* * *
Mia sat in the driver’s seat, working on not hyperventilating. Some positive self-talk, some reminders that, in this space, people looked at her as a professional, knowledgeable businesswoman, not Mia, Queen of the Geeks, whose verbal diarrhea always meant saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
“Mia, get out of the car.”
“I will.” She nodded. Her feet ignored her.
Cara slammed her door shut. A few seconds later she jerked open the driver’s-side door. “Get out, young lady.”
“I’m older than you.”
“Mia.”
“Just give me a second.”
“Mia, look at me.”
Reluctantly, Mia met her sister’s fierce stare.
“Do you think you’re ugly?”
Mia frowned. “Well, no.” She wasn’t a bombshell, but she certainly wasn’t ugly. Decent haircut, no more acne, body in good shape. She wasn’t ugly. Didn’t mean she was comfortable being seen as anything other than background noise. She’d worked so hard at being background noise since coming home from Truman four years ago. Worked on quietly doing what she needed to do, not babbling, not embarrassing herself.
This step seemed to scream look at me and as much as she wouldn’t mind some male attention, she wasn’t ready for the screaming insecurity that went with it. If she were ready for that, she’d probably have had a date by now.
“Then, suck it up, sister. You’re cute. You’re skinny, and no one’s going to look twice at you except people who know you and wonder how you hid that body for so long. You look like a normal twenty-six-year-old woman. Of course, if a guy comes over to buy something, I’d make sure to bend over.”
“Cara—”
“Just be you. Forget what you look like or what people think. That’s how you’ve gotten this far, isn’t it? You learned to stop worrying what people thought?”
That was true. Not an easy lesson to learn, or even one she’d mastered, but Cara was right. Who cared what people thought? She was wearing tight jeans and a T-shirt for heaven’s sake. Not a G-string and some tassels.
And she certainly wasn’t stripping, unlike some people.
Mia sneaked a glance over her shoulder at Dell. He hadn’t taken off his shirt yet, but it was unbuttoned all the way. Moron. It was barely above freezing.
With a deep breath, Mia hopped out of the truck, earning her a back pat from Cara. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
Squaring her shoulders, Mia focused on setting up the booth including their newest tactic: coloring pages and crayon packets for kids. Next week Anna was going to do face painting. If Dell was going to go the man-ogling route, they would go the family route.
Pants that fit and a low-cut T-shirt just meant looking less like the crazy, isolated farmer she was. It had nothing to do with sex appeal.
Of course, if a single guy was interested…
Mia shook her head. Idiot fantasies had never gotten her anywhere. Certainly not laid. She might look a little more alluring than she once had, but all her work at invisibility had certainly kept any interested parties away.
Well, maybe with her new look she’d work on that next.
This morning, though, she was concentrating on selling the pants off Dell Wainwright. Not literally or anything. But, well, now that she thought of it…
Nope. Not going there.
Mia smiled brightly at a couple and their twin toddlers. “Good morning. Welcome to our Pruitt Farms stand. Do you see anything you like?”
She chatted with the mother about what kind of fertilizers they used and if they were certified organic. In the end, the twins each took a coloring sheet and crayons, and Mia sold one of everything.
She also made sure to tell them about the face painting next weekend and they promised to return.
Take that, Magic Mike.
“Dell keeps looking at you,” Cara stage whispered in her ear as Mia filled a bag with greens.
Mia refused to look over her shoulder. “So?”
“So? I don’t mean he’s looking at you like oh, he happened to look over here. I mean, he’s jaw-dropped looking at you. Like, damn that girl is fine looking at you.”
She waved Cara off, placed the new bag onto the table. As another family passed their booth, she greeted, chatted and focused on her job. Once they were gone, she couldn’t take the curiosity any longer.
She lifted her eyes over the aisle to Dell’s table. There he was in all his shirtless glory, flirting with an older lady. Totally not looking at her.
Except when he handed the woman a bag of broccoli, his gaze met hers across the aisle. Something in her stomach flipped uncomfortably, and a warm sensation zinged down to her toes. Mia quickly looked down at her table, all too aware she was probably beet-red from her shoulders to the roots of her hair.
From that point on, she promised herself not to look at Dell, and not to replay that weird moment his eyes had locked on hers and she’d felt something. Just from a look.
Nope. Not thinking about it.
She made it through the rest of the morning, pleased to see they’d sold more than last week. Some of that might have had to do with more people coming as the season went on, and that it wasn’t raining today like it had been last week, but still, progress was progress.
“Uh-oh, here comes trouble,” Cara said under her breath.
Mia looked up as Dell sauntered to their table.
She focused on packing up the leftovers. When he leaned his forearms on her table and ducked under the awning, she was only momentarily mesmerized by the fine blond hair on his tanned, muscular forearms.
So not fair.
“That’s quite a getup,” he said, none too pleasantly.
She would not blush. She would not blush. She would not blush. She stood to her full height, chin up to add a few inches. Fisting her hands on her hips, she managed her best intimidating glare, even if her cheeks were probably pink as she looked down at his hunched-over frame. “What getup?”
He stood, motioned a hand up and down her front. “That.”
“What?”
He did the motion again. “That.”
Mia cocked her head, folded her arms under her breasts. When Dell looked at the sky she nearly giggled. “I never pegged you for the modest type. What with the stripping and all.”
He scowled down at her and it took a little extra effort to suck in a breath.
“I do not strip,” he said through gritted teeth. He leaned closer and, by God, her heart nearly leaped out of her chest. But she stood her ground. Standing her ground felt really good.
“I see what you’re trying to do here.”
“And what’s that?” Her voice wasn’t even breathless. Go her.
He held up his hand to do the gesture again, but stopped midway. His baffled look turned steely and grave. “I’ve got too much to lose to let you beat me. A nice ass and breasts aren’t going to suddenly win you a bunch of customers. If you haven’t noticed, most of the markets’ customers are families and women, not single guys looking for a hot girl to hit on.”
Oh, she was so not flattered that he’d said she had a nice ass and breasts. Or insinuated she was the hot girl. She was not at all pleased he’d noticed. In fact, it was totally demeaning.
She’d work on her outrage later.
“Yeah, families, Dell.” Mia pointed to the sign addition Anna had made her. Pruitt Farms. Family-Friendly Fruits and Veggies from Our Land to Your Table. “And I’m guessing a family with wife, husband and kids are going to come over to our booth with people fully clothed and kid-friendly activities. Free kid-friendly activities, at that.”
Dell’s jaw set tighter. “So what’s with ditching the baggy clothes if you’re so family oriented?”
Mia worked up her best dismissive smile. “Maybe I’m trolling for dates. Maybe I wanted to look different for fun. Maybe it’s a business tactic. Maybe it’s not. All you need to know is it’s none of your business.”
Mia grinned. His words were a lie. If she’d caught the Naked Farmer’s attention, she was winning already.
Chapter Four
“Why don’t you girls stay the night?” Mom engulfed Mia in a cinnamon-scented hug. She lowered her voice. “Sweetie, next time maybe you should wear one of those—what are they called?—camisole things under that shirt. It’s a little low cut. You wouldn’t want people to get the wrong idea.”
“Maybe that’s exactly what she wants,” Cara whispered, earning herself a jab in the side.
“What, dear?”
“Nothing.” Mia pushed Cara toward the door. “Ignore her. Do you want us to take the leftover brownies?”
“Oh, yes. Your father will inhale them before the night’s over if you don’t. Maybe next time you try my trick of making them with applesauce? Adding a little zucchini? It cuts back on the fat and—”
Mia had to bite back a smile. “Yes, Mom. Applesauce. Will do.”
“Oh, I hate you two girls living on your own.” Their mother wrung her hands, fretting next to the door as Mia and Cara shrugged on their coats. For two years Mia and Cara had shared an apartment. Still, every time they left the Pruitt farmhouse, Mom fretted over the two young women living alone.
Cara rolled her eyes and groaned. “We’re only ten minutes away, Mom. Two years, and a serial killer hasn’t gotten us yet.”
Mia pushed Cara again. “You’re not helping.”
Mom clucked her tongue. “Stay the night. Silly to drive all the way home when it’s dark out.”
“We’re only ten minutes away,” Mia repeated gently.
Mom took a deep breath and let it out, offering a pained smile. “All right. All right. We’ll see you in the morning.” Cara and Mia waved as they stepped out the door.
“Don’t forget to get one of those camisoles, Mia!” Mom called after them. “And make sure to lock both locks on your door. Oh, and lock your car doors, even when you’re driving.”
Cara groaned into the evening quiet. “Seriously, how did we turn out normal?”
Mia climbed into the driver’s seat of her truck. Cara and Anna were on that normal spectrum, but she wasn’t always sure she was. How long had Mom’s outer monologue been Mia’s inner dialogue? She’d learned to manage the anxiety, push away the worry about what other people might think or do, but it wasn’t like the voice had disappeared.
Cara turned in her seat, smiling weirdly as Mia pulled out onto the highway.
“Okay, so hear me out before you totally shoot me down, ‘kay?” Cara practically bounced in her seat.
“Oh, God.”
“It’s Saturday night. We rocked it at the market today. You look like someone I wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen with. I don’t have to work at the salon tomorrow.” Cara clutched Mia’s arm. “Let’s go to a bar.”
Mia laughed, shaking off Cara’s arm so she could have both hands on the steering wheel. “Right.”
“I’m serious! It’ll be fun. A few drinks. We find a few cute guys to chat up. Maybe you give a guy your number.”
Mia’s shoulders involuntarily hunched before she told herself to relax them. She was twenty-six for heaven’s sake. This is what she should be doing on a Saturday night. Not sitting at home with her seed catalogues.
Still, the idea left her vaguely nauseous.
“We’ll have fun! I promise! We can leave whenever you want. Please, please please, please—”
“All right!”
Cara’s squeal was ear piercing. “Let’s go to Juniors. Way hotter guys there.”
“Super.” Mia tried to talk herself into some enthusiasm. She wasn’t going to meet a guy holed up in her apartment, and she probably wasn’t going to meet a guy working at the farm or even at the farmer’s market. If she wanted to drop the virginity, she was going to have to put herself out there.
If she could control her blushing, quiet the anxiety, keep her mouth under control, there was no reason this couldn’t be a fun evening.
And Cara wondered why she wasn’t more proactive in the dating scene.
Mia pulled into the crowded lot of Juniors. New Benton only boasted two bars, and Mia had never spent any time at either, unless occasionally picking up a drunk Cara counted. Still, the whole town knew Juniors was where the young people went, and Vern’s was the old, townie bar.
Cara rummaged around in her purse as Mia parked in the back. She flipped down the visor mirror and began applying mascara, holding out a tube of something in her free hand. “Here.”
“Oh, I—”
“Just put on some lipstick. Oh, and some mascara.” Cara finished with the mascara, shoved both tubes of makeup at Mia. “Cara tip number one: make sure to always wear lipstick. It makes a guy notice your mouth.” Cara waggled her eyebrows.
Oh, this was so not a good idea. Of course, sometimes jumping into the deep end was the only way to learn.
Mia took a deep breath and flipped down her own visor mirror. In the truck’s pale dome light, she applied the lipstick and the mascara. She didn’t wear makeup often, but Cara had given her enough lessons that she didn’t look like a clown.
Hopefully.
“Ready?” Cara already had her door open. This really was her element.
She managed a weak smile. “Just give me a sec.”
“Oh, God, not the Stuart Smalley routine.”
“Just a second.”
Cara shook her head in disgust as she hopped out of the truck and slammed the door. Mia looked at her expression in the mirror. Stupid or not, a little positive self-talk always helped calm her nerves and bolster her confidence.
“I can do this,” she said to her reflection. “I am a confident, capable adult. Talking to a guy will not kill me. In fact, it’ll probably be fun.” It was time. Past time to fight anxiety and really go after this.
With one final “I can do this” Mia hopped out of the truck and met Cara at the door to the bar. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Because, gosh darn it, people like you.”
“Shut up and move.”
Cara led her into the crowded bar. A few people greeted Cara and she waved. Even though Mia recognized a lot of the faces, no one called out to her. Her social circle was slim. Oh, sure, she talked to a few of the ladies at the market, had something passing as a friendship with some of the women there her age, but mostly her tried-and-true friends and confidants had the last name Pruitt. And did not hang out at Juniors.
Cara found a little table in a back corner. “You sit. I’ll go order us some drinks.”
“Just get me a soda.”
Cara shook her head. “Yeah, right. An alcoholic beverage is exactly what you need.”
Mia sat and looked around the room while Cara went up to the bar to order their drinks. People talked and chatted and yelled and laughed. In the corner, she felt somewhat separate from it all. Nobody looked at her. It was like she wasn’t even there.
Depressing thought. Funny how she’d spent so many years wishing to be invisible but always somehow ended up the butt of the joke, then finally getting the invisibility thing down and now she was wishing for attention.
Cara sauntered back over, two guys following her. Mia recognized one as C.J. Pinkerton who’d been in her class. The other guy looked familiar, but she didn’t remember his name. He unabashedly stared at Cara’s ass as he walked behind her.
C.J., though, smiled and took a seat next to her. Mia froze a little. He was smiling at her. “Hey, I’m C.J.”
Mia smiled, biting her tongue in time so she didn’t say something stupid like, duh, we went to high school together. “Mia.”
He squinted, leaning in closer. “No shit. Mia Pruitt.” He didn’t say the rest of it, but she knew what he was thinking. Queen of the Geeks. “You look a lot different than you did in high school, huh?” Then he smiled, pretty and white, a little crooked. He
was definitely cute, if a little skinny.
“I guess I do.” Mia took a sip of the drink Cara had put in front of her. She gave herself a mental high-five. She sounded like a normal human being.
C.J. laughed. She’d made a guy laugh. Holy moly. For the next twenty minutes she managed to hold an entire conversation with a kind of cute guy without once hyperventilating. She might have blushed a few times, but maybe he didn’t notice in the dim light of the bar.
She talked about the farm. He talked about working at the Ford plant in Millertown. It was going well. Hell, it was going perfectly. He even scooted his chair closer to hers.
“Want to dance?”
Hopefully the involuntary squeak she made was inaudible over the hum of the crowd and music. Who knew a little lipstick and some cleavage could make such a difference? Mia smiled, hoped her laugh didn’t sound like some kind of nervous hyena. What if—? Nope. No what ifs. “Give me a sec to run to the bathroom?”
C.J. leaned back in his seat and smiled. “Sure.”
Mia stood, walked calmly to the bathroom. Where she would normally go into the stall and hyperventilate, she walked over to a sink instead. She washed her hands slowly, deliberately. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. She could totally do this. If she ever hoped of getting even remotely close to having sex she had to do this.
She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked put together and cute and no one had to know all the anxiety in her mind if she didn’t show it to them.
With a determined nod, Mia pushed out of the bathroom. Shaking her hair back she put a little bounce in her step and walked back to the table. She faltered for a second when she realized C.J. was no longer at their table. Two new men had joined Cara.
Never should have given him a chance to realize what a colossal mistake he’d made by asking her to dance or the time to remember all her embarrassing moments. Well, that was fine. Mia swallowed down the disappointment. Two new guys were sitting with Cara. From the back, they were pretty cute.
Mia stopped in her tracks when the first man’s profile came into view. It wasn’t some cute guy in her seat. It was Dell.
He lounged in the chair like he owned it, the lip of a Budweiser bottle perched at his mouth. He must have seen her out of the corner his eye because he turned and grinned.
Harlequin E Contemporary Romance Box Set Volume 2: Maid to CraveAll I HaveThe Last First DateLight My Fire Page 28
