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.