Dare to Touch (Dare to Love 3)

“Let me ask you something. If Mr. Hero is so perfect, why are you so afraid he’ll disappoint you?”

Damn, her brother always knew just where to zero in.

Ian cleared his throat. “That’s not what’s really bothering you. It’s what Dylan wants from you. And you haven’t really dealt with the fallout of losing a baby so young,” Ian said, speaking gently.

She balled her hands into tight fists and swallowed hard; the tears started flowing at just the mention of the baby. She hadn’t dealt with it well. Or at all. She’d seen a psychiatrist once, and she hadn’t gone back. Because the pain of it all had been easier to suppress than feel.

“One day, I felt the first flutters in my belly.” She pressed her hands to her stomach hard. “Then I lost the baby, and with it, I lost the ability to believe in anyone or anything.” Tears streamed down her face unchecked.

And poor Ian, who never knew what to do with one of his crying sisters, sat helplessly. But he listened, and she loved him for it.

“You haven’t lost it, Liv. You just need to be brave. Don’t shut down on Dylan now. Work through everything you have to before you blow a chance at real happiness. Because even a good guy like Dylan can only take so much.”

She flung her arms around Ian’s neck and hugged him tight. “I love you, you know.”

“I love you too.” He squeezed her back. “Now get back to work,” he said gruffly.

She stuck her tongue out at him playfully. “You hate it when one of us girls gets mushy.”

“So when are you coming over to see your niece?” he asked, taking her off guard.

Olivia tipped her head guiltily. That was something else she avoided, spending too much time with young kids. Even her brother’s child. She resisted the urge to touch her stomach. It was too soon to wonder. Too soon for any of this. “I’ll come by soon. I promise.”

Ian pinned her with a steady gaze. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

She nodded. “I’d expect nothing less.” She ducked her head and left, taking her time walking back to her office.

No sooner had she returned to her desk than the phone on her desk rang. “Hello? Olivia Dare speaking.”

“Olivia, it’s your father.”

She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. She should have expected him to try her desk when he couldn’t reach her cell. “Hi, Dad.”

“Hi, Dad? You’re threatened by a man with a gun, and all you have to say to me is ‘hi, Dad’?”

She pressed her phone to her temple before putting it back to her ear. “Who told you?” she asked, glad he’d finally called despite it all.

“Well, let’s see. First Alex, then Jason, and eventually Samantha and Sienna. They called me in L.A.”

But none of her full siblings had alerted him, and Olivia wasn’t surprised. “I didn’t realize you were out of town.”

“It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Savannah and I needed time away, so we took a nice, long vacation. Didn’t I call you before we left?”

“No, you didn’t.” She drew a deep breath for courage, because confronting him had never been easy. “You forgot my birthday, you know.”

The silence that followed was awkward and uncomfortable. Finally he cleared his throat. “Didn’t Savannah’s … I mean, our gift arrive?” he asked.

“No.” She glanced around the office she’d decorated with pictures of her favorite Thunder players on the wall, plants on the windowsill, and photos of her siblings on her desk. Those were the people who cared.

“Olivia, I’m sorry. I know Savannah sent a present. I’ll have to have her check and see why it didn’t arrive.”

She blew out a frustrated breath. She believed her stepmother had sent her something. She liked her father’s second wife despite the circumstances. It wasn’t about material things. It never had been.

“It’s not the gift I care about,” she explained. “It’s the fact that you missed my party and you didn’t call.” And she’d always been the stupid daughter who made excuses for him to the rest of her siblings. Why?

“I do tend to screw up with you kids, don’t I?” he asked, sounding low and defeated.

But she wouldn’t feel bad for him. She couldn’t. Not when he’d made her feel worse. Tears burned her eyes, and she opened the bottom drawer in her desk, where she kept a box of tissues.