Chapter 58 Choices
Sierra’s fingers trembled as she reached for her phone, the weight of the device feeling heavier than it should. Julian’s obsidian talisman, cool and smooth in her palm, pressed into her skin like a foreign object. She met his gaze, steady, expectant, and her throat tightened.
“Hello?” Her voice was too bright, the kind of cheerful that signaled the opposite of what she felt.
“Sierra.” William’s gravelly baritone crackled through the speaker, a familiar sound she hadn’t realized she’d been missing. “I just stopped by the office. Chloe mentioned you were… unavailable. Everything all right?”
She glanced at Julian, who had leaned forward in his wicker chair, the firelight etching shadows into the chiseled lines of his face. “Yes, William. Everything’s fine. I’m taking some time off. Needed a mental reset.”
There was a pause. Static. Then a sigh. “You should’ve called me. I’m not exactly thrilled about being blindsided, even if it’s just a vacation.”
“It wasn’t just a vacation,” she said quickly, then winced. “I’m doing research for the Nexora bid. It’s a big opportunity, and I wanted to focus on it without…”
“I understand the demands of the job,” he interrupted, though his voice softened. “After the stroke, I’m more aware of time than I used to be. But Sterling & Quinn is your family, Sierra. You and Chloe are the ones keeping it afloat right now. Even if I’ve stepped back, the firm means as much to me as it does to you.”
She swallowed. “I know. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Chloe’s incredible. She handled our client meeting today with precision. I trust her.”
Another pause. Then, low and deliberate: “Good. But next time, give me a heads-up. I still have a vested interest in your decisions.”
“I will,” she said, though the lie tasted metallic. She shot a look at Julian, who was watching her with a quiet intensity, his fingers toying with the stem of his empty glass.
“Let me know as soon as you’re back in the office so we can talk about our new junior partner.” His tone suddenly turned solemn. “We are going to be Sterling, Quinn & Spencer, not just Sterling & Spencer, right?”
“Sterling, Quinn & Spencer,” she said.
“Good,” William responded. “I was afraid that I might be losing you.”
“No. You’re not losing me.”
“See you when you get back.”
The line went dead.
Sierra stared at the phone, its screen glowing like a beacon of another life. The words Sterling & Quinn seemed to echo in her skull, a mantra clashing with the salt-scented air and Julian’s presence.
He closed the distance between them with that slow, deliberate grace he always possessed. His hand brushed her hair from her temple, fingers lingering there. “William?”
She nodded, the talisman still clutched in her fist.
“He is like a second father to me. Saw my potential before I even had it. In some ways, the firm is my family. It’s a major part of who I am.”
“And the ranch?”
The question caught her off guard. She blinked. “What about it?”
“You never mention Ryder.”
Her breath hitched. The ranch, a place of wild sunsets and dust-streaked jeans, had felt so far away here. She had buried its weight beneath the opulence of Julian’s villa, the tang of salt air instead of the earthy scent of horses and hay. Yet now, the memory of Ryder’s calloused hands, his quiet strength, burned in her mind.
“I left the ranch in Arizona,” she said carefully. “It’s not part of this world.”
Julian’s smile was a slow, dangerous thing. “No one and nothing defines you, Sierra. Not your past, your career, or your cowboy.”
She flinched at the way he said cowboy, like the word itself was a joke. “He’s not a joke. He’s…”
“I’m not dismissing him,” Julian cut in, his tone smooth as silk. “But you’re here, with me. On my terrace. You kissed me. You said yes to this.”
What had she said yes to? At the moment, she wasn’t sure.
For the first time, Julian’s mask of confidence slipped. “You’re not ready. I get it.” His voice was cool again. “I have a flight to New York on the 18th. I’ll leave you to your priorities.”
Her stomach dropped. “Julian, you don’t have to…”
He cut her off, his eyes glinting like polished obsidian. “You made it clear where your loyalties lie.”
“They’re not…”
But he was already striding toward the villa, his silhouette sharp against the dying sun.
Sierra collapsed onto the chaise lounge, the talisman still clenched in her fist. The fire crackled, but it did nothing to warm her.
Moments later, her phone vibrated again; a text from Julian:
Sail back to New York with me. The Seraphim leaves at midnight.
She stared at the screen as if it might answer the storm inside her.
By midnight, she was on the yacht.
The Seraphim cut through the waves like a blade, its polished deck gleaming under the moonlight. Sierra stood at the bow, the wind whipping her hair into a frenzy as Julian watched from the rail, arms crossed over his tailored linen shirt.
“You could’ve stayed in that villa, caught a flight home and pretended this wasn’t happening. But you chose to board a boat with a man you don’t even like…”
“Don’t like?” Her laugh was sharp, sudden. “You think I don’t like you?”
He turned, his expression unreadable. “I think you’re afraid to want more than a one-time fling. That you’re still clinging to the life of spreadsheets and power suits like a child to a security blanket.”
She whirled on him. “You don’t know anything about me! I’ve been working my ass off since I was 22 to prove who I am! I didn’t ask to be left with a ranch and a broken system to fix. I didn’t ask to be the junior partner at a firm William Sterling still sees as his kingdom. And I sure as hell didn’t ask to fall for a cowboy who can’t imagine leaving Arizona…”
Julian’s hand shot out, gripping her arm. “What are you talking about?”
She froze. The words were out, the dam broken.
“The ranch. The cowboy.” His voice was a simmering fuse. “You mean Ryder. The one who’s got dirt under his nails and a heart you’re too afraid to mention.”
She yanked free, but the damage was done. The truth hung between them like a ghost.
“And I left him behind because we live in two different worlds.”
Julian said nothing.
The yacht passed into open water, the cliffs of St. Barts shrinking into the blackness. Sierra pressed her forehead to the cool metal railing, her pulse a frantic echo.
“I don’t know what I want,” she admitted. “I thought I did. The city, the firm, the life I’ve spent ten years building. But then I went back to Arizona, and I realized I’ve been pretending my entire life. That I buried who I really am…”
“Under Prada handbags and champagne toasts?”
“Under expectations,” she snapped. “Ryder didn’t expect me to stay. He didn’t even ask me to. But I liked it there. I liked the simplicity of it. I liked… him.”
Julian’s silence was a wall.
Julian stepped closer. “And now?”
She swallowed hard. “Now I’m on your yacht, a thousand miles from both worlds. And I’m terrified.”