Dare to Forgive (The Dare 3)

“I understand. So how come Leo and Will didn’t come along, too?”

He looked at her as he got onto the highway. Just a few exits and they would be there.

“I wanted to spend a little time with you alone so we could get to know one another.”

She clasped her hands and looked away from him. It made him feel like she wasn’t interested in him, only Will and Leo.

“Is that okay with you, or are you only interested in my brothers and not me?”

She swung her head toward him. “You’re my bosses and I don’t know if getting involved with all of you is such a great idea.”

He focused on the road, glancing at her in hopes of showing his sincerity.

“Adel, I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that I’m ready to jump right into this. I’m not. I have my reservations, my concerns, but, that’s part of why I asked you out tonight. Consider this a date, and a time for us to get to know one another. No pressure on either end. I just want to get to know you outside of work, aside from being my personal assistant. Since you said yes to coming with me, I assume you want that, too, and to get to know me?”

He waited for her response and hoped that she indeed wanted to get to know him. This was crazy.

“I do.” He smiled and reached over to cover her hands with his. The difference in size was amazing.

“Thank you. So tell me about this family of yours and the house you lived in. Was it in South Carolina?”

She looked shocked and he felt her hands tense up. He squinted his eyes but focused on the road.

“Too personal?” he asked.

She swallowed hard. He heard her.

“It’s not far from Chance. Maybe an hour. It was a big house on a large estate in a nice neighborhood. I like the small towns better. People are nicer to one another, to their neighbors, and not worried about impressing one another.”

He chuckled.

“That’s true. I like smaller towns, too, although my Aunt Betsey would say a bit of competition is a good thing to keep people on their toes and not looking like slobs.”

She laughed as he made the turn off the exit and then slowly approached the venue.

“Well, here we are.”

There was a valet to take their car since parking was limited.

Hank noticed the way the young guys looked at Adel as the car attendant opened her car door and then took her hand to assist her. That really wasn’t necessary and it pissed Hank off.

He met her in the front of the vehicle as he took the card number from the kid and then placed his hand at the dip in Adel’s lower back.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

“Fine,” he said in a hard tone as another person opened the door for them to enter.

One glance around the room and he could tell this was going to be an interesting party.

“Hank, oh my goodness, how wonderful to see you.”

He heard the voice and knew it was Collette. The tall, thin blonde was decked out in her designer wear and holding a glass of champagne.

“Collette, so nice to se

e you.”

“Hm, I bet. You lose my number, Hank? Why, who is this pretty little angel?” she asked and one look at Adel and she seemed to read right through Collette’s tactics. Hank never should have slept with the snob. She thought she was someone of importance.