Chapter 37
Because Sienna was independently wealthy, she always scheduled a few months off after wrapping a movie. She wasn’t like her dad, who had still believed, after decades at the top, that his career would be over if he didn’t book back-to-back projects. Bobby Bright had been a textbook workaholic and it had brought him the fame he’d so craved, a fortune he’d been unable to spend in his short lifetime, and two more or less estranged daughters. Her father’s life was a lesson Sienna wouldn’t easily forget.
The free time Sienna had on her hands, she spent either in private with Justine, or at the shelter. At first, all she’d had to do was show up and hang out with the kids, but the novelty of having Sienna Bright around soon wore off. Any new residents were still easily impressed, but the kids who’d been at the shelter a while soon realized—and rightly so—that there was nothing inherently special about Sienna just because she was an actor and appeared in a few movies. Even Ashleigh, who’d been released from the hospital, no longer had to suppress a grin every time she saw Sienna.
Justine’s days consisted of a lot of arranging, meetings with social workers and child welfare people, and a barrage of questions from everyone around her. Meanwhile, she was trying to secure a home placement for Ashleigh at Francis Delgado’s. She was on the phone to some authority figure right now, making her case, which was never an issue for Justine. Operating within child welfare regulations was complicated, but when it came to things like this, to going the extra mile, to making that frustrating phone call, and filling in yet another form, Justine was tireless. She also had a vast network of contacts within the various city departments responsible for runaway kids and unhoused teenagers.
It only took a few days at the shelter for Sienna’s admiration for Justine to skyrocket. What Justine accomplished in a day was remarkable, what she achieved in a week was, to Sienna, superhuman, and what she’d pulled off over her lifetime so far was nothing short of miraculous.
At first, when contemplating what to do with the millions her father had left her, Sienna believed that buying Justine free time was the way to go. Funding an extra full-time position at the shelter seemed like a good idea, but witnessing how Justine was when she was working—all focus, intention, and limitless amounts of compassion—soon taught Sienna that buying time off for Justine would be a punishment to her. It was obvious why Justine worked the hours she did, why she hardly took a day off, and never even discussed taking a vacation. Taissa had been right. Justine was the shelter.
She’d gradually been giving Darrel more responsibility but it didn’t have any effect on her own workload, because working less was the last thing Justine wanted. Helping kids energized her, even if that meant being on the phone with a city official for an hour. It was what Justine did—it defined her personality completely. This all became crystal clear to Sienna within days. And she only loved Justine more for it. Because never in her life had Sienna seen this kind of utter selflessness on display.
Sienna found herself increasingly captivated by Justine as she watched her manage the shelter with such grace and beauty. As the days turned into weeks, the importance of Justine missing Bobby’s funeral diminished into a mere footnote in their shared history. Sienna could now see firsthand what she hadn’t been able to understand back when she’d waited fruitlessly at the church—that loving someone like Justine could be both maddening and the best thing she’d ever do.
“Come here,” Justine said from the couch in Sienna’s apartment. Sienna glanced up from her phone. Her agent had emailed, saying he’d be couriering over a promising script tomorrow. It made her think of her father, because when it came to deciding whether to audition for a part or not, she always asked for his opinion. Even when abroad, Bobby would jump on a quick call and ask Sienna to give him the broad strokes. Who would she ask for advice now?
“Where?” Sienna asked, even though she knew exactly what Justine meant—and she recognized that look in her gorgeous pale-blue eyes. She sat there looking very Justine again. Her jeans were worn at the knees and her T-shirt had an actual hole at the seam, but Justine couldn’t care less. The fact that she didn’t, made her all the more irresistible to Sienna. Because it meant that she cared only about things that really mattered and those things were also becoming the things that Sienna cared more and more about.
“Come here and I’ll make you feel better.” Instead of beckoning her over, Justine sucked two fingers into her mouth and let them fall from her lips with an intoxicating smack.
“Feel better about what?” Sienna didn’t know why she was putting up this fight. Seeing Justine’s fingers disappear into her mouth was more than enough to quicken her pulse.
“I can read your face like an open book, baby.” Justine threw in a sultry, crooked grin. “Let me make you feel good and…” She narrowed her eyes to sky-blue slits. “Lose those jeans on your way over here.”
Sienna was brought up in the glitzy part of Los Angeles, where women—and most men—plastered their face with layers of makeup and put on the kind of clothes designed with the sole purpose of making them look their best. Justine had redefined Sienna’s take on what looking good—and sexy—meant. Not a single person had ever looked sexier to Sienna than Justine Blackburn did right now. She didn’t need designer garments or weekly hairdresser appointments. It was all there in the fierceness of her gaze, in the timbre of voice, in how she held up two fingers to Sienna and the promise they entailed.
So Sienna did exactly as was asked of her, because she knew how Justine would make her feel—not just better, but ecstatic. She took off her jeans as well as her panties before straddling Justine.
“I have to tell you something.” Justine gazed at her while trailing her fingertips along Sienna’s naked behind.
Sienna’s skin reacted instantly to Justine’s touch and she only managed a throaty “Hm” in response.
Justine kissed Sienna lightly on the cheek, then nibbled a path to Sienna’s ear, ready to whisper a sweet nothing into it—one of her favorite things to do.
“You are beautiful,” Justine breathed into her ear. “You’re sensational and you take my breath away and…” Justine paused. “I love you.”
That was a new one. Sienna pulled back a little so she could see Justine’s face. “You do?” That was no longer pure lust coursing through Sienna—it was so much more than that.
“Fuck yeah,” Justine said. “You’ve proven utterly impossible not to love.” Her face was as serious as Sienna had ever seen it. Justine wasn’t playing around.
Sienna didn’t have to think about it—because she already felt it. She’d been feeling it, and letting that sensation grow inside of her, since she’d rocked up at Justine’s house in the middle of the night, claiming that she couldn’t forgive her. But to turn to Justine in her biggest moment of need, when the pain had been so obliterating, could only ever reveal one thing.
“I love you too,” Sienna said.
Justine’s smile shone through in her eyes. She caressed Sienna’s cheek with her hand and pulled her near. Before she kissed her, Justine said, “I want to be inside you. I need to feel you.”
The entire expanse of Sienna’s skin broke into goose bumps. With her lips glued to Justine, she wrestled her blouse and bra off her, until she sat naked across Justine’s lap.
Justine skated her fingers softly along Sienna’s entrance, making her clit pulse hard between her legs. Sienna needed to feel Justine as well—she craved her intimate touch inside her. Because of course she loved her.
She’d let the days go by, sleeping in Justine’s arms night after night, and there had only been one way for that to go. Love had taken over and filled up some of the negative space her father’s passing had left. Some of the pieces her heart had shattered into would forever be unglued—and Sienna would never be the same again—but she had not only lost. She had gained a person that she loved with all her heart.
At first, she had directed most of her anger at Bobby dying so callously, so unexpectedly in that tragic accident, at Justine. It was the easiest thing to do at the time and Justine was an easy enough scapegoat. But Sienna’s body had known well before she’d let her brain catch up, that doing so was foolish. That losing two people she loved was infinitely worse than one—and her dad was never coming back, no matter how much she wanted him to.
Like most humans, Justine was infuriating and beautiful. Mostly beautiful, though. She was older, but she was also wiser. She had limitless reserves of empathy and was much better than Sienna at regulating her emotions. Justine had seen the worst of humanity and she’d risen above it. She had remade herself into the most beautiful person Sienna had ever met. To be able to call Justine her partner—her girlfriend —was the privilege of a lifetime.
Justine’s fingers slid inside her. Their kiss stalled because Sienna had to catch her breath. She had to look Justine in the eye. It was as though now that they’d said it out loud to each other, Sienna could finally allow her body to absorb all the love they felt for each other into every last cell.
Justine gently stroked inside of her and Sienna would never have guessed it when she’d met her that first time—when she’d been all straightforward bluntness—but Justine’s inherent tenderness was not only surprising, it was what floored her most of all.
Justine could coax Sienna to a climax with the minutest of gestures, with an almost stillness that seemed to multiply inside Sienna, with a tenderness that, because of its serenity and depth, touched her to her very core. It was no different this time, such was the hold Justine had over her. Because she wasn’t just a hot older woman, she was the best person Sienna had ever had the honor to know—and to love with everything she had.