Dance Like Nobody's Watching (Summer Lake 3) (12 page)

Ben shrugged. “Don't worry about it.”

“No, I can't let you do it. I've been
thinking, once I'm back to work you can add an extra one here and
there and not pay me for them ’til we're even. And don't go
saying no.” She grinned at him. “I've decided, and you
know you can never win an argument with me.”

Ben looked uncomfortable.

“What?”

He looked at her, but didn't say anything.

“Okay. What's the problem?”

“I can't do it. You don't owe me anything.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No, Miss. You don't owe
me
anything.”

Oh, no. He wasn't saying.... “Not Dan?”

Ben nodded. “Yep. He already had it figured
out before I even knew what was going on with you. He told me what we
were going to do. I didn't have any choice. Not that I would have let
you work, had I known.” He gave her a shrewd look. “But
if it weren't for Dan, I doubt I would have known at all, would I?”

Missy frowned. She was filled with conflicting
emotions. She took care of her own business. She may struggle
sometimes, but she got by. She wasn't one to ask for help from
anyone, and she was proud of that. Dan had stepped in without being
asked. She wanted to feel angry with him, but she didn't. She felt
cared for, and that was a new one for her. She felt like she
shouldn't, but she liked it.

“And, Miss? I wouldn't give him a hard time
over it, if I were you.”

She smiled. “Don't worry. I won't. And don't
think I'm turning into a weak and needy damsel in distress, or
anything, but I kind of like it.”

Ben laughed. “I could accuse you of many
things, but I would never accuse you of that. You're the strongest
woman I know. Seems to me you and Dan bring out each other's hidden
qualities. He brings out your soft side. You bring out his strong
side. It's kinda cool.”

“And when did you get so smart about that
kind of thing? You never date anyone who's going to be here more than
two weeks.” She wanted to deflect the attention back onto Ben.
He'd hit the nail on the head about her and Dan and she needed some
time to think about it.

Ben shrugged. “I've seen too many people
ruin their lives, standing by a commitment that no longer works for
them. I choose to keep my own relationships short and sweet. I watch
people all the time get entangled in things that I can tell aren't
going to work out, I'd rather not do that.” He smiled. “Seems
there's been a run of good luck around here lately though. I don't
deny that good relationships happen too and I can spot ’em a
mile off. I knew Jack was what Em needed as soon as I saw them
together. I knew Pete had met his match when Holly came up here. I
believe you and Dan are headed down the same road. You’re good
for each other.”

Missy shook her head. “No. It's not like
that. We're just going to date for a while. I really like him, but
I'm under no illusions. We're at different places in life. He's like
the others—he's at the beginning of his life story. He'll find
a woman and settle down and have kids, all that good stuff. I'm
already half way through my life story. I am settled down, my boy's
ready for high school. There's no way I'd ever start back at diapers
now.”

“I'm not going to argue, Miss. I'm just
saying I think you're good together.”

Missy smiled. “I hope so.”

***

Dan hit the snooze button and pulled the covers
over his head. He didn't want to be awake. He wanted to get back to
his dream. He didn't want to be in his own bed. He wanted to be back
in Missy's bed, his hands full of her wonderful, round ass, his face
buried in her breasts. He wanted to feel her willing little body
beneath him, opening up to him when he finally.... His phone rang.
Damn! Without opening his eyes he patted around the nightstand ’til
his hand closed around the phone. He brought it under the covers to
his ear.

“Hello?”

“Good morning, Daniel. What time will you be
in the office? I think we need to talk, don't you?”

Olivia's voice grated on his nerves, but at least
it ensured he wouldn't have an uncomfortable boner to deal with.
She'd turned his morning wood into morning wouldn't. He bit back a
laugh at the thought.

“Can you hear me?”

Unfortunately. “Yes.”

“So. What time?”

“Whenever the hell I'm ready. What do you
want to talk about?”

“Us.”

“Olivia, there is no us. I was serious.
We're done.”

“We'll see about that when you come in.”

Jesus! Where did the woman get off? He supposed he
did at least owe her a conversation. He wasn’t going to let her
push him around though. Not anymore. “You can come to my office
at eleven thirty. Bye.” He hung up quickly. That would give him
plenty of time to shower and take care of some things around the
apartment. He wanted to go in and set up remote access to a couple of
his programs anyway. He could talk to Olivia while he was there.
After that, he wanted to pick up some textbooks for Scot. The kid had
taught himself a bunch of programming languages, but he'd picked up
some bad habits by learning everything online. He didn't want to
point them out. He wanted Scot to own the knowledge. Dan knew he'd
devour the textbooks if he left them lying around the RV. He smiled
to himself—as long as he made them look used first.

He went into the kitchen to make himself some
coffee. Uh-oh. He'd forgotten he'd used the last of it before he left
for Summer Lake. He checked the fridge—empty. Oh, well. He'd
pick up coffee and pastries from the coffee shop in the lobby before
he showered. He wasn't going to run around like an automaton doing
whatever Olivia had programmed him to do anymore. He pulled on some
sweatpants and a T-shirt and headed for the elevator.

***

“So. We really need you on board, Danny.”

He sat at his desk and stared at her. What had he
ever seen in this woman? She was good looking. Kind of. Attractive
might be a better word. But she was harsh, both her personality and
her looks. Even her hair was cut in straight lines. There was nothing
soft about her. He bit his lip to try to stop the smile that came at
the thought. Nothing soft and round, like beautiful little Missy.
Olivia must have thought the smile was for her.

“So. You agree, then?” Her own smile
was smug, not at all appealing.

“No. I don't. I told you when you first
raised the idea. I don't like Systech. I don't respect them. I don't
respect their work. And I don't want anything to do with them. Why
you chose to pursue it is beyond me. I will not work with them.”

“You'll have to.” Now the smile was
condescending. “When we merge with them, you'll have no choice.
We need you to toe the line so it all goes smoothly, Danny.”

“First of all, stop calling me that. Second,
we are
not
merging with them.”

“But we are. Had you bothered to come in
yesterday, as I asked you, you would have been part of the
discussion. But since you chose to hang out with your little friend
instead, we went ahead without you. The decision is made.”

“You have no authority to make any decisions
about Prometheus, let alone something like this.” He was
stunned by how out of control she'd gotten.”

“I know that, Danny. But Steven and Corey do
and they've agreed to it. With both of them on board, you're
outvoted. The merger
will
go ahead.”

How the hell had she talked them into it?
Actually, he could imagine how. Steven was the weaker twin; he
usually ended up doing what Olivia wanted. As for Corey, Dan had
suspected for a while that Olivia had been using her 'charms' to win
him over. It looked like she had succeeded. He needed to talk to them
both—without Olivia around. She smiled at him as if she
expected him to meekly accept her hijacking the company he and Steven
had built from nothing.

“I thought we could have dinner tonight.
Just the two of us and, you know,
celebrate.
” She gave
him what he supposed what meant to be a sexy look. It left him cold.

“No, thank you. I told you on the phone.
We're done.”

“Don't sulk, darling. It'll all work out,
you'll see.”

He gave her a grim smile. “Oh, it'll work
out alright.” Just not the way she was hoping. Dan stood and
headed for the door. “Excuse me.” He left her staring
after him and went in search of Steven.

*
**

“Either you buy me out, or I sell my shares
direct to Systech, then.” Dan couldn't believe what was
happening. Steven was standing firm that merging with Systech was the
right move. His sister apparently had some hold over him, but he was
denying it. He had admitted that Olivia had been sleeping with Corey
for weeks. The only feeling that aroused in Dan was disgust. While he
and Missy had resisted temptation, while he had refused to even kiss
a woman he really liked, Olivia had been screwing a guy she had often
made fun of, calling him ugly and dorky, just to get the deal she
wanted. He almost felt sorry for Corey. Almost. Except Corey was
supposed to be his friend, and he had been screwing the woman who was
still supposed to be his girlfriend.

Steven was blinking at him through his thick
glasses. “No! We do this together, Dan, like always.” He
looked horrified.

Dan shook his head sadly. “No. Not this. I
don't know how Olivia is controlling you, or why you're letting her,
but she's not controlling me. Not anymore. We always said we wouldn't
merge with anyone. Not unless we both agreed. Now Corey and Olivia
both have a say, but I didn't think that mattered, that it'd always
be the two of us making the big decisions together. But this?
Systech? You have to be kidding me? No way. If you're really
committed to this then it's the end of the road. I'm done.”

“You don't understand, Dan.”

“Damned straight, I don't! And you're not
going to tell me, are you?”

“I can't.”

Dan sat down opposite his old friend. “Steven,
you can. Whatever she's got on you, you can tell me. We can work this
out if we stick together, you and me, like we've always done.”

“I wish we could Dan. But she's my sister,
and our parents support her in this.”

“In what? Will you at least tell me what
this is all about?”

“I can't.”

“So you're telling me you're going to go
ahead and merge with Systech?”

Steven nodded.

“Even though it will mean the end of our
partnership?”

He nodded again.

“Okay, then. I'm out. Do you want to buy me
out, go into the merger stronger? Or should I just sell to them?”

“I'll have to ask Olivia.”

“Jesus, Steven! Really? I'm done. We can
handle this through attorneys.” Dan stood up. “And I'll
be using Leanne.”

“Leanne is the company attorney. Prometheus'
attorney, not yours.”

“We'll let her decide that, shall we? And
I'll be keeping the name too. You won't need the Prometheus identity
once you're taken over by Systech.” He didn't point out that
Steven was losing his own identity as his sister took him over. Dan
had been in danger of succumbing to that fate himself.

*
**

Dan handed his keys to the valet. It still amused
him that the guys in the parking garage took it in turns to have a
chance at driving his car. It was the one thing he was grateful to
Olivia for. Without her encouragement, he would never in a million
years have paid more for a car than many people paid for a house. The
black Lamborghini had been his dream car as a kid. He'd had a poster
of one on his side of the bedroom. Jack's side had been covered with
football players, cheerleaders and city skylines, but Dan just had
the Lamborghini. He'd told Olivia about it once, in an attempt to
talk about himself and his childhood. All she'd been interested in
was the fact that he liked an expensive, fast car. She'd insisted
that he owed it to himself, to his image and to the company, to
indulge his childhood dream. So he had. He still felt a little
self-conscious about it, but he wouldn't deny he loved it.

“You're home early, Mr. Dan.” The
valet grinned as he took the keys.

Dan returned the grin. “Yeah, it's time to
shake things up a bit, Billy.”

When he emerged from the elevator in the lobby,
the concierge greeted him. “Afternoon, Mr. Dan, how's things?”

“Changing for the better, I think, Herb. How
about you?”

“Doing great, son. It's good to see you
smiling. I'd say a smile like that has something to do with a lady?”
Herb raised an eyebrow.

“Two ladies, Herb. Getting rid of one and
hoping to get to know another.”

“Well, damn, son! Good for you. Sorry to say
it, but I never could warm to that Olivia.”

Dan smiled. “I know. It took me way too
long, but I finally understand why. I'm done with her. I'm free. I
think it's going to cost me my business, but you know what? Even that
may turn out to be a good thing.”

“Cost you your business?”

“Yeah, but that's okay. I can build another,
or do something different.”

Herb shook his head in wonder. “You're not
like the rest of ’em, are you?”

“I hope not, but I think for a while there,
I was starting to be.” Dan noticed one of his neighbors enter
the lobby. “Looks like you're about to get busy.”

The lady was bustling toward the desk with a list
in her hand. Herb rolled his eyes. “Wish me luck?”

“Yeah, looks like you'll need it. Good
luck.”

“You too, Dan.” Herb shot him a grin
before turning away to deal with Mrs. Emmersley.

Dan let himself into his apartment and looked
around. He wondered what Missy would make of this place. It was the
penthouse of one of the most prestigious buildings in town. Again,
Olivia had been the major influence in him buying it. He didn't love
it like he did his car though. The stark white walls and high
ceilings just emphasized how empty it was. How alone he was. Now
there was a novel thought! Being alone was one of his priorities. He
craved solitude most of the time. When he was with people he couldn't
wait to get away from them, back to his machines, to his code, to a
world that made sense to him. That had changed lately, though. He'd
always enjoyed being around Jack. Spending time with his brother had
never been the challenge spending time with other people was. Since
Jack had asked him to come up to Summer Lake to work with Scot, he'd
discovered that he didn't mind, in fact he enjoyed, spending time
with the people there. He'd liked Pete since he first met him. He
must have been about fifteen then—no wonder he felt like
another brother. Ben was becoming a real friend too, as was Smoke,
the Phoenix pilot with whom he'd been spending quite a bit of time.
Even the women up there were cool. Jack's new wife, Emma was great,
and Pete's fiancée, Holly was fun. They didn't make him feel
uncomfortable like most women did. They weren't bossy or gossipy.
They made sense.