Dare Me Tonight (The Knight Brothers 3)

“As far as the stadium contract,” Ethan continued, wanting to make all his points before Ian could gather his own thoughts, “legally you can’t throw my company off the project. You don’t have a leg to stand on, so I’m back and we’re working together.”

Ian’s scowl deepened.

The one thing Ethan didn’t want to do was be on opposing sides with Sienna’s brother, so he stepped forward. “Look, for Sienna’s sake, I want us to get along. And I’ll even admit that I don’t blame you one bit for how you’re feeling. But you can’t change things. It is what it is and she’s my responsibility now.”

If Ethan was being honest with himself, he’d wanted that job ever since Sienna had given him her sweet little body and surprised him with her virginity. Did it make him a possessive alpha-male asshole? You bet it did. Did he care? Not in the least.

The only part that sucked in all this was how long it had taken him to get his head on straight and realize what he wanted. Now she was pregnant, and though he was grateful it had shown him the light, he knew damn well she’d believe his turnaround was all because of the baby.

Like Sebastian had said, Ethan had his work cut out for him. But he had every intention of showing her he was a better man with her in his life. He might not deserve her but he wasn’t letting her go. He just didn’t need her brother standing in the way.

Ian burst out laughing, taking Ethan by surprise. “You think she’s yours to take care of? She’s as independent as they come, and you’ve done nothing to show her she means jack shit to you. At least not that I’ve seen, so good luck, asshole.” Ian sat back down at his desk, picking up papers, effectively dismissing Ethan.

Oddly enough, Ethan wasn’t insulted and this meeting had gone better than he’d hoped. He had a lot in common with Ian Dare and could see his side of things completely. Just recently, his sister’s wedding had been derailed by her ex-boyfriend objecting at the service, then stealing Sierra away for a long weekend to convince her to take him back. Ethan had wanted nothing more than to throttle Ryder Hammond, but Parker and Sebastian had kept Ethan calm and he’d let fate play out. Sierra was now happily married to Ryder and pregnant with his baby.

Ethan just wanted Ian to back the hell off the same way. Convinced he’d done all he could on this end, he strode out of Ian’s office and headed to the one assigned to him. Since Ian had thrown his ass out on Friday, nobody had had time to clean out his space, which meant he could pick up where he’d left off.

Sitting down at his desk, he pulled open his laptop and got to work.

* * *

After Ian had hit Ethan and thrown him off the project, the office had buzzed in excitement. The reveal of Sienna’s pregnancy thanks to her brother’s big mouth had added to the gossiping. With Ethan gone, Sienna expected more of a quiet day today.

She sat at her desk munching on saltine crackers when she heard voices in the hallway.

“He’s back,” a woman said.

“Do you think Mr. Dare knows? Maybe he’ll go after him again,” another voice said.

And just like that, she knew Ethan had returned despite Ian’s dictate. Her stomach fluttered at the notion and she deliberately tamped down on the excited feeling. He was back for the stadium. He wasn’t going to give up a billion-dollar contract just because Ian had gotten his panties in a twist. He’d already made it clear to her how important this deal was to him.

With a frown, she bit down on the cracker hard, annoyed when all the crumbs fell on top of the pages she’d been reading about demographics and stats regarding fantasy football.

Olivia normally worked in the inner office, but she was out dealing with meetings today, which left Sienna alone with her thoughts. She buried herself in statistics and the morning passed quickly. Although she didn’t seem to have the nausea under control, the vomiting and dizziness were, so she was able to go out and pick up lunch without worry.

She placed her hand on her desk, about to push herself up when a shadow loomed over her. She knew immediately who it was.

Steeling herself, she glanced up into Ethan’s blue eyes.

“Hey, beautiful.”

She blinked, startled by both his presence and choice of words. “You’re back.” Well, that was brilliant, she thought, annoyed because he robbed her of the power of logical speech. Of course he was back. He was standing right in front of her.

He grinned, sitting his ass down on her desk. “I’m back and I want to talk to you.”