DARE TO TAKE
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Carly Phillips
Copyright © Karen Drogin 2016
CP Publishing 2016
Cover Photo and Design: Sara Eirew
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She was off limits,
But he couldn’t resist.
There are just some guys you don’t touch—even someone as innocent and inexperienced as Ella Shaw knows that. But when her brother’s best friend is up for grabs and willing, she can’t resist. After all, she’s wanted him for years…
On leave from the army, Tyler Dare is just looking for a little fun, but his best friend’s sister is off limits. Yet unable to deny how sexy and alluring she is, he finds it all too easy to succumb to a night of passion and heat that ends the next morning in the worst way possible.
Now, Ella is stranded on a tropical island with a hurricane bearing down, and only Tyler can save her. It’s his chance to make amends for the past and show the woman he’s never forgotten that he’s coming after her… in more ways than one.
“Carly Phillips is synonymous with red-hot romance and passionate love.”
—Lauren Blakely, NY Times Bestselling Author
* * *
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Chapter One
The sun shone overhead, the temperature neared ninety, and the humidity was hair-curlingly high on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, making it hard to believe a hurricane was coming soon. Ella Shaw glanced up at the blue sky, knowing it wouldn’t remain pristine for long.
The calm before the storm.
She pulled her hair into a high ponytail and headed out of her hotel, determined to hit the local gift shop she’d caught sight of on her way to the photo shoot yesterday. She’d seen long, draping, blue-beaded necklaces from the storefront window, but she hadn’t had time to stop. Her boss was a stickler for getting the right shot in the exact light, and they’d worked well past dark. By the time they’d wrapped for the day, the store had been closed.
As an assistant for Angie Crighton, a fashion designer based in Miami, Ella was responsible for the little details involved in a photo shoot. And though Angie, the photographer, and models had left the island this morning, Ella had stayed to make sure the shooting site was clean, the hotel pleased enough to allow them back another time. And if she were honest with herself, she liked the downtime after the craziness of a photo shoot, the rushing around of the crew, the bossiness of some of the models and, of course, of Angie herself.
Ella appreciated the fact that she had time to souvenir shop for her best friend, Avery Dare. How ironic was it that the two girls from very different worlds had met at all? But they had. And it was Avery who’d introduced Ella to the finer things in life, leading her to seek out a job with an haute-couture designer. Whereas Avery came from a wealthy family, Ella had been raised firmly middle class, but the two girls had bonded instantly. They’d even shared an apartment until recently, when her best friend had moved in with her rock star boyfriend, Grey Kingston.
Yep, two different worlds, even now, Ella thought wryly. But their friendship was solid. Which reminded her, she needed to let Avery know she might not make it back to the States tomorrow as planned.
When Ella had heard about the storm changing course, she’d tried to book an earlier flight out, without success. She shivered at the possibility of being stranded here alone during a hurricane and knew Avery would like the news even less. Her best friend suffered from severe anxiety, and Ella didn’t like to make her worry.
She’d just buy Avery an extra gift to make up for it, she thought, walking into the shop. She immediately headed to the turquoise-blue beads she’d seen through the window. The shopkeeper claimed they were Larimar beads. Even if they were fake, the beads, popular in the Caribbean, were said to have healing powers. Ella purchased two dozen, a mix of bracelets and necklaces, so she could share with the children at the cancer treatment center where she and Avery volunteered.
Avery had been nine, Ella ten years old when they’d met at a Miami hospital, both donating bone marrow, both there at the behest of a parent. Neither of them really understanding what was happening. All Ella had known was that she was doing a favor for her father, helping the stepmother Ella didn’t like all that much to begin with. Even at a young age, Ella had been a good judge of character, a better one than her father, obviously, because shortly after Janice had gotten well, she’d left Ella’s dad. And both her father and Ella’s life had gone downhill from there. Ella shook off the thoughts of her past before she could go deeper and darker, and focused on the pretty jewelry.
She spent some time choosing a thick turquoise bracelet for Avery and a similar one for herself before paying for everything and waiting for the shopkeeper to wrap things up.
Bag in hand, she started back to the hotel, cutting through side streets and looking into the windows of the stores, soaking up the culture along the cobblestone streets before heading back to Miami tomorrow. At least, she still hoped she’d be home. Knowing she couldn’t change the outcome, she pushed her worrisome thoughts aside. She’d deal with the situation as it came.
Sweat dampened her neck from the humidity of the island, and she contemplated taking a cab back to the hotel. She reached into her straw bag and pulled out her cell phone to make the call, when, without warning, she felt a hard jerk on her purse.
“What the—?” She spun around, but whomever wanted her purse was quicker.
She barely caught a glimpse of a tall guy with dark hair as he yanked harder, nearly pulling her shoulder out of its socket before slamming her against the nearby building with his other hand.
Her head hit the concrete wall, and spots immediately appeared behind her eyes from the impact. As she struggled not to pass out, the man grabbed her purse, along with her cell phone that had fallen to the ground.
She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Her legs collapsed beneath her, and she fell to the ground, her head smacking the sidewalk before everything went black.
* * *
Tyler Dare had a full day planned, a packed schedule of appointments with existing and potential clients of Double Down Security, the firm he now co-owned with his brother Scott. Serena Gibson, his close friend and personal assistant, had strict orders not to let anyone interrupt him this morning so he could pull together his notes for each meeting.
He picked up the threat assessment sheet for his first client, a diplomat who needed protection for his family, and began to scan the findings, when he heard raised voices.
“I’m sorry, Avery, but he said no interruptions,” Serena insisted.
“That’s okay, I’m sure he’ll see me.” His sister’s voice carried through the closed office door.
“Avery, he said not to let anyone inside.” Serena’s voice rose, but he knew the soft-spoken woman was no match for a determined Dare female.
Sure enough, his door swung open, and Avery barreled inside, Serena a step behind her. “Sorry, Tyler.”
He waved her worry away. “It’s fine.”
“Thank you, Serena,” Avery said in a sweet voice. “I’ll buy you coffee one day soon.”
“Make it a martini and you’re on,” Serena muttered, heading back to her desk.
Tyler knew the other woman meant it. She was a single mom, raising her young daughter alone after her husband had … died. Tyler pushed thoughts of Jack Gibson to the far recesses of his mind. Going there meant reliving way too much pain. Pain he’d left behind him when he’d departed from the Army.
Instead, he turned to his sister, and with a groan, he rose to his feet. “Couldn’t you have called first? I’m swamped today. And what if I was in a meeting?”
Avery rolled her eyes … and why not? When she wanted to get her way, she did. She and Olivia were typical Dares, stubborn and headstrong, just like him.
She strode over and placed both hands on his face, meeting his gaze. “Family comes first, isn’t that what you always told me?”
A distinct edgy tingle raced up his spine. Quoting his words back at him meant she wanted something.
But she had a point. Ever since their father had announced he had another family, moved out, and divorced their mother, his oldest brother, Ian, along with Tyler and Scott, had circled around their sisters and mother. Nothing was more important than family. Even if Tyler still felt like he’d been a coconspirator in betraying them all, having walked in on his father and his mistress when he’d visited his dad at work, a year before everyone’s life had imploded.
His father had guilted him into keeping his secret. “You don’t want to be responsible for your mother’s pain, son. Be a man. Keep my secret.”
As an adult, Tyler understood Robert Dare was responsible for everyone’s pain. But as a kid, all he’d wanted to do was protect the mother he adored … and be a man, as his father had said.
All conflicting, fucked-up feelings for a kid to handle. So he hadn’t handled it at all. He’d kept the old man’s secrets, never admitting the truth, not even to Ian or Scott, and in doing so, he lived with the knowledge that, had he spoken up, he could have spared his mother the humiliation of how she’d found out. When his father had approached her with the painful demand that all her children be tested as bone marrow donors for one of his other kids. Because when things got emotionally difficult, Tyler ran. And that hadn’t been the only time.
“Tyler, are you okay?” Avery asked, placing a hand on his arm.
“Fine.” He shook off the past. “What’s up?” he asked, focusing completely on what his sister wanted.
“It’s about Ella.”
His dick immediately perked up at the name. “Ella.”
Avery narrowed those violet eyes in confusion. “Yes, Ella.”
“Ella,” he repeated, his brain flickering with images he’d long sought to expunge from memory. A lithe body with pert breasts, warm, silken skin covering his own.
“You know, Ella Shaw,” his sister said, breaking into his memories. “My best friend.”
And the woman whose virginity he’d taken when she was eighteen.
Yes, Tyler knew exactly who Ella was. It was just that every time he saw her face or her heard her name, his brain short-circuited and a mixture of self-loathing and guilt threatened to crush him, followed immediately by a shock of arousal he had no right to feel.
“What’s wrong with her?” Tyler asked, already turning his attention back to the day ahead, potential clients he wanted to acquire, new security systems he thought existing clients should agree to upgrade to.
Whatever issues Ella had, Tyler felt certain she didn’t need him to handle them. Avery was overreacting. She had to be.
He made it a distinct point to keep as far from Ella Shaw as possible. It was better for both of them to pretend that night had never happened, and by silent, mutual agreement, they’d managed to keep that mistake from Avery.
Avery slammed her hands on his desk, bringing his focus back to the situation at hand. “Ella was mugged in the Caribbean. She’s in the hospital with a concussion, her passport is gone, along with everything in her purse, and a hurricane is headed straight for the island.”
Shit, shit, shit. “Is she okay?” he asked, more concerned than he wanted to admit.
“I don’t know. She sounded groggy. The nurse wouldn’t let her stay on the phone, but Ty, she can’t leave the island without proper documents, and all her identification is gone. She can’t get to the American Embassy since they won’t release her from the hospital for another twenty-four hours because she’s alone. And when she is released, the hurricane will have hit and—” Avery didn’t get another word out because she started to hyperventilate.
Tyler recognized the signs. She’d been suffering from panic attacks since she was a kid, and though they were mostly under control now, truly stressful situations caused an attack.
“Come on. Sit.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her to a chair, easing her down. “Do you have your Xanax?” She nodded and, though still breathing fast, began to look through her purse.
“Serena, I need a glass of water, quick!” Tyler called out to his secretary.
She rushed in a few seconds later, a cup of water in hand.
“Thanks,” he said.
Avery took the pill and began to do breathing exercises.
“Can I get you anything else?” Serena asked.
He shook his head, his focus on Avery. “We’re good for now.”
Serena quickly stepped out, shutting the door behind her.
“Okay, look,” Tyler said, kneeling by his sister’s side. “You’re going to write down where she is, and I’ll contact the embassy. I’ll do what I can to get her out.”
“You have to go yourself. Please. I need to know Ella is okay and with someone I trust after all she’s been through.” She grasped his hand and squeezed tight. “Ian will let you take his jet. Private is the only way she can fly out without a passport anyway.”
She gazed up at him with the same big eyes he’d been a sucker for when she was a kid. Except this time she had no idea what she was asking of him, as the past came flooding back.
He’d come home on leave from the Army just in time for Christmas. As usual, Ella had been visiting for the holiday. And holy shit, she was hot. Her body had filled out, with sexy tits and sweet curvy hips; she’d knocked him on his ass. For the first time, he’d seen her as a beautiful woman and not his little sister’s best friend, and he’d had to remind himself many times over the course of the night she was off-limits.
Except nobody had given Ella the memo.
In hindsight, he should have seen she’d had a crush on him for years, but she’d just been the kid he looked out for, the little girl he’d met when she was donating bone marrow to her stepmom. He’d always felt protective of her, mostly because she was such a little thing for so long.
Once he’d enlisted, his trips home were sporadic, and he hadn’t seen Ella in years. Not until that night.
“Tell me you’re on fucking birth control,” Tyler had said to a very naked, beautiful, and obviously vulnerable Ella. But he’d been too angry with himself and, at the time, with her to see it.
She’d managed a nod, her brown hair hanging over her bare shoulder, her hazel eyes a damp mossy green. “I am.”
Relief had flooded him. She might have crawled into his bed uninvited, but he’d known damn well what he was doing when he’d thrust inside her. She’d been so damned tight, and when he’d hit that obvious barrier, he’d realized immediately … but it was too late. His control had snapped, and he’d taken her hard and fast, nothing like what her first time should have been like—if he’d been sober. If he’d known she was a virgin. But if he hadn’t been drunk, she wouldn’t have made it into his bed in the first place.
“It’s okay.” She’d reached out and touched his bare chest, the sweet gesture
a brand on his skin, and his body had woken up again, hardening for her. Which had only served to piss him off more.
“No, it isn’t okay. It was a big fucking mistake. A mess, and you better believe it won’t be happening again.”
Tears had filled her eyes as she’d gathered her clothes, pulled her long shirt on, and run, slamming his bedroom door behind her.
“Fuck.” He’d fallen back against the pillows, so furious at himself he couldn’t think straight.
Traveling to the Caribbean to rescue Ella would bring them alone together for the first time since he’d looked her in the eye and spoken with all the finesse of a drunk twenty-three-year-old.
He’d been an ass. Worse, he hadn’t stuck around the next day to apologize. He’d kissed his mother good-bye and lied, saying he’d been called back to base, all to avoid facing Ella. And in the years since, he hadn’t manned up any better. He ran a hand through his now-longer-than-regulation-length hair. If any man had treated his sisters the way he’d treated Ella, Tyler would have had their balls.
“Ty? You’ll go get her, right? What if it’s worse than a concussion and they misdiagnosed her? She needs someone there before the storm hits.”
He groaned, already having come to the same conclusion. “Yeah. She does.” He grabbed a pen and paper from his desk and handed it to Avery. “Write down everything you know about where she’s staying and what hospital she’s in. I’ll call Ian and have him get in touch with his pilot.”
“Umm, plane’s fueled and ready,” she said, a flush staining her cheeks.
Tyler shook his head. “That sure of me, hmm?”
“You’re a good guy, Tyler. Plus you’re the best at what you do. If anyone can handle things for Ella, I know you can.”
Oh man. Talk about more guilt. If Avery knew about his past with her best friend, she wouldn’t be sending him down to take care of her. But he couldn’t worry about what Avery would or wouldn’t think. He had to make sure Ella was okay, and to do that, he needed to check the weather forecasts and hope like hell he could get onto the small island before the storm.
Dare to Take (Dare to Love #6) Page 1
