Carolyn Hector - Tempting The Beauty Queen

“Looks like you’re in luck,” Tiffani gushed when she realized he was next. “I’ll let you have the rest.”

“The rest?” Ramon imagined himself eating every single cupcake and then imagined how far he’d have to run to work them off. “I really just want the one.”

“But there’s no one else in line and these are going to go to waste once I break out the fresher ones,” Tiffani said as she boxed up the items.

“I’ll tell you what, if you’ll put four in a to-go box and leave them for the next customer who walks in, I’ll take the one and pay you for a dozen.”

“Sounds like a deal to me.”

Once Ramon got his cupcake to go, he turned around at the same time as Kenzie reentered the bakery. Damn, how much was this going to cost him?

Chapter 2

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, Ramon Torres,” Kenzie hollered at his tailored suit. She hated the way her body heated up at the sight of the man. Ramon turned to face her. His broad shoulders slumped. And she even swore he rolled his neck from side to side, preparing himself for battle. The wind blowing between the buildings whipped a loose piece of hair from his annoyingly cute man-bun on top of his head. The man mixed sex appeal with bohemian chic and wrapped it up in a sharp midnight blue suit paired with black snakeskin cowboy boots.

“What did I do this time?” Ramon stopped his long stride in front of the old post office. He didn’t bother trying to sound shocked to see her, which annoyed Kenzie even more.

“Tiffani told me you purchased these. I don’t need you buying cupcakes for me,” she told his backside as she approached.

“So don’t eat them,” Ramon responded.

Kenzie walked around his large frame to make sure Ramon saw the irritation across her face. If there was one thing that set her off, it was a man telling her what to do. Kenzie had worked too hard for the last ten years to grow from a naive girl dependent on her boyfriend. But Ramon wasn’t her boyfriend. No, he made it perfectly clear last summer he didn’t want to be in a relationship with her. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

Ramon sighed heavily. “Do whatever you want.”

“I ought to throw them away,” Kenzie went on to antagonize him. These were cupcakes from The Cupcakery . No one ever threw them away, especially not out of spite. Besides, she’d already had a bite of the delectable lemony dessert when Tiffani informed her the previous customer paid it forward.

“You’re not throwing anything away.” Ramon called her bluff with a sarcastic laugh.

With the box in her hand, Kenzie crossed her arms. “Fine. But I just want you to know from here on out I don’t want you buy me anything.”

“For future reference, Kenzie, I paid it forward for the next person. How was I supposed to know you were going come back into the shop?”

Back? She took in his choice of words and hated the idea of Ramon having the upper hand. He saw her before she did? “So you saw me and didn’t bother speaking? What are you, a stalker or something?”

The square jaw of his tightened. “You were on the phone.”

Being reminded of the call infuriated her more. Alexander had tried to sneak a project by her without her knowledge. No wonder he’d been so friendly in her office. Had his secretary, Margaret, not given Kenzie the heads-up, Kenzie would have had no idea the old post office was being considered for purchase. “Whatever.”

“Well, if we’re done here...” said Ramon, taking a step toward the closed doors of the old post office. In two long strides, Ramon entered, disappearing from Kenzie’s fruitless rant. So what if the man wanted to do something nice for the next person? But why did it have to be her?

The wind picked up on the street, blowing the unsecured hair from Kenzie’s ponytail into her face. With a sigh she set the box of cupcakes on the top step and twisted her hair into a bun. The doors closed behind Ramon and left her staring at her reflection from the mirrored doors. Growing up she’d hated her naturally frizzy red hair, but she hated her face full of freckles more. Now with a glimpse of herself, Kenzie smiled in appreciation. It took her a while but she found her unique look appealing and if she did say so herself, as she looked down at her attire...she looked pretty damn good today.

Common sense told her to head on back home. She’d already gotten her coveted debut cupcakes. Now she needed to get home and destress about seeing her family at the rehearsal dinner tonight. She wondered if there was someone on Craigslist she could hire...or was that illegal?

The clicking of the lion’s head antique brass door knobs on the post office door reminded Kenzie of her nagging suspicions about the building. Alexander planned on meeting his potential client in a few minutes and Kenzie intended to be here. Funny how he didn’t mention it earlier. She understood the position of a city manager needing to bring in business, but at what cost? Buildings in Southwood were historic. Some of them were built before the Civil War. And he’d scheduled a meeting, knowing she was taking the month of June. “Spiteful bastard,” Kenzie mumbled to herself. Her ex had sworn he would not let their past interfere with working together when he was hired as city manager.

A car sounded off at the end of the street and a couple of high school kids in two different pickup trucks were mock sword fighting with each other. Idle hands, Kenzie thought with an exacerbated sigh. When the drivers spotted Kenzie they honked again and waved. More than likely they were up to something mischievous in the post office. Kids loved to run around in there, regardless of the danger signs. Speaking of which, Ramon didn’t need to be in the building playing around, either. Kenzie reached down and picked up her box of cupcakes and headed inside. Ramon needed to leave.

“Ramon?” Kenzie called out his name. Her voice echoed off the empty walls. An old counter filled with dust split the center of the room. The inside windows were boarded up with old newspapers. Sun damage had destroyed the dates of when the papers were put up.

Footsteps sounded off down the hall just beyond the counter. From old pictures, Kenzie knew there was an elevator. The four-story building was also a playground on Halloween. Kids loved to tell ghost stories about using the elevators and getting stuck between floors, but there was no electricity in the building so Kenzie never believed them.

“Ramon.” She said his name once more.

“Are you following me?” Ramon’s voice sounded through the dark hallway.

“What are you doing in here?” She followed the sound of his baritone voice and swore his footsteps moved quicker and farther away. “Stop playing around in here.”

She finally caught up with him. Sun leaked through the paled paper on the back windows and backlit him. Ramon stood in the elevator car, his back against the wall and his arms folded. He could have easily been a model in an ad for sexiness.

“What?” Ramon asked.

Kenzie placed her hands on her hips and stamped her foot. She hadn’t meant to, but she did. “Get out of here.”

“Are you going to make me?” Ramon offered a cocky half grin and stretched out his arms toward her.

In an attempt to back away, Kenzie slipped on her heels but caught herself in the elevator doors and kept herself from falling. Ramon didn’t have the decency to hide his laugh. “You’re a jerk.”

“Thanks,” he replied. “Why are you following me?”

“I am not,” Kenzie said standing her ground. Her eyes caught the debris on the ground by her foot and as she glanced up the air in front of her began to snow. Snow? A loud rumble above her head sounded off. The moment she craned her neck upward something pulled on her blouse and her body was jerked forward into the elevator. Thunder was followed by a hail of ceiling tiles behind her. Ramon wrapped his arms around her body and turned his back to the falling debris.