Page 50 of Is It Casual Now?

“It wasn’t an agreement. It was a dictate,” Jamie spat back.

“Dictate?” Siena snarled. She was many things—driven, workaholic, detached at times—but she wasnota dictator. She had never been accused of being one either.

“Yes. You decided where and what.” Jamie marched over to a small kitchen and pulled open the fridge door as she spoke. “I even went against my own ethical code and allowed you todictatethis interview, but not anymore.”

“Ethical code.” Siena snorted. Jamie clearly had picked up on the fact that Siena was perturbed by the worddictateand was using it to her advantage. Clever woman.

“Yes.” Jamie returned with two bottles of water. She shoved one in Siena’s hand as she opened the other one and took a gulp before continuing. “Despite what all you money hungry managers think, Ihavewriting and journalism ethics. I’m not a hack making up sensational news for shits and giggles.”

“No, you just make it up for likes and chaos. For your own sick pleasure of seeing the chaos you sew multiply as the gossip is passed around.”

“Well, it sure isn’t for the money.” Jamie scoffed as she lifted her arms to indicate her home.

“Then why bother pissing everyone off for shit you can’t even prove? Is that why you won’t tell me the question?”

“It’s called censoring. You need to protect your clients, sure. I get that. But there’s a difference and this is well beyond protecting them.”

“Are you kidding me?” Siena’s fingers tightened on the bottle of water, and she was glad she hadn’t opened it to take a drink. If she had, she would have feared the lid would pop off with how hard she squeezed the plastic.

“No.” Jamie met her eyes, and the fire in them was electric.

“You’ve written vile and wildly speculative things about my clients in the past. You’ve caused me no end of trouble. Not to mention the time it takes me to put out the fires and fix the problems you create! And you think me checking your questions before you ask them is too much? I shouldn’t even be considering letting you interview them.”

“Then why are you?” Jamie asked, eyes pinning Siena’s. There was a knowledge behind them, a way of telling Siena that Jamie knew more than she was letting on. The intelligence behind those baby blues was intoxicating. Even as anger heated her chest.

Siena opened her mouth and slammed it shut again with a shake of her head.

“You haven’t even spoken to them, have you?” Jamie spat the question, the tone so sure Siena knew she didn’t have to answer. “You are fucking unbelievable. You told me you were going to talk to them!” Jamie shook her head and paced back and forth in the small space.

Siena felt a tug at the corners of her mouth as she noted the uneven strip of carpet. Evidence of this track having been paced many times before. But with a flick of her eyes back to Jamie’s scowled expression, the urge to smile dropped. Even as her stomach muscles tightened at the movement of the feisty woman who continued to confuse her and make Siena’s own thoughts and feelings contradict each other.

She stepped closer as Jamie paced back toward her.

“What’s the question, Jamie?”

“The question? That’s all you care about, isn’t it?” Jamie pivoted and turned back before she reached Siena.

“I want to know what question is burning so hard in you that you’re willing to jeopardize the olive branch I’ve offered.”

“Olive branch? You’ve pushed back on everything.” She returned, her fingers tangling in her hair, pulling at the strands. Jamie’s disheveled appearance made heat pool between Siena’s legs. Her body itched to reach out and touch, to stop Jamie’s wild and barely controlled movements. “You’ve made it impossible for me to do my job. Tokeepmy fucking job.”

“That’s not on me.” Damn her body. She was angry, not aroused. “You got yourself into this mess—not me.”

“By writing the truth!” Jamie snarled.

Angryandaroused apparently.

“You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you in the ass.”

“Fuck you, Siena.” Jamie turned again, hands no longer pulling through her hair.

With a quick flick of her eyes, Siena saw Jamie’s hands clenched into fists at her side. What were they playing at? Siena had known coming here was going to be a fight. But she hadn’t expected the tension to rise and stay at this level—threatening to get even higher every second.

“There’s truth the public has a right to see, and then there’s the truth everyone deserves to have kept private to their own lives and choosing. Even celebrities. It’s why I care about doingmyjob properly. You don’t have a right to slander someone else. You don’t have the right to who a person is. It’s my job to protect everything that is them.”

“To protect them from people like me?” Jamie scoffed and stopped her pacing close enough that Siena felt her warm breath on her face.

“Yes.”

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