Dare to Rock (24 page)

She stared at her father and felt very little emotional pull toward him. There were good memories, some holidays, maybe a time or two together as a happy family, until things had fallen apart. But not many, because whenever any of them had needed him, be it for a school event, award, or an illness, he was always working. Or so he’d told them. They’d realized later, working had been a euphemism for being with his other family.

“Avery, I asked you what you plan to do to fix things,” he said, his exasperation with her clear.

“Nothing,” she told him.

“Excuse me?”

“I don’t plan to do a thing. Would you like to know why?” She went on before he could answer. “Because you never gave a damn when your choices impacted me or the rest of the family. One day you came home and blew Mom’s world apart. You told her you had another woman you loved and four other kids, and as if that weren’t enough, you needed us to be tested for bone marrow to save Sienna’s life. And what did Mom do? She agreed!”

Her voice rose and Avery didn’t care. She just needed to be heard. Her thoughts and feelings needed to get out of her head and maybe get into his.

“Did you even read what that article said today?” she asked. “Do you care that the whole world now thinks that you used me to save the daughter you loved
more
?”

“Avery,” Robert said, his face pale, his voice shaking.

He tried to touch her, and she stepped back into the hard wall of Grey’s chest. She trembled inside and out and was grateful for his silent support.

She swallowed hard. “You didn’t pick up the phone when a stalker came to my door, you don’t care that I’m spearheading this prom for kids with cancer. You aren’t proud of me, only of Sienna. And you only think about how these news articles show you in a bad light.”

He blinked, his shock genuine as he processed her words. He was that egotistical.

But Avery wasn’t finished. “How can you be so surprised? Your actions sucked. Your choices sucked. And after the truth came out, you didn’t do anything to make it better for
us
. Your first family.” She was shaking now, and Grey wrapped his arms around her, keeping her secure. Safe. “Do you realize you never thanked me for what I did for Sienna? And I don’t care. I don’t need or want your thanks. But back then, I needed and wanted
you
.”

“I was so wrapped up in Sienna’s illness, in her having cancer, I didn’t think—”

“That’s the problem,” she said, her voice breaking. “You don’t think. You have no idea how that time period impacted me. My life.” She drew a deep breath. “My
sanity
.”

Before Robert could react, Grey eased her into his side and faced her father. “I think that’s enough. Avery’s had a rough day, and I’m calling a stop to this.”

“He’s right,” Avery said. “If you want to talk, call me, and maybe we can get together when this mess has died down and I’m calmer.” Not that she was holding her breath.

Ian had told her that their father had apologized to him once and encouraged him not to make the kind of mistakes he had in life. But clearly Robert hadn’t learned from his own past.

“I love you and your brothers and sister. I didn’t know,” he said again.

Avery shook her head. “That’s just it. You didn’t know. But you also never bothered to ask or find out.” Avery dropped into the nearest chair as Grey let her father out, feeling lighter for finally having expressed her feelings to the one man who’d set the bar for all the pain and agony in her life.

Grey returned to her and knelt by her feet. “Sugar, you have no idea how proud I am.”

“Thanks. I’m feeling … pretty good myself.” Her adrenaline was riding high now, and she wanted to take advantage.

She grasped Grey’s hand. “I have an idea, and it’s going to sound crazy. But I have the press’s ear now, right?”

He met her gaze warily. “Right …?”

The idea had come to her as she’d been yelling at her father about the event and her role in it. “I want to use that attention to raise money for the cancer center at the hospital. I don’t care if they think I’m using you or keeping you with me because I’m so needy I can’t be alone. We know the truth, right?”

A beat of silence lay heavily between them before Grey asked, “What is the truth?” He sounded uncertain, and her heart twisted for all the pain she’d inadvertently caused him while trying to protect herself.

He’d stepped up from the beginning, while she’d been hesitant and unsure. She’d never expressed her feelings, not even after he had.

She met his gaze and held on, looking into his eyes. “I love you, Grey Kingston. I always have. And if I’ve handled everything thrown at me in the last few weeks, I think the future can only get easier.”

If eyes could truly lighten in color, his did. A slow, easy smile spread over his handsome face, and as she gave her heart completely into his hands, she saw he would take the very best care of it. And her.

“I love you too, Very.” He kissed her nose and the side of her lips before devouring her mouth and lingering long enough for her to drown in his taste and scent.

He broke the kiss, his hands cupped around her cheeks. “I loved you when we were eighteen, but when I met you again, I fell even harder. You understand me, and you make me want to be a better man. Less selfish, less concerned about the outside world, and more focused on you. And family. The things that matter, that I lost sight of for too long.”

She grasped his hands. “You’ve done the same for me. You made me want to push past the fears that bound me for my entire life. I faced my father for the first time, and I feel … free.”

She wasn’t stupid. She didn’t think that just because she’d expressed her feelings to her father her anxiety was gone for good. But she did believe she was more equipped to handle it now. And most importantly, she wasn’t running. “I’m here for the long haul. Whatever that may be.”

Before he could answer, Ella called out, “Is the ogre gone?” Her laughter broke the intensity of the moment.

“Later,” Grey whispered, his gaze holding on to hers. “We’ll define that long haul later.”

Her heart skipped a beat, and she nodded, finally ready for whatever life had to offer.

*     *     *

Grey didn’t trust silence. Especially when that silence came from Simon Colson. Over the next few weeks, things fell into place neatly. Almost too neatly and Grey was nervous.

First Dawn Mills replied to his message and, through her representative, issued a statement along with pages from her deceased husband’s diary. All confirmed that Grey Kingston had done more than co-write the album with Alden Mills. While her husband had been extremely ill, Grey had done most of the work on their collaboration including writing the lyrics. Simon didn’t have another salvo, and he’d stopped messing with Grey’s life.

Whoever had defaced Avery’s apartment door hadn’t resurfaced. Ella moved back into their apartment, but Avery remained with Grey. Tyler demanded a bodyguard remain with each woman, and Grey insisted on covering costs. He didn’t trust Simon’s silence any more than he believed the stalker was a one-time thing.

But life went on, and Alden’s words from the grave turned Grey into even more of an icon than he had already been. Offers for collaboration and requests for him to write lyrics were piling up, so he had finally given in and hired a new agent to help him sort through things.

Every day he expected Avery to freak out and think he’d find a reason to leave town, but she was steady. As a rock. True to her word, the day after the confrontation with her father, she’d asked Grey to contact a reporter he trusted to put the correct spin on a story. And together, they’d sat down for an interview.

She’d held his hand and told about how her experience as a bone marrow donor as a young girl had led her to volunteer her time with the patients at the hospital today. She elaborated on the prom and explained how she’d like to do various events for the kids throughout the year, but the hospital lacked funds. And when Avery Dare, with Grey Kingston by her side, asked for money for the kids, contributions poured in.

The largest donor to the now-named Dare Fund for Kids was Robert Dare. His financial contribution was substantial … and promised yearly. And though Avery and her father’s relationship was by no means solid, the man was making an effort, and Avery was trying to meet him halfway.

As for Avery, between filming her upcoming videos, some of which she decided to do outdoors, and working on the prom, she had little time for worry. She did, however, make plenty of time for Grey. And he couldn’t deny that things between them had never been better. Which was why he’d planned his surprise as tonight’s main event.

The rest of his life hinged on this evening. And Grey Kingston, who performed in front of hundreds of thousands and was never nervous, had a raging case of stage fright.

*     *     *

Avery spent the entire afternoon setting up at the hospital, and she couldn’t wait to see the end result tonight. The normally staid, often sad hospital floor and its doctors, nurses, patients, and volunteers were buzzing with contagious excitement. Thanks to pressure by the kids, Avery and Ella agreed to dress up in gowns too. Avery left the kids with the makeup artists and hairstylists so she could go home and change.

She stood in Grey’s bedroom and straightened his bow tie, resisting the urge to undress him, button by button. The desire to pull this handsome man onto the bed and have her wicked way with him was strong, but they couldn’t miss the whole evening. One last tug on his tie and she finished and stepped away, heading into the bathroom to fix her makeup and put on her dress.

The door was open, so she talked to Grey as she touched up her mascara. “I’m so happy you invited your parents tonight. And they’re not just attending, they’re working.”

“They can’t wait,” he said.

She had planned to stay late and clean up, but to her surprise, Grey had arranged for his parents to come help with the setup, serving, and cleanup at the end. He tried to play down the significance, but Avery knew better.

“It’s a big deal, you asking them to help with the serving and cleaning. To know you are proud of them for who they are? Your mom cried,” Avery said, remembering the phone call from Susie.

Grey strode into the bathroom just as Avery had undressed. She stood in her barely there bra and panties, a formal white Grecian style dress hanging behind her.

“Something I can do for you?” she asked, unable not to sound cheeky. And happy.

Because she was. Happier than she’d ever been. Yes, the photographers who found out where she and Grey were and snapped pictures still sometimes freaked her out. But she was learning to ignore what the papers, online and print, and blogs had to say. She’d canceled her “Tangled Royal” and “Grey Kingston” Google Alerts so she wouldn’t see things that weren’t true and would only upset her. Her anxiety wasn’t miraculously gone, nor had she thought it would be.

Again, she was dealing. She’d made an appointment to discuss her medications, and she still hoped she could cut down one day soon. And if dealing with her father occasionally made her crazy, the money he’d donated to her cause was more than worth it. As was putting a childhood’s worth of pain behind her.

“Grey?” she asked, meeting his heated gaze in the mirror as he stood behind her. “Do you want something?”

“For you to grab the counter, bend over, and let me have my way with you.” He cocked an eyebrow and practically devoured her with his gaze.

She bent over as directed and wiggled her ass his way before straightening. “Sorry, but we have to get going. Can you hand me my dress?” she asked, doing her best to sound unaffected.

But the truth was, she wished they did have time, because now she was wet, and her desire to feel him hot and thick inside her had been growing since seeing him looking all devastating in his tux.

He let out a low growl. “You will pay for that little tease later.”

“Promise?” She leaned over and kissed his cheek, inhaling the smell of his aftershave—and him.

Before she could dance out of the way, he grasped her waist and pulled her to him, her nearly naked body brushing against his formally clad one. The thick fabric did nothing to hide his massive erection, and it was an erotic feeling, being undressed and desired while he was fully clothed.

His fingers trailed up from her waist until his thumbs brushed the underside of her breasts.

She trembled and felt her nipples pucker into hard and needy points. That white dress was going to give people one hell of a show unless she got herself under control.

Without warning, he slid his hands back to her waist.

She moaned her complaint and he grinned. “I need you focused and that wasn’t helping,” he said.

“What is it?” she asked.

He tipped her head back and looked into her eyes. “Before things get crazy tonight, I wanted to make sure you knew how proud I am of you. You’ve come so far in such a short time when it comes to us, and you put together not just a prom for seriously ill children, you formed an entire
fund
for their benefit.”

His words and approval warmed her, but she didn’t know how to explain the recent changes. “I’d been feeling that growing need to get over the past so I could move forward with you. Then I fainted, and when I came to I was just … so tired of being emotionally crippled.”

He shook his head. “That is too strong a description. You had every right to be wary of me and my life.”

She didn’t want to argue. “Fine, but the thing that gave me the final push in the end was that I realized I wanted something so badly I couldn’t imagine living without it.”

A pleased smile lifted his sexy lips. “What would that be?” he asked in a gruff voice.

That question had an easy answer. “Us,” she murmured. “I wanted us.”

He kissed her hard, turned her around, and pulled her panties down her legs. It was fast, loving, and oh so necessary. Especially when he came inside her, shouting out not just her name but a gruff
I love you
before collapsing against her.

They made it to the party in the nick of time.