“I don’t.” Keeping her answers simple was the only way Sierra was going to manage to get through this awkward conversation. She only hoped Susan would fire her and get it over with. Never in her life had she wanted to take the easy way out, but that was before she met this overbearing, impossible to please woman.

For a lawyer, used to arguing her case, Susan faltered more than Sierra expected. Or maybe Sierra’s answers hadn’t been simple enough for her to understand.

“Well.” Exasperation tinged the word, and Susan locked her eyes with Sierra’s. “I’ve had to come to a hard decision after learning this information. I wanted to talk to you first, make sure the rumor was actually true. Now that I know it is, I need to tell you I’m concerned about your employment.”

Thank goodness. Sierra didn’t speak out loud, although she wouldn’t have been more surprised if the words had burst from her chest with pride. “Ok.”

“I think it is in your best interest for you to quit.”

Ok. There was the more surprise.

Being fired was one thing. Quitting was something entirely different. She couldn’t control the actions of others, and if Susan wanted to fire her because she wanted to feign concern over Sierra’s personal life, that was her prerogative. But quitting. That wasn’t in Sierra’s nature.

“I’m not the one with the problem.” Sierra said, shocking herself with the anger seeping into her blood.

“You’re in a relationship with two men, and I can’t subject myself to that sort of association. You should be ashamed of yourself first of all.”

O – K. Now the anger was coursing fast and hot. Did the woman really have the audacity to project her own personal opinion on Sierra’s personal life when it in no way affected her ability to do her job? “Well, I assure you that I am not ashamed.”

“I thought you might say that which is why I had to come up with a second option if you chose to be bullheaded.”

Bullheaded? What the fuck?

“I insist that you quit, or I am going to have to proceed with a civil suit against you for misrepresentation.”

“Excuse me, what?” Sierra was dumbfounded. This woman was actually blackmailing her.

“You heard me. You clearly misrepresented yourself, and in order to protect myself, I am going to file a civil suit. I will make sure you never work in Dallas or any of its surrounding areas ever again.” The full bitch was back, a sneer on Susan’s face told Sierra she wasn’t kidding.

Pushing back her chair, Sierra stood abruptly. She’d heard enough of this. Her anger had reached maximum capacity, and if she wasn’t careful she was going to make this bad situation even worse.

She didn’t speak as she exited the kitchen, walking as calmly as she could manage down the long hallway to the front door. She heard the click of Susan’s heels behind her, and she prayed she could reach the door before the other woman said another word.

“You’re slutty behavior has no place in a professional environment. You should seriously consider making adjustments before you even think about working for anyone else. I’ll make sure this rumor circulates.”

Her blood pressure spiked and a red haze clouded Sierra’s vision. For the last couple of months she had put up with more abuse from this one woman than she had anyone else in her entire life. Turning abruptly, she came face to face, although Susan was quite a bit taller, with the woman. Keeping her hands at her side, not wrapped around Susan’s neck like she wanted, was harder than she imagined.

“I don’t have many regrets in my life, Ms. Toulmin. Or is it Ms. Mackendrick?” Keeping her voice level, Sierra stared back at the woman noting the flash of fear in her eyes. “I definitely don’t regret the actions I take in my personal life. If I want to be in a relationship, that is my choice. Not yours. Who I do that with is also my choice. Not yours. And if I choose to live my life out in the open, instead of hiding behind another name, or the closed doors of a sex club, that’s my choice as well.”

Apparently the comment hit home, and Susan must have realized Sierra knew more than she thought. That didn’t stop Sierra speaking her mind.

“And being the jilted ex-lover is not a good look for you. If you can’t handle rejection then I suggest you keep your snooty ass in the house, and limit who you interact with. I’m not naïve enough to think that you won’t do what you said you would and by all means, go ahead and try. But just remember one thing. When it comes to secrets, I’m not the one who has any.”

With that Sierra turned and walked gracefully out of Susan’s front door, not looking back. She didn’t have to. The woman’s eyes had nearly bugged out of her head, and her audible gasp told Sierra that she had hit her mark.

If Susan thought Sierra was going to sit back and take any sort of threat from the likes of her, she was sadly mistaken. Accepting who she was hadn’t come easily for Sierra, but once she had made that decision, her life had taken a turn. And the only direction she was willing to go from here on out was forward.

* * *

Luke had missed Sierra’s call. He’d been too wrapped up in what he had just heard to answer the phone. Was Cole really going to see Lucie tonight? After everything that the three of them had developed over the last couple of weeks, was he really going to flaunt his involvement with another woman? After blatantly lying to Luke’s face and telling him they were nothing more than friends? Right. But he had believed him.

Luke couldn’t imagine the devastation this would have on Sierra. Which was partly the reason he had let her call go to voicemail. He damn sure wasn’t going to be the one to break the news to her, and at the time she had called, he wouldn’t have been able to keep from mouthing off about it. That slow burning rage that he thought he had under control was surfacing once more, this time boiling hot and fiery as hell. The bastard.

He thought about asking Lucie what the hell that was all about, but decided against it. She worked for him. Besides she had been acting really strange around him for a while now, but Luke chalked it up to the fact that she had been caught stealing. They had set up a payment plan, and she was having the money deducted from her payroll, though Luke hadn’t felt good about the idea. When he tried to talk to her about it, she clammed up, insisting that it was her punishment, and the right thing to do.

So here they were. Lucie was paying him back for stealing and apparently Cole was paying him back as well. For what, he didn’t know. And he damn sure didn’t like it. He just wasn’t sure how to go about approaching Cole about it. Part of him wanted to go to Lucie’s and wait for Cole to show up, just so he could beat the shit out of him for hurting Sierra that way.

Oh, who was he kidding? He wanted to beat the shit out of Cole for hurting him that way too.

When his phone rang, Luke grabbed it from his pocket and glanced at the caller id.

Sierra.

He very well couldn’t ignore her. Especially since she had called twice in the last thirty minutes.

“What’s wrong?” He asked immediately when he hit the talk button.

“Can you come over?” Her voice sounded strange, a little shaky.

“Now?” Luke headed to his office, fully intending to leave, regardless of what her answer was.

“Whenever you get a chance.” She told him, sounding very unsure of herself.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes. Are you sure everything’s ok?” He asked, needing her reassurance.

“It will be.”

And what the hell was that supposed to mean? Was there a full moon or something?

Luke was beginning to wonder what the hell was going on. Both Cole and Sierra were acting strange. And here he had been getting comfortable, the one thing he had warned himself not to do. Yes, that likely made him a pessimist, but damn it, if Logan could make a relationship work, Luke was bound and determined that he could to0.

With a renewed sense of vigor, Luke grabbed a small box out of his desk drawer before stopping at the bar to let Kane know he’d be gone for a while. Luke made a mental note to talk to Kane first thing tomorrow, because the man definitely deserved a raise.


The drive to Sierra’s took longer than Luke wanted it to, but the afternoon traffic was a bitch. That was the one thing Luke hated about Dallas. No matter what time of day, or what day it was, traffic sucked. With his irritation level already reaching epic proportions, the added frustration hadn’t helped his mood any. Thankfully he pulled into Sierra’s drive, which helped him relax just a bit. Seeing her tended to do that to him.

Luke might be an irate asshole most of the time, but when it came to Sierra, she was the only person who could soothe his frazzled nerves. Just seeing her was like a salve to what seemed to be a constant ache inside of him. Since the moment he met her, and despite some of his more ignorant reactions, Luke knew that he lived for this woman.

Before he exited the truck, he grabbed the small box he had tossed in the center console and removed the tiny object inside. Slipping it into his pocket, he was overcome with an emotion he wasn’t all that familiar with. Nervousness.

And he had every right to be. He didn’t know what he was walking into, but heaven help him, it was time that he set this woman straight. Not knowing what it was she needed to talk to him about was eating away at him, and he prayed she hadn’t gone back to thinking she was moving back to Nashville. The thought almost leveled him.

When he reached the front porch, he took a calming breath – it didn’t help one bit – and rapped his knuckles against the door. A few seconds later, the door opened, and the most beautiful woman in the world stood before him. That’s when his heart plummeted into his stomach. She had been crying.

“What’s the matter?” He asked, stepping inside and pulling her up against him, not wasting a single second before touching her. When she wrapped her arms around him, pressed her face against his chest and began sobbing, he experienced that same killing rage he’d felt once before. Whoever had made her cry would be sorry.

Instead of pushing her to talk, he held her against him, soaking up the feel of her, running his hand down her spine, through the long, glossy tresses flowing like satin down her back. When her body stopped shaking, he eased back a step, cupping her face in his hands, forcing her to look up at him.

“She wants me to quit.”

Huh?

Leading her to the couch, Luke sat beside her, still holding her close. Who wanted her to quit? Before he could ask the question, Sierra exploded into words and motion, pushing up from her seat and pacing back and forth across the room.

“Susan called me to her house, and when I got there, she proceeded to tell me that I needed to quit.” Sierra kept pacing, not looking at him. “If she was going to fire me, I was going to be ecstatic, but the bitch said I needed to quit. I’m not going to quit. I’m not a quitter.”

Luke hadn’t seen this side of Sierra. She was fiercely adamant, and the use of the B word nearly made him smile. He still wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but he didn’t interrupt.

“She, of all people, wants to tell me that it’s wrong to be in a relationship with two men. But how would she know anyway? The hypocrite. She didn’t give me a choice, telling me that it’s wrong, and I should be embarrassed.” Then she did turn and look at him. “But I’m not embarrassed, Luke. That’s the problem.”

He definitely didn’t see a problem with that.

“I’m happy being who I am and going after what I want. I’ve spent my entire life wondering what was wrong with me. Then she all but tells me that if I ever plan to work in this town again, I needed to quit, or she was going to sue me. Sue. Me. Can you believe that?”

Ok hold up just a minute. All of the pieces clicked into place and Luke prayed that it wasn’t true. “Are you telling me Susie told you that you needed to quit because of me and Cole?”

“Yes.” Sierra said before stopping and tossing her hair back over her shoulder. “She implied that I’m not normal and that I’m an embarrassment for being in a relationship with two men and that if I didn’t quit, she would sue me for misrepresentation. How could she?”

Luke couldn’t sit still any longer. He made his way over to Sierra, standing in her path so that the next time she paced, she came in direct contact with him. He reached out and held her in place, smiling down at the woman. His woman. “What did you tell her?”