From the minute he’d stormed back into her life, the one thing she’d made clear was that she was used to handling things on her own. If he wanted a future with her—and he damned well did—then he had to prove he respected her independence. Once he managed that, he had plans to teach her a lesson for shutting him out. From now on, they’d be a team, and he knew just how to make that point.
But first, he needed her to return from her trip.
After the arrest outside her apartment building, he figured her neighbors would freak if they saw a strange guy sleeping in his SUV while he was waiting for her to show up. Instead, he planned. He checked prison visiting hours and assumed she’d be there for a nine a.m. visit. An hour inside, a five-hour drive home, give or take. So he planted himself in a visitor’s spot at two thirty p.m. to be safe. He didn’t want to miss her and delay what he planned on being a reunion.
These couple of days without her had been long enough.
He wasn’t sure how long he sat in the truck, window open, humidity slamming him in the face, trying not to doze off. He’d had little sleep last night, worrying about how Ella would handle the visit, from prison frisking to facing her dad. He reminded himself that she was stronger than she looked and had proven that to herself and to him, over and over again.
Finally, her white car pulled into the lot and turned into her spot, across from where he’d parked. He exited his SUV and leaned against the truck’s back end, arms folded across his chest while he waited for her to notice him.
He heard her car door slam, and she headed toward the building. She looked tired, dark circles under her eyes and tear stains on her cheeks, but still beautiful in his eyes. She appeared fragile—she wasn’t—but he still wanted to pull her into his arms, protect her, and never let her go.
First he had to convince her they were stronger together than apart.
She fumbled through her purse as she walked, not noticing him until she’d almost reached the front door of the apartment building.
“Hey,” he said.
“Tyler!” She stopped short and met his gaze, surprise in her exhausted expression, followed quickly by a pleased smile.
Not a bad start, he thought, considering she’d been the one to walk away from him.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I’ve been waiting for you to get home.”
“Oh. I was—” She cut herself off, and he’d bet she didn’t want to tell him where she’d gone. Alone. “Were you here long?” she asked him instead.
“I know where you were,” he said, unable to keep the concern from his voice. “Word travels fast in my family.”
She sighed. “Avery told you.”
“Indirectly, yes.”
She shook her head, clearly not surprised. “Well, if you’re going to yell at me for visiting the prison alone, let’s get out of this ridiculous humidity first.”
Clearly she knew him well. But he didn’t plan on yelling. Much. He inclined his head, and they stepped toward the door. He opened it for her and followed her up to her apartment, then inside. She placed her purse on the counter and flopped onto the sofa, completely wiped out.
He settled in by her side. “So how’d it go?” he asked.
She turned her head toward him, still resting against the back of the sofa, meeting his gaze. “It was sad. He’s obviously dying, and that hurts to see, but…” She trailed off, biting down on her lower lip.
He gave her some time, and when she didn’t continue, he nudged her with his knee. “But what?”
She lifted her head and curled her legs beneath her, facing him directly. “I don’t want you to think I’m cold or unfeeling but … I didn’t know the man I went to see. He wasn’t my dad. Not the man who loved me when I was younger.”
She rubbed her hands along her arms, and he ached to pull her into his. But she needed to tell him her story, and he had to give her the time to do it.
“I think … no, I know that I mourned him already.” Her eyes filled as she spoke, and he waited patiently, here for her if she needed him. “I lost my father when he remarried, and every time he did something to hurt me, I grieved again. Over and over until I shut off my feelings and learned to cope on my own.”
Unable not to touch her, he grasped her hand and ran his thumb over her wrist, extending his support the only way he could.
“I can understand that,” he said, thinking about his own life. “That’s how I feel about my father,” he admitted. “I don’t know him anymore and haven’t since that day I walked in on him with Savannah when I was fourteen years old.”
She smiled at him. “I figured you’d get it. The thing is, I spent all these years feeling angry at him and hurt. And all that did was impact my own life. I resented him, and I didn’t much like myself.” She shook her head, her sadness palpable. “While driving home, I thought back over my life, and I realized I cut myself off from people. From joy and happiness, afraid everyone would hurt me the way he did.”
“Except Avery,” Tyler said.
She nodded. “Except Avery … and until you.”
His breath hitched. Stopped. Then started again, along with the rapid beating of his heart. He didn’t want to read too much into those three words, but the organ inside his chest, the one she already owned, wasn’t listening.
“Avery came into my life when I was the loneliest. She’s a part of me. But you…” She scooted closer to him, bracing her hands on either side of his face, and met his gaze. “You’re the other half of my heart. You always have been.”
“Ella,” he said on a groan, raising his hand, cupping the back of her neck tighter, their lips inches apart.
“I just needed to grow up and put the past behind me,” she whispered.
“We both needed to do that.”
“I’m sorry I left you,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him on the lips, too briefly because they weren’t finished talking.
“I’m not. You did what you needed to in order to come back to me whole. But you went to the prison by yourself.” He disentangled her arms, holding on to her wrists in front of her as he spoke. You visited your father by yourself.” He shook his head. “What did I tell you when we returned from St. Lucia?”
She slicked her tongue over her lips, letting him know she’d caught his deliberate stony tone of voice and was nervous.
“Well?” he asked.
“You told me that I don’t have to be alone anymore.”
“Right. I said you don’t have to be alone anymore,” he repeated, and they each grinned.
But he sobered faster. “You had to know that no matter what happened between us, I’d have gone with you.” He’d do anything for her, and he needed her not just to know but to believe.
She blinked rapidly. “But I needed—”
“To do it alone,” he said, his jaw tight at those damned words. “Now let’s get something straight. That is the last time I want to hear you say that. Do you love me?”
The question shocked him when it came out of his mouth. But hell, she’d said he was the other half of her heart. What else could she have meant? Still, he needed to hear those words in order to make his point.
She stared at him through widened hazel eyes, drew a deep breath, and nodded. “I do. I love you.”
“And you know I love you. Now we go forward together. Agreed?” he asked.
She smiled, for the first time since her return, the happy emotion reaching her eyes. “Agreed.”
“Good.” He rose and pulled her to her feet.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
Without answering, he lifted her up and into his arms, and she squealed, a move and a sound that were coming to be among his favorites.
She slid her arms around his neck, her fingers gliding into his hair. The simple touch sent his senses reeling, his cock hardening, his arousal intense. And probably permanent whenever she was around.
“From now on, you’re going to
let me take care of you the way I want to.”
“We’ll see,” she taunted him, treating him to a teasing grin.
He laughed. “You’re bad,” he said as he deposited her onto the bed.
“No.” She became much more serious. “I’m yours.”
He came down over her, sealing his mouth over hers and sliding his tongue along the seam of her lips. She moaned and opened for him, tangling her tongue with his. The kiss went on and on. And knowing he had her not just in his arms but in his life forever, Tyler was content to kiss her forever.
Epilogue
To celebrate the marriage of Emma St. Claire and Michael Brooks, the Dare siblings gathered at a ballroom, far from Robert Dare’s hotels, in a beautiful room decorated in white and gold and an outdoor terrace large enough to hold the entire extended family and friends.
Ian Dare stood alone by the table set aside for immediate family, looking over his siblings and his mother with pride.
Riley, the love of Ian’s life, had held his three-year-old daughter’s hand as she’d walked down the aisle. His wife was a vision in a gold gown, his adorable little girl a pouf of white dress as she’d giggled her way to dropping flower petals down the aisle. He’d watched, his heart full to bursting, the same way it was now, as his entire family laughed and smiled.
All settled. All happy. All having overcome the main obstacle thrown in their path, Robert Dare’s betrayal. Watching his family now, Ian thought, his role in their lives was complete. He’d stepped up, taken over, and made certain each one of them had everything they needed. He’d never considered it at his own expense, but once Riley had burst past his well-built defenses, he’d realized how precarious life was. How easily he might have pushed her away instead of pursuing her, and missed out on the family he now had.
Nobody knew, but Riley was pregnant again. They didn’t want to reveal the news and spoil his mother’s special day. Of course, Emma would think another grandbaby was her wedding present, but he and Riley wanted to keep the news to themselves awhile longer.
He whispered a prayer of thanks that his brothers had found what Ian had. A woman who could share life’s burdens and joys. He’d never considered himself sentimental, but after watching Scott and Tyler fall over themselves not to let their women get away, Ian patted himself on the back for the example he’d set going after Riley.
And then there were his sisters. His pride and joy. Olivia and Avery, who Ian would kill to protect, had also finally put their father’s betrayal behind them enough to open their hearts to good men.
Ian shrugged, and while he was at it, he patted himself on the back for that too. He grinned and looked over as his mother and Michael danced in the corner, lost in their own world. He couldn’t take credit for their happiness, but he was damned glad his mother could have a second chance after raising her kids. Because no doubt about it, she was the driving force behind the people they’d all become.
“What are you grinning at?” Ian turned toward a man he hadn’t seen in years, Kaden Barnes, software billionaire and one of his college friends. Kade was in town for a business meeting with Ian, and true to her giving nature, Emma was all too happy to invite his old friend to her wedding.
“I’m just taking in the changes in my family,” Ian said.
Kade’s gaze swept the room. “They’re all married off. Have you all lost your minds?” Kade’s icy blue eyes flashed with more seriousness than humor.
“You still haven’t met the one, or you wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss settling down,” Ian replied.
The other man raised one dark eyebrow. “I’ll take your word for it, thanks.”
Ian shook his head. “Can’t be because you don’t have your choice of willing women. I’d bet they’re all over you in the city. Hell, they were back when we were in school and you weren’t half as bulked up as you are now.”
“I work out.” Kade grinned, flexing his arm with an arrogant grin. “And can I help it if I’ve got good genes? Now I’ve got the personal bank account to match.”
Ian knew Kade was touchy about his father’s wealth and riding his daddy’s coattails. He’d been determined to make it on his own and he had. He and his partners had developed a revolutionary cell phone app that’d made him wealthy beyond imagination.
Unfortunately he was involved in an ugly dispute with a fourth man that threatened everything they were building. Kaden Barnes had a lot on his plate. Maybe he really had no time for a relationship. Or maybe he was jaded.
“Wealth like yours makes it hard to tell what’s real,” Ian said, because he knew how that felt. Until he’d met Riley, that was.
He glanced over at his wife. Was it his imagination or did her breasts look bigger already? When she was pregnant with Rainey, they’d been large, luscious, and tasted fucking delicious. He mulled over the notion of pulling her into a private room before thinking better of it. Later tonight, he’d have her all to himself.
“Are we still on for our meeting Monday?” Kade asked, breaking into his thoughts.
Kade, along with his business partners, Derek West and Lucas Monroe, lived in New York, eschewing Silicon Valley for the Big Apple. They were all in town to recruit potential investors for when they took their company public.
Ian nodded. “Gabe’s in town for the wedding, so he’ll join us instead of having a separate sit-down with you in Manhattan.”
Kade picked up a whiskey he’d left on a nearby table and took a long drink. “I like your cousin. We hung out often. Or at least we did until…”
“I got my chance with Isabelle?” Gabe asked, joining them, with his beautiful wife on his arm.
“Yes, that,” Kade said with an eye roll. “However, you are stunning, Mrs. Dare,” he said, taking Isabelle’s hand and kissing the top. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Oh, he’s still a charmer,” Isabelle mused, her brown eyes dancing with amusement.
Gabe stiffened and pulled her closer. “Hands off my wife, Barnes.”
Kade laughed and raised his hands in the air. “No harm meant. I want your money more than anything else you might … possess.”
Ian grinned. Apparently Kade knew of Gabe’s dominant proclivities. It ran in the Dare men’s genes. Ian figured Kade, with his self-assured, cool personality, would be equally controlling with whatever woman finally tamed the bad boy he liked to claim he was.
“Kade, one of Olivia’s friends would like an introduction,” Ian’s sister Avery said, passing by as she headed for the dance floor with Grey.
“Only if she’s into one-night stands,” Kade muttered under his breath, but Ian caught the low words.
“How’s keeping your women at arm’s length working out for you?” Isabelle asked. Obviously she’d heard him too.
Kade rolled his shoulders. “I can barely keep a secretary. I don’t have the time or the inclination to try and keep a woman happy.”
Isabelle shook her head and patted his arm as if he were a sad puppy.
“He’ll learn,” Gabe said, echoing Ian’s words and thoughts.
Gabe merely smiled. “Care to dance?” he asked his wife.
She nodded and they walked off, arm in arm.
Kade finished off the last of his whiskey. “Something tells me I’d better have this business meeting and get the hell out of here. There’s something in the water I don’t want to touch,” he said on a brittle laugh. “I’ll catch you later,” he said and strode off.
Ian met Gabe’s knowing grin. Men who were in as deep denial about relationships as Kade usually fell the hardest. Ian ought to know. Same with all of his siblings.
He glanced around one last time, still pleased with how his family had settled down. Despite Robert Dare, or maybe because of the hell he’d put them all through, the Dares had grown stronger. And Ian couldn’t be prouder, he thought, as he finally went to join everyone to celebrate the things that truly mattered in their lives: love, family, and the future.
Thank you for reading DARE
TO TAKE. I would appreciate it if you would help others enjoy this book too. Please recommend to others and leave a review.
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Going Down Easy
Billionaire Kaden Barnes has a reputation for being difficult and always gets his way. With his alpha male tendencies he’s unable to keep a secretary for long. Enter his newest hire, Lexie Parker. She’s no-nonsense, efficient and all business … she’s also hot as sin and soon starring in Kaden’s dirtiest fantasies … he may think he’s a calling the shots, but for this bad boy, going down easy has never felt so good.
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Dare to Take (Dare to Love #6) Page 17