“My pleasure.” Ian turned and walked out the door, leaving Ethan with a very important phone number in his hands.
* * *
Ethan picked up Sebastian from the airport and brought him back to Sienna’s apartment, where they planned to have dinner. She had a meeting with her sister right after work, and though he was concerned about how many hours she was putting in, she seemed to be able to handle it.
They’d stopped on the way so Sebastian could take a tour of the stadium, and as Ethan had predicted, his brother was pleased. KTT had gotten through the Mandy debacle and come out stronger on the other end.
Ethan poured both himself and Sebastian a scotch and handed his brother the tumbler, then picked up his own. He shoved his hand into his pocket, feeling for the ring he’d picked out this morning before driving to the airport.
He’d yet to tell Sebastian his plan but he intended to.
Sebastian lifted his glass.
“To you,” Sebastian said, taking Ethan off guard. “The irony of this situation isn’t lost on me. Right before we landed in Miami, you told me you didn’t want kids, yet here you are, making the best of a shit situation. I have to admit, I don’t know if I could have done the same if I’d knocked up one of my one-night stands.”
A loud gasp sounded from the doorway. Both men turned to find Sienna, wearing a long nightshirt, staring in horror at Ethan and his brother.
“Sienna. I didn’t mean that the way it came out. I just–”
“I’m not a shitty situation, you bastard.” She glared at both men, turned, and ran for the bedroom.
Nausea rose in Ethan’s throat. “Jesus Christ.”
“You said she wasn’t home!” Sebastian said, running a hand over his face, obviously upset.
“She wasn’t supposed to be.” But she looked like she’d been napping or maybe she wasn’t feeling well. Shit. “Stay here,” Ethan muttered and headed to the bedroom.
He walked through the open door but the bathroom door was closed, and as he turned the handle, he found it locked. “Sienna.” He banged on the door. “Let me in.”
“I’m sick. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
He sat on the bed, waiting, pissed that the night had gone so wrong. His plan had been to have dinner with Sienna and his brother, take Sebastian to Ethan’s apartment, and return to propose to Sienna.
Instead, his brother had opened his big mouth and Sienna definitely had gotten the wrong idea.
When she didn’t come out, he rose to his feet, prepared to knock the door down if he had to, when Sienna swung it open wide and stepped out.
Her face was pale, her eyes glassy, her dark hair falling in waves around her shoulders. She’d been talking about changing back to blonde. He didn’t care what color hair she had, he loved her.
“Are you sick?” he asked carefully, tiptoeing around his brother’s fuckup.
“Yes. I left work early. I figured I’d come home, nap, and wake up to meet with Ashley. I slept through my alarm.” She folded her arms across her chest, putting a clear barrier up between them.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“Because I don’t report in to you and I figured you’d want time with your brother.” She walked over to the bed and sat down, curling up on her side.
He ignored the snide first remark because she was obviously pissed and hurt and rightly so. He sat down beside her, placing his hand on her arm. “You misunderstood what you heard Sebastian say.”
She raised her head up enough to ask, “Oh? So you didn’t tell him you didn’t want kids?”
“I felt that way… at the time. But you know my head wasn’t on straight back then.” And he really didn’t think he needed to rehash his past with her when she knew it well already.
She swallowed hard. “Yet despite how good things have been these last few months, your brother thinks you’re making the best of a shit situation,” she said, affecting quotation marks with her hands.
“Because he doesn’t know anything about us.”
Her eyes opened wide and he realized he’d made a strategic error.
“You didn’t think to tell him you were happy here? Is that because you were just pretending? Making the best of it? Of me?” Tears filled her eyes and it ripped him apart inside.
“Fuck no,” he said, suddenly desperate for her to understand. “I expressed some of how I felt but not everything. You know I’m not an open, talkative person. I wasn’t going to call Sebastian and gush over the fact that I fell in love with you!” he said, raising his voice.
“You what?” Her voice grew soft, her tone surprised.
He stood and fished the ring out of his pocket, then knelt down beside the edge of the bed. “I fell in love with you, Sienna Dare. I wasn’t prepared for you. You got under my skin, ripped away all my preconceived notions of what I wanted out of life, and I can’t imagine living without you.”