Dance Like Nobody's Watching (Summer Lake 3) (31 page)

He brought his lips to her ear. The feel of his
words against her skin had her clinging to him, just to stay upright.
“I keep telling you, beautiful. You've gotta dance like
nobody's watching.”

She looked deep into his big brown eyes. She was
starting to think he was trying to tell her something whenever he
said that. “What does that mean to you, Danny? To most people
it just means don't be afraid to act like a goofball if you're having
fun. That doesn't sit right with you though.”

His gaze was so soft. “You're right. It does
mean something different to me. It's more about being brave enough to
do what you really want to do. Even if it doesn't fit what everyone
expects of you. Even if it doesn't fit what you would expect of
yourself. When I was a junior in high school, we had a formal dance.
I really wanted to go. No one expected me to go, or to be able to
dance. I was making myself miserable, cos I wanted to go, but I
thought I'd mess up and make a fool of myself if I did. I made myself
so miserable that Jack was worried about me. When he found out what
was wrong, he told me I needed to figure out a way to do what I
really wanted to. He helped me. He went to all kinds of dance
classes, cos I was too shy to go. He would come home and teach me
what he'd learned in this big old barn near the house.”

Missy smiled at the thought of Dan and Jack as
boys, dancing together. “Did you go to the dance?”

“Yeah, and a lot of the girls wanted to
dance with me. I was that good by then. The point is, I wanted
something that it didn't seem logical for me to want. Dancing didn't
seem to fit with who I was, but I wanted it anyway. Once I stopped
trying to only do the things a guy like me is supposed to do and
started doing what I wanted to, I got good at it. It changed my life.
I learned about confidence and I learned about trusting myself. I
believe I became a better person, because I became a stronger person.

She smiled as he closed his hands tighter around
her ass.

“Being with you is the same thing, Miss. I
wanted you so badly, even though on paper we don't make any sense. I
wanted you anyway. I didn't think I was the kind of guy who could
fall in love with a woman and start hoping and dreaming about
forever. Once I stopped focusing on who I thought I was supposed to
be and started going after what I really wanted, that's exactly what
happened.”

She drew his head down ’til his lips were an
inch away.

“I love you, Missy. Please be my forever,”
he murmured before his mouth came down on hers.

There was nothing clueless about his kiss. He
explored her mouth, tongues tangling. They clung to each other as
they kissed. And danced. Like no one was watching.

***

When they returned to the table, Emma gave Missy a
big hug.

“It's so good to see you enjoying yourself!
You don't have nearly enough fun anymore.”

“It's true,” said Ben. “I
remember the days you girls used to dance on the bar. Not seen you do
anything like that in years, Miss.”

Missy took Emma's arm and looked around the table.
“Well, there's another tradition that needs to be reinstated.
Holly, Laura, care to join us?”

Holly leapt to her feet. Laura wasn't far behind.
This would be fun. When Ben had redone the upstairs as a function
room, he'd left the old bar that ran along one wall in place. On
their way over to it, Missy stopped where the band was taking a break
and had a word with Chase. He grinned and nodded and talked to the
others.

Missy kicked her shoes off before climbing up on
the bar and turning to help Emma. Once Holly and Laura had joined
them up there, she gave Chase the thumbs up. Since most of the
partygoers were looking at the band, no one but the guys noticed them
at first. Missy was glad of it as she struggled to find her balance
and her rhythm as the first song started. Soon though she was dancing
and laughing happily with her friends.

As the band launched into the next song, Chase
spoke into his microphone. “It's great to play a party where
the birthday girl knows how to have fun.” He pointed over at
them. Heads turned and people started laughing and applauding. Soon
quite a crowd had gathered around them, with the guys at the front.
Pete pawed at Holly's legs as she danced, making a big show of
looking up her skirt. Missy laughed, those two just could not keep
their hands off each other. She found Dan, leaning against one of the
pillars, arms and legs crossed as he watched her. She could honestly
say, she'd never seen a man look so much in love. And he was in love
with
her
! As the song came to an end, she held out her arms to
him. He came and reached up to close his hands around her waist,
effortlessly lifting her down. When she touched the floor his arms
closed around her, but before he could kiss her, Jack's hand came
down his shoulder.

“Wanna show 'em how we do it in Texas, bro?”

She saw Dan's face light up. He pecked her lips
then vaulted up onto the bar. Jack followed him, laughing.

Ben came pushing through the crowd. “What
you waiting for, Hemming? Get your ass up there!” he called to
Pete as he joined Dan and Jack. Smoke and Michael joined them and
soon Missy's sides were aching from laughing at them clowning around
up there.

“It's okay fellas.” Chase shouted
mid-song, when Pete made like he was about to start stripping. “You
can leave your hats on, we don't need a full Monty!”

When the band started to play Wagon Wheel, Missy
saw Dan and Jack exchange a look and Dan tipped his hat further down
over his eyes. The two of them tucked their thumbs into their pockets
and started to mark out steps in perfect time with each other.

“Oh, my goodness!” cried Emma. “They
can line dance!”

Missy couldn't believe her eyes as Chance pushed
through the crowd and vaulted on to the bar to join Dan and Jack.
He'd been lurking most of the night, avoiding attention, and now here
he was dancing on the bar, with everyone in the place watching. The
three of them were all tall, dark, and handsome, looking like a
girl's cowboy fantasy come true! The others had climbed down and left
them to it. Dan's gaze held hers as he peeked out from under the brim
of his hat.
Damn
! She'd be making him dance like this for her
again. Hopefully shirtless! As the song came to an end, the crowd
around them cheered and wolf-whistled. Chance tipped his hat, jumped
down and seemed to melt into the crowd.

Missy started toward Dan, but a dark haired woman
got there before her. Hands on her hips, she looked up at him on the
bar.

“Daniel! What do you think you're doing?”

Missy was stunned. Who the hell was she? She
looked familiar for some reason. Oh. She was the woman from the salon
this morning. Dan's face was still, giving away no clues as to what
he was thinking.

“This is a private party. You need to
leave.”

“I'm not going anywhere until you come with
me. We need to talk.”

“We have nothing to talk about, Olivia.”

Missy looked around. The whole gang was watching
and listening to the exchange.

“Actually we do. Now get down and stop
making a fool of yourself.”

Missy wasn't going to let this bitch talk to him
like that! She stepped forward. “Like he said, this is private
party.
You
are the one making a fool of yourself, and you need
to leave!”

Olivia gave her another one of those venomous
looks. This morning it had stunned her, now it just made her good and
mad.

“Actually
you
are about to make a
fool of
yourself.
You see he's not going to walk away from his
company, or from me when he hears what I have to say.”

Dan sat down on the edge of the bar. “Olivia,
I already have. Weeks ago.”

“Danny, we really need to talk. I know you
needed a little break, but just wait ’til you hear the deal
I've managed to get you with Systech. You need to come home, with me.
Back to your life. You're not being fair to her.” She looked at
Missy as though she were something she'd scraped off her shoe. “The
poor thing actually believes her friends.” She sneered at Emma
and Holly. “That you want to marry her. If she can believe
that, she really doesn't know you at all, does she? You'll never
marry her. She can't give you anything, certainly not what I can.”
Missy was stunned by the self-satisfied look Olivia gave her.

Dan seemed to explode. He jumped down from the bar
and stood toe to toe with Olivia, his fists balled at his sides. “No!
See that's where you're wrong.
You
don't know me. You never
even wanted to know me. All you were interested in was what I could
do for you. How much I could make that you could take. It's
you
that can't give me what
she
can.”

“Don't be ridiculous, Daniel! What could
she
ever give you?”

“Something you wouldn't understand, Olivia.
Love. See, Missy does know me, she understands me and she cares about
me. And I know her.”

Missy felt her insides melting as his gaze found
hers and held it as he spoke.

“I understand her, and I love her.”

Olivia's harsh, brittle laugh sliced through the
magic. “Don't be ridiculous, Daniel! You don't know what love
is!”

Missy wanted to throttle her, but Dan silenced her
much more effectively. His beautiful smile spread across his face as
he came and put an arm around Missy.

“I'll grant you, Olivia, that when I knew
you, I didn't know what love was. It took meeting Missy and Scot for
me to find out. And to discover that I'm capable of loving deeply. I
owe you my thanks. If you hadn't tried to screw me over the way you
did, I might have spent my whole life believing that love was some
strange emotion that other people felt, but not me. Your scheming set
me free and allowed me to explore what I feel for Missy, to discover
that I love her with all my heart and soul.”

“Oh, how touching!” Olivia sneered at
Missy. “Believe me, he doesn't know what love is. You might be
keeping him happy in bed, for now, but you could never make him happy
long term. He'll come back to me when he realizes what it will cost
him not to. Sex and infatuation can't compare to the life he could
have with me.”

Dan's voice was low and firm when he spoke again.
“You're talking as if I'm like you, someone with superficial
values who cares more about how much things cost than how they feel.
Someone who values money more than love.”

“Stop talking as if you know what love is.
It doesn't suit you!”

“Oh, but I do know what love is, and it does
suit me. I'm new to it, yes, but I learn fast. What I've learned is
that when you love someone, making them happy is all you can think
about. You can't wait to see them, to be with them, to make them
smile. But it's so much more than that, too. When you love someone,
you see them and accept them for who they are. And you see yourself
for who you are. You want to become a better person, so you can be
what they need.” His arm tightened around Missy's shoulders.
“You want to share everything you are, and everything you have,
with them. You want them to share everything they are with you. You
want to be perfect, but you know you're not. Then you look in their
eyes, and you know that they see you as perfect. Perfect for them.
Just as they are perfect for you. Missy loves me the way I am, with
all my flaws. She loves me because she sees inside and likes what she
sees. And I love her, she is my perfect. I see inside, to the heart
of gold that would do anything for anyone. It makes me want to be the
one who does everything for her. She's as beautiful on the inside as
she is on the outside. I don't expect you to understand, Olivia.”

Missy's heart overflowed as he looked down at her,
his face as earnest as she'd ever seen it. “I need
you
to
know, that's how I feel. That's what you mean to me.”

“Pathetic!” Missy was barely aware of
Olivia turning and stalking away. She was too busy drowning in big
brown eyes full of love.

Dan looked around at everyone staring at him.
Everyone was staring, but no one spoke. He was a little shocked at
having poured out his feelings like that, for everyone to hear.
Shocked but kind of proud of himself, too. He looked back down at
Missy. At least he hadn't been wrong. Her eyes were liquid silver,
her face glowing with what even he knew was love.

Chance stepped forward, his arm around Scot's
shoulders. The two of them grinning at him.

He winked. “Now would be a great time,
brother.”

Chance was right. Dan took a deep breath. He'd
just claimed to know what love was. Claimed that he loved Missy, and
that he wanted to become a better man for her. What better way to
show it than right here, right now, with all their friends looking
on? He smiled as he turned to face her. He took hold of her hand and
slid his other inside his pocket to get the little box Laura had
given him earlier.

Missy's eyes grew big as he got down on one knee
in front of her.

“I just told you, and everyone else, how
much I love you and what I think love is. I need you to know how much
I want to spend my whole life loving you. And Scotty.” He
glanced over to where Scot was grinning and nodding at him. “The
two of you are my home and my family. You already are my perfect,
Miss. Say you'll be my forever? Will you marry me?”

He held his breath as she stared down at him. She
didn't say a word for what felt like minutes. His head started to
fill with white noise. He could feel the blood pounding in his
temples. Was she going to say no?

“Oh, Danny.” She wrinkled her nose.

Oh, shit!
She was going to say no!

“
Yes!
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! I love
you, hero! I don't quite believe this, but yes!”