Dare to Rock (Dare to Love 5)

Emma, why isn’t your husband with you?

Emma, is your husband’s illegitimate family more important to him than you and your children?

Emma, how does it feel to be cheated on and lied to in such a spectacular fashion?

These days Avery thought of her father as Miami’s version of Donald Trump with a dose of near-bigamy thrown in. Back then, she hadn’t been prepared for the media attention. Her mother had tried to push her through the crowd, but it hadn’t been easy and had taken a long time. Or it’d felt like it had. By the time they’d reached their car, Avery couldn’t breathe. She’d seen spots in front of her eyes, her knees had buckled, and she’d hit the ground hard.

She’d come to in a cold, sterile hospital room, her mom’s worried face hovering over hers. The doctors explained she’d had a panic attack. And when she’d returned to school, the incidents had only gotten worse. Teenagers were mean on a normal day. Give them a subject like a dad who had a whole other family and things had gotten downright ugly for all the Dare kids.

Even at nine years old, Avery had felt the pain of being the center of attention and being made fun of, and she’d hated it. The panic attacks had begun to occur more regularly, and she’d had to go see a psychiatrist for help. She had more control of herself these days, but her need for solitude, quiet, and behind-the-scenes interaction had been set.

r /> But Grey? He shone in front of an audience. An audience and groupies he’d always have following him and invading his personal space, and hers, if she chose to be with him.

Could they be friends? Maybe, someday, when she didn’t look at him and want to jump his bones like the hormonal teenager she used to be. But they couldn’t be more, because if she kept spending time with him, she was inevitably going to fall for him again. She knew that already, and they’d only been together for a couple of hours. He was still the warm, fun, likeable guy he’d always been. He remembered things about them she’d have thought he’d put away and forgotten.

And when he looked at her with those dancing green eyes and talked about hickeys, of all things, she still desired him. He had the potential to break her heart worse than the first time, and no matter that she’d always known his dreams, she’d been shattered when he’d left. She couldn’t go through it again. Any of it.

Finally, his arm beneath her elbow, Grey guided her out of Tino’s. The humid Miami summer air smacked her in the face when she exited, but the rain had held off, for now. Free from the crush of fans, she breathed easily again.

He unlocked the car and turned to her.

“Grey, I think—”

“Don’t say it.” His gorgeous green eyes darkened with the clear intent to get his way. “I didn’t take you to a nice, expensive restaurant because that’s not who we were. It’s not who I am now. Tino’s was perfect because I wanted to hang out with you and just talk, and we did that. We reconnected.”

He ran a frustrated hand through the top of his hair. “I didn’t think things through. I shouldn’t have taken you out in public with me at all. Not until you’re ready.”

She’d never be ready, but that wasn’t something she planned to say now. He didn’t know about the panic attacks she used to suffer from … could still occasionally suffer from. She’d been too embarrassed to admit it to him when they were together before, when they were teenagers. Now she was a grown-up. How could she explain that she didn’t know if she could deal with them as a couple now because she had issues someone like him could never understand?

He had tried hard tonight, and she didn’t want to hurt his feelings or upset him more. “It’s fine,” she said. “I know who you are. It’s not like I was blindsided, you know? It’s just the people, the crowds are …”

“Isolating. Uncomfortable. I know. I get it, okay?”

She blinked and looked up at him, surprised at the words he’d chosen. “I thought you loved fame. You left here seeking it and—”

“I left here for a lot of reasons, and I hope one day we’ll talk about all of them. But as for fame, yeah, I wanted it, and I know how damned lucky I am to have made it to the level I have. That’s why I don’t turn away from the people who put me there.”

“And I’m not asking you to. I wouldn’t.” But the whole scene made her panicky and even, in some ways, feel less than. A feeling she’d had more than enough of in her lifetime, thanks to her father. And also due in part to Grey’s sudden departure from her life.

“I need us to go somewhere quiet. Just the two of us,” he said, brushing her cheek with his hand.

She wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to, and she tipped her head into his strong touch. “What did you have in mind?”

He pulled out his phone and began to text while she waited. A few seconds passed, then he obviously received a reply. “Lola said we can go to her boat. It’s at the marina.”

Avery blinked in surprise. She hadn’t expected that. “A boat?”

“Yacht,” he amended. “She and Rep own one … full crew, captain, and everything. She’ll clear it with them, and we can head over there now. We’ll just sit on the deck and talk.”

Avery glanced up at the cloudy sky. Even in the darkness that had finally surrounded them, she knew the covering didn’t bode well for good weather. “It’s going to rain.”

“So we can go below deck. Trust me, it’s comfortable.”

She had no doubt that it was. These people lived life in a world completely alien to her … and that was saying something given how she thought she’d grown up privileged. But this wasn’t just money. It was flashier. Attention getting. Funny how everything came back to that one word. Attention.

“I think it’s better to call it a night,” she said.

He frowned, disappointment, then determination edging his expression. “So you can build up some more walls? Some more misconceptions about who I am now?”