Dare to Touch (Dare to Love 3)

He held out his arms, and with a grin, she walked to him for a huge hug. “You took ten years off my life,” he muttered.

“If that actually happened every time you’ve used the expression, you wouldn’t still be here.” She squeezed him back. “I’m fine.” She stepped back and settled onto the couch in his office.

He joined her, taking the closest chair.

“How’s Big doing?” she asked.

“The kid’s shake

n up. When the cops are finished with him, he’s going to go home for a while. And when he returns for training, he’s going to learn how to function in the real world.”

Olivia nodded in agreement. “I hope this incident helped him see the light. That not all people are good, even if they are family.”

Ian nodded. “And that’s enough business. How are you?”

She plastered a smile on her face. “I’m fine,” she said, getting tired of the expression that was nothing more than a lie. She twisted her fingers together in her lap and thought about Dylan’s ultimatum that wasn’t.

“You’re great, huh? That’s why your smile’s forced? Why you’re practically breaking your fingers?” Ian pointed to her intertwined hands and let out a low growl of frustration. “Do I need to kick Rhodes’s ass?”

“No!”

“Then whose?” her big brother asked.

“Mine,” she said, looking away.

He shifted to the couch, sitting close beside her. “Hey.” He lifted her chin with one finger. “What gives?”

She shrugged. “Dylan said he loves me. And I love him.” Her voice cracked as she spoke. “But he wants everything, and I don’t know if I have that in me to give.” No way would she mention not using a condom to her brother. That would be TMI.

Ian gave her his patented big-brother, reassuring smile. “History. You’re afraid it’s going to repeat itself. I ought to know. But Dylan isn’t Dad. And he isn’t Jeff. You can’t lump all men together.”

She smiled. “No, not all men. I had you and Scott. You were always there for me. But…”

“Dad wasn’t.”

“Right. Speaking of the devil, he’s been calling all morning.”

“Did you talk to him?” Ian asked.

She shook her head. “I know it’s weird, since I’m the one who forces everyone to go to his parties and to make nice, but he always shows up a day late. Like we’re—or I’m—an afterthought.”

And Olivia had a love-hate relationship with him. On the one hand, she’d been upset last night when he was the only one who hadn’t reached out to check on her. And on the other hand, she’d avoided his calls today, when he’d been trying to contact her. The man couldn’t win, but then that was the nature of her conflict with him. She sighed.

“I’m not Dad’s biggest fan, you know that,” Ian said.

She nodded. Of all their father’s legitimate children, Ian had taken their father’s betrayal the hardest. Or so it seemed. Olivia always tried to play nice, hoping for crumbs. Ian had all but frozen their father out.

“I get you, Liv. You still want the family you never had, you want Dad to be … Dad. There’s nothing wrong with that. But deep down, you know you aren’t going to get that from him.”

She nodded, the lump in her throat painful. “I do know that. You’re right.”

“Always,” he said with a grin.

She shrugged. “I know Dylan isn’t Dad. Dylan is… He’s perfect, and I still can’t move on completely.”

Ian let out a laugh. “I hate to break it to you, but no one’s perfect. Especially not Rhodes.”

She chuckled at that. “Fine. But you know what I mean.”