Tempting The Beauty Queen. Carolyn Hector

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ mean to hurt you, Kenzie.”

      “I’m not mad about just standing me up. If you weren’t interested, you shouldn’t have started things up with me and then stopped speaking to me. And don’t try giving me a lame answer like, ‘It’s not you, it’s me.’”

      “What if that’s true?”

      “Whatever, Ramon.”

      “Seriously.” Ramon reached to his side and found her hand. “I’d just finished the reconstruction on the hotel. I didn’t need to get into a relationship at the time. I’d just opened the hotel and you were a distraction.”

      “A distraction?” Kenzie’s bottom lip poked out. “Gee, thanks.”

      “You’re taking that the wrong way,” Ramon said. He gave her fingers a squeeze. “Kenzie, you are like your hair, fiery and spirited. I moved to Southwood to start my business, not get into a relationship. One night with you and I almost forgot everything I came here for.”

      “Yet you still slept with me.”

      “I am a man,” Ramon answered, “an utterly weak man who succumbed to the most beautiful, irresistible, sexiest woman on earth.”

      And she was a woman, and the two of them together made such a pair in bed. Ramon was the first man able to coax out a primal desire from her. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get it again but was glad and irritated at the same time for at least having experienced the pleasure once—or half a dozen times. Kenzie licked her lips. The anger at him she felt disappeared. “Thank you for your apology.”

      “Wait a minute,” said Ramon. “I didn’t apologize.”

      “Yes, you did,” Kenzie replied. She pushed their hands onto his thigh and let go, patting his muscular leg before letting go. “You meant to.”

      Ramon began to laugh. “What?” He patted Kenzie’s leg and chuckled. “I accept your apology also.”

      Kenzie brushed his hand away. “For what?”

      “For all your antics. I know you were the one behind loosening the salt shaker at that food truck at the park.”

      The image of Ramon’s mountain of salt on top of his curly fries evoked a giggle. “I plead the Fifth.” She pushed his hand away.

      “See, I knew you were behind all the crappy things done to me. At least I tried to be nice to you with my antics.”

      “Are you going to admit to sending me magnolias this spring?”

      “Why would I send you the first batch of flowers blooming this spring?” Humor flooded his tone. Their hand game stopped. Kenzie turned to face him in the dark. Without needing to see his face, she knew he was leaning close to her. She gulped. He’d remembered her favorite flower. Kenzie’s lips throbbed at the idea of kissing him again. Her heart raced with the idea of anything intimate between them again. He was a drug to her and getting addicted to him was not good for her soul.

      “Kenzie,” Ramon said softly.

      “Ramon... I...” Kenzie paused but she knew as she waited with her mouth open he was going to kiss her. Her world shook; her heart raced. And she swore her heart dropped.

      “I think the elevator is about to fall.” In one quick movement Ramon pulled Kenzie onto his lap.

      That familiar feeling of being on a roller coaster just before it went down the hill washed over her. Kenzie’s bottom lifted off Ramon’s lap. Her heart dropped. Ramon cradled her in his arms and absorbed the fall for her, protecting her once again.

      * * *

      There’d been no thought for his safety during the fall. Ramon just knew if the elevator made it to the floor there’d be nothing to absorb the hit. His first instinct was to protect Kenzie. When the elevator dropped, the hydraulics miraculously kicked in and the bounce jarred the elevator doors open to the lower level. Ramon hadn’t noticed the windows from the outside but the light spilled into the hallway where the doors opened.

      “Okay, so this time I’m going to thank you,” Kenzie said, wiping the gray dust and dirt off her face.

      The sound of her voice filled him with pride. She was okay. Ramon helped her, using his thumbs against her cheekbones, wiping until he saw the freckles. Relief hit him. His heart ached at the fear of something happening to her under his watch. Aside from family, it felt odd to care about someone enough to feel responsible for them.

      Most of the businesses in Southwood had commercial space on the first level and residential on the next floor or two. This was a common usage in old towns. No one wanted to live away from their businesses for security reasons. Ramon understood the terror small African-American towns felt when angry white neighbors sought to destroy their homes. Since then, there had been subdivisions in Southwood, but people still lived in these split-plan residences. Without the use of cell phones or any other modern technology a postman in the past never knew when he’d have to meet an incoming stagecoach with the US Postal Service or send a telegraph.

      Focusing back on the woman in his lap, Ramon blinked. “Are you okay?”

      “I’m fine.” Kenzie’s voice was weak but she tried to smile. “Just shaky.”

      “That’s to be expected,” he said, easing her off his lap, where the proof of desire grew. That old, familiar, lascivious feeling crept through his veins. Logic fought the uncontrollable rush of excitement and impulse to touch her again. “Let’s get out of here before something else happens.”

      Kenzie stood first but used his shoulders to steady herself, not realizing her breasts were in his face. Given what just happened, Ramon knew this was not the right time to reach around for her hips and pull her back to him. This was how things worked when he was around Kenzie. She took all common sense out of the equation, just as she had last summer when he needed to concentrate on business.

      Ramon cleared his throat. “Let’s try to find a way out of here.”

      Once he reached full height Ramon brushed off the debris from his jacket and did the same to Kenzie’s body. His hands smoothed over the soft contours of her hips and breasts. Again Ramon needed to mentally call out the starting lineup of the Yankees.

      “Are you okay?” Kenzie asked him.

      Ramon glanced down at his pants, afraid of what she was asking, but realized she meant after the elevator’s fall. “Yeah, I’m good.”

      Despite the decrepit state of the building the ground floor wasn’t in a state of disarray. Dust piled on either side of the hallways. A half dozen doors stood outside the elevator shaft and Ramon grabbed Kenzie’s hand to help walk her through the threshold of the door he figured was the exit. A pile of ceiling tiles blocked them and they had to step over it. The red heels she wore were covered with gray dust and the fabric of her jeans was frayed at the knees.

      If Ramon had to hold her hand the whole time, he was going to end up pressing her against the wall and kissing her senseless. They needed to get out of here. Alexander Ward should be here by now and Ramon didn’t want the man to think he’d changed his mind about buying the place. It did need a lot of work but he couldn’t beat the downtown location. “Wait here,” he told Kenzie.

      Ramon СКАЧАТЬ