I'm going fucking ballistic watching Sienna on the arm of that average joe. How did he even get a date? Don't her clients have to at least be multi-millionaires? I know he's an informant so that's probably why he doesn't look worth a dime, but even if the guy had money, I'd still be going out of my fucking mind with jealousy.

I try not to get jealous and I usually don't. No woman has ever been worth it. No woman provokes that primal feeling of passion inside me.

Usually, I'm not into anything deep, but with Sienna, it's getting deeper every day. And watching her right now is making me want to throat punch that bastard.

I order tequila. It might not help, but there's a good chance it will. The fiery liquid goes down hot, just the way I like it. It's something to distract me from the repulsive scene I see before me.

That motherfucker’s hands are all over my woman and it's all I can do to stand back. I take another shot and then sit bleakly watching the scene unfold.

I know it's all for a purpose. I know we have a plan. But I wasn't expecting that watching her with someone else would awaken such powerful emotions in me.

I feel like taking her upstairs and fucking her brains out just to be sure that I'm still the only one she craves. Maybe her feelings go beyond that now? Do I dare hope?

I know I'm deep in the trenches of feeling something real for her, but she has no idea, and I can't tell if she returns the feelings. It's probably just lust that she has for me, like every other woman. But then we have this past...

She gets up to leave, and I'm glad that it looks like the date is over. She's played her part and it's finished. If he makes one more move towards her now, he'll be fucking done for. If he violates her space for one second after she's ended it for the night, I'll be right there to save her.

Thankfully he never saw me. The man's apparently too fucking stupid to know when he's being set up. He goes his way and she smartly avoids my gaze before gathering her things to leave.

I scribble out a note that says, "Meet me in the penthouse in thirty minutes."

Then I have the waiter deliver it to her. She takes it without looking up and reads it and then leaves the lounge.

I want to follow her and to see every step that she takes but it'd be impossible. I'll blow my cover. So as much as I don't want to, I return to the penthouse by myself, taking a different route. The casino's so massive it takes an eternity to get anywhere.

As I walk across the slick marble floors I think about how I can't take this anymore. By now, I know that my feelings for Sienna are real, they never went away. And yet I'm confronted with the fact that she doesn't know yet.

And we're involved in this high-stakes charade. If we don't play this right, she'll lose her reputation, I might go to jail, and her brother, though I couldn’t care less about him, will be ruined.

I wish this was all over but until then I’ll bide my time patiently. Seeing her tonight with that other guy made it all the more evident that I want her for myself. The minute we're done with this stupid scheme, I'll tell her everything.

I'll admit that I loved her then, ten years ago, and that I love her now. My feelings for her never went anywhere and that's why I cast aside every other woman who tried to make an imprint in my life, to take Sienna's place. I've been devoid of emotion only because my heart has all along belonged to her.

As I take some lesser-known routes through the casino, avoiding the crowds, a man shoves past my shoulder as he walks by me near a corner stairwell.

He's dressed all in black with a hat on and everything. No joke, he looks like a mobster out of crime novel.

All he says as he walks past is, "You have more at stake than you realize."

What the fuck? A cryptic message to say the least. Could this be any more surreal? I wonder about what it means and who exactly delivered it.

I'm anxious as all hell to get back to the penthouse and to ensure that Sienna's safe. I never should've left her alone even for half an hour. What was I thinking?

I get upstairs at last and make a very strong margarita. I might as well stick to the same poison. I wait in the darkness for her and the minutes feel like hours.

Where the fuck is she? Did something happen? I’m pacing the room so much that I’m going to wear a fucking hole in the carpet. If she doesn't knock on that door in ten minutes, I'm going to go check all the security footage and find her.

Finally, after I've finished my drink, I hear her soft knock. I race to the door and open it. She looks like a fucking goddess. Her dress is cinched tightly to her body, her hair cascades over her back. I take her by the hand and pull her inside, relieved to have her back in my arms.

"Get in here, now. You won't believe what just happened."

I pour her a drink then relay all the details of my mysterious run in. She's shocked and a little scared.

"It's okay, baby, I promise. I'll find whoever’s behind this. It won't be a big deal."

"I'm just so tired of all of this. I feel like we're constantly running from some unknown monster. I should've known I couldn't go unnoticed being an escort. And Leo, tonight I wanted it to be you at my table, not that creep. You had to have known that."

Her words are like music to my ears. It offers a hint of what she may be feeling. There's no way her devotion could match my own, though. I broke her heart years ago. How can she forgive me for that? And my playboy reputation isn't helping my cause.

I watch her sip demurely on her drink and decide that tonight has to be the night when I lay it all out on the table. She has to know how I feel about her, whether she feels the same way or not. She deserves to know the truth.

And then, as I watch her delicately take off her jewelry for the night and lay them out on the dresser as though she's lived here forever, I allow myself to dream the impossible and be optimistic for just a second.

There is a chance she feels this heat, this connection. I may not be alone on an island out here with my feelings. There's the slightest chance this may be real, that she can forgive the past, and tonight I want to hedge my bets on that.

I have to set the scene and get my thoughts in order. I'm so happy to have her home that it's overwhelming. I set the terrace lights on low, I play some music, and then I even go so far as to light a few candles before grabbing her hand and pulling her outside.

"Those wicks are fresh," she says. "You've never lit a candle out here before, have you?"

She's caught me but I won't admit it.

"Hey, I could just buy a lot of new candles. Maybe I light them so much that I always need new ones." I can’t keep the grin off my face, though. She brings out a lighter side in me, a side I thought was dead.

"Yeah right!" She gently swats my arm then takes her place on the couch.

I start a fire in the brick outdoor fireplace, and the mood is set. She probably thinks I'm trying to seduce her, but little does she know that I have much more in store for her than that.

I'm about to bare my soul to this girl and it makes me nervous as fuck. There's an unease in the pit of my stomach—like this might be the beginning of the rest of my life or it could literally be the end. If she leaves me hanging, it will be the first time a woman's ever refused my affections and it will hurt like hell.

No matter what, though, I'm determined to do it.