Dare Me Tonight

by Phillips, Carly

  Not that dating was on his agenda, and that was the point. He was dark; she was light. Sienna didn’t need to be dragged into his murky life, not when he couldn’t see past the pain of his marriage and the betrayal he hadn’t seen coming.

  She might not be interested in his proposition, but he sure as hell couldn’t stay away from her or she from him. Which should make working together extremely interesting.

  * * *

  Sienna woke up the morning after Ethan left feeling nauseous again and a little dizzy. She was definitely going to have to make a doctor’s appointment and find out why she couldn’t seem to come to herself. In the meantime, she had a meeting scheduled with Olivia and the app developers at the stadium that she couldn’t miss.

  Skipping breakfast because she wasn’t sure she could keep it down, she stood in front of her closet and chose a sundress in deference to the sticky, hot weather that persisted, along with a pair of low heels, and headed to work.

  As her luck was running, she pulled into a parking spot at the same time as Ethan, who’d obviously rented a car for his time here. She climbed out of her Jeep and met up with him as they walked toward the entrance.

  “Good morning,” he said, his gaze raking over her, his expression filled with male appreciation. “You’re looking good.”

  She narrowed her gaze through her sunglasses. She couldn’t believe he was going to act like nothing had happened last night.

  Yes, yes she could.

  “Not speaking to me?” he asked, picking up his pace to keep up with her.

  And deliberately, she’d bet, brushing his arm against hers as they walked. “Of course not. That would be childish.” She wished she could hold a grudge.

  She wanted to maintain both her anger and her distance. What he’d offered her last night had been insulting and hurtful, more so because he’d just been deep inside her body and, she admitted, because she’d let herself believe that him showing up at her apartment meant more than it had.

  She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

  He opened the door and let her step inside, and she welcomed the cool rush of air that greeted her. They walked past the huge blown-up photographs of the stars of the Miami Thunder and toward the office area.

  “I’m going to check in with Ian. He said he’d get me set up in an office for the duration,” Ethan said.

  They stopped by the outer area of Ian’s office. His secretary sat right inside.

  She forced a smile. “I’m sure he’ll make certain you’re well taken care of.”

  “Where’s your office?” Ethan asked.

  She wished she could tell him that information was on a need-to-know basis… and he didn’t need to know. But again, that would be acting infantile, and she had no choice but to treat him like an adult and an important member of the team she’d been hired to work on.

  “I’m over there.” She gestured down the hall. “Olivia and I share a tandem office. She had extra room and that’s where they put me.”

  Feeling light-headed, she leaned against the wall, letting the coolness from the wall seep into her skin.

  “What’s wrong?” he immediately asked, his hand coming to her waist.

  She wished she could shrug it off, but that would be too much motion right now. “I’m just a little dizzy. I’ll be fine.” Except she wasn’t.

  The only warning she got was a buzzing in her ears and a rush of sensation to her head before she realized she was about to faint.

  “I need to sit.” Before he could react, she lowered herself to the ground, hoping to prevent the inevitable, but the next thing she knew, she blacked out.

  * * *

  Ethan grabbed Sienna’s body before she hit the floor, her muscles giving out on her as she collapsed into his arms. He managed to ease her down without her head taking a hit on the wall or the ground.

  “Ian!” Panicked but keeping his wits about him, he called for her brother, who Ethan knew was already in his office behind them.

  He heard noise from the other side of the wall and then Ian appeared, taking in the situation immediately.

  “Dorothy, call 911,” he yelled into the office, then knelt down beside them. “What happened?”

  “She leaned against the wall, said she was dizzy, and next thing I knew, she was out.” Ethan stroked her hair off her face and noticed her lashes fluttering as she came back to herself.

  “Oh my God. Did I faint?” Sienna struggled to sit, but Ethan kept a tight hold on her.

  “Don’t move too quickly. You’re likely to pass out again.”

  Ian grasped her hand. “What happened?”

  She shrugged. “I haven’t been feeling well. I came in for the meeting anyway and I got dizzy.”

  “Have you eaten today?” Ethan asked.

  She shook her head. “I was nauseous this morning.”

  Ethan frowned. In the two weeks since he’d seen her in New York, he noticed she looked more fragile, like she’d lost some weight, but then last night she’d devoured three slices of pizza like a person starved. He hadn’t given it another thought.

  “I called 911,” Ian’s secretary, a young redheaded woman, stuck her head out the door and said.

  “Oh no. That’s not necessary. I’m feeling better already.”

  “Too bad,” Ethan said, his tone making it clear he wouldn’t accept an argument.

  “I agree.” Ian patted her hand. “Given everything in your past, better safe than sorry.”

  Her glare at him could cut ice, and Ethan knew he wouldn’t be getting an explanation about what Ian had been referring to. Not that he wouldn’t try for one later.

  Right now he was worried about Sienna.

  “What’s going on?” Olivia rushed out of the office at the far end of the hall and joined everyone surrounding Sienna. She and Ian shot each other concerned glances which made Ethan uneasy.

  Finally, the paramedics showed up, took her blood pressure, pronounced it low, and at Ian’s insistence, they took Sienna to the hospital for tests. Because he whispered with the paramedics, Ethan still didn’t know what the main concern was; however, he agreed she needed to be looked at by a doctor.

  It was on the tip of his tongue to insist he’d ride with her in the ambulance, except he realized how ridiculous he would look and that doing such a thing would shine a spotlight on his relationship with Sienna. The exact thing he’d been trying to avoid by suggesting a secret affair.

  He scowled, watching as Ian climbed into the back with his half sister and accompanied her to the hospital. Although Ethan was worried about how it would look, he headed to his car and drove directly to the emergency room anyway, wanting to know if she was okay. Considering she’d collapsed in his arms, he didn’t think anyone would question his presence there.

  In the waiting area, he met up with Olivia and Ian. Obviously the family phone chain had been active on the ride over because, one by one, men and women with the familiar Dare features strode into the room and were filled in on what they knew so far.

  Which was nothing yet.

  He noted that everyone in the room was young, which meant they were siblings. Over time, others arrived, too, spouses of Sienna’s brothers and sisters. This family definitely hovered over one of their own. Then again, if Sierra ended up in a hospital, all of her brothers would be there in a heartbeat.

  Finally, there was a slightly older woman with blonde hair, who definitely resembled Sienna, sitting in the corner. Ethan pegged the woman as Sienna’s mother. Only Alex Dare, who Ethan recognized from his football-playing days, and a blonde woman Ethan assumed was his wife, comforted her.

  Recalling the family dynamic and explanation he’d been given last night, Ethan realized the full-blooded Dares might be close with Sienna, but her mother was still the outsider. The other woman. The dirty little secret.

  He muttered a curse aimed at himself, as he realized just why Sienna had reacted the way she had to his proposition.

  Now that the excitement of
her initial fainting had worn off and the large group of Dares congregated together, Ethan was left alone with his thoughts, and they weren’t good ones. Hospitals reminded him of Mandy. There had been her shoulder surgery and the opioids she’d been given as painkillers after.

  She’d gotten addicted and Ethan had been too preoccupied with work to notice. Then the long months she’d been in California overseeing the Keystone project. Even when they’d seen each other in between, he hadn’t realized she wasn’t herself. Or if he had, he’d been too busy to really notice what was in front of him. Until the night he’d come home and tried to wake her up. Except she’d overdosed and was dead. He shuddered at the memory, not liking how Sienna’s passing out in his arms had taken him back to that time.

  “How are you holding up?” Olivia Rhodes had walked over and asked, obviously taking pity on him.

  “I’m fine. Just concerned about Sienna, like everyone else,” he said.

  Olivia nodded in agreement. “You caught her before she fell. If not for you, she might have hit her head. Then we’d have a concussion to deal with on top of whatever else, so thank you.”

  “I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” He ducked his head, not meeting her gaze, afraid he’d give something away.

  Before she could reply, a doctor in a white medical jacket walked into the room. “Sienna Dare’s family?”

  The entire room lifted their heads.

  “She’d like to see her mother.”

  “Is she okay?” Ian strode over to the doctor, his domineering presence all but demanding answers.

  The older man tipped his head. “And you are?”

  “Her brother. Now is she okay?”

  The other man nodded. “She is. Preliminary bloodwork is all good. She asked me to tell you all that. Now is her mother here? She said she’d asked someone to call her.”

  The woman who Ethan had thought was Sienna’s mom rose from her seat and headed back to see her daughter.

  Ian began pacing, and this time it was Ethan who took pity on someone.

  He walked over and faced the other man. “Is there anything I can do?” It seemed like a ridiculous question considering an entire horde of people were here who were closer to Sienna than Ethan.

  Ian tipped his head and Ethan followed him to a private corner of the room. “I’m sure you’re wondering why the entire family would show up over a simple fainting spell?”

  “I didn’t think it was my business to ask, but yes. My brothers would be there for my sister but this is…”

  “Excessive?”

  Ethan chuckled. “You could say that.”

  “Sienna had childhood leukemia,” Ian said, and all the air left Ethan’s lungs.

  “I’m sorry, what?” He had to have heard wrong.

  Ian merely nodded. His hands in his pants pocket, his stress very raw and real. “Leukemia. Ultimately we were all tested and Avery was a match. She donated bone marrow and saved Sienna’s life.”

  Ethan needed a chair because he thought it likely he might faint. His fragile, beautiful woman had endured all that as a child?

  “I had no idea.”

  “She doesn’t like to talk about it with just anyone. She feels like she’s put it behind her and only wants to focus on the present and the future.”

  Head still spinning, Ethan said, “I understand that.”

  “I appreciate you coming. I know this isn’t what you signed on for when you said you’d stay to oversee the stadium project.”

  Ethan lowered himself into a chair and Ian followed, sitting beside him. “The Knights are very family oriented. I understand,” he assured the man. “The doctor said the preliminary bloodwork was good?” Ethan needed to be certain he’d heard correctly.

  “Yes.” Ian let out a relieved breath. “We have no reason to believe it will come back. It’s been fifteen years. But we still tend to panic. And baby her.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I … I was the worst behaved when I found out that my father had other children. Another family. And I didn’t come around until just recently. Ever since Riley opened my eyes, I’ve been trying to more than make up for my behavior.”

  “Did I hear my name?” A curvy brunette with wavy hair and a bright smile strode up to Ian and put her hand in his.

  “Ethan Knight, this is my wife, Riley Dare. I was just explaining our complicated family dynamic to a man who is supposed to be a business associate. But he caught Sienna when she fainted, so he’s here and learning more about the Dares than he probably cares to know.” Ian shook his head, a wry smile twisting his mouth.

  Little did Ian know, Ethan savored every word of explanation he received on Sienna and her background. He catalogued it in his mind. He set it aside to consider and think about later.

  All he could do now was breathe a sigh of relief … and wish he could go back and see for himself that she was okay.

  Chapter Six

  “I’m pregnant,” Sienna told her mother, who stood at her bedside, hand in hers. She still couldn’t say the words and process them in her mind.

  Her mother clasped her hand tighter. “We’ll figure it out, baby. Whatever you want to do, I’ll support you.”

  Sienna leaned back against the pillow and groaned in relief. The one thing about Savannah Sheppard Dare was that her kids could talk to her about anything. And when the doctor told Sienna the fainting had been caused by a drop in blood pressure due to her pregnancy, once she’d gotten over the shock, she’d wanted to tell her mother.

  From the time she was old enough to understand, she’d been told the chances of her having a child were slim to none. That the chemotherapy and the stem cell transplant had probably ended those chances, and she thought she’d come to terms with that. To be told she was pregnant?

  Nothing short of mind-blowing. She’d never let herself want kids because she’d been told it hadn’t been in the cards. But now? She put her hand over her stomach, feeling a fierce protectiveness she hadn’t known she was capable of… along with a sense of excitement that had her wanting to share the news with the world.

  She had thought about confiding in Avery, her best friend as well as half sister, but that would put Avery in a rough spot because in no way could Sienna let Ian find out. Not yet. Nobody could know until the Knight Time Technology part of the new stadium was complete and Ian couldn’t throw Ethan off the project for knocking up his baby sister.

  “So … anything more you want to tell me?” her mother asked, her tone wise.

  Sienna grinned. “Well, there’s a man–”

  “I would assume so.” Her mom treated her to a warm smile. “Is this man going to step up and do the right thing?”

  Sienna shrugged, pure terror racing through her veins at the thought of telling Ethan she was having his baby. She didn’t think the man who wanted a secret affair would be thrilled to discover he was going to be a father. But her heart told her he was also a decent guy who she didn’t think would abandon his child.

  As far as the woman who came along with said baby? Well, that was another story, considering he wasn’t interested in a real relationship with her at all.

  “I don’t know enough about him to answer that,” she hedged for now. “But I don’t want to tell him just yet, anyway.”

  Her mom opened her mouth to argue, and Sienna said, “I will tell him. I won’t keep it a secret forever. It’s just that he’s a part of Ian’s stadium project and I don’t want to be the cause of yet more Dare drama.” Because if Ian found out she’d slept with Ethan Knight and he’d gotten her pregnant, he would lose his ever-loving mind. He’d blame Ethan and throw him and his company out, and she knew this contract was important to both of them. She just needed to buy some time.

  Her mother frowned. “Secrets are bad, honey. We all know this firsthand,” Savannah said.

  “And sometimes the truth is worse. Look what finding out about my leukemia did to the whole family. It destroyed Ian’s side.”

  Savann
ah winced. “I know how awful it was. I know I shouldn’t have let things go on with Robert, but I can’t regret my babies. My family.”

  “I know, Mom.” Sienna didn’t agree with her mother’s actions. She didn’t condone cheating any more than she’d have approved of breaking up Ian’s side of the family. The situation sucked and her father was as much to blame as anyone. “But the facts are the facts. I know what happened and why. I won’t let Ian’s project be undermined because of me. I’ll tell him when the time is right.”

  “Tell who what?” Ian asked, pushing his way into the room, a harried, unhappy nurse at his heels.

  “Sir, I told you, one visitor at a time.”

  As if Ian Dare ever thought the rules applied to him. “Let him stay, please?”

  Savannah rose to her feet. “I should go.” She leaned down and kissed Sienna’s cheek. “I’ll be in touch, and if you need me, you call me.” She glanced at Ian. “Thank you for looking out for my daughter.”

  Ian nodded stiffly.

  It pained Sienna but there was nothing she could do to fix this particular relationship.

  “So what’s going on?” Ian asked.

  Sienna drew a deep breath. “Low blood sugar, apparently. I hadn’t eaten and I just got light-headed and passed out.” She shrugged. “I’m really sorry I gave everyone such a scare. I know they’re probably all out in the waiting room worrying.”

  His expression softened. “Well, you did let the doctor tell us that your bloodwork looked good, so they’re calmer. Most have left and said they’d call you later when you were released and back home.”

  “Okay.”

  “There is someone who hasn’t left.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “Who’s that?”

  “The man who caught you when you fainted. Ethan Knight.”