Dare to Love (Dare to Love 1)

She passed Angie, Dylan’s secretary, and smiled. “Morning.”

“Good morning. Riley, wait. I have a message for you,” she said.

Riley paused at the other woman’s desk. “I thought my calls went directly to voice mail,” she said.

“Not since your promotion. I’m now your official go-to person.” She grinned and handed her a pink message slip.

“Cool.”

“You’re telling me! I’m fairly new, and Dylan’s my first important boss. Now I have you both.” The young woman smiled.

“Well, thanks. I’ll try not to work you too hard,” she said wryly.

Riley continued on to her office and settled in. She placed her Starbucks cup on the desk and glanced at the message.

You owe me. Dad.

Full-blown shivers took over. Riley hadn’t heard from her father in so many years she’d almost convinced herself he no longer existed. Like a bad dream or memory that surfaced occasionally, she’d banished him to the dark corners of her mind as often as she could. Suddenly, the hang-ups at home made sense.

Her first instinct was to call Alex, but that would only cause an explosion that might not be warranted. She had to think rationally and decide how to handle the man. Not that she wanted to handle him at all. The very thought had her hands shaking uncontrollably.

As for Ian, he’d probably be furious if he knew her own parent was harassing her. He worked himself up enough when he thought about another man even looking at her the wrong way. She still hadn’t told him about her childhood, the fact that her father had abused her mother, or that he’d ever touched her. She rationalized her silence easily. She hated the man and the memories, and given the fact that he hadn’t been in her life for so many years, she’d had no reason to bring him up before. As for these phone calls, she assumed they were probably meant to scare her. A power play of some sort, nothing more.

But her hands still shook, and she hated herself for the weakness. “Breathe,” she reminded herself, pulling air in, forcing air out.

She hadn’t spoken to her father since the day she and Melissa had moved out. The day Alex had nearly choked him to death and threatened him within an inch of his life. He’d been petrified of Alex and his bulk, bulging muscles, and raging fury, and he’d taken Alex’s threat to harm him if he came near Riley again very seriously.

So why was he surfacing now?

Her desk phone rang, and she jumped in her seat. “Oh my God.” She had to calm down. “Hello? Riley Taylor, speaking.”

“Riley, it’s Jeannie from HR. I need you to come sign some forms and confirm a few things about your new position.”

“Of course. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” She left the paper on her desk, face down, so she didn’t have to look at the reminder and went on about her day.

A little while later, Riley had a raise she was assured was commensurate with her position, but she’d never made this much money in her life. And she couldn’t help but wonder if Ian was pulling strings again. Another thing to add to their conversation about his meddling, controlling ways, because Riley refused to be under any man’s thumb again, a thought that only served to remind her that Douglas Taylor had resurfaced.

Determined to keep her mind on work while she was here, she pushed her father to the back of her thoughts, and she dug in to the proposal the hotel owners had faxed over this morning, as promised. She met with Dylan, sharing lunch in the conference room as they went through the pros and cons of each hotel in preparation for his meeting with Ian, Olivia, and the general manager. He offered to let her sit in and learn from the exchange of ideas. Once again, Riley realized how much she loved this job and how fortunate she’d been when Ian had taken an interest and handed her the opportunity.

Ian.

As the day drew to a close, she finally let her mind drift to and stay on him. He’d kept his distance, not stopping in to say hello, not instant messaging her. Clearly he’d gotten the point that she was extremely upset with him.

She bit the inside of her cheek, not amused by the irony—she missed him pestering her throughout the day. At this point, she was more than ready to see him.

She approached his office. His secretary had left for the day, so she knocked.

“Come in.”

She pushed the door open and stepped inside, her breath catching at the sight of him after what felt like so long. Shirt unbuttoned, his tan chest peeking through, sleeves rolled up, his muscular forearms all a treat to her deprived senses.

And she couldn’t mistake the relief that flickered in his gaze when he realized she’d come.

“Hi,” she said into the silence.

He rose from his chair. “I didn’t expect to see you.”

She swallowed hard. “Yeah, well, I was upset with you.”