Dare to Love (Dare to Love 1)

Will miss you, but thanks for the flowers, I’ll think of you often.

Then she pulled out her toiletry bag and headed to the bathroom and washed up. She put away a few items she didn’t want to wrinkle and climbed into bed, exhausted.

As she plugged her phone in to charge overnight, the beep of a text sounded.

That’s the point. Sleep well, sweetness.

She let out a sigh that sounded too much like contentment for her liking and fell asleep thinking about Ian.

She met Dylan early the next morning at the breakfast restaurant in the hotel. “Good morning,” she said.

“Not so sure,” the other man said.

Riley narrowed her gaze. He wasn’t the cheerful, upbeat man she’d flown here with. “Not a morning person?” she asked.

“That’s not it.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

He studied her, as if unsure whether to speak.

She wondered what had happened overnight. “Whatever it is, just say it.”

“I hired you for this position because you jumped right in with enthusiasm, and I thought you’d be an asset.”

“And suddenly I’m not?” She stiffened at the implication that things had changed.

“Not if it means having the president of the organization breathing down my neck.”

Oh, no. No, no, no. Riley curled her hands around the handle of her oversized bag. “What did he say?”

Dylan’s gaze assessed her. “I didn’t realize you two had a personal relationship.”

Heat rose to her cheeks. “That has nothing to do with my job.”

“You’re right. It shouldn’t. And there’s no company policy against it either. But Ian called me this morning. He made it perfectly clear I’m to keep things strictly business between us. In fact, I believe his words were, ‘hands off.’”

She clenched her jaw until she saw stars. “I’m going to kill him.”

“I worked hard for the opportunity to step into this position, and I don’t want it jeopardized because the boss’s girlfriend is my assistant.”

She fought back the tears that threatened. “I can assure you that Ian won’t be an issue.” If she had to break up with him to ensure her job had nothing to do with her personal life, she would.

In fact, right now, she had no intention of speaking to the controlling son of a bitch ever again.

Dylan studied her for a long moment. “I like how you think and what you bring to the table. I just don’t want trouble.”

“You won’t have any.”

He nodded, seemingly assured. He dropped the subject, and they ate breakfast prior to their first meeting with the hotel owner.

Riley didn’t taste her food, but she knew she had a long day ahead of her, and she forced herself to eat.

When she received a text from Ian, she ignored it. Phone calls? She hit decline. She deleted messages without listening to them, her anger only growing as the day went on.

The next two days passed in a blur of tours, meetings, and eating at each restaurant in the large hotel. They checked out the conference rooms to make sure they could accommodate pre-game summits; they needed an even larger area for a makeshift chapel, because many of the players and their spouses liked to attend services. They sat down with floor plans, examined the layouts, the suites, the regular rooms, and by the time the trip was over, Riley’s head spun with information.

Good thing she’d taken copious notes to compare to the previous five years’ accommodations, since she hadn’t been around to see them herself. Dylan seemed pleased and said they’d have a meeting with the rest of the team back in Miami before making a final decision.