Bachelor CEO

Bachelor CEO
Michele Dunaway

Chase McDaniel had it all planned out.He'd work his way up in the family business and eventually become CEO. Except the heir to McDaniel Manufacturing just got a rude awakening. His soon-to-retire grandfather is ordering him to take a year off and find out what he really wants.Chase knows what he doesn't want–gorgeous, talented Miranda Craig taking his job! Being handpicked to run a company is the dream of a lifetime. And Miranda has no intention of stepping aside…even if Chase is the sexiest man she's ever met.But their strictly business arrangement may be in danger of turning into something more. Especially if a certain matchmaking relative has his way…

Miranda couldn’t believe what a mess she’d made of things

“I honestly didn’t mean to mislead you,” she told Chase. “Do you think we can put this behind us?”

“So we start over as if we’d never met?” he asked.

“Fresh start on Tuesday,” she replied, aware that the air above the dock had become charged.

“So today is meaningless,” he said. “I forgive you and you forgive me.”

Realizing that somehow she’d started down a slippery slope, but not sure where it was leading her, Miranda nodded. “Exactly.”

“Seems I need something for which to be forgiven,” Chase replied, reaching forward and toppling her into him.

The man can kiss was the last recognizable thought Miranda managed.

Dear Reader,

When I was growing up, my family spent the Fourth of July week on a lake in northwestern Wisconsin, fourteen miles from the town of Rice Lake. The “summer home” belonged to my grandparents, who stayed there from June to early September before retreating to Florida for the winter. Memories of boating, golf, dinner at the country club, lunch on the porch and attending church in a tiny chapel remain some of my favorites to this day.

While the towns and lakes in this book are fictional, the buildings around the lake are based on those I experienced in my childhood. Bringing Chase and Miranda here when I wrote Bachelor CEO allowed me to relive some of those good times.

I’m delighted to be part of the MEN MADE IN AMERICA series. Chase McDaniel is definitely an all-American boy. He’s determined to claim his birthright as company CEO, although he’s not prepared when his grandfather tosses in one last roadblock, in the form of Miranda Craig.

I hope you enjoy reading Chase and Miranda’s story as much as I did creating it. Remember, you can always contact me through my Web site at www.micheledunaway.com. Enjoy the romance.

Michele Dunaway

Bachelor CEO

Michele Dunaway

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In first grade Michele Dunaway knew she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up, and by second grade she knew she wanted to be an author. By third grade she was determined to be both, and before her high school class reunion, she’d succeeded. In addition to writing romance, Michele is a nationally recognized English and journalism educator who also advises both the yearbook and newspaper at her school. Born and raised in a west county suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, Michele has traveled extensively, with the cities and places she’s visited often becoming settings for her stories. Described as a woman who does too much but doesn’t ever want to stop, Michele gardens five acres in her spare time and shares her house with two tween daughters and six extremely lazy house cats that rule the roost.

This book is dedicated in memory of all

my grandparents. You helped shape my life

and your love made me a better person.

And thanks to all the teachers in the Francis Howell

High School English department who bought

charity raffle tickets and stacked the odds to give

Mike Storm his supporting role. Mike, for putting up

with me next door in A115 for six years,

this Iowa book is for you.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Epilogue

Chapter One

She shouldn’t be bending over like that.

As he gazed at the woman wearing the short blue pinstripe skirt ahead of him, Chase McDaniel’s throat constricted and his silk tie suddenly felt tight. She leaned over farther, continuing to study the back end of her car.

He had a perfect view of well-shaped legs that led upward toward…

The bead of sweat that formed on Chase’s forehead had nothing to do with the late May heat wave. It might be ninety-two degrees, but the vision in front of him was what was getting him all hot and bothered in the company parking lot this Friday morning.