Executive Decision: A Romance Novel

by Mandy M. Roth

  Stunned, I nodded.

  “How dare you speak to me that way?” Margaret asked, appearing in the doorway. She glared at me. “If you think I’m going to let him give you that ring he came rushing in here with today you’re mistaken.”

  Paige yelped. “Ring? Dale, you did it? You bought a ring for Liz?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly at me. “It was the errand I had to run today, Liz. I’ve been looking for one for you for the longest time. I found the perfect one around your birthday but, umm, we weren’t really in a place I could ask you and have you say yes.”

  “We’re still not,” I bit out.

  He nodded. “I know I fucked things up. I wouldn’t have subjected you to my mother if I had known she’d turn on the woman I love most in the world. I thought that if she loved me, even a little bit, she’d find it in her heart to love you too. I know my dad wants us together. Hell, he yelled at me for not having you down the aisle four years ago when you surprised him with a homemade birthday cake.” Dale snickered. “He’s been pushing so hard for me to take over his company because he wants me to marry you and start a family. He wants to know that his grandchildren will want for nothing—he wants to know we’ll want for nothing, Liz.”

  I opened my mouth to offer something. Nothing came out.

  Paige poked me in the ribs. “Tell the boy you love him too.”

  Margaret stared at Dale and then looked at me. “Is what Betsy said true? Did Baum try to give you a diamond necklace that could make any woman jealous and you refused to take it?”

  “Wait.” Dale glared at her. “You knew Liz turned down his gifts yet you called her a rich man’s whore?”

  She made a move to touch him and he jerked back. “No. Look at her, Mother. I love her. I’ve spent eight years waiting for her wake up and see me the way I see her. She finally has. Eight years of thinking it would be the day she came home to tell me she was in love with someone else. Eight years of trying to look like I cared about seeing other women when all I could do was think about her. Eight years of being scared to push for something more because I sensed something there, something Elizabeth was hiding. No one is that commitment phobic without a reason.”

  Did he know about Dakota?

  I froze.

  “Pierce ... umm ... Dale, I don’t think I can make this right. I can’t erase what I said.” Margaret glanced at me, tears filled her eyes. “You win.”

  I sighed. “This isn’t a contest. You’re his mother. If I ever have children, they will be loved the same way my mom loves me, unconditionally. And my daddy knows that no man will ever take me from him. Though, he keeps trying to give me to Dale. Don’t ask.”

  “If you change your mind about marrying my son, will you sign a prenuptial agreement, assuring that you can’t leave him high and dry?”

  “Mother, no. I’m not asking Liz to sign anything. Stop....”

  I put my hand up as tears came to my eyes. “Margaret, I walk around, scared to comment on something I like or to tell him that my feet are cold because he goes out and spends ridiculous amounts of money if I do. All I wanted to do was sit close to him, eat breakfast and watch it rain--I didn’t want a table out of it. I wanted Dale. Just Dale. He pretends like he doesn’t care that it’s raining, but loves it when it storms. I know he does. He wakes up at night and sits near the window, watching it as best he can from that spot. I think about what he’d do if he had the chance to sit on my parents’ front porch and watch from there. Watch it over the fields. I don’t think--buy me a table. I’ll sign anything because all I want from him, is him.”

  Margaret teared up too. “Dale, would you hug the girl before I’m forced to do it. Paige doesn’t look safe to walk next to yet,” she said with a tiny laugh. “Go.”

  He picked her up and kissed her cheek. “I love you.”

  She laughed and wiped her cheeks. “Go get her.”

  “I intend to.” He rushed towards me and had me locked in his arms and his lips pressed to mine before I could blink.

  Paige giggled and gave us a little shove backwards into the open elevator. She didn’t join us. Dale and I kissed, our tongues mating, as we held each other close, savoring the feel.

  The elevator door opened and Dale lifted me off my feet enough to walk us forward without breaking our kiss. The minute he pressed my back against a cool wall, I couldn’t help but laugh. Pulling back, I stared into his green eyes. “I can’t believe you called your mother a bitch.”

  Dale laughed. “I’m still in shock that you not only called my dad Eddie but got a hug out of it.”

  I shrugged.

  Dale walked in front of me and pulled me back towards the entrance of the building. He drew me close to him. “Woman, you are almost as tall as me in those shoes.”

  “I know.”

  “You look beautiful.”

  I slouched slightly and felt my cheeks flush. “Dale.”

  Kissing the tip of my nose, he laughed softly. “Well you do. Mmm, thanks for coming.”

  “I thought you wouldn’t want me here. I mean, you did leave on bad terms.”

  Dale nodded and leaned back against the cream wall. A rather gaudy white marble statue of a half of a column stood next to him. “I handled the Charles thing bad. Liz, it took everything I had not to break his neck. Do you know that I opened the door and saw him grabbing your ass? I wanted to kill him.”

  I was shocked. I had no idea Dale had come out at all. “What stopped you?”

  “I don’t know. You, I guess. I knew how upset you’d be with me if I started a fight with him. I went back in our room and just stood there, clutching the door handle as he said all of those things. When he asked you not see me again I honestly thought you’d agree.”

  My mouth dropped. “You thought I’d say yes?”

  Dale blinked slowly as he sighed. “I thought you would say yes to being with Charles before you would say that you believed I used you for what I wanted and was now done.”

  Yeah, he would catch that too. Wonderful.

  “Can you blame me for thinking that? Did you notice how you were behaving?”

  Dale thumped his head against the wall twice. “I really did have to do something today. We’ll talk about it later. And, yes, it did come up suddenly.”

  The ring.

  I turned my head slightly and narrowed my eyes. “What about not touching me and keeping a four foot distance after ... you know.” I didn’t want anyone in his parents building to overhear me saying after you fucked me on the floor. It seemed a little crude. Could just be me though.

  Dale chuckled and drew me into his chest. He whispered softly for only me to hear, “Liz-B, I’d already failed to control myself long enough to get you into bed. If I touched you again I’d have taken you were you stood. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m having issues controlling certain parts of me as we speak. That’s why I stayed back two feet not four. Get it right.”

  Paige coughed. “I’m here now so stop being gross. Liz, I don’t mean to be a party pooper here but you’ve got a plane to catch.”

  My eyes widened. “Shit. I do.”

  “A plane? We don’t leave until tomorrow morning.”

  I shook my head. “We aren’t going, Dale. I need some time to think.”

  “Liz? I thought we were okay, now.”

  I smiled. “We both need some time to think.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  I bent over to catch my breath for a minute. I pulled my skintight, boy cut running shorts down a bit and adjusted my sports bra. Glancing down, I just stared at the ground for a minute. It was odd to see green grass. I was so used to sidewalks that I couldn’t help but reach out and touch it. I’d gotten in late last night and still couldn’t believe I was really home.

  “Liz, are you petting the grass?”

  People seemed to be asking me petting questions a lot lately.

  “No, I’m not, Cindy. I just don’t get to see a lot of it unless I’m in Central
Park. It’s not everywhere like it is here in Ohio.” I stood slowly and gave her an evil fake stare.

  She put her hands in the air and laughed. “As scary as ever I see.”

  Adjusting my baseball cap, I winked at her and moved my legs around a bit. “Do you want to go the rest of the way with me or is this just like old times?”

  Cindy smoothed a piece of sweat soaked dark red hair back from her pale face and rolled her blue eyes before putting her cap back on. “I have no desire to kill myself, especially since we’re going out tonight to meet up with everyone. You’re going to be dead tired if you go anymore. We’ve been running for almost an hour as it is.”

  I coughed slightly and nodded. “I’ll be fine. Where the hell is Sara? Didn’t she say she’d meet us?”

  “She’s still chronically late. If you would have given us a heads up that you wanted to do this, I’d have made sure she was ready to go. You flew in, hugged everyone at home and tossed a pair of running shoes on. I’d say that spells issues that you don’t want to deal with. Like the Dale guy you were telling me about. But what do I know? I’ve only been your friend since we were four.”

  Reaching down, I grabbed a handful of grass and tossed it at her. She immediately went for the nearest maple tree and started jumping in the air to get leaves from a low branch. At five foot three, she wasn’t getting them anytime soon.

  I walked over and pulled the branch down closer to her. “Here.”

  “Show off!”

  “It’s not my fault you’re vertically challenged.”

  Cindy tore several deep green leaves from the tree and tried to fling them at me. They blew away in the slight breeze. “Damn. I may be short but at least I’m not relationship challenged.”

  “We can’t all be perfect.” I nodded towards Main Street and smiled. “Come on, I’ll jog you home.”

  “Aren’t you sweet?”

  We set out for the road. It was a doublewide street that had maple trees lining both sides of it. The entire town looked as though it was caught in a bizarre time warp. It was still safe to leave your doors unlocked at night and everyone knew everyone.

  Cindy pointed towards town square, a large square the size of a city block that had a gazebo, several circular white picnic tables and a large fountain. Since the town celebrated anything and everything, the place was used a lot. It also held a lot of good memories for me.

  A big red Ford-150 drove past blaring classic rock. The occupant rolled his window down and began to whistle. “Who is the hot set of legs with you, Caros?”

  Cindy shook her head. “Zachary never quits. Though, I’m guessing he doesn’t recognize you. He hasn’t seen you since you were sixteen. He joined the service then.”

  I almost fell when I realized the sexy, onyx haired stud in the truck was her brother. “What happened to him?”

  Cindy laughed and grabbed my arm. “Don’t fall over. Zach just grew up, that’s all.”

  “A picture would have been nice.”

  Preferably a naked one. He was exactly Megan’s type of guy. She’d have loved me forever.

  “Spill it, Red. Legs like that aren’t from around here!” Zach called out.

  “If I tell him who I am, is he going to do it?” I cringed, thinking about Zach’s routine.

  “Has he ever not?”

  “Ugg.”

  Cindy laughed so hard that she had to stop running altogether. Zach put his truck in reverse and began to go with us. Zach, Cindy’s older brother was well known for his outrageous antics. Driving backwards down the middle of Main Street didn’t even register on his radar of wrong.

  “Hey baby,” he said with a wink. His hair was longer now than it had once been and his face had filled out. Apparently so had the rest of him. He was all muscle and all male. Cindy had told me that Zach was now the town’s Sheriff, but I still had trouble believing that.

  “Damn,” he said.

  Cindy started to jog again. “It’s sick that the man charged with keeping us safe is hitting on women while driving in reverse.”

  Glancing ahead, I noticed a black convertible coming towards us. Fairfield didn’t see many of those so it caught my eye. It kept coming and Zach kept driving in reverse.

  “Car,” Cindy shouted, sounding as if we were all ten and playing street hockey again.

  “Who’s got a black mustang around here?” Zach called out.

  “Apparently, that man,” I yelled back.

  “Ooo, sexy and sassy. If I say stacked, will that put me up for harassment charges?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. The mustang swerved into the left lane and never missed a beat. It came to a screeching halt next to us and this time I did stumble and stop when I saw the driver.

  Dale turned his head towards us. I couldn’t see his eyes under his dark black Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses. The black cotton, long sleeve shirt he had on was unbuttoned to mid-chest as usual and cuffed to just below his elbow. I pushed my sunglasses up and waited for him to say something.

  “Excuse me, but would either of you happen to know where I can find the Rogers’ farm?”

  “Why?” Cindy asked.

  I bit my lip and waited for him to address me.

  “I’m trying to find my girlfriend, Elizabeth Rogers.”

  His girlfriend?

  I coughed so hard that Cindy had to pat me on the back a few times.

  “Is she okay?” Dale asked.

  “Hell boy, she’s more than okay. Get a look at those legs,” Zach called out.

  Dale looked to his right and nodded at Zach. “I’ll agree with that.”

  Cindy put her ear to my ear and whispered softly, “Care to tell me what’s going on? Is he your boyfriend or what?”

  “Hey, the Rogers’ place is back the other way. You can follow me there if you want. I need to drop some things off to Mrs. Rogers but you aren’t going to find Elizabeth there. She lives in New York now,” Zach said.

  “Thanks.” Dale looked over at us and smiled. “You ladies have a nice day.”

  “Goddamn, Cindy, who is your friend. I need a name to go with the legs when I think about her later tonight.”

  Dale froze and turned back to us. “Are you Cindy Caros?”

  Cindy snickered and nodded. Dale pulled his sunglasses down his nose a bit and stared at me with wide green eyes. I smiled from under the rim of my hat.

  “Told you I ran.”

  “You can run that fine ass past me anytime you want,” Zach said, hanging out his truck window. “And if you should happen to want me to run anything past it, I can oblige.”

  Dale jaw tightened. He took a deep breath in and my guess was he’d blow in about a minute. Deciding to head off an ugly situation, I took matters into my own hands.

  “Hey, Zach.” I stood straight up, handed my sunglasses to Cindy and smiled at him.

  “She knows my name?” he asked, sounding shocked.

  I put my middle finger up and smiled. “She also knows that you’re scared of snakes, used to wet your bed until you were six and that you had a crush on Jenny Tuck when you were twelve. I also know who the first girl you ever kissed is.”

  Zach’s brows drew in. “Who ... ? How do you know who my...?” His eyes widened.

  “’Cause I was the first girl you kissed,” I said smiling even wider.

  Cindy elbowed me. “He’s gonna do it.”

  “He’s going to do what?” Dale asked, his voice deep and his face hard.

  “I’ll be damned!” Zach tossed his truck door open and hopped out. He had really filled out in all the right places.

  “When in the hell did he become buff?” I asked, leaning towards Cindy.

  Zach smiled wide and Cindy pushed me. “Probably the same time you got breasts. I’d run if I was you.”

  I looked down at Dale. “I’ll be right back.” Turning, I took off running in the other direction.

  “You know the rules!” Zach shouted.

  Glancing back, I saw him running after me. I
faced forward and hopped over Mrs. Springer’s flowerbed as I ran for the Church. Zachary headed me off and shook his head.

  “I can’t believe I hit on you.”

  I grinned. “What did you say about my ass?”

  He lunged for me and I ran back towards Dale and Cindy. Dale was now out of the convertible, looking like he wanted to kick someone’s ass. I ran past him. “It’s okay! I promise.”

  “They do this all the time,” Cindy said.

  I looked back and found Zach on my heels. I stopped and crouched low. “It’s not happening, Zach. My shoes are expensive and this is a designer top.”

  “It’s a bra that’s barely holding those suckers in. And as for the shoes, I suggest you take them off.” He winked at me. “You still got it or will I hurt you?”

  “She’s still got it!” Cindy called out.

  I was just thrilled that she had confidence in me.

  “It’s been a long time, Zach.”

  He smiled wide, looking like a rugged angel. “I’ll go easy on you. Aiming for head first.”

  I nodded and took a deep breath in. “Ready.”

  Zach lunged at me and threw his arm out. I ducked to the side fast. If he’d have wanted to hit me, he would have. He did it again and I ducked out of his reach.

  “What in the hell...?” I saw Dale running at us out of the corner of my eye and I saw Cindy trying to stop him.

  I grinned at Zach and spun in a circle, tossing my leg in the air as I went. He ducked back fast as my foot whizzed past his chin. He stared at me with wide eyes.

  “Sorry, I think I’m taller now.”

  Zach stared down at my legs and got a weird look on his face. “I’d say so.”

  Dale put himself in front of me and faced Zach. “What in hell do you think you’re doing?”

  Tapping his shoulder gently, I waited for him to tip back towards me before I kissed his cheek lightly. “It’s okay. Zach won’t hurt me.”

  “He just took two swings at your head.”

  “I know.” I looked at Zach and shook my head. “Are you that old that you can only get two swings out?”

  He made a move for me and I ducked behind Dale and peeked out the other side. I smiled wide and batted my eyes innocently. “Was it something I said?”