,” I say once we’re moving again.
She remains quiet as the plane comes into view.
I don’t like this silence. I want to know what she’s thinking. Last night she was full of life. Her laugh had been infectious.
It was so easy to talk with her. Now, there’s nothing but anger and stone-cold silence.
Mikhail brings the car to a stop.
“We’re here. Do you think you can walk onto the plane, or do I need to carry you again?”
She straightens in her seat as she unbuckles her seatbelt. My door is opened, ready for us to get out.
“If you ever touch me again, I will cut off your fingers. We’ve said our vows. We’ve done what we agreed to do.” Without so much as a glance, she pops open her door and jumps out.
I’m out my side in a heartbeat, expecting her to take off running. But she surprises me by walking to the stairs of the plane and climbing them with her head held high, her back straight and stiff as a board.
“Everything okay?” Mikhail asks as I watch her disappear into the plane.
“Yeah. Fine.” I shut the car door. “Take the car back to the hotel for the family.”
“Got it.”
I stop him as he rounds the front of the car. “Tell Alexander I’ll call him in the morning. It’s nothing he needs to get involved with, but I needed to head back tonight.”
“He doesn’t know?”
“Just give him the message.” Alexander isn’t the only one in charge of the family business. We all have our parts to play, and we play them equally.
But he’s still my oldest brother, When he gets into his ego, it’s harder to deal with him.
“You bet.” He doesn’t bother hiding the smug grin on his face.
We both know as soon as he gives Alexander the message, my phone will be blowing up with texts and calls.
Luckily, by then I’ll be at least thirty thousand feet up in the air, and my phone will be having trouble getting them.
“We’re all fueled and ready for takeoff when you’re ready, sir.” The pilot greets me as I step onto the plane.
“We’re ready now.” I brush past him into the main cabin.
Sienna is seated in the first chair. She’s slipped out of her heels and has her feet tucked under her as she leans toward the window looking out.
The immediate tension in her shoulders as I step forward strikes a nerve. She’d been so relaxed with me last night, but now she’s ready to go off like a firecracker with my mere presence.
She’s Marco DeAngelo’s sister. Of course she has two different personalities. She probably drinks the blood of babies for breakfast.
Okay, that’s not fair. But too fucking bad.
Her family is the reason for this whole debacle.
The reason my sister is lost in a depression I can’t get her out of.
The reason my businesses have been burned to the ground.
The reason my fucking deal with the city council to get the new casino resort up and running is taking so fucking long to settle.
I pause at her row, glance at the empty seat beside her. Deciding to give her a respite, I keep moving to the back of the jet and take the last seat.
“Your drink.” Darlene, one of the flight attendants familiar with my family— and even more familiar with me— leans over to me, placing the glass down on the drink table. The top two buttons of her blouse are undone, giving me a first-row view of her generous curves inside.
“It’s a short flight, but if you need anything. Please let me know.” She winks, while gesturing subtly with her chin toward the private compartment on the other side of the restrooms.
I clear my throat. “Be sure my wife has whatever she needs for takeoff.”
Her smile freezes; there’s less flirtation in her eyes now.
“Of course, sir.” The emphasis on the last word isn’t a show of respect, it’s a reminder of how easily I could put her on her knees if I wanted.
I let her walk away without responding. A month ago—fuck two nights ago—I would have abandoned my drink, forgotten any rules the FCC might have about fucking during takeoff, and taken Darlene up on her offer.
She’s hot in the conventional sense. Sultry body, pretty face, and she’s willing to do pretty much anything that will get us both off. But nothing about her is doing it for me today.
Just to confirm, I watch her while she addresses Sienna, who must have asked for something because Darlene heads to the galley. There’s plenty of time to enjoy her ass swaying, and her profile while she does her job. Yet, I don’t spare her so much as a millisecond.
Instead, my focus is locked on Sienna. She gets up, takes the blanket off the empty chair beside her, and gets back into her seat, draping the blanket over her lap. Darlene returns, hands her a bottle of water, and informs her we’re taking off in a minute.
From the space between the seats, I notice Sienna gripping the armrest as though she’s afraid she’s going to fly out of the plane as we pick up speed and lift off into the sky.
Not until we’ve leveled off and the captain announces we’re at altitude does her grip soften.
It’s still another twenty minutes before she relaxes enough to let go of the armrests.
Has she never flown before?
Her family laid their roots in New York, but her brothers have been working over the last ten years to spread their influence into Chicago. Is it possible she’s never been to Chicago until tonight?
I’d had her pegged as a spoiled princess who probably had a private jet on standby to whisk her away at the snap of her fingers. So far, Sienna is proving to be very different than what I built her up as in my mind.
Halfway through the flight, I leave my seat, no longer content with watching her from a distance.
When I take the seat beside her, she stiffens, but keeps her eyes planted on the screen of her phone. She’s watching a movie with subtitles and no sound.
“We have earphones. You only needed to ask,” I say.
She shifts her position further away, her shoulder leaning against the wall of the plane.
“If you’re hungry or thirsty, we have everything stocked. Dinner if you want.”
More aggressively than needed, she hits the screen with her thumb to pause the movie.
“I had dinner at our wedding reception. I’m fine.”
“You look it.”
That gets a reaction.
She scoffs, then turns to me.
“How do I look? Like a woman who’s been snatched from her home and friends because a grown man couldn’t handle his emotions like a mature adult and threw a temper tantrum instead?”
My jaw tenses.
“You weren’t snatched. You agreed to this marriage. I saw your signature on the contracts and the wedding certificate.”
“And no one in the history of the world has ever signed anything out of desperation or fear.” Her voice is even and firm. “You could have given me another day or two before taking me away from my friends.”
She doesn’t mention her family. Her brothers may be gone, but she has cousins, aunts and uncles, still living in New York. Surely, she was close with some of them.
“I have business that needs attention right away. It couldn’t wait.”
“Of course. Business.” She tilts her head. “Business acquisitions, right? What business are you acquiring now?”
“Did your brothers let you ask questions about their business? Or maybe you were deeply involved in the family businesses with them?”
Her expression hardens.
“Don’t talk to me about my brothers.”
“No? You don’t want to have a long chat about them?” I’m poking a wound, waiting to see how long it takes for it to bleed.
But instead of pain washing away the irritation, she only gets more tense.
“If I never speak of them again, I will die a happy woman.” She picks up her phone again, then mutters under her breath, “and hopefully alone.”
Darlene shows up and squats down next to my chair, placing her hand on my forearm.
“Would you like another drink? Maybe something to eat?”
“Do you have any crackers?” Sienna’s gaze lands on my arm, then flickers up to Darlene’s face within a blink.
“I believe we do. I’ll take a look.” Darlene stands back up. “And for you, sir?”
“Nothing.”
“He’ll have whatever you brought him before.” Sienna instructs with a smile.
“Of course.”
Once she’s gone, Sienna turns back to her phone.
“Are you a nervous flyer?” I question after she’s pretending to be engrossed in her movie again.
“No.”
“You seem tense.”
“Maybe it’s because I’ve just married a man who has multiple personalities.”