Dare To Play (Dare Nation #3) - Carly Phillips Page 0,28

is a great parent, but she never really stepped in and stopped my father’s verbal abuse about how I wasn’t a man if I didn’t play football.” He shook his head at the ugly memories. “I guess she did the best she could.” Short of her leaving Jesse, Jaxon believed that. “All I’m saying is cut your sister some slack and see how much she loves you.”

Typical teenager, Hannah didn’t say anything in response.

Shocking him, Macy reached across the table and put her hand over his, the gesture hitting him in the heart.

“I’m not hungry.” Hannah pushed back her chair, the legs squeaking against the floor.

“Ask if you can be excused, please,” Macy reminded her.

With a roll of her eyes, the teen parroted, “Can I be excused?”

Macy nodded. “Put your clean plate back in the cabinet and the silverware away.”

With an annoyed groan, Hannah did as she was told, Macy watching her the entire time.

Only when they were alone did she turn to Jaxon. “Now’s the time to change your mind.” She looked grim, as if she fully expected him to walk away just because her little sister had been a brat.

“I can handle her.” Realizing he still held Macy’s hand, he squeezed tight. “We’re a team now.” He truly felt like they could do this and make this crazy short-term marriage work.

For both of them.

She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and released it. “You stood up for me,” she said in obvious awe, making him realize how alone she’d been until now.

Despite his father’s treatment of him in the past, as he told Hannah, he’d always had his siblings. His mom. His uncle. A large family he could always turn to. Macy hadn’t had that, and as a result, she was tangling with an angry teenage girl alone.

Well, no more. “Hannah needs to understand the value of what she has in you. She doesn’t now but she will. Right now, she has her mother’s voice in her ear, presents filling the hole that her absence created. Just keep being there. That’s the one thing you can give Hannah over time that her mother can’t.”

“Or won’t.” Macy toyed with the fork she hadn’t used but had set the table with anyway. “It sounded like you understand what it feels like to be an angry teen.”

“That’s because I do.” Instead of the shutters coming down behind his eyes, he allowed her to see the hurt left by his father’s words. Letting anyone in was new for him, something he hadn’t done since Katie.

“I’m so sorry,” she murmured. “No child deserves to be treated as less than anything or anyone.”

He rolled his shoulders, telling himself he’d long since accepted his past. “It made me who I am today. And I can’t say I’m thrilled with everything I’ve done, but I know going forward I’m going to get it right. Starting with helping you.” His words took even him by surprise.

He’d thought of this spur-of-the-moment marriage as a fix to his problems, but he wanted to help her, too.

Her soft gaze met his. “I’m really grateful. I know Hannah has an attitude, but she’s my sister, and beneath the hard exterior is a hurt little girl.”

His heart squeezed because he knew how Hannah felt.

“I’m going to make it up to you,” Macy said. “I’ll be there for you as much as you need. Public appearances, anything that shows your management you’re making an effort to change.”

Leaning forward, he kissed her forehead, wishing he could turn it into a real, heated make-out session, but not now. Not with Hannah nearby.

Which brought him to another thought he’d had. “So, if Hannah can stay either with her mother or a friend, I want to take a quick weekend honeymoon. Let us really get to know one another,” he said in a deliberately husky voice because he couldn’t wait to get her naked again.

Macy’s eyes opened wide, her pink lips parting in surprise. “Where did you want to go?”

“Our cousin Asher Dare–”

“Why does that name sound familiar?” she asked, wrinkling her nose adorably.

“He owns Dirty Dare Vodka with his brother, Harrison–”

“The movie star?” The shock in Macy’s voice amused him. The Dares were an eclectic family owning a variety of businesses, from sports to Dirty Dare Vodka to nightclubs all over the world and more.

“Yes, that Harrison Dare. I like to call them the Dirty Dares. You know because of the vodka company name.” He grinned.

“Yes, I got that.” Macy laughed.

They were cousins on his