Fearless (Pier 70 #2) (4 page)

Three

Six hours later

Dare had finally fucking made it, and now he was out of breath as he stepped into the banquet room Milly had instructed everyone to meet in when they arrived on the ship. As he tried to slow his heart rate, he grabbed a napkin from an empty table and dabbed the sweat from his forehead. Stupid-ass jeans. If he’d been wearing shorts and flip-flops, he wouldn’t be sweating.

He scanned the place, smiling and nodding at the familiar and some not-so-familiar faces, trying to appear casual and not as though his heart was about to beat out of his chest. Not for the first time today, he was thankful that it took a lot to get him rattled; otherwise, he would’ve been a hot mess at this point.

Dare dabbed the napkin against the back of his neck.
Technically, you are a hot mess.
Okay, true, but not the way he’d meant.

The fact that he’d boarded his plane at the last possible second, managed to
finally
get transportation to the port (which had only taken a little more than an hour), then painstakingly worked his way through the ridiculously long check-in process in order to get on this damn ship had left him feeling somewhat frazzled.

He was beginning to think that whoever said the benefits of travel were almost immediate hadn’t actually been anywhere. Dare recalled the statistic he’d read recently:
After only a day or two, eighty-nine percent of people experience significant drops in stress.
Had anyone considered that
getting
to your vacation destination
doubled
stress levels? So, if he did the math correctly, the reduction actually didn’t even get you back to the one hundred percent.

Great. That didn’t help him to relax at all.

But he knew what would…

To kick this off, a little alcohol would go a long way toward settling his nerves.

As he weaved his way toward the bar, Dare shot a grin to Cam’s sister, Holly.
That’s right. I’m here.
Although he hadn’t missed a single scheduled event in his entire life, he knew that everyone had been worried that he wouldn’t make it—because not everything could go smoothly for the wedding, right?

And okay, yes, maybe he wasn’t the promptest person in the world.

Or the most organized.

Whatever.

He had arrived on time. So any mishaps … they weren’t on him.

Now that he was here, Dare was having a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that Cam and Gannon were officially tying the knot in a few short days—on this fancy cruise ship, no less. Not that it wasn’t long overdue or anything. Those two were perfect for each other. In a weird, opposites-really-do-attract sort of way. Ever since the two of them had started this game of slap and tickle—as Grams liked to call it—in the marina office nearly a year ago, they’d been playing kissy-face. It was about damn time they made it official.

And here Dare was with at least two dozen of their family and friends, all of whom had probably arrived two hours ago and were already settled in while Dare had stowed his suitcase with the concierge so he could make an appearance before Milly’s head exploded.

Speaking of Milly… He glanced around, looking for her.

“What’s up, pretty boy?”

Dare spun around when he heard the familiar voice.

It would appear that she’d spotted him first. Then again, he wouldn’t put it past her to have had him microchipped for this occasion.

Milly stood there, hand cocked on her slender hip, holding a clipboard, looking as dazzling as ever in a short red sundress with her blonde hair piled on top of her head, lips a rich ruby red. Her light blue eyes lit up when he met her gaze.

“Pretty boy?” Dare hugged her to him when he approached. “Ruggedly handsome, sure. Devastatingly good-looking, I can see. But
pretty
…?”

Her lips curved up into a grin, eyes dancing with …
hmm
. That looked a lot like relief. Had she really thought he wouldn’t make it?

“Look at you.” Her smile brightened as she slid her hand over his smooth jaw. “All grown up.”

It was true, Dare hadn’t seen Milly in a few months, but he wasn’t sure he’d go so far as to say he was all grown up. At thirty-four, he wasn’t quite ready to grow up. He’d been through that phase once in his life—a long,
long
time ago—and he had the scars on his heart to prove it. He had no intention of going through that again, so he’d settled on planning to be a kid for the duration.

However, if she was referring to the fact that he’d used a razor that morning, was dressed in something other than shorts and a T-shirt—and yes, wearing shoes—then okay, fine, he was all grown up.

“Where’re Cam and Gannon?” He peered over the heads of the others to see if he could find the happy couple.

Milly checked something off on the paper on her clipboard before responding. “If I had to guess, Cam’s probably seducing Gannon to keep him from overthinking the fact that we’re on a boat.”

Technically, they were on a ship—
a ship could carry a boat, but a boat couldn’t carry a ship
—but Dare didn’t correct Milly.

Everyone knew that Gannon wasn’t keen on the idea of boats—or ships, or water in general—but they were also aware that Gannon would pretty much do anything for Cam, which, Dare assumed, was how Cam had talked his future husband into this.

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” He met Milly’s eyes. “Gannon did look a little green yesterday. And that was
before
they left Texas.”

“Green?” Milly chuckled. “Are you kidding? He’s more like an overripe avocado at this point.”

“Oh, yum.” Dare cringed. “Have you seen anyone else yet?”

While most of the others had spent the night seeing what a difference a stay could make at Embassy Suites, Dare had come straight from the airport. Apparently, they’d been smart in their planning and he’d been … rushed.

Time to change that, he thought.

No better place to chill than on a ship in the middle of the ocean.

Gannon, no doubt, didn’t agree, since, according to Milly, he currently resembled Kermit the Frog’s twin brother.

“Roan and Teague left to take a quick tour of the boat, see what trouble they can get into,” Milly noted, then nodded across the room. “Hudson is over at the bar with his plus one—who is quite yummy, I have to admit. And I saw Mr. Strickland, Holly, Keith, and the kids when I was on my way here. Oh, and my stepbrother’s around here somewhere.”

“Your stepbrother?”

Milly’s smile was impish. Ever since Gannon and Cam had gotten together, Milly had been teasing Dare that she wanted to set him up with her stepbrother. And here he’d thought he had dodged that bullet by telling her he wasn’t interested in a relationship. Granted, this was Milly. He’d learned she was as hardheaded as they came.

“I needed someone to accompany me on this big ol’ boat.” To go along with her fake southern-belle drawl, Milly’s eyes reflected every ounce of feigned purity she could apparently muster.

“I thought that’s what
I
was here for.” He puffed out his chest purposely.

They’d become friends over the course of the past year, and Dare enjoyed spending time with Milly. She was fun and relatively easy to talk to, even if she was a tad nosy. Okay, more than a tad. A
lot
nosy.

“Who said you weren’t?” Again, she offered him those big, innocent eyes.

God, this girl made him laugh. She definitely wasn’t innocent.

“You need a drink.” Taking her hand, Dare tugged her toward the bar.

“Or you mean
you
need a drink?”

“That, too.” He needed more than a drink if he was going to have to dodge Milly’s stepbrother this trip. The only thing he could picture was a pimply-faced, twenty-something with Coke-bottle glasses, a pocket protector, and greasy hair. Video game chic, he thought it was called.

On top of that, Dare couldn’t help but wonder what in the hell she’d told the guy about him. That he was interested? That he couldn’t wait to get a controller in hand and duke it out with him?

Fuck, he hoped not. He tried to keep his video game obsession on the down low, thank you very much.

Somehow, when Milly had brought the subject up, Dare had always managed to deflect, not wanting to know anything about the guy. And to this day, he hadn’t so much as learned her stepbrother’s name. He had to admit, he was pretty good at avoidance when need be.

But he hadn’t been lying when he’d said he wasn’t interested in a relationship. And dating—whether one or more times—could potentially lead to a relationship. Therefore, Dare was abstaining. Indefinitely. One-night stands were more his forte. And even those were few and far between.

“Apple martini for the lady,” Dare told the bartender. “And I’ll take a Rolling Rock.”

The bartender nodded, then turned away to retrieve their drinks.

“You’re cute when you’re flustered.” Milly patted his arm.

“Me? Flustered?” Dare snorted. “Not a chance.”

“There’s my stepbrother now,” Milly announced, loud enough for half the room to hear.

“Wait.
What?
” Dare spun around, looking in the direction she was facing, but he didn’t see anyone he didn’t recognize.

“See? Told you. Cute when flustered.”

Dare turned back to her, scowling as he did. “Not funny, Holcomb.”

“On the contrary.” Milly’s grin widened and she looked incredibly pleased with herself.

“What in the world am I gonna do with you?” Knowing she was teasing him allowed him to relax somewhat.

Roan and Cam both had informed him that Milly was a female version of him. Only, he didn’t see it. The more he was around her, the more he had to wonder just how wrong they were. And if they weren’t wrong, then… Surely they were wrong. He wasn’t that obnoxious, was he?

“There he is.” He heard the smile in Milly’s voice.

“No way.” She couldn’t fool him twice. He kept his attention on the bartender. “Not falling for it again.”

“Hey, Milly.”

Dare’s entire body went rigid at the sound of that voice. It was deep, raspy, and … eerily familiar.

A cold chill slowly trickled down his spine.

There was no way.

Milly’s hand landed on Dare’s forearm, tugging him around. He managed to keep his back straight as he slowly pivoted.

“Dare, I’d like you to meet my stepbrother, Noah Pearson. Noah, this is Cam’s friend, one of the other owners of the marina, Dare Davis.”

Son.

Of.

A.

Motherfucking.

Bitch.

There was no possible way this man could be Milly’s stepbrother. Definitely no pimples, no pocket protector, no glasses. Doubtful he even owned a video game controller.

Nope, this was a big, brooding, sexy man.

With intense brown eyes.

Eyes that Dare had once stared into when…

A strange ghosting pain echoed in his chest, one he remembered all too well from his past.

Fighting the urge to rub the ache away, Dare stood there, rooted in place. Doing his absolute fucking best not to let on that, at one time in his life, this man had single-handedly ripped Dare’s heart right out of his chest.

And then drowned it.

Well, there you have it.

The world as Noah knew it ceased to exist, and suddenly he found himself stepping into a time warp. Only, he doubted there had been a disruption in the space-time continuum.

At least not today.

Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to be dreaming, either.

And this dark-haired, hazel-eyed,
absurdly
handsome man might look disconcertingly similar to the guy Noah had once been head-over-heels in love with, but he certainly wasn’t
that
guy. Sure, he looked the same, only older, rougher around the edges. He even had the same eyebrow twitch that Noah had always found oddly adorable, but there was something different about him.