The Bachelor and the Beauty Queen (13 page)

While shaking Stephen's hand with one of his, Ernest reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and produced a business card. “Give me a call whenever you and the lil' lady decide to settle down. I know exactly what she likes.” To make matters worse, Ernest gave Lexi a wink.

Skin crawling, she tried not to roll her eyes. Oblivious to the barb, the kids giggled at the idea. She waited for Stephen to correct him, but instead he released Ernest's hand and draped his arm lovingly over Lexi's shoulder.

“I'll keep this in mind.” He pulled Lexi up to his side again; this time he planted a kiss on her forehead. “I've been trying to get the lil' lady—” he mocked Ernest's twang “—to settle down for quite some time.”

The mental score card dinged past one hundred.

No comparison between the men. Stephen was taller, stronger, more chivalrous and way more handsome out of the two. Lexi knew it. Rose knew it, hence the sneer across her face as she looked between them. The woman lived to embarrass Lexi. Lexi still believed the gossip leaked to the press was set up by Rose, who decided one day she wanted her husband back—a title Lexi had no idea Ernest owned.

“Yes, well be careful with this one. She has a nasty habit of—”

“We need to get going,” Stephen cut Ernest off. He kept his arm still secured around Lexi's shoulder, but nodded his head toward the exit sign for the kids.

Lexi's heart soared; her feet barely touched the ground. No one had ever come to her defense before. She'd had men fight over her, women be catty with her for her appearance, but no one had ever blatantly stood up for her as Stephen did.

Once they got outside, he didn't drop his arm from her shoulders. She wanted to thank him properly, but the kids were in tow. Mr. Keenan had already pulled the Hummer up to the doors, with the caravan of mothers not far behind. With the sun already setting, they needed to get the kids home and in bed and ready for school tomorrow.

“Real cool of you back at the hotel,” Kimber said.

Lexi pretended to be asleep in the back of the stretch Hummer limousine. Philly rested her head in her lap. The keyboard of Kimber's phone went off as she sent texts to her friends while she spoke to her uncle.

“What's that?” she heard Stephen ask.

“The jerk back at the pageant,” said Kimber. “I wanted to hit him.”

Stephen chuckled softly. “Violence is never the best way to solve a problem.”

“Yeah, but I didn't like the way any of those people spoke to Lexi.”

A silent pause. She guessed Stephen had nodded his head in agreement. A part of her wondered if the Laing incident reminded him of their first meeting. Lexi knew she'd prove his opinion of her wrong. After this evening, however, she worried again. If he ever learned the truth of her relationship with Ernest, he might never let it go.

“So you like Lexi?” Stephen asked his oldest niece.

“She's pretty cool. Nate liked coming to the shop to see her, but she never looked at Nate the way she looks at you.”

Another silent pause before he spoke again, “What do you think that means?”

“She likes you, but I don't think I want you to date her.”

Instead of another pause, Stephen began to cough to stifle a laugh. “What?”

“C'mon, Uncle Stephen, you like Lexi. But you are not the boyfriend-girlfriend kind of guy.”

“I'm not?” Stephen's voice rose with curiosity.

“Lexi is the best thing ever.”

“You're sixteen, little girl. What do you know?”

For the rest of the drive, Lexi kept her grin to herself and focused on keeping her eyes closed to stay out of the rest of their conversation. Sleep and dreams of Stephen's lips on hers took over. She dreamed they were on River Street with the Savannah River as their backdrop, and his lips were caressing hers—his soft, sensual lips. The back of his fingers brushed against her cheeks; the warmth fueled her soul. His touch felt so real. Stirring, Lexi's eyes opened slowly and she realized she hadn't been dreaming. Stephen's face hovered over hers.

“Did you enjoy your nap?”

Still disorientated, Lexi struggled to sit up with Stephen's help. At some point on the ride back, she had laid her head in his lap. Her hands went to her disheveled hair and she tried to maintain some calmness. “How long have I been asleep?”

“About an hour.”

“Where are all the kids?”

“Everyone made it home.” Stephen moved to his side of the seat. “This is our last stop before we head back.”

Lexi glanced around the space, empty except for Philly and Kimber curled up next to each other across from them. The leather seats were covered with plastic tiaras, gum and candy wrappers, soda bottles and a massive amount of glitter.

“We've been driving around town for the last hour while you slept and called out my name.”

“I did not!” Her hands flew to her mouth in embarrassment. Any trace of the lip gloss she had applied earlier had disappeared. “Oh, my God, what did I say?”

“You asked me to kiss you, but other than that you behaved.”

The shadow of the driver blocked the streetlight. Lexi peered across Stephen's chest. “I did not,” she said back to Stephen.

Stephen tapped on the window and miraculously the back door opened. He stepped out to thank his driver, then reached his hand back inside to help her out. Together they walked back to the double doors of her building. Stephen entwined his fingers with hers.

“I'd invite you in, but well, you know.” Lexi nibbled on her bottom lip, not sure if she needed to be completely honest with Stephen at this point. She inhaled deeply when he leaned forward and tugged her hands close to his body. Lexi shifted her weight to her tiptoes and he leaned down to meet her lips. They shared a kiss—a deep and knee-buckling, but brief, kiss.

“No, it is late, and I've got to get my nieces home before Nate starts yelling at me.” Stephen nodded.

They found themselves facing each other underneath the light. Lexi's heart slammed against her rib cage. “Yes.”

“Plus,” he nodded and cocked his head to the side. “I don't want everyone to get the wrong impression of us.”

The word
us
rolling off his lips set a quiver in the pit of her stomach. Lexi began to giggle. Stephen's brows went up in question. “Yes, I am not sure how to explain to anyone we're dating after I've turned down a lot of single fathers.”

“So we're dating now?” he asked.

Lexi's mouth gaped in a moment of horror; then it was Stephen's turn to grin.

“I'm messing with you.” His onyx eyes bore down on her. “Damn straight we are.”

He braced her shoulders and dipped his head for a kiss. Somewhere in the distance there had to be birds chirping or some sort of Disney moment when the prince and the princess kissed and fell in love.
In love?

Lexi broke the kiss. She gulped for some air.

“You okay?” he asked caringly, stroking her cheeks.

“I'm fine. I—I need to—” She struggled for the words.

“Go inside?” Stephen let his arms linger over her shoulders, locking his fingers at the nape of her neck. “I've got quite the drive home.”

“You know you don't have to go the long way...”

“Go inside,” Stephen ordered gently.

Hesitating, Lexi sighed. She needed to clear the air between them and took a chance with a partial truth. “Look, I need you to understand something about my history with Ernest.”

The smile he offered disappeared into his black beard. “I don't care about you and him.”

“But I need you to know why I don't date parents.”

Stephen pulled her close to his frame. His beard brushed against her chin when he dipped close to capture her lips. “I don't give a damn about Ernest. I don't expect you to have a blank history. Got it?” To prove his point, Stephen cupped her face and planted another mind-blowing kiss.

Chapter 11

“D
idn't you attend a prestigious boarding school?” asked Stephen, rising to his feet when Lexi approached the picnic table. He slipped his hands into the pockets of his khaki pants and tried to still the beating of his heart as she neared. Lexi shook her head and flashed a smile. Behind her, children frolicked on the giant sheet of slippery plastic near the lake. Some of the older kids, his nieces included, zoomed down the makeshift slide directly into the blue lake. If she'd stayed down there a little longer, Stephen figured the kids would conspire to get her in the water, as they had to a few of their teachers who came out to attend the Southwood Summer Kickoff Picnic the Saturday after Memorial Day weekend. Wisely, most of the adults kept their distance. Stephen had made friends after being introduced by Nate, but when Nate went off to flirt with one of the single mothers, Stephen found himself longing for Lexi's return. Her long, black-and-white maxi dress flowed behind her, silhouetting her curvy frame and long legs.

She'd chosen comfortable shoes—a pair of black plastic flip-flops. Stephen always cringed at the sight of them. In San Juan, his
abuela
was quick at slipping her
chancleta
off her foot and throwing it across the room in a heartbeat whenever the boys acted up. Subconsciously he smoothed the back of his head.

Lexi flopped down on the wooden bench, resting her elbows on the red-and-white-checkered tablecloth secured by a plastic-covered ceramic bowl full of some casserole. The potluck picnic lunch brought out every casserole in the world. Not wanting to be left out, Stephen and Nate had hunkered down in Ken's modest kitchen and put together their mother's
pastelón
dish. They had to promise a Fourth of July visit with the grandchildren in order to get Elizabeth Torres Reyes to share her family's sweet lasagna recipe.

“I did,” Lexi said, finally getting back to the question as she waved a mosquito from her face before reaching for the green bug spray from her oversize bag filled with all sorts of needed gadgets, including the boots she'd wear for a line dance on stage with the rest of Southwood's participants. She got the spray out first. “Come over here.” She rose and took Stephen by his forefinger.

Stephen glanced down at her ringless fingers wrapped around his. A woman as beautiful as Lexi needed jewelry. “Hey.” He flinched and coughed when she started spraying him from head to toe. “What are you doing?”

“Your head, in this weather—” she made a tsking sound “—not a good match. Now what is this nonsense about me and my boarding school?”

“You're a natural in the outdoors.”

“I believe we've had this conversation before, Mr. Reyes.” Lexi stood stock-still in front of him, both hands clasped now. Her lashes fluttered against her cheeks as she blinked, and Stephen inhaled the sweet, chocolatey scent he'd grown accustomed to. “What did I tell you I am?”

“Something about grits?” he teased, enjoying the arousing way her dress blew in the wind.

“Correct. I am a Girl Raised in the South. I clean up real good, but I love country music, my tea sweet, chicken fried and I will trade my stilettos for flip-flops any day.”

“Flip-flops.” His mouth curved upward.

“They're a Southern girl's glass slipper.” She winked.

“Well, Cinderella, how about diamonds? I thought those were a girl's best friend?” Mentally, he created the perfect diamond in his head, something only royalty would wear. She was, after all, a queen.

A frown marred her beautiful features. The sun kissed her skin, browning her shoulders and reddening her cheeks. “I'm not one who needs diamonds to make me happy.”

“Bad experience?”

“Yes, I'll tell you someday. Right now, tell me why you're standing over here all by yourself. Are you being antisocial?”

Stephen contained his frown and glanced around. The only person he wanted to be around stood right in front of him, and she had yet to share her deepest secrets and fears with him. His ex-girlfriend Natalia had opened up to him right away. Years later, now he realized she fed him enough about herself in hopes to gain favor when her aunt dropped the bombshell about using his ties to the Torres family to elevate her publicity.

“Have you made any friends yet?”

“I'm not antisocial. I made a few friends. Everyone wants to know what I'm going to do with the bakery. They're so friendly. A lot of them have said ‘bless your heart' to me.”

A set of birds flew out of the hanging moss when Lexi began to laugh. “Aww, ‘bless your heart' is a nice way to say, ‘Go...'” Her words trailed off when a man with a white collar over his black T-shirt asked for everyone's attention to bless the food. Townspeople gathered around and bowed their heads.

Like a stampede, wet children flocked the dozen picnic tables and began ripping off the plastic wrap and plastic container tops for the food. A man in a pair of overalls who'd been handling a large oblong grill hinged to the back of a rusty red pickup truck opened the lid and the scent of charcoal filtered through the air. Stephen's stomach growled. His mouth watered for one of the hot dogs or burgers, maybe both.

“What are you in the mood for?” asked Lexi when the line began to thin. “I can make a plate for you if you'll find us a spot under one of the trees.”

You
, he thought, but instead said, “How about a little of everything?” Off in the distance he found a spot free of red-ant colonies, underneath an oak tree shaded by the oversize branches and Spanish moss. The wide trunk supported his back as he pulled his legs up. Kimber and Marvin sat at a table with a bunch of other boys and girls, far away from both uncles. Philly ate on a blanket, teaching her new beauty walk to her friends. Nate leaned against a tree, cornered by a mystery woman while Keenan mingled with Lexi's assistant, Chantal.

“Don't get me wrong, but nothing but scandal has followed the Pendergrass family,” a woman's voice said from the other side of the tree.

Hard to believe that a few weeks ago Stephen would have paid to gain any information on Lexi and her family. Well aware things were not rosy with her parents, he'd dropped the subject with her and waited until Lexi wanted to share what happened. And coming from a small town, Stephen did not like to eavesdrop on gossip, but the mention of Lexi's family's name piqued his interest.

“Mr. Pendergrass still won't show his face at any public function. I bet he still believes the youngest one isn't his.”

“Mmm,” said another voice, “after all these years? You know they're good for trying to keep secrets. Those two ain't foolin' nobody. Did you see the way they kept making googly eyes at each other all day?”

What?
Stephen wanted to laugh.

“She wouldn't dare. Didn't she learn her lesson from the last time she got involved with a parent?”

“Girl, don't get me started. At least this one won't be here long. Hopefully, when Lexi's done with this one, it won't bring the trash TV people around here like the last time.”

Stephen's teeth gnashed together when he heard a clap. Did they high-five each other?

“What about the oldest Pendergrass girl, running off with that man? See, that's why they're in trouble now. I refuse to believe Lisbeth Pendergrass was brought up to marry some swindler.”

Lisbeth, Stephen recalled Lexi mentioning her older sister.

“—leaving her daughter behind like that. What a shame. You know what Lisbeth's husband did to those people, and it's a wonder something bad hasn't fallen on the entire family. God don't like ugly.”

“Speaking of not liking ugly,” the first woman said, lowering her tone. “You heard the man who brought Divinity's Bakery is planning on tearing down the block and building a high-rise apartment? All these big-city folks keep moving down here and taking over.”

An apartment?
Stephen thought. He had no idea what to do with the place. See, this was why he hated small towns. False gossip.

“Well I would not string the word
ugly
and that man together.”

“Amen,” the other woman said before another apparent high five.

“Did you say an apartment complex? Aren't things bad enough with the condominiums downtown? I swear I hate havin' to carry myself up to the City Hall to pay my bills. They got too much going on.”

Stephen, so engrossed in eavesdropping, didn't hear Lexi's flip-flops flapping against the back of her heels. “Hey, getting you a little bit of everything required a couple of plates,” she said, kicking the bottom of his leather boat shoes.

Immediately he rose to relieve her of the four plates she balanced on both hands and forearms. They carried a spoonful or two of every casserole, baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad and macaroni salad, mini sandwiches, a few hot dogs, sausage dogs, and a burger with a slice of tomato and lettuce spilling out.

“Oh, thank you! I can work a catwalk in six-inch heels, wearing an eight-pound tiara balanced on my head like it's nobody's business, but my waitressing skills are not up to par.”

“Lexi!” One of the gossiping ladies stepped out from around the tree. Both women wore a set of velour jogging outfits, jackets unzipped, one purple, one brown. “What a pleasure to have you out here on this glorious day.” The woman in brown, probably in her sixties, had the decency to avoid eye contact with Stephen. Her porcelain skin had reddened and not from the sun.

“Hi, Mrs. Fields,” Lexi said to the first lady, leaning over to air-kiss her cheeks, then she reached over and hugged the other gossiping woman. “Hi, First Lady Huggins. Allow me to introduce to you one of Southwood's new residents, Stephen Reyes. Stephen, this is Mrs. Fields. She and her husband own the pharmacy down the street from our shops.”

Stephen made a mental note to never step foot in their establishment as he balanced the four plates in one hand. Her small, fragile hands shook with his. The woman next to her offered Stephen her boney hand to shake.

“And this is Mrs. Huggins. Her husband is the pastor who blessed our food today. Would you ladies be so kind and keep an eye on Stephen while I run and get us some tea?”

Flustered, First Lady Huggins opened her Martin Luther King Jr. fan and began cooling the beads of sweat around her neck and forehead. “Mr. Reyes, we did not realize you were sitting here.”

Jaw clenched, Stephen nodded. “Aw, bless your heart.”

* * *

The afternoon of fun in the sun for Southwood families wound down to an evening of serenity. The sun set in the distance over a row of pine trees, casting a golden glow over the calm lake. Homemade ice cream in all kinds of flavors—chocolate, vanilla, and the local favorite, butter pecan—were churned at the cleaned-off picnic tables. Old folks with their hand cranks faced off against the new generation's electric ice-cream machines hooked up to a generator off the back of someone's truck.

Belly filled with chilled triangular slices of watermelon, Lexi set the rind down to save for the horses from the hayride later and stretched out on the docks beside Stephen. Finally, he rolled up the hem of his pants and stuck his feet in the water. Hoofbeats caused the water to vibrate.

“They're fine,” she said, covering her eyes with the crook of her elbow. Stephen kicked the water.

“What?” He chuckled nervously. “I'm not worried.”

Lexi readjusted herself on her elbows, admiring the way he fretted over the girls. Stephen had taken over more responsibility. With school officially over, Stephen had planned out all the activities he was doing with the girls, including a trip to his parents'. He'd invited Lexi, but she told him she'd have to think about it. Meeting the parents? So soon? It had only been two weeks since he burst through her front doors.

“Kimber is on a hayride with a bunch of kids.” Lexi bumped her shoulder against his. “What can happen?”

Stephen raised a brow. “Seriously?”

“What?” she asked innocently, and studied his face.

“You have been sneaking kisses from me all afternoon right under their noses.” Stephen kept his gaze straight ahead. The right side of his cheeks rose and he broke out into a grin.

Heart fluttering, Lexi rolled her eyes and sat upright, dipping her feet into the water beside his. “I did not sneak anything.”

“So,” he began slowly, “are you saying you did not wait until the kids went into the water to kiss me?”

“I cannot help if no one is paying attention to us.” Lexi kicked a bit of water toward him.

“No one is paying attention now,” he said with a challenge in his voice, “except for the folks living in the house across the lake.”

Lexi didn't need to follow his direction to know what house. Instead she cocked her head to the side, “You're the one who said I've been stealing kisses.” Okay, so she had stolen one or two here and there. She liked the excitement of asking him to help get things out of the trunk of her Cadillac, then stepping up on her tiptoes for a quick peck. “Maybe you need to steal some of your own.”

Without hesitation, Stephen leaned to the right and brought his face to hers. He smelled of coconut sunscreen and bug spray. And he completely turned her on. His almond-shaped eyes stared down at her lips. The pulsating of her heart was erratic. She licked her lips in preparation and closed her eyes. Gently, his tongue grazed her lips and touched hers. She parted her lips wider, and her left hand supported her weight as she turned to him, her other hand pressed against his heart; the beat of his matched hers.

Fireflies danced around them and a cool breeze whipped between them. This day had been the closest thing to perfection she'd experienced in a long time.

A couple of teenagers in a paddleboat out in the center of the water were playing around, screaming. Stephen pulled away. “Say, who lives in the house over there?”