A Tiara Under the Tree

“You took a while to answer the phone.”

“It rang three times,” said Waverly. She opened the door and gasped at the sight of Dominic standing in front of her, coffee in his large hand. “Oh my God, you’re my savior.”

Waverly accepted the hot cup and opened the door wider. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been in her condo before, yet a feeling of nervousness washed over her. Waverly cocked her head to the side for a glimpse of his butt. He wore a pair of his signature jeans, the kind that hugged every muscle of his legs, and a thin T-shirt, this one red.

“Waverly.” Jillian’s voice came to life on the other end of the line. “Waverly, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, Ma.” Waverly shook her head to focus on the woman who gave her birth. “I have company.”

“Who is coming by this early in the morning?”

“A coffee god, Ma.”

Dominic, making a beeline to the kitchen, laughed. No surprise at his familiarity. His sister’s place had the same layout. Beeps sounded from the microwave and soon the flashing stopped. Waverly chuckled at his take-charge demeanor.

“Waverly, wait. First you blow off coming home for Thanksgiving last weekend...” her mother began.

“I am home,” Waverly clarified and cut her off. The argument between her and her mother was growing old. Jillian expected Waverly to run to her parents every time there was something wrong. Well, now there was nothing wrong, and her mother still had a problem. Had Waverly gone home, Jillian would have paraded her around town. She’d had enough of this campaigning in her pageant region for the runoff. Jillian suffered from understanding her daughter was grown and no longer needed her help.

“You spent the holiday eating a frozen dinner.”

Her mother’s voice carried over the phone into the open space of the short hall and living room. Waverly prayed Dominic didn’t hear, but the questioning look on his face told her he did. “Ma.” Waverly grunted. “I will call you back later.”

“Wait,” Jillian exclaimed. “I want to remind you that you have less than a few weeks to get your act together to win this ridiculous runoff.”

“I know, Ma.”

“And after that you will not have that much time to get your act together for the Miss Georgia Pageant. We need to talk about your plan to bring your weight down.”

A dimple appeared at the corner of Dominic’s cheek. Did he always have a dimple? Waverly blinked and tried once again to focus on her mother. “I am working out but I’ve got a bigger response on social media for curves. People like them.”

Dominic nodded in appreciation.

“You think?” Jillian’s high-pitched voice reeked of sarcasm. “Or do you think you’re winning over a group of people who want to see beauty pageants turn into a contact sport? Had I known you even won Miss Southwood rather than finding out through social media about that and your brawl—”

“Listen, Ma.” Waverly interrupted quickly. “I’ve got to go. I promise I’m going to call you later.” She hung up before her mother gave another embarrassing detail or guilted Waverly for not telling her about winning Miss Southwood.

“You didn’t go home for the holidays?” Dominic asked, coming from behind the counter. Waverly willed her feet to bring her closer into the split living room. She watched quietly while Dominic strolled over to the balcony. He bent over to examine the box of lights and decorations.

“Southwood is my home,” Waverly answered, closing the gap between them. “Thanks again for the coffee.”

“Two sugars and the sugar cookie creamer you mentioned you liked.”

Waverly blinked in disbelief.

“I remembered because you went on about the flavors of coffee on our date.” Dominic tried to recover. The sun caught a slight blush on his cheeks. “I remember thinking the flavor of coffee should be...coffee.”

Playfully rolling her eyes as if she were annoyed, Waverly motioned toward the cream-colored couch. How could anyone be annoyed with a man like him bringing her a much-needed brew? “That wasn’t a date—we were celebrating my win.”

“Our win,” he corrected her. Dominic glanced down at his attire before sitting. “So how’d you know I’d need coffee?”

“Alisha came to the garage late this morning,” Dominic said. “She swore being late today was not her fault and mentioned the blackout before I started to fire her. Are these your only decorations?”

So much for family loyalty, Waverly thought with a frown. “Were you going to fire her?”

“I was tempted,” said Dominic as he stood up with the box in his arms. It was too light for the bulge of his biceps to emerge, so Waverly was pretty sure he was showing off for her. “This is sad,” he said with a quick shake of his head. “Maybe while we’re out today we can pick up some decent decorations.”

Waverly sat down adjacent to Dominic. Her bare knees touched his jeans-clad ones. No barrier between them stopped the heat rising. “Why do you think we’re going out today?”