Page 342 of John + Siena: The Complete Duet

“Did you?”

“Mmhmm.”

Nerves climbed higher in Siena’s throat. Not that John made her nervous, but rather, something she had to talk to him about. She’d given it two entire weeks after her hospital discharge before even broaching the topic if only because her husband was who he was—and he could be overly protective of her for it, too.

“Well, you’ll be seeing me more during the day soon,” she told him.

At that, John straightened to his full height and placed his hands to the back of the couch. “Oh, why is that?”

“I was thinking … I should probably get back to work. I mean, it’s been two weeks since I got out of the hospital. I was given the all clear yesterday, and we both know those numbers don’t work themselves.”

“I had someone—”

“Doing all the numbers?” she asked.

John chuckled and tipped his head to the side. “I could find someone to do those numbers, too, Siena.”

Yeah, he probably could.

Didn’t matter.

Siena was the only one who really knew all the illegal facets of John’s business when it came to money. She could hide it, wash it, and more. The idea of someone else having access to those files and numbers made her sick to her stomach. It would only take one mistake. One misstep—a single error—for the IRS to be up their ass seven ways to Sunday. Which would only leave her husband arrested, likely.

And her.

Siena wouldn’t have that.

“I want to get back to work,” she said simply.

John smiled softly. “I figured.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah. You get stir-crazy.”

She scoffed, but really … he wasn’t wrong.

“And I planned for it,” John added, his right hand leaving the couch to skim over her throat and down her chest. His wandering hands came to a stop at the neckline of her over-sized sleep shirt. He fingered the fabric of her shirt, every graze a tease to her senses. Did he even know how much just his touch could affect her? “A driver and shorter workdays to start back—how’s that?”

“And no argument otherwise?” she replied.

With less air. His fingers had just danced over her throat again, after all.

“Did you think I would argue about you wanting to go back to work?”

Siena swallowed hard. “Well, you do worry.”

“Not right now,” he murmured, a glint in his eye as his gaze traveled over the shirt she’d pulled on after a shower.

She grinned back. “Not now. So, does the way you look right now mean you’re done treating me like a china doll?”

“First of all, I have not treated you like a china doll.”

“Actually, for the entire time I was sick. Like you thought I would break if you looked at me the wrong way, John.”

His tongue peeked out to wet his lower lip before he smirked sinfully. The sight alone made Siena a little more breathless. God. He was beyond sexy when he grinned like that—did he even know what it did to her; how wet it made her?

“Secondly,” he added, as though she hadn’t said anything at all, “how do I look right now?”

“As though you’re going to fuck me all night.”

That time, he flashed his teeth with his smile.

She couldn’t breathe at all.

“Do I get to start with having you on this couch?” he asked. “Because you know I love the way my name echoes in this room when you scream it.”

“I certainly hope so.”

With his next laugh—one that rang dark and pleased and wicked—he dropped his blazer to the floor. Siena still hadn’t managed to catch her breath before he was rolling over the back of the sofa to fall on top of her. She didn’t think it was possible to get one’s clothes off in mere seconds, but somehow, she and John managed it.

Yeah.

It had definitely been too long.

John gave her what she wanted, too. Fucked her until she was screaming his name and it bounced off all the walls. He worked her body like a fine instrument that he’d spent his entire life learning to play with the best kind of love.

And then he took her upstairs to their bed to do it again.