Dance Like Nobody's Watching (Summer Lake 3) (30 page)

Missy was horrified. She loved his scruff. He was
gorgeous clean-shaven, but there was something even sexier about him
stubbly. “Please don't! You look like
you
with your
stubble. You look like you're trying to be someone else when you
shave it off.”

There went his beautiful smile again. “I'm
so glad you get it. That's how it feels to me, too.”

She smiled back at him, looking into those big
brown eyes.

“Enough sappiness guys!” said Scot.
“Are you going to put your angel costume on so we can see it?”

“No. You're going to go take a shower and
put your cowboy clothes on. I'll see you downstairs.”

She really wanted to walk down that grand
staircase in her costume and see their faces.

“Come on, champ,” said Dan. “She's
not going to show us ’til we're ready. Let's go get you that
hat, and get showers.”

Scot grinned. “I'm going to be cool as a
cowboy, Mom. Dan's letting me wear one of his hats to go with that
shirt you got me.”

“I know. I can't wait to see. You go get a
move on, while I finish up here.”

Scot went off to take his shower and Dan came to
stand behind her chair. He bent to drop a kiss on her shoulder, then
met her gaze in the mirror. “It's going to be a great night,
Miss.”

It would be a great night, even if she never moved
from this spot. She could lose herself in those eyes for hours! “It
is. I'm so looking forward to it.”

“Not as much as I am,” he said with a
mysterious smile. He dropped another kiss on her neck, leaving her
with hot shivers racing down her spine as he turned and left.

***

Dan stood in the hallway with Scot, waiting for
Missy to appear. He felt more comfortable than he would have ever
believed he could be going to a party. Everything about this felt
right. It was all for Missy. He was going with her and Scot. They
would spend the evening hanging out with people whose company he
enjoyed. No one would give him a hard time if he didn't say much, yet
with them, he found he usually did have something to say. He was
comfortable in his own skin these days. He was definitely comfortable
in these clothes. He'd brought them with him when he'd driven back
from San Jose. He was wearing black jeans and a black denim shirt,
and these black boots were the comfiest he'd ever owned. He'd dug out
an old silver belt buckle too and had brought another one for Scot.
He'd been a little surprised by the shirt Missy had bought for the
kid to wear—a plaid thing that had made him look more like a
hillbilly than a cowboy. He'd bought one himself at a big outfitters
outlet store on his drive back to the lake. He smiled at Scot now,
the shirt was almost the same as his own, and Scot loved it. He'd
gotten him some boots too, so now the two of them were dressed almost
identically. The kid was thrilled.

“Are you nearly ready yet, Mom?”

“Nearly,” Missy shouted down the
stairs. “My halo's all wonky!”

Dan smiled to himself. “I'd leave it,”
he shouted. “A straight one wouldn't suit you anyway.”

He heard her laugh. She sounded so happy. He
looked up and his breath caught in his chest as she appeared at the
top of the stairs. She looked more beautiful than he'd ever seen her.

“Wow, Mom!” he heard Scot sa.

He couldn't find any words of his own as he
watched her come down the stairs. Her outfit was shorter than
anything he'd seen her wear before. She might be small, but she had
the longest legs. The outfit was a shimmery gold color. It clung to
her, showing off her plump breasts. Little wings peeked over her
shoulders and when she turned, he saw a barley covered, shimmery gold
backside. He shifted his hands in his pockets. The feelings she was
arousing were far from angelic.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she
smiled at them. “Now that's what I call a pair of good-looking
cowboys!”

Dan grinned. He couldn't drag his eyes away from
her breasts. “Now that's what
I
call a pair of....”

She slapped his arm and pointed at her eyes with a
laugh. “I warned you, cowboy! Up here!”

He met her gaze with a smile. “Sorry,
beautiful.”

“Hey, Mom! Do you like my shirt? It's the
same as Dan's. He got it for me.”

Dan had been concerned that she might be cross
with him about it.

“I love it, son. It's miles better than the
one I found. You look great.”

Dan felt his heart expand in his chest as she
looked back at him. “So do you, Danny. Just great!”

From the look in her eyes and the way she looked
in that outfit, he would gladly have forgotten all about the party.
The way her halo tipped over to one side, it seemed to be teasing him
to find out how naughty a beautiful little angel could be.

“Can we go now?” asked Scot, pulling
Dan and Missy back into the moment.

He gave her a regretful smile. “I think we
better, while we still can.”

Scot threw a puzzled look back over his shoulder
as he headed for the door. Missy took Dan's hand and squeezed it. She
knew what he'd meant.

Dan sat out on the upper deck of the Boathouse.
The party was off to a good start. Missy was inside catching up with
some of her old school friends. He'd stayed by her side and she'd
introduced him to them, but she'd sensed his discomfort. She'd made
it easy for him, like she always did. Instead of making him stay,
which he would have done for her, she'd asked him if he'd mind
leaving them alone for some girl-talk. He'd gratefully obliged.

Chance appeared out of the shadows at the top of
the back steps up to the deck. Dan grinned. He'd wondered whether
Chance would really come.

“Hey, Dan.” He came and sat down at
the picnic bench. “How's it going?”

“It's going great. She's happy.”

Chance nodded. “She is. It's not just the
party that's making her happy though. It's you.”

Dan was relieved that Chance was articulating his
approval. “Your dad gave me his permission to ask her. I'd like
yours too.”

Chance looked him in the eye. “That's not
how it works. You don't need my permission.”

Dan shrugged. “Technically no, I don't need
it. I'm asking because I
want
it. What do you say?”

Chance smiled, the tension completely gone from
his face for once. “I say you've got it. My permission if you
want it, but you've also got something more than that.”

Dan was puzzled. “What's that?”

“My respect. I told you, in my book respect
is earned, not just given. Watching you this last week, seeing you
with Miss, and with Scot, you've earned my respect, Dan. I'll be
proud to call you brother, not just bro.”

Dan nodded. He had no words that could come
anywhere near expressing how much that meant to him.

Ben came to the table with a bucket of beer.
“Thought you might be needing these.” He looked at
Chance. “And I thought you might want a heads up that the gang
are on their way. Pete and Holly just arrived with Michael. I saw
Jack's truck pulling in, so that's him, Emma, Smoke, and Laura. And a
few of your old buddies are downstairs, talking about coming up when
it fills up a bit.”

Dan saw Chance glance back towards the dark
stairway from where he'd appeared. Dan of all people understood the
desire to escape from too much company.

Chance caught his eye. “Are you going to do
it tonight?”

He nodded.

“In that case.” Chance plucked a
bottle from the bucket. “Thanks for the warning, Ben, but I'm
not going anywhere.”

Ben grinned. “Glad to hear it. I'll catch up
with you in a little while.”

Once Ben had gone, Dan said, “I might not
ask her ’til we get home. I don't know what to do yet. I don't
want you to stick around for that, and then me not have the nerve to
ask her here.”

Chance shook his head. “Doesn't matter to me
when you ask her. It's not that I need to see it. I just know tonight
is going to be one of the happiest nights of her life. I want to be a
part of it. Have her remember that, for once in her life, I was part
of something good. I was there.”

Dan nodded. He could understand that.

***

“Damn, Miss! Look at you,” exclaimed
Jack as he leaned down to hug her. “Happy Birthday! You look
great. Though I have to say, angels looking like you could get devils
in trouble!”

Missy laughed as Emma pushed him away so she could
get a hug herself. “Hey, hon. You look great.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Thanks, but I look
good
. You
look great. As the size of my husband's eyes
proves!”

Jack hung his head and gave Emma a sad puppy dog
look. “Am I in trouble, baby?”

Emma laughed. “Not at all. In fact, why
don't you stay here and admire Missy's costume a while longer?”
She was looking over Jack's shoulder as she spoke. “I've just
seen your brother and I need to go say hello.”

“To Dan?” asked Jack, looking behind
him.

“I think she means
my
brother,”
said Missy with a laugh as Emma disappeared into the crowds who had
started to arrive.

Jack's face was a picture as Emma caught Laura by
the arm and led her out to the deck. Once there she pecked Dan's
cheek and then threw herself into Chance's arms.

Jack turned back to Missy. “I think I
preferred it when she was running scared!”

Missy laughed. “We both know you don't mean
that. You love that she's got her confidence back, and you're the one
that gave it to her.”

He grinned. “I know. It is great.” He
glanced back to where Emma was clinging to Chance's arm as she gazed
at him adoringly. “But it does ding the old ego a bit to see
that. I mean, we're all dressed up as cowboys, and some of us can
pull it off, but your brother there is the real deal.”

Missy shook her head at him. “It'd take more
than that to dent your ego, Jack. And look, Dan isn't daunted by him.
In fact, the two of them have really hit it off.”

Jack nodded. “Isn't that cool?”

Missy nodded happily. “You have no idea how
cool that is for me, and looking at the two of them together, you'd
think they'd both come straight off the ranch. You Benson boys must
have some cowboy in your blood somewhere, cos you can both pull it
off. Unlike
you!
” She turned to Pete who had just joined
them with Holly at his side, and Michael and Smoke in their wake.

Pete's eyebrows came down. “Unlike me what?
What have I done now?”

“It's what you've not done, Hemming,”
said Missy with a laugh. “I'm just saying you're not cowboy
enough.”

Holly put a hand on Pete's shoulder and waggled
her eyebrows. “Oh, he's cowboy enough, Miss. Why do you think
we're late?”

Pete wrapped an arm around Holly. “Yeah, my
fiancée is thinking about starting a 'Save a Horse' campaign!”

Missy put her hands over her ears and started to
hum loudly.

Jack laughed. “Enough already! We don't need
to know!”

Holly laughed and tugged at Pete's hand. “Come
on. Let's go meet Missy's brother. See if we can get you any tips
from a
real
cowboy. Catch up with you later, Miss.”

After making the rounds a couple of times, Missy
needed to sit down for a while. She was loving the party, loving the
attention. She really did feel like the birthday girl in her costume,
she'd had so many compliments about how good she looked. What she
loved most was finding Dan watching her whenever she'd looked outside
to where the gang was sitting. The way he'd catch her eye and give
her an encouraging smile. They'd had to pull two of the picnic tables
together out there to make room for everyone. As usual, Dan was
sitting on the end and she headed straight for him. Chance, who was
sitting next to him, shifted up to make room for her to sit between
them. She happily slid in between her two favorite men. She was very
pleasantly surprised when Dan turned to sit sideways and folded both
his arms around her.

“Are you having fun, beautiful?”

She nodded and leaned against him. “How
about you, are you doing okay?” She knew this wasn't exactly
his comfort zone, but he did seem to be enjoying himself.

“Couldn't be happier,” he murmured
into her hair.

She turned to look up at him inquiringly.
“Honestly?”

He smiled. “Well, honestly, I'm hoping I
will be even happier later.” He rubbed his nose against hers.
“But that will depend on you.”

The tingly excitement rippled through her as she
thought of ways she could make him even happier later.

“What do you say, Miss?” asked Ben.
“Do we need to reinstate this as an annual tradition?”

Missy nodded. “I'd love to. What do you all
think?”

“Definitely!” said Emma.

“You can put my name down for next year,”
said Smoke.

Missy smiled at him. He seemed like a good guy,
and was certainly easy on the eye. She hoped he and Laura might hit
it off, if they ever got the opportunity to spend some time alone
together.

“If you're coming, then maybe we should make
it pilots and flight attendants,” said Holly.

“Can we stick with cowboys and angels?”
asked Chance. “That way I can enjoy the views
and
feel
at home.”

Dan laughed and held Missy a little tighter. “That
one gets my vote too. In fact....” He cocked his head to listen
as the band played the first few chords of a new song. “They're
playing it now. Come dance with me?”

Missy took hold of his hand and followed him out
onto the dance floor. She looped her arms around his neck and smiled
up at him. He rested his hands at her waist. As she pulled him
closer, his hands slipped down and closed around her ass cheeks. She
looked up at him, shocked.

His eyes twinkled. “It's the only place to
put them, Miss. I don't want to damage your wings.”

She couldn't help but smile back at him. He looked
so pleased with himself. Her eyes widened as he held her closer,
pulling her against his arousal. “Dan! Everyone can see!”