The Executive Read online

  “It’s the reunion ambiance. We’ve all gone back in time ten years. Like boarding a time machine.”

  “I wish I could invent a time machine right now,” Caleb said, his voice quieting

  “Why? We’ve come a long way from eighteen and I, for one, do not want to return.” Kira shrugged. “Of course, if I could erase the hardships of adulthood and my father’s accident, maybe I would go back in time. Why do you want to go back?”

  Caleb’s eyes glittered under the stars, the silvery light illuminating his face. “To make things right with you.”

  It was a hard admission to make to herself, but Kira knew that she probably wouldn’t have looked at Caleb Davenport twice. Most likely, she had seen him in the school halls and ignored him. “Thank goodness for second chances, then,” she said.

  “I actually tried to find you a few times over the years.”

  “You did?” He was full of surprises.

  “All I knew was that your family was no longer living in the house you grew up in. And if you were in the area, you were unlisted. I figured you were long gone. Married with five kids. Or living in the wilds of Africa building huts or something.”

  Kira giggled at that. “I’m not sure I’ve had five dates in the last year, let alone five kids. Changing diapers by day, wowing audiences at night at Carnegie Hall? You mean that daydream?”

  “Something like that,” Caleb said. All at once, he was a whole lot closer, and Kira found herself holding her breath. Caleb’s free hand smoothed down her bare arm, the other still holding her hand. He lifted her fist up to his lips. Gently turning her hand over, and continuing to hold her gaze, he kissed her palm. Shivers turned into a roaring train making tracks down the back of her neck.

  It was getting colder as the evening grew later and Kira hadn’t brought her coat, but her skin burned as if she were on fire.

  “What did you want to tell me, Caleb Davenport?” she asked softly. “Why would you spend so much effort to try to find me?”

  Suddenly, he seemed nervous, his words halting, the muscles in his jaw flinching. “Hey, I had a crush on you back in the olden days.”

  She was amused and flattered all at once. “I hope I meet your expectations, then.”

  “In spades.”

  Kira wavered on her feet. Oh, golly, he was coming closer. She could feel his sweet breath, and the warmth of his arms enveloping her. Those gorgeous eyes were like a magnet to hers, their lips inches away.

  All of a sudden, the doors down the side of the building banged open, and the music of the band spilled out into the dark night.

  Surprised, Kira swiveled her body, turning in Caleb’s arms. “I didn’t realize we were so close to the ballroom here.”

  “We sort of backtracked in the hallways.”

  “How do you know this hotel so well? You knew this garden was here, didn’t you?”

  “Last year we had a DREAMS convention here with our sales and marketing people. Since I was in charge, I had to figure out the layout of our speakers and meeting rooms.”

  The emcee’s voice came through loud and clear in the open doorway. “Don’t worry Class of 2007, we’ll start up the band again, but right now it’s time for everyone to enjoy the desserts. Line up, grab a plate, and we’ll announce our Senior Class Awards in a few minutes.”

  There were a few hoots and hollers. Caleb seemed reluctant to leave, and Kira grew bold, slipping her fingers through his. “Shall we go in and see who wins?”

  “I’d rather stay out here with you—” he broke off as the voice of his friends came towards him, looking up in time to see Troy, Brandon, and Ryan coming into the patio.

  “We wondered where you two disappeared to,” Troy called out. “If you don’t come in fast you’ll miss all the fun inside. You may be the big winner of the night.”

  “Yeah, yeah, guys,” Caleb said with an eye roll. Fingers still entwined, he gently pulled on Kira’s hand as they walked back in together.

  Dessert had been laid out, and people were in line to fill up their plates with delicacies to eat during the awards ceremony. There were platters of frosted chocolate brownies, slivers of cheesecake in several flavors, lemon iced sponge cake, and dipped chocolate strawberries.

  Since Kira and the guys from DREAMS were at the end of the line, they quickly filled their plates and sat down just as the emcee began the announcements.

  First up was the Senior Class President from 2007 who thanked his committee for their outstanding work. He praised the hotel for their hospitality. He honored two classmates who had passed away over the last decade—a fact that made most of those in attendance give small gasps of shock.

  Kira didn’t know them very well, but she remembered hearing about a girl from English classes who wanted to be a professional writer, having died from cancer a few months earlier.

  “To be gone by twenty-eight is so sad and tragic,” she murmured, mostly to herself, but Caleb heard her and squeezed her hand. She leaned into him, hoping they had a chance to dance again before the night was over.

  She nibbled at her plate of delicacies while the master of ceremonies continued. “And now for the fun part! To the person who had traveled the farthest distance. Jim Porter, who flew in from the Yucatan Peninsula yesterday!” Everyone clapped while Jim reached up to the stage to get his award and gift certificate.

  “What’s he doing in the Yucatan?” Ryan asked, polishing off a second piece of the cake.

  “Archeologist, I think,” Brandon answered.

  “Award for the couple who were the first to get married right out of high school!” was the next category.

  One of the cheerleaders and the quarterback walked up, both blonde and beautiful.

  “Figures,” Troy said. “I think she was pregnant, actually.”

  “Hey, at least they’re still together,” Kira said, giving him a grin.

  Two more couples who had married the summer after graduation also received awards.

  “The couple who has the most children,” came next. “That goes to Anne and Larry Owens, from Fort Collins just up the road. They’re expecting baby #6 in three months!”

  Both applause and laughter burst through the room as a pregnant Anne and a sheepish Larry came up to the stage.

  “Six kids in ten years,” Brandon said, his eyes growing wide. “I can’t even imagine.”

  “Good for them,” Kira said. “They look happy.” But honestly, she felt like a loser. No boyfriend, no husband, no kids, no real career, and an apartment she was barely hanging onto.

  A few more awards were given for the Most Cheerful Couple. The Most Eligible Bachelor. Most Eligible Female. Most Unusual Profession—which was a girl who’d started a Fortune Telling business and was dressed up in a gypsy costume handing out her business card for 50% off a crystal ball reading.

  “Okay, now for the final award of the night,” the announcer said at last. “And then the band has agreed to play until midnight.”

  Cheers went up at the mention of more dancing. “Finally! The award you’ve all been waiting for! To the person who wins the Most Changed Award. Or the Most Unrecognizable. Or you could call it, the Guy that all the girls in the room are buzzing about and want to go home with. Coincidentally, the guy who owns the most successful business too! The Man of the Hour belongs to Caleb Davenport!”

  “No way,” Caleb muttered under his breath, his face turning a bright red.

  The room burst into raucous hoots and thunderous applause. Ryan, Brandon, and Troy slapped Caleb on the back, teasing him. “You’re getting buzzed, old Davenport,” Ryan said.

  “All the girls want to go home with you,” Brandon added. “Back in high school, they wanted to stuff you in a garbage can.”

  Kira smiled, watching Caleb’s old friends, his co-workers, and now his partners in DREAMS. They had a friendship that was nice. They admired and respected each other along with the constant teasing.

  Caleb threw Kira an embarrassed glance before he walked up
to the stage to get his reward.

  She waved him away from the table. “Go now, you Man of the Hour,” she teased, clapping her hands with the rest of the ballroom.

  He rolled his eyes and pointed a finger at her. “You owe me at least three more dances.”

  “I’d be happy to oblige, Man of the Hour That All the Girls are Buzzing About.”

  “That is not funny,” he shot over his shoulder, but when Kira laughed at his facial expression, he just grinned.

  He returned a minute later holding an envelope. “A gag gift, I’m sure.” He opened it up and saw the certificate filled out with his name on it in gold letters, declaring him the Man of the Hour.

  “That’s fancy,” Kira said. “Is it real gold?”

  “If only, huh?” Caleb shook out the envelope and a gift certificate for Rossi’s restaurant dropped out. “Hey, dinner for two.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “You’re probably sick of the food at Rossi’s. Too bad it’s not another restaurant.”

  “You can take anyone out with you. It doesn’t have to be me just because we happened to bump into each other here. I’ll bet there are dozens of girls who’d be happy to go to dinner with the Man of the Hour,” Kira gave him a silly grin, letting him know she was having fun teasing him. “Or you could take your mother.” Caleb’s face darkened for a moment, and then quickly vanished, as if he’d wiped it away with an invisible cloth. He leaned toward her, and his suit coat brushed against her arm. “There’s nobody else I want to take but you.”

  Kira wondered what his gloomy expression signified, but obviously Caleb didn’t want to talk about it. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings by saying he could take any girl he wanted, but she also didn’t want to assume she would go with him. After all, tonight at the reunion wasn’t a date.

  “Does this mean you’re asking me out on an official date, then?” she flirted. Her tone sounded strange to her own hears. She wasn’t one who usually flirted—and she couldn’t remember the last time she had, actually.

  “I hope so. If you’ll say yes.”

  Kira’s stared into his earnest face, her eyes melting into his. “You’re not an actor playing a joke on all of us, are you? You didn’t have plastic surgery?”

  “Cross my heart,” he said in a low voice. Kira felt herself falling for him. He’d been paying exclusive attention to her all evening. Not even glancing at the female classmates who were still single.

  He fiddled with his napkin, shredding it into pieces. “One more dance and then I have to tell you something.” “That sounds serious.” she told him.

  “It might be,” he said carefully, lifting Kira to her feet to head to the dance floor.

  He spun her into his arms effortlessly, and they fit together perfectly. His presence was thrilling, his touch sending her floating to the ceiling.

  “Who taught you how to dance?” she asked.

  “Some guy named Arthur Murray,” he quipped.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “The famous Arthur Murray dance studios,” he explained with a smirky grin. “Hey, they’ll part you from your money and teach you any dance you want to learn. I did the basic course about three years ago so I wouldn’t look like a fool on a dance floor.”

  “I suppose knowing how to dance comes in handy for class reunions,” Kira said. My father taught me when I turned fourteen and attended my very first church dance. He’d put on his old big band recordings and whirl me and my mother around the living room.”

  Her voice grew nostalgic knowing how precious those tender memories were now. As if sensing her thoughts, Caleb pressed his cheek against hers and led her through the crowded dance floor. Friends who weren’t having long catch-up conversations, were dancing. The band was getting better and better.

  And so was Caleb, but after a couple of foxtrots, and a waltz, he pulled her under his arm and paused to stare into her face. Their faces were inches apart and, for a moment, Kira thought she’d swoon like a heroine out of a romance novel.

  All at once, the song ended, and Caleb placed an arm around her shoulder. “Let’s go somewhere more private. If I don’t do this now, I never will.”

  “You’re so mysterious.”

  “No, it’s just something I’ve needed to do for ten years.”

  “Even more mysterious.” Kira stared at him, unsure if she should be nervous or excited, as they walked back into the hall and then out the front doors, waving to Caleb’s friends when they passed. Troy was dancing with a different girl than an hour ago, and the other two were deep in conversation about the potential snow pack for skiing this winter.

  Caleb led Kira into a small alcove, an offshoot from the hotel lounge area. They sat on one of the sofas and he turned to face her. “Man, this is hard. After what I tell you, I think you may hate me.”

  “How could I hate you? We’ve never interacted before two weeks ago at the restaurant.” Despite her words, Kira felt her heartbeat speed up in anticipation.

  “That’s what you’ve always thought, but we have. Sort of, I mean.”

  “You’re kind of scaring me. Have I lost part of my memory? Are you going to tell me we were lovers in high school and I’ve had amnesia for ten years?”

  Caleb gave a short dry laugh. “I almost wish that was it. But no, nothing like that. Although I used to daydream about you when I sat behind you in Mrs. Holt’s English Classics class.”

  Kira stared into his face, confused. “Okay, this is getting a little weird.”

  He spread his hands. “Hey, I was a weird teenager. And a stupid guy. Very, very stupid.”

  “You’re not stupid. You’re the brains behind DREAMS. Besides, aren’t all teenage boys a little weird?” Kira smiled, trying to lighten the moment.

  “Computers—that’s the easy stuff. I was never very good at human interaction.”

  “Spill it, Davenport, you’re worrying me.”

  He let out a breath. “Remember when I told you I had a crush on you?”

  “Yes,” Kira said slowly. “About three times now.”

  “I seriously had a crush on you. You walked the school halls so tall and regal and confident. Like you knew exactly who you were and where you were going. And yet, you were considered one of the nicest and kindest girls on campus.”

  Kira gave a short laugh. “Really? I didn’t know that. And, well, I thought I knew where my life was going back then, but look how my career turned out. Performance piano isn’t something you can pick up and put down for years at a time.”

  “Hey, bad things in life happen. I know that too well, too.”

  “Tell me about your family,” she urged. “I really want to know.”

  He shook his head. “Not tonight. Right now is about you and something I did that was wrong.”

  “What are you talking about? You never did anything bad toward me.”

  Caleb’s expression was pained when he reached behind him and pulled out his wallet.

  Kira watched him open the wallet and slide a piece of silver chain from a hidden pocket. “That looks like a necklace.”

  “It is a necklace. A necklace that belonged to you.” Untangling the chain and the gemstones, Caleb laid the necklace across his palm to show her. The necklace turned into a delicate, old-fashioned piece of jewelry of finely made silver with a hanging pendant of ruby and diamonds.

  A hoarse gasp escaped Kira’s lips. The room seemed to explode around her. Her ears began to ring. “That’s my necklace,” she said, her voice ragged. “I lost it during my senior year. Where did you get it?”

  “I—you remember your senior Christmas choir program, right?”

  “That was the night I lost it!” Kira’s voice was shaking. “But I didn’t realize it until the concert was over and we were cleaning up. When I caught my reflection in the window of Mrs. Olson’s office, my neck was bare. I searched for over an hour. Everyone else joined in, the rest of the madrigal group, our teacher, our parents. But the necklace had disappear
ed into thin air.”

  Kira stared at Caleb, her heart pounding, her legs quivery. “How did you get my necklace? Where has it been all these years?”

  Caleb cleared his throat. “After your piano solo, there was an intermission before the other soloists were scheduled to sing—”

  Kira nodded. “I think we served refreshments during the break.”

  “The clasp of your necklace must have broken. I suspected it fell into the folds of your fancy dress, and when you stood up from the piano, it slipped to the floor.”

  A second gasp escaped Kira’s lips. Memories came rushing back. She could picture it so clearly now. Including the heartbreak of the loss for months afterward.

  Caleb ran a finger under his collar. “Um, I wasn’t a social cookies-and-punch kind of guy. I didn’t stay after your solo, and I had to go to work anyway.”

  Kira tried to recall this man standing in front of her as a scruffy, sullen boy ten years ago at the concert. Leaving to go work a night job. But she couldn’t. She had absolutely no recollection of him.

  “When I slipped past the crowd around the refreshment table, I headed for the door. But I saw something on the floor by the pedals of the piano. When I crouched down, I saw that it was your necklace. The necklace you used to wear almost every day.”

  “You picked it up?”

  Guilt washed over his face. “It was still warm from your neck. It was something that belonged to you. As pretty as you were.”

  “You took it?” The shock in Kira’s voice unmistakable.

  “I was going to give it to you, but there was a crowd of people around you. Raving about your performance, talking . . . I wasn’t thinking straight. I figured I’d give it to you at school.”

  “But you didn’t,” Kira said flatly. She tried not to sound angry, but it was hard to keep the distress from her voice.

  “I tried, but I never really got the chance. We didn’t have classes together that semester. Either I didn’t see you, or you were rushing by, or surrounded by other people. Days went by, then weeks. It got more and more awkward. I didn’t want you to think I’d stolen it.”

  Kira blinked the emotion from her eyes. “But that’s what happened in the end.”