Dance Like Nobody's Watching (Summer Lake 3) (10 page)

“Will do, and I'll have my check book
ready.”

“Okay, bud. See you tomorrow.”

“See ya.”

Dan hung up. That was the easy phone call done.
Now for the not so easy one. Olivia. He chewed the inside of his lip,
and remembered he needed to text Smoke.

Sorry. Change of plan. Not leaving tonight. Call
you tomorrow?

He stared at the phone. It buzzed almost
immediately with a reply.

OK. C U 2moro.

Now there were no more excuses. He searched his
contacts for Olivia and listened to it ring.

“Hello, Daniel. I hope you're not going to
be late.”

He rested his head in his hand. “Hello,
Olivia, Yes, I'm fine thanks. How are you?”

“Ugh! What's the matter Daniel?”

Why did she insist on calling him that? “I'm
not coming.”

“What? I canceled other plans because you
said you wanted to see me!”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Sorry's no use, is it? Why aren't you
coming?”

“I'm still in Summer Lake and I'm not coming
back tonight. Maybe not tomorrow either”

She tutted loudly. He hated when she did that.
“You spend far too much time with that boy!”

“His name is Scot.”

“Whatever. And you better come back
tomorrow. You need to be in the office.”

Dan had had just about enough of her telling him
what he did and didn’t need to do. “I don't know what I'm
doing yet.”

“Well, I'm telling you what you're doing,
Daniel. You're going to get back here as soon as you can and get
yourself in the office in the morning. I have the people from Systech
coming and I need you to talk to them.”

What the hell?
“Olivia, I'll come in
whenever I'm ready. I’ve told you, I'm not going to talk to the
pricks from Systech. I don't want anything to do with them, and
neither does Steven. I do not want them in the building. Do you
understand me?”

She was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke
again her tone was much softer. “I'm sorry, darling. I'm just
trying to look out for you. I know you can't see it yet, but this
will be a great deal for us. You need to talk to them, then you'll
see.”

Dan didn't trust himself to reply, just waited for
her to continue as he knew she would.

“I'm sorry I was snappy. I was looking
forward to seeing you tonight. It's been too long.”

Her wheedling tone made his skin crawl. It was so
obvious she was simply trying to get her own way, and would use any
tactics she thought would work.

“I'm sure if you left now, you could be here
by bedtime. We can talk. You can spend the night.”

Dan shook his head at the thought. He hadn't slept
with her in months. Even on the few occasions they'd gone out, he
hadn't been able to muster any desire for her. He'd just kept
thinking of Missy instead. He let out a deep sigh. “I told you.
I'm not coming back tonight. We'll talk when I see you.”

“But Danny, I want to see you. I want you.”

That did it. She was a manipulative bitch! He'd
told her once, in the early days when he was still quite flattered by
her interest in him, that only the people who loved him had ever
called him Danny. She tried to use it on him whenever she was
determined to get her own way. “
I
don't want to see
you
.
We're done. Through. Finished. I wanted to tell you face to face, but
now you know.”

“You don't mean that, Danny.”

She was still wheedling! He took a deep breath.
“Yes, I do, Olivia. Goodbye.” He hung up.
Damn!
He'd
wanted to do the decent thing. Tell her to her face. But she was so
damned pushy! He was sick of her telling him who he was, and what he
thought, and what he wanted. She didn't know, or even care, what he
really thought, or really wanted. He seriously doubted now that she
ever had. She wanted the money and the control that came with
Prometheus. He took a beer from the fridge. Well, it was done now.
He'd no doubt have to face her—and her anger and pouting and
wheedling—once he went back, but at least he'd told her. The
worst of it was over. He hoped.

Missy opened her eyes. She felt a little groggy.
She couldn't figure out why she'd been sleeping on the sofa. Dan sat
in the chair, his legs slung over the arm. She closed her eyes and
opened them again. Was she still dreaming? No, it came back to her.
Passing out in the kitchen. Dan taking care of her. He was working on
his laptop. Seemingly engrossed as he tapped away at the keyboard. He
would pause occasionally to chew on his thumb as he stared into
space, then start tapping away again. He was gorgeous! That muscle
shirt he wore showed off a lean, muscular torso he usually hid under
baggy T-shirts. What she would like to do to him, if she could find
the energy! But she had to find some energy from somewhere. She had
to go work tomorrow, no matter what he said, or Michael for that
matter. She caught her breath. What was Dan still doing here anyway?
He couldn't make her go to see Doc Morgan in the morning because he
needed to get back to San Jose. She looked at the clock. It was past
ten! She sat up, making herself dizzy. Where was Scotty? He had
homework to do.

“Whoa.” Dan appeared at her side. “You
shouldn't get up so fast.”

“It's late. Where's Scot? I need to make
sure he does his homework, and gets his bag ready, and....”

Dan put an arm around her shoulders. “Slow
down, Miss. It's all taken care of.”

She looked at him in disbelief.

“Seriously. We went through his schedule and
made sure he has everything he needs for tomorrow. He did his math
homework, no problem. Then I think we did okay with his history.”

Missy continued to stare at him. “You? You
helped him get it all done?”

Dan lowered his eyes. “Yeah. I tried. I
think we got it all covered.”

“Oh, thank you, hon! You really are turning
out to be my hero.” She watched his smile spread as he slowly
raised his eyes to meet hers.

“I just wanted to help out. He and I are
both supposed to be pretty smart. We managed to figure it out between
us.”

She wrapped her arms around him. “Thanks,
Dan!”

He hugged her to him and she nestled close,
enjoying the feel of his arms around her. The living room door opened
and Scot stared at them. Dan made to let go of her, but Missy clung
on to him.

“Are you guys...like....” Scot's eyes
bored into her, then he looked at Dan and back at her. “Like
getting together?”

Missy smiled. She didn't like to hide anything
from him, certainly not this, though none of them knew what 'this'
was yet. She wrinkled her nose. “We're thinking about it.”
She smiled at Dan. “We're testing out hugs first, to see how
they go. “What would you say if we were to go on a date?”

Scot grinned and punched the air. “
Yes
!
I'd say yes!” He looked at Dan “And I'd say, what took
you so long?”

Dan laughed. “Timing is everything, champ.”

“Then I hope it's time now,” said
Scot.

Missy smiled. “It's time for bed now, young
man. That's what it's time for.”

He pulled a face at her, but didn't argue.

“Have you got everything ready for morning?”

He grinned. “Yeah. Dan helped.” He
came to the sofa and put one arm around Missy, the other around Dan.
“Group hug, guys!”

Missy hugged back, enjoying the feel of two very
different arms around her.

Scot stood back and grinned at Dan. “I think
you need to sleep in Mom's room in case she gets dizzy in the night.”

She saw a touch of pink color Dan's cheeks. Bless
him. “Scot!” She frowned at him.

“Well! If you need to pee in the night and
you fall down again, you need someone there.” He tried to look
serious, but he was laughing.

She smiled. “I'm fine now. Go on. Off to bed
with you.” She kissed his cheek. “Love you, sunbeam.
G'night”

“Love you, Mom. G'night, Dan,”

“G'night, champ. See you in the morning.”

Once Scot had gone, Dan put his arms around her
again. “So, how am I doing in these hug tests?”

“You pass with flying colors.”

He grinned. “That's good to know.”

A big yawn came out before Missy could stop it.
“Sorry.”

“No problem. You need sleep and if you're
anemic, you need the oxygen too.”

She looked at him questioningly.

“I was reading about it while you were
asleep. I won't bore you with what I learned, but tomorrow I'm going
to get you some iron pills, and some suitable groceries.”

She had to laugh. Only Dan could seriously call
groceries 'suitable'. “Now this I have to see. Do you even know
where the grocery store is?”

He shrugged and gave her his gorgeous smile. “I'm
a smart guy, and besides that's what GPS is for. Right now though,
you need more sleep. Think you can make it up the stairs?”

She probably could, but she didn't want to. She
wanted him to hold her again. She looked into his eyes. “Take
me?”

He scooped her up off the sofa and smiled at her.
“You know, until today I always thought it was kind of cheesy
when guys picked women up and carried them around.”

She looped her arms around his neck and rested her
head against his shoulder. “And now?”

He held her closer to his chest. “Now I get
it.” He grinned. “I really get it.” He climbed the
stairs easily and took her into her room where he gently placed her
on the bed. “Are you going to be okay?” He asked.

“I do feel better.”

“Good. I'll say goodnight then. I'll sleep
in the guest room, so knock on the wall if you need me.”

She held her arms up to him. “Stay with me
’til I go to sleep?”

He looked back over his shoulder. “What
about Scot?”

She didn't want him to go yet. “He rarely
comes out of his room at night. He wouldn't mind anyway. You're only
taking care of me.”

He bit his lip. Poor guy. She was probably being
cruel, asking him to lie in bed with her when there was nothing they
could do about it, but she couldn't help it. She just wanted to feel
him close as she went to sleep. He made her feel better. He made
everything feel better.

“Okay. But I'm going to wait in the guest
room. Tap on the wall when you're in bed.” His eyes twinkled.
“And make sure you've got the covers up to your chin before I
come back in here, okay?”

“Okay.”

By the time Missy had brushed her teeth and got
undressed, she was exhausted. She crawled into bed naked. She'd
thought she should find something to put on, but didn't have the
strength. She tapped on the wall and smiled when Dan tapped back. He
slowly opened the door.

“Are you decent?”

“Yep. All covered up.”

He came in and closed the door behind him. Tired
as she was, her body came alive as he sat on the edge of the bed and
pulled his shoes off. He lay down face-to-face with her and smiled
his gorgeous smile. She reached an arm out of the covers to stroke
his face, loving the feel of his stubbly beard under her fingers. His
eyes were like pools of melted chocolate, achingly beautiful. She
ached for him. She had thought her body had forgotten what desire
was, but it remembered alright. He covered her hand with his.

“Now that's not fair. You're supposed to
stay covered up. I can see naked shoulder and you have no idea what
you are doing to me.”

“Tell me?” She needed to hear that he
wanted her.

“I'll show you.” He brought her
fingers to his lips and kissed them. Then he touched them to the
pulse in his throat, it was beating wildly. “You're doing
this,” he murmured. He drew her hand to his chest, to feel his
heart hammering. He took her hand lower still and placed it over the
front of his pants. She could feel the heat of his erection. He was
hard as a rock, quite a big rock too! “This. This is what
you're doing to me, beautiful. It's what you always do to me. Have
done since the first time I saw you. And now you want me to lie here
and watch you go to sleep? Okay, I'll watch you. It will almost kill
me to watch and not touch, but it's what you want, so it's what I'll
do. I'm showing you what your body does to my body, but I want you to
understand something else, too. Miss, who you are, the woman you are
has the same effect on who I am, the man I am. I want to know you,
learn you, explore you. You make me a better man.” He smiled
and pressed her hand against the bulge in his pants, “You make
a me bigger man, and all of that is before we get to anything
physical. You're turning me upside down and inside out, Miss. Please,
for now, hurry up and go to sleep. So I can go back to wanting to
take care of you, and stop wanting to do less honorable things to
you.”

Missy felt tears prick behind her eyes. How could
he be so incredibly sweet and so incredibly sexy all at the same
time? “You're turning me upside down and inside out too, hero.
I want you. Right now I want nothing more than to get you under these
covers with me and start exploring those less honorable things.”
She stroked him through his pants and watched him close his eyes and
let out a deep breath. She reluctantly withdrew her hand. “Soon,
Dan. Soon you'll be a single man and hopefully by then I'll have the
strength to misbehave with you.”

His eyes flew open. “I am a single man! I
called Olivia while you were sleeping. She was giving me all kinds of
grief, Miss. I told her. We're done.”

“Oh.” Missy was filled with a rush of
emotions. He was single? Then they could? She struggled to free her
arms from the covers and wrapped them around his neck. “Then
what are we waiting for?”

He pulled back. “We're waiting for you to be
well.” She pressed herself against him through the covers, but
he shook his head. “You're not going to seduce me now. It
wouldn't be right. We can wait ’til you're feeling up to it.

She wrinkled her nose at him. “More excuses?
I'm starting to think you don't want me.” He caught her hand
and brought it back down to the front of his pants.