Page 104 of Loyalty

She still didn’t care.

Wordlessly, John dropped a kiss to the very tip of her nose, and then another one to her mouth. She felt his hands splay wide to her sides, and squeeze gently. All over again, the busy movie theater ceased to exist.

He was looking at her.

He was touching her.

Nothing else mattered.

Of course, as the saying went, nothing gold could stay.

John’s phone rang not a second later, making his attention on Siena break as he pulled the device out of his pocket. He checked the screen, and then offered her a shrug.

“Have to take it, bella,” he said. “You good for a minute?”

“Sure. What do you want me to get you?”

John scoffed as he looked over the long line. “You’ll still be waiting by the time I get back.”

Probably.

He gave her a quick kiss, and then put the phone to his ear as he stepped out of the line. She kept an eye on him until his back disappeared around corner a few steps away.

Mostly, Siena tried not to worry about John as much as she could. It was made difficult by the fact she noticed the changes he refused to acknowledge when she asked about them.

Like his attention.

His lack of sleep.

His ups, and his downs—moments that came, literally, in a moment. Then, gone in the next.

Yet, those things were offset by the fact he was also highly productive. Upbeat, and constantly on some kind of move. He never stopped doing something.

Siena didn’t know what to think. She worried that asking the wrong questions—ones that zeroed in on the medications she had found, and the disorder she suspected he lived with—might push him away.

No part of her wanted to allow that.

Except she knew … the longer she kept what she had stumbled upon hidden from John, the more likely it was that he would feel betrayed or something worse.

She didn’t want that, either.

“The line is moving.”

Siena came out of her thoughts with a shake of her head to see that, yes, the line was moving. She gave the blond-haired, green-eyed guy a smile, and thanks. He winked back, which made his group of friends grin.

They all looked like they had walked out of a frat house.

No thanks.

Siena turned her back to them, and looked up at the signs overhead advertising junk food, and drinks. The guy’s voice in her ear made her realize how close he had come when she turned around. Just a little bit too late.

“They make this crazy mix of popcorn, chocolate chips, and small marshmallows. They drizzle salted caramel and milk chocolate all over it. It’s awesome. You want to try it?”

Siena turned slightly to give the guy a look, and make him back off. Thankfully, he did take a step back. He was probably harmless, but she also wasn’t interested in finding out.

“No, thanks.”

The guy shrugged. “Shame. You looked kind of lonely standing there all by yourself.”