Carolyn Hector - Tempting The Beauty Queen

The other ban he broke was his No Kenzie rule. Southwood’s historian had a knack for getting under Ramon’s skin and under his covers. At the moment of spotting the unruly curly red hair secured in a high ponytail on Kenzie Swayne’s head, Ramon Torres contemplated leaving The Cupcakery. Considering the debut of the dessert, he decided to stay.

What he hadn’t planned on was the way his body responded to the sight of Kenzie’s backside in a pair of light-colored jeans. She teetered on a pair of red heels and he recalled how her long legs felt wrapped around his waist. He then ticked off the Yankees’ last world series starting lineup in his mind. If he planned on breaking a rule, let it at least be one, not two, in a single day.

The dozen people separating them weren’t enough. He needed a battalion. Ramon shifted in his boots and tried to blend in with the group of high school–aged football players with letterman jackets. According to the time on his watch, school hadn’t let out yet. Skipping class with identifying clothing to get a cupcake wasn’t smart, but Ramon understood. A couple of bankers Ramon worked with on occasion waited patiently in line. Even the kids he’d seen hanging around in the park doing nothing but skateboarding and intimidating some of the locals stopped and stood in line for a cupcake. Ramon understood the things a person was willing to sacrifice for a cupcake. In his quest for one, he’d put himself in the path of the wrath of Kenzie.

Last summer had given Ramon and Kenzie the spark they’d needed to enjoy some heated moments together. Their time had been brief, but most of all pleasurable, until Ramon realized what a distraction Kenzie had been. He’d moved to Southwood to get away from his controlling family. Generation after generation, the Torres men and women were successful. Ramon knew how to throw a party. The family always teased him about making a “good time” a profession. His oldest brother, Julio, became the mayor of their hometown. Another brother became a United States Marshal and Raul, just one year older than Ramon, owned a booming nightclub in Villa San Juan. Ramon’s own success gene did not kick in until he reached thirty and just as the gears started to grind, he met Kenzie Swayne. Kenzie put a whole new spin on sexy—and bossy at the same time. She’d been a dangerous distraction when he was supposed to get his life together and grow up. He couldn’t live on his parents’ property forever, so when the opportunity to buy the old, plantation-style home in Georgia came open, Ramon took it. Since he’d been so great at making sure his friends always had a good time, whether at a party or on vacation, Ramon turned that into a profession and opened the doors to the boutique hotel for families to come and enjoy the Southern town. Magnolia Palace was his baby, his investment and his chance to prove to his family he’d matured.

They worked together on a favorite pastime of Southwood’s—the Miss Southwood Beauty Pageant—as a favor to his extended family. Lexi Pendergrass, a former beauty queen, had married Ramon’s cousin Stephen. Stephen and his brother Nate were closer to Ramon than his own brothers. With Lexi being kin, as they said in Southwood, Ramon helped her out when the theater downtown, the usual beauty pageant venue, flooded by hosting it at his hotel, Magnolia Palace. With hindsight being 20/20, Ramon now knew he had been in no place to start anything. Had he known hosting the competition would get him involved with Kenzie, Ramon would never have done it. Kenzie wanted a man who was ready to settle down and Ramon was getting on his own two feet.

Ahead of him in line, Kenzie dropped something from her pocket when she retrieved her cell phone from her hip. The ample, heart-shaped view of her behind caused Ramon to forget about the No Kenzie rule. Every red-blooded male in line sighed and cocked their heads to the side to unabashedly appreciate the view. A collective sigh of admiration stretched through the store. Unaware, Kenzie straightened and juggled her oversize purse on her shoulder and committed the ultimate sin...she stepped aside. Whoever was on the other end must have been pretty damn important. Ramon’s jaw twitched with a twinge of something. He couldn’t put his finger on the feeling. He didn’t like the idea of someone so important in her life.

“Torres,” someone called out.

Ramon willed Mr. Myers to keep quiet until Kenzie left the bakery. The retired history teacher went so far as to wave his arms in the air. Ramon offered a quiet head nod in the direction where Mr. Myers sat with three older women. He breathed a sigh of relief when the glass doors closed behind Kenzie.

“Hey,” Ramon said with a head nod in the direction of the table. The line moved forward to the point where the glass counter came into view. Ramon counted the number of people in line versus the number of cupcakes in the display case. If his calculations were correct and if everyone purchased only one cupcake, there would be two left by the time he reached the register.

“Get your stuff and come over here,” Mr. Myers ordered. “I want you to meet my fiancée.”

Fiancée? Ramon thought to himself. Which one? At seventy-eight, Mr. Myers had earned his reputation as a ladies’ man, splitting his time between the two Southwood senior centers. Ramon pointed toward his watch and shook his head, praying the old man understood the silent apology. He didn’t want to be here if Kenzie returned. Bad things happened when she was around. Once, and he couldn’t prove it, Ramon had gone to sprinkle salt on his fries at the Food Truck Thursday event at Four Points Park and managed to get a snow mountain of salt. And even though he couldn’t prove it, Ramon still felt Kenzie had something to do with his name being taken off the Christmas Advisory Council. Anyone with a business in Southwood wanted to be a part of the CAC. The council also helped bring cheer to town. He was also denied membership to a lot of Southwood events because his hotel was slightly outside of Southwood. Also last year, Ramon wanted to invite the whole town to his hotel for a holiday party but the email was somehow lost in the cyber world. And because the committee had gone for an old-fashioned theme last year, guess who had been in charge of all things last Christmas? None other than Kenzie Swayne.

Hell hath no fury like a woman stood up. Apparently Kenzie was the type of woman who didn’t appreciate him bailing on her at the last pageant event last year. That was when Ramon decided to keep his distance and work on a No Kenzie rule...meaning, if he knew she was going to attend the same function as him, Ramon stayed away. So far Ramon had managed not to bump into her face-to-face for six months now. Soon everything would change. Ramon planned on starting up a business not just in Southwood city limits but in the historic downtown area. He was going to get a seat at that damn Christmas Advisory Council this year.

As the cashier argued with a customer, Ramon spied the back of Kenzie’s head leaving the park. The fact his body still reacted to the sight of her proved he needed the No Kenzie rule. Pavlov’s classical conditioning theory went into effect and induced a mouthwatering reaction, much like at his mother’s coquito cupcakes. He still craved her. Just like the desserts, Kenzie was bad for his health and bad for Ramon’s concentration.

“All right, guys,” announced Tiffani, the cashier behind the counter, “after this batch I’m out of the Wedded Bliss cupcakes. I’m shorthanded today, so I’ll need to take a break and make up some more. It will be about an hour until they’re ready.”

Groans from the customers drowned out Ramon’s curses. The line moved forward. Folks behind him left the line, uttering their decision to come back later. As calculated, everyone else in line bought their share of cupcakes, except for the high school students who left, probably due to class. By the time Ramon reached the display counter there were five cupcakes left and no one behind him.