“Mandy hurt me,” he said, instead focusing on why he was giving Sienna so much personal information. “She fucked me up until my family no longer recognized me,” he admitted. “And because she took me so off guard, she destroyed my belief in people. And she definitely stole any desire I had to move forward with a woman. Suffice it to say I wasn’t prepared for you.” He clenched his jaw, the admission pulled from him.

It wasn’t easy to admit she affected him deeply.

Her self-deprecating smile disarmed him as she said, “I wasn’t prepared for you, either.”

He chuckled, ready to lighten the mood. “Most people aren’t.”

She leaned an elbow against the back cushion of the sofa. “Well, Ian Dare is my half brother. He didn’t want anything to do with my part of the family after finding out about us. Trust me when I say if I can deal with him, I knew when I heard about you that I could handle you.”

Ethan cocked his head to one side. This was the first he’d heard that she’d been warned about him. “When you heard about me?”

“Sierra mentioned that you might be … difficult,” she admitted. “But I wasn’t worried.”

And that was why he was so drawn to her. Where other people ran away, she ran toward him. “You blew me away with your openness and your inviting smile. And I couldn’t stop staring at you because you were so fucking beautiful. I kept running through a list of reasons why I needed to keep my hands to myself, but I couldn’t do it.”

“Considering I propositioned you, I obviously couldn’t stay away from you, either.”

He knew that wasn’t an invitation now. She’d made her feelings clear, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to show her what he wanted from her. He leaned in, close to those damp lips he wanted to suck into his mouth and taste.

She lifted a hand, placed her palm on his chest, and held him at bay. “Nope. Not happening.” But her gaze flickered with disappointment, and he knew it wasn’t any easier for her to keep her distance than it was for him.

But he’d hurt her and she clearly wasn’t ready to open herself up to him again. Not that he blamed her. “I’ll just continue with my apology, then.”

“You were apologizing?” she teased him, her lips lifting in a grin.

“I was getting there.” He paused, then said, “Here’s the thing. During our weekend, what I felt for you, I’ve never experienced anything like it and it scared me. After what happened with Mandy? I didn’t want to get involved with anyone ever again.”

She nodded in understanding. “We’re good, Ethan. I’m not the type to hold a grudge. We’ll get through this pregnancy and co-parent like two adults.”

He narrowed his gaze. “Is that what you took from this conversation? Because I want more, Sienna. I want to be more than just two people who happen to share a baby.”