The CEO's Unexpected Proposal

Even back then, she’d kept her own counsel and was truly surprised about the rumor. “I had hoped Dawson would ask me to the prom. But when Carson asked me first, I accepted because I wanted to go so badly. I wanted to feel pretty and grown-up, like the popular girls. Dawson and I were friends and I didn’t think he thought of me that way—as a date. At least I didn’t think that until—” Uh-oh. She shouldn’t have let that slip.

“Until what?”

“Until the night of the prom.”

Mikala still remembered vividly exactly what had happened. The night had started off with her feeling almost glamorous in a pink chiffon dress with her aunt’s aurora borealis crystals around her neck and on her ears. She’d worn white silk high-heeled sandals and carried a beaded bag. Carson had picked her up and brought her a beautiful corsage. They’d struggled making small talk, but that had been okay. After all, they hadn’t known each other very well. After they’d arrived at the prom and danced a couple of dances, Carson had gone outside with his buddies for a while. Dawson, who’d been there by himself because his date had caught the flu, had asked her to dance.

With him standing before her, looking so handsome and grown-up, his gaze making her head swim, she’d thought about whether she should or shouldn’t dance with him. Even though she’d wanted to more than anything, she’d come with Carson. Yet other couples were mixing it up, exchanging partners, and there hadn’t seemed to be any harm in just one dance.

But the moment Dawson had taken her hand in his and wrapped his arm around her, she’d known this was a dance she was going to remember forever. Their gazes had met as he’d looked down at her, and they’d both smiled. He hadn’t said anything, just held her a little closer. She’d nestled into him as if she’d belonged there. In some ways the dance had seemed like a lifetime. In others it had only been a second long.

When Carson had returned to the cafeteria, she’d seen him the same time as Dawson. Their song ended and Dawson had given her hand a slight squeeze as he’d let go, almost as if he didn’t want to let go. Then she’d joined Carson at their table, smelling liquor on his breath. Despite her growing misgivings, she’d gone with him to his car. Wanting to feel accepted again?

What a stupid thing to do.

The flow of memory breaking, she looked at Celeste. “You know what happened with Carson that night.” Mikala glanced at Abby. She wasn’t going to say anything that little ears shouldn’t hear.

“You told me and Jenny the next day. You told us how Dawson rescued you and took you home.”

“And then he disappeared. I didn’t see or hear from him again until last summer at the reunion.” She and Jenny and Celeste had never talked about Dawson and what had happened. That had been in the past. Though the melody of the song they’d danced to had played in her head over the years, each time bringing back the vivid sensation of Dawson’s arms around her as they danced.

“All I heard was that his grandfather fell and his mom took Dawson with her to Wisconsin to take care of her father. Dawson’s grades were good enough without finals and the school mailed him his diploma. But he and his mom never came back,” Mikala mused.

“No, and his dad moved to Phoenix.”

“I wonder if that’s when his parents’ marriage broke up?”

“I guess,” Celeste responded. “Clay says Dawson never talks about that time. But eventually he moved to Phoenix with his dad, earned a business degree and became CEO of the company his dad had started.”

“Interesting,” Mikala mused.

“His life or him?” Celeste asked, with a twinkle in her eye.

Mikala thought about Dawson’s life and what he and Luke were going through. “Dawson’s still recovering from his wife’s death. And me? Well, you know trust is an issue for me.”

“It isn’t just trust, Mikala. You don’t think you’re sexy enough for a man to want you.”

Mikala nodded to Abby, but Abby was dipping her biscotti into her milk glass, slurping it up and then chewing on the cookie.

Finally Mikala admitted, “My last relationship proved it.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“I haven’t forgotten it.”

“That’s the problem. Maybe Dawson can help you forget about it.”

“Don’t go there,” Mikala warned.

Celeste just shrugged and sipped her tea.

That evening Mikala stood at the door to Dawson’s suite, not knowing whether she should be angry at her aunt or just amused by her. Mikala had had an early evening session and had come in to find her aunt putting together a dinner platter. She’d made sloppy joes, oven-baked potatoes and some kind of broccoli casserole with cheese. She’d handed the platter to Mikala and said, “Why don’t you take this up to Dawson? He’ll probably be glad not to have to go out again.”

“Aunt Anna—” Mikala wanted to start a conversation about why her aunt was doing this.

But always intuitive where her niece was concerned, her aunt had just patted her on the shoulder and said, “It’s just a friendly gesture, Mikala. Go on before it gets cold.”

Her aunt had done so much for her, Mikala couldn’t refuse her anything.

From the hall she spotted light under Dawson’s door and knocked lightly. But Dawson didn’t answer.

Go away, or not go away? The food on the plate was warm but wouldn’t stay that way long.

Since the door was slightly ajar—She wasn’t going to go inside unless he was right there.

Pushing the door open a little more, she saw Dawson was right there, stretched out on the sofa on his side, fast asleep. He was too tall for the couch. His head looked as if it was in an uncomfortable position on the sofa’s arm and he’d hunched a throw pillow under his shoulder. With his shoes off, he barely fit. She remembered what she’d thought when she’d first seen him at the reunion. He was a multimillionaire, the CEO of his own company, confident, charismatic, sexy. Now as she studied him, she saw a bit of the vulnerability he wanted no one to see, a hint of the boy she’d once known.

As if he could hear her thoughts, he opened his eyes and spotted her.

She felt as if she’d been doing something wrong. “Your door was open,” she said quickly. “Aunt Anna thought you’d like dinner. It’s hot, so I didn’t want to just take it back to the kitchen. I thought maybe you were watching TV and didn’t hear my knock.”

He levered himself up, ran his hand through his hair and motioned to the laptop on the coffee table. “I took some calls and worked for a while. Then I thought I’d just close my eyes for a couple of minutes before I got back to it.”

Crossing to the sofa, she sat down beside him, setting the food on the coffee table. She imagined he’d had lots of sleepless nights in the past few weeks, lots of days filled with worry and stress about Luke along with what he was going to do about his business, his work, and a new life in Miners Bluff.

“Maybe some food will get the juices flowing again.”

As soon as those words came out of her mouth, she knew she should have watched what she said more carefully. His eyes went deeper green with a simmering intensity she’d seen there before.

Yet he didn’t comment, just eyed the platter appreciatively. “Your aunt knows the way to a man’s heart. Her kindness is limitless.” He paused, thought about what he was going to say, and then obviously decided to say it. “I see that same kindness in you.”

For the second time in one day, she felt heat come to her cheeks. She never blushed. “Thank you. Go ahead and eat before it gets cold.” She would have risen to her feet, but he held her arm and she stayed where she was.

“Thank you.”

“I haven’t done anything yet.”

“You’re helping to make this transition easier. I called Dad when I came up here.”

“And?” she prompted.

“And … Luke is giving him all the reasons why he should stay with him instead of moving up here with me.”

“Oh, Dawson, that has to be so hard to hear.”

“I wouldn’t know. Luke won’t talk to me. What happens if he gets here and barricades himself in his room like he does at home?”

“I really don’t think that will happen. At least, not all of the time. We’ll have surprise on our side.”

“Surprise?”

She counted on children’s curiosity a lot of the time whether it was to try something new or just to coax them to talk. “He doesn’t know Anna and he doesn’t know me. Even the weather’s different here. Who can resist looking up to Moonshadow Mountain and Feather Peak? There will be plenty of things to interest him, and lots of people who can get through to him. His natural curiosity will help, too. I know things seem bad right now, but try to stay optimistic. Try to see all the things that will connect you to Luke rather than tear him away.”

Dawson was looking at her differently than he ever had before. She’d caught a glimpse of desire the night of the prom and the night of the reunion. But now, there was something behind that desire. Emotion? Feeling for her and a past they’d shared? That’s what caught her in its trap. That’s what took her by surprise. That’s what helped good sense flee and made “the moment” become all-important. As an adult the moment had never been all-important for her. She always analyzed the consequences. But Dawson kickstarted a passion she didn’t even know she possessed, without even a touch or a word or a kiss.

Suddenly he was murmuring, “Mikala, you’ve always been special to me. I always wondered what might have happened if I hadn’t left Miners Bluff.”

“What do you think would have happened?” she whispered, knowing this moment was important, not wanting to shatter it.

His hand went to the nape of her neck. “I think we would have dated. We might have gotten close.” He tipped her lips up to his. “And maybe …”

As Dawson’s mouth took possession of hers, she wrapped her arms around his neck and fell into the scent and feel of him. The kiss started slowly, like a wonderful melody that kept on playing. Then it changed verses as it increased in intensity, meandering into the refrain and began all over again. She’d always wondered what kissing Dawson would feel like. It was a symphony she never wanted to stop, a haunting ballad that reached down into her heart, making her feel emotions she’d never let surface.

Sudden need rose in her, sending fire into every part of her body. She didn’t even know the woman who was responding to the touch of his tongue … to the angle of his lips … to the deepening of their passion that left her totally without breath. She ran her hand through his thick, tawny hair. As his hands stroked up and down her back, she trembled.

Suddenly everything stopped—the new melody, the riot of sensations, the rippling adventure of wanting and being wanted in return.

He pulled away with a ragged oath and started shaking his head. “I never expected—” He stopped.

She didn’t give him a chance to say more. Somehow she managed to pull herself together, put distance between them and pretend she was perfectly all right.

“Enjoy your dinner,” she murmured as she fled to the door.

He called out to her, but she ignored him as she ran down the stairs, putting the moment behind her once and for all.

She hoped.

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