The Bachelor and the Beauty Queen

“I know you saw the picture in the gossip blogs.”

A heavy sigh escaped from Lexi’s lungs. “I promise you, I don’t pay attention to those things. If Stephen was on a date, he was free to do so.”

From the other room, Kimber’s shrill scream rang through the air. The two of them rushed into the room next door. The floor was a mess, door wide-open, and Philip sat on a bed clutching his jaw, Kimber in front of him, staring her uncle down.

“You had no right!” Kimber yelled at Stephen.

“I had every right. This man had his hands all over you.”

Nate came between Kimber and Stephen. “Relax, Stephen. They’re a couple of kids making out.”

“Where in the hell were you with this going on?”

“I was right here.” Nate folded his arms across his chest.

Stephen pushed his chest against his brother’s. Lexi feared they were going to come to blows. After all, Stephen had just hit a teenage boy. “No, you weren’t here because you would have seen this punk groping our niece. What had you so distracted?”

Nate didn’t say her name; his eyes flickered in Lexi’s direction. Stephen spun around. His cold eyes narrowed on her, chilling her to the bone. Her heart seized against her chest. She’d never seen such a wild look in his eyes. The man had gone mad. She had no idea what she’d done so wrong, and as high-and-mighty as she wanted to claim Stephen was, it didn’t lessen the pain. Lexi was positive if they all stood still, everyone would hear her heart breaking.

“You!” he growled. She was sure she made a squeaking noise. “I swear to God, haven’t you done enough? I already know what lengths you’ll go through just to get my property, but I’ll be damned before I let you teach Kimber your little tricks. First, you sell Kimber your dress, then talk her into this and now you’re moving on to my brother?”

Lexi’s hands flew to her mouth, covering her face. Nate jerked Stephen’s arm and slugged him one good time across the face. Stephen’s head turned slightly at the blow but stopped when Kimber screamed.

“Stop!” Kimber cried, tears running down her face. Lexi wanted to comfort her but hesitated. Fortunately Nate reached around and supported her. “She didn’t sell me the dress!” Kimber blurted out. “I stole it.” Stephen gasped and Nate nodded his head. “I stole it one day when Uncle Nate came into the shop. I took it because I wanted to impress Philip.”

“Kimber! You didn’t have to do that,” Philip said behind her.

“Boy—” Nate shot a glare over his shoulder “—shut up.”

“Lexi took the rap for me,” Kimber continued, “and never said anything, but she did talk to me about it. She’s talked to me about so many other things, even about being truthful to you guys about Philip.”

The room grew quiet for a second too long, Lexi staring at the ground, her arms folded across her chest awkwardly. She felt Stephen’s eyes on her, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of eye contact.

“How is she trying to get your property if I’m helping her expand the apartment above her shop?” Nate chimed in.

Another silence fell across the room. Embarrassed to the hilt, Lexi wanted to bury her head in the sand. A haughty laugh filled the open door.

“This is classic.” Rose snickered. She turned her head to exaggerate her laugh with the other two pageant mothers. The door had been left open and they were in the hallway. “I tell you, ladies, drama follows her wherever she goes.”

Lexi had to stop wondering if this day could get any worse. The buzzer in her back pocket went off. The show had to go on.

Chapter 15

A hangover would have been something survivable. Stephen didn’t think he could handle much of anything else today. Humiliation, loss, shame, jealousy. He’d been an ass. His family hated him. Hell, he hated himself. His fist still ached from where he had punched Kimber’s new boyfriend but it was nowhere near as painful as his jaw, where Nate had punched him. He deserved it. No amount of physical pain hurt as bad as his heart did at the idea of losing Lexi.

Ever the professional, Lexi held her composure during the talent portion for the toddlers. She kept her dark eyes focused on the stage. Before anyone else occupied the prime location, Stephen sat in the front of the ballroom and angled himself off to the side to get a view of the contestants backstage. He watched with guilt as she smiled brightly after Philly finished her rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” in her patriotic red, white and blue skirt and top. Lexi had been correct to add a tap-dance routine with patent leather shoes and white lacy socks. It differed from all the cloggers in cowboy boots he’d seen already.

Lexi. His heart ached at the thought of her name. She knew everything—she really did. She knew Kimber better than he; she had gained Kimber’s and Philly’s trust before he did. She knew what to say and what not to say and why. Stephen had to admit, he may have gone even more ballistic if he had learned Kimber stole. Lexi could have pressed charges against her, but that wasn’t her style. At any point, she could have told Kimber’s secret. But she didn’t. Because she was Lexi, and she knew what was right.

During Kimber’s beauty walk, Lexi’s smile filled with pride, wide and toothy, and she laid her hand over her heart as if she was legitimately touched. Stephen tried shifting in his seat in hopes of catching her attention but while her smile for Kimber never faltered, she always managed to never look quite at him.

Despite the family ignoring him, the pageant continued. The snarky view he’d taken on changed. He was the crazy one. Guilt crippled his insides each time Lexi glanced over him and into the crowd. Stephen focused on the dress Kimber wore and remembered being with Lexi when she picked up the fabric. Everything she touched seemed to blossom, the dress, his family. Him. Given Lexi’s magical touch, it began to made sense why the Laings held on to their bitterness. They understood the loss of having L

exi out of their lives.

The idea of Lexi exiting his life scared him. He needed her. He needed her in his life. Nausea swept through him. He slid his hand down the length of his sweating face and shifted in his seat. He sat and listened to the emcee announce Kimber’s age group without a sour thought on the length of the competition.

“You look as miserable as I feel.”