Dare Me Tonight (The Knight Brothers 3)

Tears spilled out of her eyes, which annoyed her, too. She was too emotional but Ethan was right. She wasn’t supposed to get upset.

Waiting for him, she lowered herself to the curb and focused on calming herself down. For the baby’s sake. As far as her family was concerned, she was furious and she needed space.

* * *

Ethan stared at the three people closest to Sienna in disbelief. “Two of you know firsthand the doctor said no stress.” His gaze went from Alex to Sienna’s mother. He glanced at Jason. “You don’t know but I’m guessing the message was relayed. So what gives?”

Jason, the man Ethan had never seen before, glared at him, but Alex looked contrite.

“Shit,” the man muttered. “I have a wife. I know better than to keep secrets.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “We agreed she didn’t need to be upset.”

“Well, maybe you need to agree on the fact that she’s a grown woman you need to treat with respect.” Ethan glanced at Sienna’s mother.

“He’s right, boys. We made a calculated error. We meant well, but she should have been told from the beginning that your father is, once again, a no-good, cheating, lying bastard.”

Ethan winced. Well, that gave him the information he needed. This mess had something to do with Robert Dare, and from the sound of it, he was back to his old ways.

“Are you three okay? Can I go after Sienna? And you’ll call her later and make peace? I don’t want her worked up.”

The three of them nodded.

It was Alex who stepped up. “I’m not happy that you knocked up my baby sister but you seem to care about her.”

“I do. I’m going to protect her and do right by her. And if that means she needs a break from her family, that’s what she’s going to get,” Ethan warned them and he had an idea about how to do just that.

“I’m going to hold you to those words,” Jason said. “I may be in New York but my reach is long.”

Ethan didn’t take offense to the warning, but he wasn’t about to inform Jason that his home base was New York as well. That was news for another time.

Instead he turned to Sienna’s mother. “I’m sorry for what you’re going through, and when Sienna calms down, she’ll realize she’s upset about that, too. I’m sure you’ll hear from her or you can reach out. Right now I’m going to check on her,” Ethan said, and strode out to the car, where he found Sienna sitting on the curb, her eyes damp with tears.

“Hey.” He lowered himself beside her, his ass half on the grass, half on the curb. Placing a hand on the back of her neck, he asked, “Are you okay?”

She sniffed. “Yeah. I’m angry at my family. They had information they kept from me for no good reason I can think of. All of them, the other side, too.”

“About your dad.”

She nodded. “And my parents are getting divorced.”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“My dad is an asshole. And frankly my mother got him when he was cheating and you know what they say. Once a cheater, always a cheater.” She hung her head. “I’m upset for my mom, but right now I’m more hurt than anything else.”

“Sounds to me like you need to get away from the stress.” He glanced at her in time to catch a slight smile.

“That would be nice.”

“Ever been to Colorado?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“What do you say we go visit my brother? His father-in-law runs a bed-and-breakfast there. Parker and his wife, Emily, bought land nearby and built a house. I think I mentioned to you, she’s pregnant, too. I think it would do us good to get out of here for a little while.”

She glanced up at him, eyes wide. “What about work?”

He shrugged, knowing that wasn’t an issue. “I think once I talk to Ian, he’ll agree you need a break.”

She leaned her head against his arm and he pulled her tight into his side. “Family’s hard. Life is hard.”

He nodded. “Can’t disagree. All we can do is make the best of the hand we’re dealt and move forward from there.” And he wanted to move forward with Sienna.

The only way to change her mind-set about him and what he wanted was to take her away from here and her family drama, introduce her to his brother and his wife, and romance her out west.

Chapter Nine

Sienna bounced in the seat of the rental, excited to be in Colorado and away from her family. She hadn’t ghosted them. Instead she’d called her mom, talked about the divorce, and accepted her mother’s apology for keeping Sienna in the dark. Her brothers and half siblings, she wasn’t so gracious with. They’d left her out and hurt her feelings and she wasn’t ready to be generous in her forgiveness. She’d leave them hanging until she returned home. By then she could let everything go, assuming they promised to treat her like the adult she was.