Just One (Dangerously Dimpled) Read Free Page A

bubbles to
the surface.
    I lean against him and close my eyes. His
cologne smells expensive and exotic. I press into him, undone by his closeness.
“I just don’t belong here is all.”
    He brushes his lips against the
sleeked-down hair on the top of my head, sending thunder down under. “You seem
like you fit in okay to me.”
    “This isn’t me; this is all Paige. The
hair, the dress, the shoes, all her doing. I’m not fancy like her. I’m simple,
plain old Charlie.”
    Alex stops moving, pulling just far
enough away to look down at me. “We just met, and you are surely many things,
but simple isn’t one of them.”
    In the dimly lit garden, his eyes look
almost black. I lick my lips, my mouth dry from quick breaths. His gaze follows
the movement and the hand on my back forces me flush against him.
    Mama,
I know you’re up there in Heaven, watching over me, but could you shut your
eyes for just a minute? Your little girl’s about to get her some.
    I arch my neck and focus on the fullness of
Alex’s lips. It’s been so long since I’ve been kissed, I hope to hell it’s like
riding a bike. I flex onto tiptoes, ready to make my move, when the hotel door
opens behind us. The cool conditioned air makes a whooshing sound behind
whoever has stepped into the garden. A shiver runs down my spine.
    Alex ’s hold on me slackens. His hard
body pulls away from my eager one. “Hi,” he calls. “What’s going on?”
    “We’re bringing out the birthday cake, I
came to find you.” I’d recognize that voice anywhere.
    I drop Alex’s hand and turn slowly, dread
chasing away the lust. Cadence Spelling, my sister’s best friend and
porcelain-skinned demon, has ascended from the mouth of Hades, and is standing
at the far end of the courtyard.
    “Lord have mercy, is that you Charlotte Davies?”
Cadence’s shrill twang sounds happy and excited but she doesn’t fool me.
Southern women know how to make an insult sound like a lesson in good manners.
“Oh my God, I hardly recognized you. You look so pretty!”
    “Hi Cadence.” I watch in dread as she
moves toward Alex and me on impossibly thin legs. Some years back, Cadence had
an ill-fated love affair. Her very personal trainer left her with a botched boob job and a touch of anorexia. The
poufy coral couture dress she’s wearing makes her look like an orange caught
between two toothpicks.
    “I’m so glad I thought to look in the
garden.” She reaches us, and leans in to give me an air kiss. “Paige has been
absolutely beside herself looking for you, Charlotte.”
    I bite my lip, refusing to rise to the
bait. She knows how much I hate being called Charlotte.
    “What were y’all doing?”
    “We were dan-”
    “I was just introducing myself,” Alex
interrupts.
    I turn sharply and look up at him. Before
Cadence showed up he was going to kiss me, I’m sure of it. So why is he acting
like nothing happened?
    “Oh, I didn’t realize the two of you had
never met. I would’ve thought with Paige and Ken getting so close, you’d be old
friends by now. But I guess Paige doesn’t make it back to the trailer park much
these days. How is your daddy, Charlie? You and he still living at the Pueblo
Princess?”
    I cringe inwardly. I’m not ashamed of who
I am or where I’ve come from, but that doesn’t mean I want Alex thinking of me
as the trailer trash he found lying in the dirt at a fancy party. “We’re doing
just fine, thank you.”
    “Well I’m glad to hear it. Paige was so
excited to get you up here this weekend. She thought she could win you over to
life in the big city, but I told her to just let you be. I mean, can you
imagine, Charlotte, you out of Harlow County? That’d be like putting a fur coat
on an armadillo.”
    The
hell you say? I stare
Cadence down and place a hand on my hip. That’s Southern for, ‘ Come and get it, bitch.’
    Cadence laughs uncomfortably and turns
her attention to Alex. “And you, mister, I’ve been around and around trying