Page 95 of Is It Casual Now?

“You know, I think I should be worried about how much you’ve obviously thought about this. But it’s strangely comforting.” Siena laughed lightly, already noticing the ease that she was feeling compared to before.

Tori laughed and looped their arms together. “I think you need a bit more time to relax with friends. What do you say?”

“Yeah.” Siena didn’t resist this time. She did need this, and she was going to take the offer. “Yeah, I do.”

“Perfect, because Tori promised girl time with no partners.” Aili clapped her hands together. “Just like the old days.”

“Not quite like the old days,” Siena confirmed, glancing at Tori. “I don’t need to go back to the drama of dating either of you again, thank you very much. I have enough dating drama in my life right now.”

“Oh, do fill me in.” Aili snagged a slice of pizza and sat down at the table, expectedly waiting for Siena to spill. Laughing, she obliged.

thirty

Jamie’s heart beat out a samba in her chest as she stepped into the ground floor foyer of the building that housed D.Y.K.E. Management. She didn’t quite manage a chuckle at the name. She had always found it amusing, but now, after getting to know Siena, the name made her even more amused.

But not today. Her palms were sweaty, and she had turned around three times before finally getting up the courage to step over the threshold.

The first time she’d stepped foot in here had been for entirely different reasons. She’d come to seduce, to fuck, to play a game of flirting with Siena because she knew without a doubt that Siena was evenly matched with her on that front. And Jamie hadn’t been disappointed.

But now was different.

This time Jamie was there fully knowing what Siena was like, in bed and out of it, and that something needed to change—and it wasn’t Siena. Steeling herself to be brave, not the false bravado she often presented but true bravery, she strode toward the elevator and jabbed her pointer finger into the button.

She stepped inside and straightened her clothes, pullingdown the green sweaterdress that she’d chosen to wear that day and trying to make herself look far more professional than she felt. This wasn’t a personal call.

At least, not entirely.

But this was her new start on life, and Jamie was going to take the bull by the horns and make it right. Even if she was booted out on her ass in the process. But she had to do this, no matter what. Siena deserved an explanation and Jamie deserved the airtime to let her know what had happened.

The office was pristine, just like the last time Jamie had been there. The walls were a light white-gray, the couches in the waiting area were all modern, and the front desk was devoid of any type of clutter. It was the exact opposite of what Jamie’s office would ever look like.

“Hi,” Jamie said, plastering on a smile. “I’m here to speak with Ms. Frazee.”

The woman at the desk looked up at her curiously. Her eyes were dark, her hair cut into a sharp frame of her face with bangs that went right across her forehead. Jamie didn’t remember that look from her.

“Did you get a haircut?” Jamie squinted with a smile on her lips. “Because that looks fabulous on you.”

“Thank you.” The woman smiled sweetly. “But placations won’t get you in to see Ms. Frazee without an appointment.”

“Oh! That’s not… I wasn’t… I genuinely meant that. I really like it. I could never pull off something like that. My sister and I were forced into bangs when we were kids, and it was all the rave of the nineties. Never again.”

The woman laughed lightly. Jamie tried her best to remember her name, but for the life of her, she couldn’t pull it out of her brain. She really needed to do better at that. Jessie remembered everyone’s name, and it always made them smile when she did. Maybe that was why she was so damn popular.

“Oh, those were the days, weren’t they?” The youngwoman—she had to be younger than Jamie, right?—smiled up at her from her desk. Then her smile faltered. “You don’t have an appointment with Ms. Frazee.”

“I know I don’t. I just…” Jamie pressed her lips together hard. “I need to talk to her about the engagement drama. I have some information that she’ll want.” This had to work. It wasn’t just getting to Siena, it was getting past the bulldog at the gate. Not that this woman was anything like that, but she had no doubt that she could be if pushed in the right way.

The woman furrowed her brow and picked up the phone on her desk.

SCORE!

Jamie withheld doing a little victory dance. She hadn’t quite made it into the main event yet, but she was at least one step closer. The words spoken were so quiet that Jamie couldn’t quite hear what was being said, but when the woman put the receiver down, she stared up at Jamie with a placating smile and nothing else.

“So…?” Jamie asked, hoping that would get her some kind of answer as to whether or not she was invited in.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Siena’s voice cracked through the main office.

Jamie jumped, spinning around and facing down the one person she’d never been more scared to confront. Not because she was scared of Siena, no. It was because she was scared of what this would mean for her.

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