Dare Me Tonight (The Knight Brothers 3)

She rushed into the hotel, wishing she and her sister had decided to meet anywhere else, and caught sight of Avery at a table outside on the patio.

She walked through the restaurant and joined her half sister, who looked up from her phone. “Oh, hi!”

“Hi.” She slid into a chair and let out a breath. “I just ran into Dad.” She wrinkled her nose. “I can’t cope. And now that I experienced everything you once did firsthand, I feel even worse.”

Avery smiled sadly. “Listen, he’s our father. That doesn’t mean we have to have anything to do with him, but I think it’s a decision each of us needs to make on our own.”

“Well, I pretty much just told him to have a nice life.”

“If you weren’t pregnant, I’d say let’s drink to that,” Avery muttered. “Instead, let’s change the subject. What did you want to talk about?”

“Charity. Doing another cancer-related event like we did around prom time.”

Avery’s eyes lit up at the idea. “Did you have anything specific in mind?”

“Well, yes. But it needs work. It started as a thought.” She glanced down and rubbed her belly, which wasn’t yet visible through her clothes, but she’d already lost her waist.

“Tell me more.”

“What about moms of kids with cancer? Who steps up for them? Who makes sure they have what they need, be it a day off from work to be with their child or a spa day where they can just relax for an hour or two and take a break from the daily hurt and pain?” She waved her hands, gesturing excitedly as she spoke. “So what if we get local vendors – massage therapists and hair salons – to sponsor something called Ma Spa Day to treat the moms in need, and hit up the big corporations to donate money to pay for women’s time off and their relaxation time?”

“I love it! I’m in,” Avery immediately said.

“Great. Can we meet again and hash out details? I need to go talk to my mother,” Sienna said, her confrontation with her father still on her mind.

She might not want a relationship with Robert Dare, but she did love her mom despite her faults. Her plan was to make sure everything with her mom was good, explain that she wasn’t all that surprised her dad had cheated – after all, that was what he’d done to his first wife – and help her mother move on.

“Sure. Just call me and we’ll get to work,” Avery said with a smile. “I’m meeting Grey here for drinks, so I’ll just hang out.”

Sienna smiled. “Give your husband a hug for me.”

“Speaking of hunky guys,” Avery said.

Sienna rolled her eyes. “I didn’t know we were.”

“You said Grey. That’s a hunk to me. Anyway, how’s your man?” Avery leaned onto the table, clearly dying for information on Sienna and Ethan.

She placed her bag down and sighed. “I wish I knew. Ever since we returned from Colorado, he’s been just as attentive and wonderful as he was before. I’m falling head over heels and I don’t know what I’m going to do when he goes back to New York, let alone raise a baby with the man when I want so much more.”

Avery took a sip of water from the glass that was on the table in front of her. “Are you sure he doesn’t want what you want?”

“I can’t ask him. I told him I don’t have those expectations. If he wants a future, he’s going to have to come to me.”

* * *

Ethan picked up Sienna’s favorite choices in Chinese food and arrived at her apartment. She’d given him a key, so he let himself inside and set up the food on the counter. She walked in after him, looking tired, as she tossed her keys on the counter and her handbag on the sofa.

“Long day.”

“I have food,” he said, as if that would solve everything. Sometimes in her pregnant state, it did.

They settled into neighboring chairs. He’d even set the table, something he never did before, and waited for her to pick her food.

She loaded her plate, mumbling about family issues and he figured she’d talk to him when she was ready.

He bit into a spare rib and she said, “I ran into my father today.”

“Seriously?” He put down the rib and wiped his face on a napkin. “What happened?”

“He treated me the way I’ve seen him treat the other side of the family all these years. Said he heard I was pregnant, I said funny, I haven’t heard from you, but then that’s your MO. You find someone new and forget the family you have.” She shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but he could see it really did. “Then I told him best of luck and walked away.”

“That had to have hurt,” he murmured.