Kimber shook her head. “No, not right now. For our pre-prom pictures we’re going to take tomorrow.”
“I’m so excited for you.” Kenzie came over and hugged Kimber’s shoulders. “You’re a shoo-in to win.” She tugged the side ponytail Kimber sported. “This head was made to wear the Southwood High Prom Queen crown.”
Forgetting she was in the company of Will, Zoe participated in the pre-celebration, holding Kenzie and Kimber’s hands to jump around and squeal. Their commotion brought over the other men from the Magnolia Palace. Everyone sobered when Stephen cleared his throat like the overprotective guardian he was. Zoe admired him and his brother Nate. They’d moved to Southwood soon after their other brother, Kimber’s father, passed away in a car accident along with her mother. Immediately, they’d acclimated to the small town and both men found longtime residents to fall in love with. Zoe craned her neck to see if she could spot Nate Reyes around here somewhere. No such luck.
“Whoever heard of prom pictures the day before prom?” Stephen scowled. “When I was growing up, we took pictures the day of.”
“And risk getting your dress messed up?” Kimber cringed and rolled her eyes. “No, thank you.”
The uncle and niece duo could go on for hours about their views of the world without intervention. “Where’s Lexi?” Zoe asked Stephen.
Stephen groaned and shook his head. “She’s on bed rest.”
“Bed rest?” Zoe gasped.
Kimber huffed. “She’s fine. It’s Tío Stephen who is forcing Lexi to stay home in bed.”
Relieved, Zoe sighed. “Did something happen to worry you?”
Patting his niece on the shoulder, Stephen shook his head. “She’s been so involved with this pageant she forgot to take her prenatal vitamin yesterday.”
“According to Lexi,” Kenzie offered, whispering not so softly behind her hand, “she got as far as the door before he freaked out.”
It was easy to imagine Stephen being so careful where Lexi was concerned. He loved her deeply and, of course, Lexi was madly in love with him. They made Zoe long for a relationship where she could settle down. For some reason, Zoe glanced over and found Will staring at her. Her heart fluttered.
Clearing her throat, Zoe tore her gaze from Will’s back to Stephen. “You promise she’s okay? I know she is nearing the end of her pregnancy.”
“She’s fine.” Stephen nodded. “Feel free to stop by this evening.”
“We have dinner planned for everyone tonight, don’t we, Ramon?” Kenzie leaned forward to include Stephen’s quiet cousin in on the conversation.
In an uncomfortable fashion, Ramon scratched at the back of his head. “I think I forgot to take it out of the freezer.”
“Are you serious?”
Before they had a chance to get involved in the wrath, Zoe grabbed Will’s arm and waved goodbye to Kimber and Stephen.
“I did tell you she scared me,” Will said, once they were out of earshot.
“I’m scared for Ramon,” Zoe laughed. “Maybe we shouldn’t have left him.”
Will stopped in his tracks. For a moment, Zoe wondered if he wanted to go back and rescue his new friend. He paused and looked over the hill. “Nah, I think he’ll be okay.”
They began to walk together in silence. Zoe wasn’t sure where they were going; she just knew she didn’t want to share Will with anyone right away.
“How was playing soccer again for you?” she asked when they reached the other end of the shallow lake. Their knuckles brushed against each other as she walked on the higher part of the leaf-strewn path beside the water. “Want to go back to it?”
“Not a chance.” Will sighed. “I know I may not be as experienced in the makeup world as you, but there’s something about doing this job for my grandmother that makes me feel honorable.”
“Your grandmother, huh?”
“Yes. I promise you, I am my grandmother’s favorite grandchild.”
Zoe felt her lips stretch across her face as she tried to hide her smile. What would he say if he found out she did a school project on the family and never came across him? Of course, she’d done it a long time ago. “You don’t say.”
“Why do you sound surprised?”
“Surprised that you were spoiled by your grandmother?” Zoe made a grand gesture toward her heart. “My bad. How could I ever think such a thing?”
“You sound like my cousins.”
Water rushed by an open drainage. A few birds scattered to the top of the skyscraper-tall pine trees at the sound of their footsteps. It was the perfect afternoon for a romantic stroll. If there was a romance between us.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“Have you met all of my cousins?”
Zoe ticked off the cousins she knew. She was closest to the twins. “Isn’t that enough?”
“There are more, and all of them are leery of me as the CEO.”
“Didn’t you say they nominated you for the job?”
Will nodded and hung his head. She hadn’t realized he’d picked up a blade of grass until he started picking it apart. “They did. It was more an attempt to see me fail. Christmas is great in our family.” He half chuckled as she mewed out a pity aw. “Don’t feel sorry for me. At least the other group of my cousins, the loyal ones, want me to succeed, which I plan to do half out of spite.”
“If you fail,” Zoe breathed, “Ravens Cosmetics fails.”
“Exactly.” Will stopped walking and offered Zoe a half smile. “Which is why it is imperative that I choose right for the next position. I don’t want to let my grandmother down.”
“You won’t fail if you choose me.”
CHAPTER 6
After a family-style dinner at the table, the men cleared the table and did the dishes. Their reward was another bottle of rum. Will needed it. Though his body was tired from the exercise, his mind raced after his afternoon with Zoe and their near kiss. Lips had never been so soft. Every dream he’d had last night was of the promise of how good he and Zoe would be together. But Zoe had made herself clear she wanted to be a part of Ravens Cosmetics. The more time he spent around her, the clearer it became to Will that he wanted to be a part of Zoe.
Everything came down to the Creative Design Director position. From what he’d seen, Zoe’s work still did not pop to him. The work Will had seen—not just in her portfolio but also album covers for musicians and rap artists—was more for shock value. The bold colors and designs could have been considered art. Will liked to see a woman who looked like a woman, not a walking art gallery. Will thought of the Get line. The product titles were catchy—Get Him, Get Him Back and Get Revenge—but at the end of the day, vintage colors, such as bold red, soft pinks and basic nudes, stood the test of time; meanwhile, a majority of the trendy products were discontinued and in his opinion, a waste of time and money. Will recalled old photographs of his relatives over the years in their dresses and makeup. They started off with vintage red lipstick and natural eyebrows; as the family members grew, they experimented with the trends from the seventies, from heavy, bright blue lids and oversize lashes to funky colors, then the grunge fad, and eventually returned to the basic “less is more.” Zoe was a trend. He wanted classic. How was he supposed to have both?
She was haute couture. He smiled at his use of the phrase. Dana would be so proud of him. In just a few short weeks he’d grown. He recognized the names of the Ravens Cosmetics Zoe left in the bathroom and ignored the competitors’ products.
The sleek black cell phone on the nightstand by his bed lit up. It was the first time all week it had rung. Will expected to see Marcus’s or Donovan’s face on the screen, but instead it was his sister. Speak of the devil. He smiled just the same. “Hey,” he said, accepting the FaceTime call.
Like all of the women in the Raven
s family, Dana was extremely beautiful. She’d begged their parents to allow her to be part of an RC back-to-school runway show, and her modeling career had taken off at the age of thirteen. Now, at almost forty, with three kids of her own, Dana was still as beautiful as ever.
“Hey, little bro,” Dana said with a bright smile. From her position, Will could tell she was seated at the utility table in her kitchen. A bowl of fresh fruit sat on the island bar behind her and the refrigerator door opened and closed without a head bobbing over the countertop. One of the kids was sneaking their own snack. Will kept that tidbit of information to himself. “How is the country life treating you?”
“Bad news spreads fast,” Will said.
“I wouldn’t say bad news, more like gossip.” A crash from another room sounded and distracted Dana for a moment. “Tell me about Southwood. Are you wearing overalls yet?”
“I haven’t gotten that sucked in yet.” Will laughed as he said it, but the small town was growing on him. The walk around the lake had sold him, or maybe it was the company he kept.
Dana narrowed her eyes and leaned in close to the screen. “You sound and look relaxed compared to the last time I spoke with you.”
“It was just last week that we spoke, and that was after I had to tell a room full of interviewees that we’re going to have to get back with them about the job interviews that I was late to, thanks to Dixon.”
Nodding, Dana rubbed her chin. “I heard Titus was in the running. He’s worked a few shows I walked in.”
If his memory served him correctly, Titus was the six-foot-five artist from the interviews. Truth be told, out of everyone in the pile, Will had preferred Titus’s body of work. Women looked like women, not art. On top of being a great makeup artist, Titus being a man in a female-dominated field made it fresh and new. The idea of hurting Zoe didn’t sit well with Will, though.
“He is.”
“And what about Zoe Baldwin? The twins told me she’s at the pageant.”
Will rubbed his hand over his mouth to cover the smile that the mere thought of Zoe evoked in him. “She’s talented.”
“And very beautiful,” Dana added.
Secrecy was never at the forefront for the Ravens family. Will shook his head and sighed. “Okay, what did Donovan say to you?”
“It wasn’t just Donovan,” Dana said. “Marcus picked up on some sexual chemistry between you two.”
“Marcus and Donovan? Our brothers who both have issues with dating women from the office?”
Another crash came from behind Dana. It sounded like a bowl with a thousand Legos falling. Judging from the way Dana rolled her eyes, Will guessed he was right. She squinted her eyes, as if pushing the noise out of her mind. “Will, they say the tension was so thick between you two. Are you sure it’s wise to be working with her in a secluded town?”
Considering the way they were interrupted every time he and Zoe got close, the last thing Will would call Southwood was secluded. Someone was always around. The thought of his time with Zoe being put in jeopardy didn’t sit right with Will. He sat up further and shook his head. “There’s nothing going on between us.”
“Are you sure? Because after going over the video surveillance from the downstairs lobby—”
“What?” Will pinched the bridge of his nose. “I see Jerraud is taking advantage of his position at the building.”
“It’s not a position,” Dana corrected her younger brother. “It is his job. He runs Anderson Securities and part of that requires putting out any fires at Kelly Towers.”
“There was no threat.”
Dana shook her head back and forth. “Judging from the heat rising between you and Miss Baldwin from the minute you two laid eyes on each other, I’d beg to differ.”
Jesus, he’d forgotten about the security cameras on all the floors. He shouldn’t have overlooked the sneaky lengths his sisters would go through in order to get some information on him. “So, this is how you get your gossip?” Will had to laugh. He shook his head. “You’re scoping out surveillance tapes.”
“Whatever, William. This isn’t about me. This is about you and Zoe.”
“There is no me and Zoe,” Will snapped and when he did, he heard an unmistakable sneeze from the other side of the bathroom door. A jolt charged his system. While it was Zoe’s idea to keep things friendly between them, he still did not want her to think he wasn’t attracted to her. He desired Zoe. Will scratched the space above his heart where his ΤΦΡ, Tau Phi Rho, tattoo rested. The ink reminded him he needed to get back in touch with Dominic at some point this week. He felt bad for being in his frat brother’s new hometown and not hanging out with him at any point.
“I would hate for her not to get chosen and then want to bring a lawsuit on RC. That’s all the cousins need to hear before they decide to cash in their chips.”
The door to Zoe’s room slammed shut and footsteps shuffled down the stairs. Will cursed under his breath. “I’ve got this, Dana. Okay?”
“Fine. Well, I better get off this thing before the kids destroy my house.”
After they said farewell, Will glanced at the itinerary on the nightstand to decide what to wear tomorrow for Lexi’s last supper before the pageant Sunday. There was nothing formal until Saturday night and that was just a dinner. Since they were touring more old buildings, Will slipped into a pair of jeans, a Miami T-shirt and a pair of wheat Timberlands. He doubted they’d do a lot of running, but if they had to walk through the park or anything, Will wanted his feet protected.
Even though he knew Zoe had left her bedroom, Will knocked on the door to the bathroom they shared and opened it. The first scent was intoxicating. Magnolias. He grinned at the bottles of hair products with the Ravens Cosmetics label and wondered which ones she used. Whoever came up with the scent needed a raise. Will would never look at or smell magnolias again without thinking of Zoe.
Will understood Ravens Cosmetics, as a cosmetic conglomerate, was parent to several subsidiaries. The internet made it possible for consumers to try every product created under their umbrella. Years ago, it had helped sales skyrocket; now, beauty bloggers helped, too, but anyone with a camera phone considered themselves professional video bloggers, or vloggers, as they were known. Last Christmas, RC came out with a holiday mascara—Merry-Merry Mascara—and a customer with a cell phone reported her dislike for the makeup. Then someone purchased a tube but didn’t care for the customer service she’d received and trashed the mascara. That video went viral. The bad press didn’t help when the consumer named RC’s competition as a better alternative. Some of these products seemed to taunt Will as he stood in the bathroom. The other products on the counter irked him. MDMFlow, PNK Digger and AJ Crimson were scattered on the countertop. Was it crazy to wish the only thing Zoe used on her body came from him or his company?
He saw a piece of jewelry Zoe wore every day. Using his index finger, he traced the hoop earring a few times, then pinched it to pick it up. Returning it to her would give him an excuse to see her—touch her, even.
Downstairs, he found Zoe seated at the head of the breakfast table draining a glass of orange juice. Though the glass covered her face, Will still caught her eyes watching him as he crossed the room. He bit the inside of his cheek trying to keep from flashing a smile at her. It seemed every time he did she would blush, and with a table filled with other guests working the pageant this Sunday, Will figured he needed to curb his flirting. What Dana had said resonated with him. He needed to keep to himself for the rest of the time here.
Kenzie carried on a light conversation with the group at the table. She kept directing the topic toward Zoe. Will snagged a biscuit and sat at the opposite end of the table from her. A silver bowl of honey butter sat in front of him. While he slathered the butter on his bread, he could only think about doing the same thing to Zoe. Her slender neck was exposed in her
low-cut V-neck T-shirt with a witty picture of sparkling red lips on the front.
“Are you ready for today?”
Will turned to his left to find Rebecca sliding into the empty seat. She reached out with her right hand to stroke his forearm. Nodding, Will sat back in his chair and pulled the napkin from under his plate to wipe his hands.
“Of course,” Will said. “I look forward to discovering more of Southwood’s hidden charms.”
“I can’t wait to look at the old building,” said Luke. He was the photographer for the pageant, but Will had also seen several freelance jobs he’d done for RC’s digital spreads.
Will nodded his head in agreement. In one bite he consumed half of his biscuit. From across the table, Zoe stared and pressed her lips together. They’d almost shared a kiss yesterday afternoon.
Zoe had left with the girl named Kimber to check on Lexi last evening. She hadn’t returned to her room until late. Will had been tempted to “accidentally” walk in on her when she was taking a shower, but he’d decided against it. Will wanted to talk about their episode yesterday.
They had been about to kiss.
He hated not being honest with Dana. In truth, he wasn’t sure where he stood with Zoe. Zoe had more aspirations in life than being the wife of an athlete. Will liked the way Zoe took time to talk to the girls at the park. There were times he’d witnessed a grown woman push a child out of the way in order to get his autograph. Will could try to keep things professional like he promised his sister. The words he’d said to Dana weren’t true. There was something going on between him and Zoe. It was only a matter of time. Because of his dedication and traveling with soccer, Will had never thought twice about getting involved in a serious relationship, yet when it came to Zoe, he wrestled with everything. Once the decision about the job was made, Will could concentrate on pursuing Zoe. Since she was from the islands, he knew the perfect place to take her on their first date when they returned to Miami.
Harlequin Kimani Romance June 2017 Box Set Page 45
