15. Knox
Knox
Sienna is working on freeing her car from the snow.
I watch from the top of the hill as a calm breeze blows through the air. She shovels snow away from her car, ass high in the air as she bends over.
I silently walk toward her and stop when I’m three feet away. “I hope you’re not planning to steal that shovel. It’s my favorite one.”
Sienna gasps and spins around, with a hand to her heart. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
“Looks like you’re trying hard to dig your way out of here.”
“You’re very observant.” Sienna digs the shovel into the snow and rests her arm over the handle.
“I see you finally switched out of the heels to something more practical.” I gesture to the work boots she’s wearing.
Sienna folds her arms over her chest. She’s wearing one of my flannel shirts but no coat, which explains the shivering.
“You’ll catch pneumonia out here dressed like that.”
“It’s worth the risk,” she says, teeth chattering. Her eyes sparkle the most wonderful shade of blue. “What are you doing out here?” Her eyes narrow. “Wait—let me guess. Mountain patrol.”
“Glad to hear you’re finally starting to learn.” I step closer and take a look at the car. It’ll take a miracle to get it working again. These cars are not meant for snow. “Were you planning on leaving without saying goodbye?”
“I didn’t know you cared, Knox.”
I shake my head and look into the distance before turning back to her. “You’ll have to take my shirt off first if you’re planning on leaving. Otherwise, I’ll have you arrested for petty theft.”
She smirks. “Sure, I can take it off. Whatever you want, Knox…”
She starts unfastening buttons, one after the other.
My brain catches up one button too late.
“Sienna—”
The shirt drops to the ground.
And she’s naked from the waist up.
My cock twitches in my pants, my eyes unable to look away. Fuck. She’s perfect in every way, her breasts shaped like teardrops, heaving in time to her quick breaths as she waits for my response.
I don’t think I can respond.
Her nipples are hard, right under my nose, waiting to be touched.
The look she’s giving me suggests I could make her come just from touching them.
“Fuck, Sienna.”
She drags her eyes down to my cock, which was already semi-hard from watching her ass while she shoveled snow.
I restrain myself even though I feel as though I’m defying the laws of physics. Sienna thought I was keeping her here because I wanted sex from her. I need to make sure she’s not assuming that before I touch her.
“What are you doing?” I grit my teeth, clenching my hands behind my back. I need an anchor to grab onto, something stronger than myself.
“Touch me,” she begs. “Please. Before I leave. You don’t know how bad I’ve been wanting the three of you to?—”
“All three of us?”
“Yes,” she sighs. “I thought I made that clear last night when we played?—”
“Don’t speak. Don’t say another word.”
Sienna looks up at me again, waiting for me to continue. Her breath hitches, causing her supple breasts to bounce.
My groin feels like it’s on fire.
“Sienna,” I begin. “I don’t know what you’ve gone through in the past, but I don’t expect anything from you.”
“I know that. I’m just asking you to touch me. Please.” She steps closer, her breasts right there, begging to be attended to. “It’s really not complicated.”
I give her a look. “It’s more complicated than you know.”
She tilts her head, her fair brows knitting together in confusion. “How so?”
Fuck, I could worship the ground she walks on. Kiss every inch of her body and die a fully satisfied man.
I clench my jaw again, resisting the temptation to give each breast a firm squeeze. My eyes must stay on her face, though. Sienna needs to know I respect her. From what I gather, the previous men in her life didn’t and used her for her body.
Sienna is so much more than that, but I don’t think she understands her worth. Hollywood took that from her the second she signed the first contract.
Powerful people have a way of shaping the identities of those beneath them. I can vouch for that.
“Knox?”
“You’re not leaving yet.”
“The snow has pretty much cleared.” Sienna gestures behind her, breasts knocking together from the motion.
My restraints are slipping. I can’t hold back much longer. My eyes find their way to her chest, and it’s a struggle to lift them back to her face. “I understand,” I say, “but we should reassess in the morning, just to be on the safe side.”
Sienna crosses her arms over her chest. Thank god. I can’t even think, not to mention having a conversation, when those things are on display. “So, what do you mean by complicated?”
“I wouldn’t want to take advantage of you, sweetheart.” I capture her chin and force her to look into my eyes. “When I stopped you from leaving the other night, it was about safety, nothing more.”
“I know. I figured.” Sienna inhales deeply. “But after the drinking game, I think it’s safe to say we’re all in the same boat when it comes to… wanting… things.”
“All of us cannot be in the same boat.”
“Hmm,” says Sienna. “I suppose that’s what you mean by complicated.”
Eli, Cash and I never get into fights, and now tensions are high, especially after last night when I pinned Eli to the wall.
My hands were around his throat before my mind had time to catch up.
I may no longer be a sergeant, but I still have those tendencies.
I will fight until I have what is mine… even if it’s with Cash and Eli.
Which is terrifying. They’re the only two people in this world I can really count on, and now we’re at odds because of a woman.
But I can’t control myself around Sienna, and I can’t control my actions when the jealousy takes over. I spent most of my life in the military. Fighting is second nature. They train you to shoot without thinking, before your mind has time to register what’s going on.
If you stop to think rationally about things, you could end up dead.
“Would it be so terrible if we were all in the same boat?” Sienna arches her eyebrow. “You’d be the ones doing the rowing. I’d be there for the ride…” Her eyes sparkle in the golden light as she lowers her arms and exposes her gorgeous breasts again.
Fuck, I knew from the moment I first met Sienna that I wouldn’t make it out alive.
I just didn’t expect to be at war with the two men I think of as brothers.
“I’ve never felt this way before,” she says, looking a little shy now, as she covers her chest with her arms again.
“And you feel the same way about all three of us?”
Sienna chews her lip and nods.
I’ll make sure she has a favorite before we return to the cabin.
I finally palm her breasts, and nothing has ever felt so good to me. I tease her nipple, and she moans.
Nothing could prepare me for the sound of her beautiful moans.
“Fuck!” she sighs, her voice ringing loud into the night air.
I lightly pinch each nipple, making them even harder. After that, I press her body into the Bentley and insert my head between the valley of her breasts. I suck each hard nipple, one at a time, nibbling and biting, while she continues to moan.
“Beautiful,” I murmur, moving between her nipples. I give each the same amount of attention, teasing my teeth over them until she’s crying out, bucking her hips into mine and begging for more.
My desire floods south. I can’t fuck her here, though. I’ve been celibate for years. If I’m really about to do this, I need her laid out on my bed, so I can spread her wide and worship every detail of her body.
Sienna’s hand disappears beneath the waistband of her shorts.
“Feel here.” She guides my hand between her legs, encouraging me to touch her pussy.
I’ll be past the point of return if I go there.
I stay at her breasts, since I haven’t got my fill of those yet. I suck her hard nipple, and her moans climb higher in pitch.
This can’t be good for my cock. I’m so hard it feels as though I’ll bust through my pants.
And now her hand is running over my length.
“Sienna.”
“Fuck. You’re sooo hard.”
“Like you don’t already know the effect you have on me.”
“Then fuck me,” she begs. “Come on. We both want it.” Sienna spins around and presses her stomach against her car, arching her back, pulling down her?—
“No,” I growl. “Not here.”
I pull away and retrieve the flannel shirt in the snow. I turn her around, take one more look at her naked breasts, and help her get the shirt back on.
Sienna hisses. “It’s cold.”
“I know. We’re going inside.”
Someone could be watching. We’re on the top of a mountain away from everything, but you can never be sure. Plus, the guys could be looking out the window and seeing all this right now.
“Come here, let’s go.”
Sienna follows me, breathless. We reach the top of the hill, beginning another small ascent to the cabin, when I notice her looking confused.
“Is everything okay, sweetheart?”
“You were really just looking out for me.” Sienna stares hard enough into the frozen pond to break the ice.
She pulls my shirt tightly around her body and finally looks at me.
“I was having trouble understanding why you’d take in a stranger.
In my mind, there had to be an ulterior motive.
But now I’m starting to think you’re really just that selfless. ”
I chuckle. “Selfless. Please...”
“That’s exactly what a selfless person would say.”
I turn around and face her. “Sienna,” I sigh. “A lot of people lost their lives because of me.”
“What?” She looks deeply into my eyes.
I turn to the pond, watching the last few rays of daylight project shapes on the ice.
The pond will be fully melted soon, and Sienna will be gone.
“What do you mean by that?” presses Sienna. “Are you telling me that you killed someone?” The lack of surprise on her face suggests she’s already considered this possibility.
I turn over the body in the sleeping bag.
Eyebrows covered in frost.
Blue lips.
Preventable deaths.
Most died trying to escape.
“I killed a lot of people.”
I expect Sienna’s eyes to widen, for her to run away back to her car and never speak to me again. It’s what I deserve, and it will probably make these feelings easier to manage if she never speaks to me again.
But I can’t stand the thought of her going back to LA, knowing what I know now. People expecting things from her, swarming her like wasps just because of how she looks.
The snow won’t be as bad further down the mountain. She’d survive the drive. But will she survive being back in the city?
I have a duty to keep people safe. And there are far worse things out there than heavy snow.
Sienna’s face turns curious, more lines appearing between her brows.
What is she still doing here?
“How did you kill them?”
I extend my arm, gesturing to the snow blanketed around us. “Take a wild guess.”
Sienna follows my arm out to the mountains in the distance, now barely visible as the last speck of light fades, silhouetting everything. “You were in the military or something?”
“I was a sergeant, yes. And I led a squad out to Alaska in the middle of winter.”
When I recounted this story to Cash and Eli, they told me it wasn’t my fault, that I was just doing my job.
Sienna looks at me, saying nothing. She chews on her lip and keeps her eyes locked on mine. “I killed someone too.”
Now that cannot be true.
“Sienna—”
A tear forms in the corner of her eye. “Cash is right. I only made it this far in Hollywood because someone paid the price. My Grammy. I left her all alone and?—”
“Cash said what?”
Sounds like I have an excuse to punch him in the face.
“Sienna?” I hook my hands around her hips when she doesn’t answer.
“I’m a fucking mess, Knox,” she says, more tears falling. “You asked me why I came up here in the middle of a snowstorm—this is why. My love life and career officially went down the drain last week, and all anyone can talk about is how much of a mess I am.”
I narrow my eyes. “Your love life?” The Cash situation will have to wait. “What are you talking about?”
“My ex, Holden. Ugh.” Sienna throws her head back, all composure lost. “He’s such an ass.”
“If he’s an ass, then there’s no issue.”
“He was my first love. We broke up a couple of years ago. He was dating a new woman before I even got out of bed the next morning.” She pauses and wipes the tears from her face.
“Anyway, I was still hoping he’d find his way back to me.
We’re in the same movie, and with the sex scenes and all, I was sure it was only going to be a matter of time before we were kissing and getting back together again. ”
I’m racked with jealousy. Sienna will not be having sex with another man, even if it’s just pretend and there’s a sheet between them.
If there’s one man I hate more than Cash right now for driving Sienna away, it’s Sienna’s Hollywood ex. I don’t trust men like that as far as I can throw them.
“God.” Sienna scrapes loose strands of hair from her face. “I’m such a hot mess.”
“It sounds like they put a lot of pressure on you.” I keep my hands on her hips. “There’s only so much pressure a person can take before they explode. You’re human, Sienna, not a machine.”
“Being a machine would make my life so much simpler.”
“I’m sure it would. But it would be boring.”
Sienna looks up at me. The sun is gone, but her eyes still sparkle. “I haven’t had a break like this since… before I moved to LA. I’m from the smallest town in Michigan. I used to dress like this a lot, actually.” Sienna runs her hands down her body.
The simple clothes she wears suit her. The earthy tones enhance her eyes and bring out the adorable freckles on her nose. At first, I was unsure why she felt the need to hide them, but I get it now. Sienna wears makeup more as a mask to hide herself than to make herself look pretty.
“So… Cash…” I stick my hands in my pockets. “Is he bothering you?”
“He’s…” She doesn’t finish the sentence.
Of course she doesn’t.
Those green eyes get the bastard far in life, even when it comes to working his way into Sienna’s panties.
He lived in LA himself before moving up here, and thinks he has everything figured out.
Fucking prick.
“You’re right, though,” sighs Sienna, changing the topic of conversation. “Another night here won’t hurt,” she says, backtracking. “I need to do a Pilates workout or something. That always makes me feel better. I’ll be back in the main cabin in a bit.”
“You don’t have any power, remember?”
“Yeah,” she calls, creating more distance. “But I don’t need it.”
She turns around, striding the rest of the way up the hill. I watch her go, and my blood boils. Her ex. Her home in LA. The media attention. Cash. Anger floods through me, turning the blood coursing through my veins to steam.
All I see is red as I march back to the main cabin...
And then my fist is striking Cash’s pretty face.