12 It’s your fault if you lose her

Sienna's heart stopped.

Abruptly, she jerked back to stare at his dancing blue eyes, trying not to let her fear show.

"What secret," She asked, putting in all her effort into ensuring her voice didn't shake, "I don't have any secrets."

A wicked smile crossed that handsome face as Eric pulled back smugly, "You do."

Sienna shook her head trying very hard not to panic.

"No one ever heard of you although you must have been working for a while before getting married, but your business sense is better that most of the people I've worked with," Eric started, "Your reputation is so boring it would put a nun to sleep but you're actually the most exciting person in this social circle, aren't you?"

"You've been keeping your real self a secret, haven't you?" He declared like a small boy discovering treasure.

Sienna's heart started up again. He wasn't talking about her dying and coming back. She mentally hit herself. Who would guess something like that?

He wasn't even talking about her quietly meddling in other people's plots.

He was just talking about her dressing differently and finally living the life she wanted.

She sagged with relief, "You mean being rude."

"I mean being bloody brilliant," Eric countered and waved the plate at her again, "Have one and tell me where you've been all this time."

Sienna was rather hungry. She'd been too anxious to eat all day, but now that she was less tense, her stomach began to grumble.

Her hand was reaching for one when it was covered by a large, tanned hand. The person who had grabbed her blocked the sun out and she blinked a few times to see the face in shadow.

Damon?

"Sienna's allergic to avocado," Damon told Eric icily.

Sienna looked closely at the little toast thing she had been about to pick up. Indeed, there was a sliver of avocado peeking out from under some premium beef.

Eric looked horrified, "I didn't know, I'm so sorry."

He looked so guilty that Sienna immediately assured him, "It's okay, I didn't tell you and I didn't think to check either."

Damon stepped in front of Sienna so that he was effectively between her and Eric. His face was stormy as he glared at Eric.

"I believe someone was looking for you in the terrace, Mr Ramsey," He bit out.

Obviously he just wanted Eric to go away! But Eric felt so bad that he didn't even protest.

Damon waited until Eric stood, they were about the same height and so, Eric heard Damon's low voice perfectly clearly, "You really shouldn't lean in so close to a married woman, people may get the wrong idea."

Any other man would have been peeing his pants, changing his name and moving to a different country by now. But Eric simply let out a humourless huff of laughter.

"You should really cherish a good woman, people will think it's your fault if you lose her," He told Damon in the same low tone that Damon had used.

Damon's expression turned from stormy to downright thunderous, but Eric had already stepped away and was walking off.

His grip tightened on the tiny plate he was holding and Sienna who was watching but who hadn't heard anything, feared that the delicate plate would break in his grasp.

But it loosened as quickly as it had clenched and when Damon turned around, gone was the dark look on his face, replaced by something more neutral.

"Here," He held the pretty porcelain plate out to Sienna, "They were running out so I saved some for you."

For a moment, Sienna stared at what he was holding, taking in the blue and silver curlicues on the border of the plate and framing the little mountain of macarons. They were different flavours judging by the multiple colours piled onto that small plate.

He made sure to save what I liked and came to bring it to me?

Maybe he hit his head and suddenly lost his mind. Or maybe the aliens took him and this isn't the real Damon. Or maybe...

When she didn't respond, Damon began to look uneasy, "I heard macarons were your favourite… Is it wrong?"

Hesitantly, Sienna reached over, choosing a pale brown one that she hoped was caramel, "No, it is. Thank you."

Damon took a seat beside her as she happily munched on the sweet treat. Without pausing, she took a second and third macaron before it even occurred to her to offer Damon one as well.

His lips twitched with a controlled smile, "No, I don't like sweet things. These are all for you."

"Oh," She didn't know what to say. 'Thank you but please leave me alone because I'm trying to hate you?'

She settled for stuffing another macaron in her mouth.

"I'm glad you haven't changed," He remarked into the cool breeze that brushed their faces.

She turned to him with a questioning look and a pink macaron sticking out of her mouth.

His eyes were fond, "In college, you were one of the few people who dared to debate and disagree with me in class. Everyone else thought I was going to take down their businesses if they so much as breathed the wrong way at me."

Sienna hid a smile with a macaron. She remembered how scared everyone had been of Damon then. But back then, she had been so excited for a chance to study business that she didn't care who he was.

Part of her knew that once she graduated, she would have to follow her family's wishes, even if it meant never touching business again.

"I thought…" Damon turned to look at her, his blue eyes piercing, as though he could stare right through her, "After we graduated, it sounded like you changed."

Sienna couldn't help but snort. After she graduated, her family had whittled her existence down to that of a ghost.

"Boring, mousy, no backbone, no personality," She listed off with her fingers to Damon's surprise.

She turned to him with a wry smile. For so much of her life, she had been reduced to words such as those.

Not this time.

"I think you'll find that I'm not very good wife material," She said offhandedly, putting the plate down on the bench, "I hope you're able to find someone who suits you in the future."

She made a move to stand but Damon's hand closed around her wrist. The heat of his skin was like fire that raced up and along her entire body.

"I don't know what you think is counts as good wife material," He said so softly she almost didn't hear it, "But I'm pretty happy with who I have now."

Sienna's heart was extremely torn. This was everything she wanted to hear and yet, completely what she didn't want to hear!

Before she died, she would have given anything for Damon to acknowledge her as his wife, but now…

Being his wife wasn't enough! She didn't even know if she could trust him. What if he seduced her and then cheated on her?

What she really wanted was to chase her dreams, not get hung up over a guy who didn't appreciate her.

It didn't matter if he was acting strange now, it was only because she had been cold to him and he hadn't expected it.

Opting to ignore him completely, she freed her wrist and moved to walk (or more like run) away when her heel caught in the grass and she nearly fell, her arms windmilling.

Strong arms wrapped around her and held her upright and steady as she pulled her heel out of the grass and gathered herself.

Damon had her in the circle of his arms, her heart was racing and it wasn't just from the near fall.

Sienna didn't know if her heart was going to burst from the excitement, fear, stress or all three.

Damon's voice rumbled next to her ear, "You know, you don't need excuses to hug me."