Carolyn Hector - Tempting The Beauty Queen

Nestled against his chest, Kenzie stood still until the deafening sound stopped. She should have been frightened but she wasn’t. With Ramon’s arms secured around her frame she remained safe.

Ramon leaned backward and tipped her chin up. “Are you okay?”

Lost in his almond-shaped, dark brown eyes, Kenzie nodded her head. “I think so. What happened?”

“The avalanche was the floor collapsing just outside the doors.”

Kenzie peered around his arms. The doors were closed. A light flickered but she didn’t know how. The building had no electricity. Then she realized Ramon held his cell phone over her head. She blinked.

“We’re trapped,” she said rather than asked. The silence was proof. The doors were closed from the fall. They were safe from the falling debris but they were trapped. Kenzie peered again at the doors, which now, in her mind, seemed closer than before. Her eyes traveled up toward the ceiling of the elevator...the low ceiling, which grew lower by the second.

“Hey now,” Ramon cooed, placing his hand on her backside. “Breathe with me.”

“I am breathing.”

“Your breathing is erratic,” he pointed out, pressing his hand with the cell phone against her breast. “Your heart rate is accelerating.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Kenzie said with a dry laugh. She pushed his warm hand away from her breast. Her nipples hardened with his touch. Amazing how her body could flip from a mild panic attack to sheer desire. Damn him. “I get claustrophobic sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” Ramon chuckled.

“Yeah, well, just when I’m stressed and nearly lose my life,” she snapped.

“You’re welcome,” he said.

“What?”

“I just pulled you from danger.”

Kenzie backed away from him. The cool bar on the wall braced her backside. “And I am pretty sure you popped one of my buttons off my blouse.”

Ramon held the light toward her chest to see. As if naked and exposed, Kenzie crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll let the second floor collapse on you.”

“Technically the third floor.”

“What?”

“Why would you walk into a building you know nothing about?” Kenzie shook her head back and forth. “Never mind, I don’t want to know. You know, if you weren’t such a baby and running from me every time you see me...”

“I don’t run from you.”

Kenzie scoffed at him for interrupting her. “Face it, Ramon. You’re scared of a woman like me.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” Ramon clipped. “I have something to do in here.”

“Like what?”

“I have a meeting with Alexander Ward.”

Dread washed over her. Thank God for the darkness. Heat crept across her face. She was sure a red tint would cover her freckles right about now. “You’re the one he wants to sell to?”

“If the price is right.” Ramon sighed. “And if I can make sure I follow some rules.”

So Alexander had listened to Kenzie’s advice on restoring the old buildings. The fact didn’t ease her irritation. “So you’re just going to buy up every important building in my life.”

“Here we go,” groaned Ramon.

“Here we go nothing, Ramon.” Kenzie bared her teeth in the dark. “You bought my family’s historic home.”

“I bought a business, Kenzie.”

When she heard the tone of his voice Kenzie’s hands went to her hips. “Are you mocking me?”

“No, I am stating a fact. I am a businessman. It goes with the territory and let’s face it, you weren’t in the position to buy the place.”

Though his words were true, it didn’t take the sting out of hearing them. It didn’t take the threat of tears rimming her eyes when Maggie once pointed out that Kenzie didn’t have...what was it she said? A pot to piss in to buy the place . Kenzie credited the plantation home for having sparked her love of history. She delved into the Swayne family tree and its contribution to Southwood. The Swayne family had lived there before the Civil War and harvested a pecan farm. Folklore said the family gave up the home in order to save the farm, which worked in their favor. To this day Swayne Pecans was the highest quality pecan seller in the States; it was passed on from generation to generation and still run today by her father, Mitchell Swayne, and his brothers. Technically she’d never lived in the house. No one from the Swayne side of the family had lived in the house for a hundred years. But that didn’t stop Kenzie from believing the home would return to a Swayne one day, preferably her. And Ramon had the nerve to turn it into a boutique hotel. Granted, the property never looked better, but she’d never admit such a thing to Ramon.

“You’re breathing heavy again.” Ramon moved close to Kenzie’s frame. Large hands pressed against her shoulders. “Take a seat, calm down.”

“I’m not going to calm down. I don’t have time for such luxuries, I’ve got a million things to do and prepare for and I don’t need to be stuck in some dark elevator with the likes of you.”

“The likes of me?” He flat-out mocked her with a hard laugh and an overexaggerated Southern drawl. The elevator shook a bit. Did the space between the walls get tighter?

Kenzie felt the floor beneath her against the back of her jeans as she sat down. She tucked her feet under her legs and adjusted her frame away from Ramon’s when he got down beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He smelled wonderful, like lemon icing. Kenzie’s stomach grumbled. What happened to her box? Did she drop it?

“What other things do you have to do? You can talk to me. Or have you forgotten we used to be friends?” Ramon asked her while his fingers rubbed the nape of her neck. Kenzie tilted her head against his shoulder. They’d been more than friends at one point. If she remembered correctly, this slick move with his hands toying with the hair at the nape of her neck had landed her in bed with him. Kenzie scooted away. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“I have three weddings to attend, and my baby cousin is getting married before me. Not only is one half of my family coming, I’m attending the wedding solo which means I’m going to spend several hours with the tilt-of-the-head-pity-look from them. Then I’ve got two weddings for my pageant girls and all of them are trying to set me up with their fiancés’ groomsmen and I’m desperate to take them up on the offer because at this year’s gala, I’m going to have my entire family in town, the Hairstons and the Swaynes.”

“Not the Hairstons and the Swaynes.” Ramon gasped dramatically before chuckling.

Kenzie elbowed him in the ribs and pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. “Shut up. You have no idea about family pressure.”

“I don’t?”

“No,” said Kenzie. “And did I mention the Miss Southwood Pageant is at the end of the month this year?”

“Hmm. Has it already been a year? Seems like just yesterday you were walking through the doors at Magnolia Palace and barking out orders.”

“You’re not funny.”

“Sorry, I feel like I should get you flowers or something.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s the anniversary of when we first met,” said Ramon, no hint of mockery in his tone.

A shiver ran down Kenzie’s spine. “And the celebration of the first time I’d been embarrassed in like a decade.”

“By me not escorting you to the final party? Do you know how many parties and events we went to? You had something planned every day for a week.”

“Well, after everything we went through...” Kenzie began clearing her throat. “If you weren’t interested, you should have said so, set the guidelines, not leave me hanging to get myself to the restaurant.”