Dare Me Tonight

by Phillips, Carly

Her eyes opened wide and she let out a surprised breath of air, but she had no idea what to say.

  “I think he feels responsible for you.” Ian shook his head and laughed. “You know, save a life and all that?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t go that far. He just kept my head from exploding on the ground. Said like that, I guess it’s a pretty big deal.”

  “I think you gave him a scare,” Ian said.

  That wasn’t the only thing she’d be giving him, she thought, holding back a laugh of hysteria. She still hadn’t come to terms with the notion of having a baby herself.

  She could only imagine what Ethan’s reaction was going to be when he found out.

  “Would you mind if he came in? Saw for himself you were okay? I think he’ll be more comfortable leaving then,” Ian said.

  Sienna pulled at her bottom lip. “Sure.”

  “I’ll go get him. And since they only want one visitor at a time, I’ll wait outside. Riley and I will drive you home when you’re released.” Ian placed a hand on her arm and squeezed for reassurance.

  “Thanks, Ian.”

  “No problem.” He walked out and she braced herself to see Ethan.

  * * *

  As soon as Ian walked back into the waiting room, Ethan stood up and strode over.

  “She’s fine. Good.” Ian’s easy smile reassured Ethan.

  “If you want to go back, no one’s in there with her now. I think they are just waiting for the doctor to sign off on her release.” Ian gestured toward the double doors he’d come through.

  “Ian?” Riley walked up to them, her cell phone in hand. “Sick kid at home. I’ve got to go.”

  “I came with the ambulance. I was going to drop Sienna off when she was released.” Ian rolled his shoulders, obviously trying to figure out what to do.

  “I’ve got it,” Ethan said, the words tumbling out before he could censor them. “I’ll wait around and drive her home.”

  Ian shot him a grateful look. “You sure?”

  Ethan waved away the other man’s concern. And that’s how he ended up walking back to Sienna’s cubicle, responsible for seeing her home safely now that her family was gone.

  He approached the curtain. “Knock knock,” he said because there was no door.

  “Come in.”

  He pushed back the curtain and walked into the small area. Sienna lay in a hospital bed, her dark hair falling around her face. A saline IV dripped into her and a blood pressure cuff was around her forearm. He didn’t like how pale and fragile she looked or the memories it brought back, seeing her like this.

  “Hey.” He forced a smile.

  She smiled at him. “Hi.”

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Better.”

  He nodded, pulling up a chair and taking a seat beside the bed. “So apparently I’m your ride home. One of Ian and Riley’s kids is sick and they had to go.”

  Her eyes opened wide. “You really don’t need to stick around. I can–”

  “If you say call an Uber, we’re going to have a definite problem.”

  A cute blush stained her cheeks, and the fact that she had color back in her skin made him feel better.

  “Okay. Thank you,” she agreed, giving in.

  “So.” He didn’t know how to broach the subject but he wanted to know more. He wanted to know everything about Sienna Dare. “Childhood leukemia, huh?”

  She ducked her head and groaned. “Stupid family. Big mouths, all of them. Who was it?” she asked.

  “Unimportant.” He wasn’t about to throw Ian under the bus. “It came up by way of explaining why your entire family showed up in the waiting room, every one of them in a panic, worried about you.”

  She sighed. “I hate being the focus of all that attention. It’s like when I was sick. Everyone worried about me when it was because of me that the entire family was thrown into turmoil. I didn’t understand it when I was that young, but as I grew up, I found out. My father went to his first wife and told her he needed to have his kids tested for a bone marrow transplant for me. His illegitimate kid.” She picked at the fabric on the blanket covering her. “I was the reason for the fallout. The divorce. Ian’s hatred of us for years.”

  Ethan shook his head. “I hate to tell you this, but your father was the reason, honey. Not you.” The term of endearment slipped out of his lips. Damned if it didn’t feel right.

  She swallowed hard. “Yes and no. But we can agree to disagree on that. I just hate being the cause of drama and discord.”

  He frowned, not liking how much weight she put on her slender shoulders.

  “Avery donated her bone marrow. She ended up with severe anxiety attacks she has until this day because the news about my father came out. Florida hotel magnate with two families. People went nuts. The press followed him around and caught her and her mom coming out of the hospital. Flashing light bulbs, people screaming at her. She was never the same.”

  He reached over and took her hand. “Still not your fault.” He hesitated, then asked, “Where was your father today?” By Ethan’s count, every sibling she’d mentioned the other day had been in that waiting room. So had her mother.

  “Umm … I don’t know? Something’s been going on with him. He hasn’t been around as much and Mom won’t talk about it. I definitely think my brothers know. I’m not sure about the girls, though Avery changes the subject whenever I mention it so…”

  Ethan narrowed his gaze. Robert Dare sounded like a first-class asshole. “My father was and is a jerk.”

  She glanced at him, obviously startled he was sharing anything about himself with her at all. He just didn’t want her to feel so isolated and alone. “When I was nineteen, my mom died of cancer. Dad fell apart. I mean, he was never the best father, and in Sebastian’s case, he threw money at any problem, assuming he could make it go away. What Sebastian really needed was a kick in the ass and a father.”

  Ethan shook his head at the painful memories. “I did what I could for all my siblings. I dropped out of Duke University and went to school in New York so I could be home. And Dad? He went from wife to wife. He’s on number four now. Candy.” He smiled wryly. “She’s a shallow, attention-seeking–” He cut himself off before he could finish. “She wore white to Sierra’s wedding.” The word whore was what he thought of his stepmother, but she was his father’s problem, not his.

  He glanced at Sienna, who looked at him, eyes wide, mouth open. “I think those are the most words you’ve said to me since we met.”

  He couldn’t hold back a laugh. It sounded rusty, and even Sienna appeared startled, making him realize how long it had been since anyone around him had penetrated the walls he’d built. Not even his siblings had been able to get through to him. Just this woman who pulled at things inside him he had wanted to shut down and lock up tight.

  He cleared his throat. “I just wanted you to see that parents can be assholes. It doesn’t make their actions your fault. You need to deal with that,” he told her.

  “Do you know what it’s like to realize that every one of your siblings’ issues – and I have a lot of siblings – stems from the fact that I got sick? If that secret remained–”

  “Trust me, secrets never stay buried, and when they come out, they tend to do a hell of a lot of damage.”

  He caught Sienna’s stricken look but what could he say? He’d revealed enough about himself for one day. Mandy and everything he’d discovered since she’d died? Yeah, that didn’t need to come out now.

  “In your case, it can’t be good for you to carry everyone’s burden around,” he said.

  As if he had a right to counsel anyone on dealing with anything.

  “Okay, I have your release papers, Ms. Dare. I just need to go over your instructions and we can let you go.” The doctor peeked his head through the curtain.

  Sienna glanced at Ethan, a slightly panicked look on her face. One he took to mean she wanted privacy for any discussion with her doctor, to wh
ich she was entitled, he thought.

  “I’ll go get the car and pull it up to the exit.”

  She visibly relaxed. “Thank you, Ethan.” From the intense look in her eyes, he knew she appreciated more than just the ride.

  The fact that he’d opened up to her was as shocking to him as it was to her. Something he needed to think about, process, and understand.

  * * *

  Ethan stood in the Miami apartment that Ian Dare had set him up in, a company place much like where he’d put Sienna when she’d been in New York. Glass of scotch in hand, he glanced at the lights twinkling down on the busy street below, where clubs played loud music and people who were much younger than him in truth and in their souls waited in lines to get inside.

  He’d been in Miami twenty-four hours, and he already felt like he was changing. Opening up. Lightening up. All because of one woman.

  He took a needed sip of his drink, his mind still on Sienna and what he was learning about her. She was sweeter than his wife had been, cared more for other people and even less about her own needs than her family’s needs. Unlike Mandy, who’d wanted Ethan’s attention and sole focus, and when she’d lost that, she’d gone looking elsewhere.

  Thinking back, they’d been a solid couple in the beginning. A smart match as far as her working at KTT was concerned. But she put her own needs first, worrying more about herself than she did about him or their marriage. And sadly, he hadn’t even been aware that things had gone south. He’d loved her, but had he been head over heels? Was she all he could think about? Had he been unable to keep his hands off her?

  No.

  Which was where his feelings for Sienna already differed.

  But Sienna had made her choices clear, and she wasn’t interested in what he could or was willing to give. A clandestine affair. It sounded ugly now, even to his jaded ears. Because even he wanted more than that from her.

  Yet he wanted to take care of Sienna, to know she was healthy and feeling good. When she’d fainted in his arms, his brain had spun into the past and fear had consumed him. Discovering she had had leukemia had definitely upset his equilibrium. The idea of losing her was not acceptable to him. She’d already gotten under his skin in ways not even Mandy ever had. He couldn’t just ignore her, nor did he want to.

  But he needed to be careful. He didn’t want to insult her, didn’t want her hurt, but he couldn’t offer her more than what he’d proposed the other night. Despite wanting her desperately, he could not risk the business relationship with Ian Dare, and worse, he didn’t want to give her the wrong impression.

  That he was available. Which meant he had no alternative but to respect her wishes and keep his distance. No more seduction. No more sex. No more getting-to-know-her time.

  He frowned and finished off the amber liquid, then poured himself more. He needed the fortitude to stay away from the alluring young woman who was beginning to consume his thoughts and his desires.

  * * *

  Sienna made sure to do as the doctor instructed in his discharge orders. Rest when she could, keep herself hydrated, and eat small but frequent meals in an effort to maintain her blood pressure at normal levels. Unfortunately, he couldn’t guarantee her she wouldn’t faint again, and for sure the nausea wasn’t going away.

  Still, she managed to power through the workweek with no one the wiser. Only Olivia, with whom she basically shared an office, gave her funny looks when she occasionally ran to the ladies’ room and returned looking paler and drinking a ginger ale. Sienna also didn’t think she did a good job of hiding the saltines she kept in her purse and munched on when she could.

  As for Ethan, she did her best to keep her distance except for business. They’d rescheduled the meeting with his team and the app developer, and that had gone well, Sienna managing to act like her normal, cheerful self throughout.

  And Ethan kept the respectful distance that she’d insisted on but hated at the same time. She often caught him watching her, though, eyeing her with concern when they passed in the hall, almost as if he was waiting for her to faint again. But so far so good, and if she wished for more between them, wishing was all she’d let herself do.

  He might be interested in sex, and she might want the same, but she had too much self-respect to fall into the same trap her mother had been in, hidden away from the outside world. Maybe Ethan Knight wasn’t currently married, but he wasn’t available to her in the ways that she both needed and wanted. Too soon, she’d have to let him know he was going to be a father and accept less than she wanted out of her role in his life, as it was. At the very least, she intended to keep her dignity.

  “Sienna?”

  “Yes?” She glanced up at Olivia, who sat on the corner of her desk, waiting to catch her attention.

  “I’m starving. Want to go get some Mexican food? I could kill for a quesadilla. Gooey cheese, chicken, and oh! Maybe some guacamole, too.”

  At the too vivid description, her stomach churned uneasily. Dammit. “Umm … I’m not really in the mood for Mexican food.” She braced her hand against her stomach and forced herself to take deep, easy breaths.

  “Okay, what gives? You’ve been acting strangely all week. I get that you fainted, but you’re still nauseous, I know you’ve gotten sick, and don’t think I missed those crackers you have stashed in your purse.” Olivia swung her foot back and forth from her perch on the desk. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were pregnant.”

  The blood drained from Sienna’s head. The one thing she couldn’t do was outright lie to her half sister. “I…”

  “I knew it. You are pregnant!” Olivia spoke too loudly, but it wouldn’t have mattered if she’d kept a level tone of voice, because Ian chose that moment to show up in the open doorway.

  “Repeat that one more time?” he said in a deadly sounding voice.

  “Oh shit. Ian, that wasn’t meant for you to hear.” Olivia jumped up from her seat while Sienna scrambled for an explanation. “Sienna, I’m sorry.”

  She couldn’t worry about Olivia now, not when Ian stood over her waiting for an answer. “I’m not pregnant … I mean, I am but…” Her words trailed off.

  Why was it her half brother could merely act like the caveman scary man they feared while simultaneously projecting the fact that he was the caring parent they all needed and they caved, revealing information that never should have been made public?

  “That’s what the fainting spell was all about?” he asked, holding on to his famous temper.

  She nodded. “But I’m fine. Really.”

  “Who’s the father?” he asked, his tone low and steady, but she could see the throbbing at his temple and knew he was upset and concerned.

  “None of your business,” Olivia said, pulling at Ian’s arm. “Back off, big brother.”

  He shot Olivia a glare. “While that may be true, I’m going to ask again.” He met Sienna’s gaze. “Because I care about you and it matters. Who is the father?”

  She swallowed hard. She didn’t have to tell him. She didn’t owe him answers. But she also knew Ian well enough to understand he wouldn’t let this go. Somehow he’d dig and dig until he discovered the truth anyway.

  Secrets are bad, honey. We all know this firsthand. Her mother’s words came back to her.

  “It’s Ethan Knight,” she said, closing her eyes as the words escaped. “And he’s going to hear it from me, not you.” She jumped up from her seat, but Ian was faster, his long legs taking him out of the office quicker than she’d thought possible.

  She glanced at Olivia. “Help me.”

  Together they ran after Ian, but from the yelling in the hall, they were too late.

  * * *

  Ethan hung up the phone with Sebastian, happy to hear his brother and Ashley were talking about having a family in a way that meant Sebastian was open to the possibility, no longer shutting Ashley out because of his fears of repeating their father’s mistakes.

  Next he planned to walk the construction area wi
th the foreman. He needed to make sure the schematics worked with the security keys. He didn’t want a repeat of the California debacle with Keystone. The keys KTT installed weren’t physical, per se, but used via a smartphone or special key configured to wirelessly perform the opening and closing process of any door in the stadium. But there were also mechanical parts, and those had been what Mandy had purchased substandard. Ethan wanted to see the parts for himself firsthand this time.

  He rose from his seat in time to see Ian burst into his office, with what could only be described as rage contorting his face.

  “Ian, what–”

  “I sent my sister to you to look after and protect, and what do you do? Knock her up?” Ian let his right fist fly before Ethan could even process the other man’s words, taking the hit and falling against the wall.

  Head ringing, he forced himself to a standing position. “What the hell?”

  “Sienna’s pregnant and you’re the father.”

  Ethan’s hand went to his jaw, which hurt like a motherfucker, the reason for Ian’s anger just now penetrating. “Sienna is pregnant?”

  Ian raised his fist again but Ethan caught the man’s wrist in his hand. “You get one shot. You took it.” He met Ian’s furious stare. “Because I have a sister, I’m going to let that go.” He drew a deep breath. “And for the record, I didn’t know.”

  “And that makes it okay?” Ian shook his hand free of Ethan’s grip.

  “Ian, back off!” Sienna ran in, Olivia behind her, just as Ian pulled his arm away, and she grabbed for her brother. “Leave him alone!”

  Heart firing in his chest, Ethan drew a deep breath, his gaze on Sienna’s. Her eyes were wide, her face pale, her entire body shaking with fear.

  He wanted to wrap her up in his arms and protect her. He also wanted to run far and fast. “We need to talk,” he said gruffly.

  “You’re off the project, Knight. Pack up your things and get the fuck out,” Ian said.

  Sienna narrowed her gaze. “This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen!” she shouted.

  Both men’s gaze turned her way. “I’m sick and tired of being the center of drama, whether it’s two families or a business,” she said tiredly. “Ian, this is between Ethan and me. Not you.”