Beauty Shot (Hope Parish Novels Book 5) by Zoe Dawson Read Free Book Online

unable to help it. “Oh, how so?”
    She looped the tie
and said, “You’re no boy. We both know that. Much too big
for your britches, if you ask me.”
    “Is that
something you’d like to explore?”
    “What?”
She tilted her head, and I couldn’t help but notice the way it
made all those rusty curls of hers tumble about her pale, delicately
defined shoulders.
    “How big I
might be for my britches?”
    She held my gaze
easily, her smile growing. She cinched the tie too tight and I made a
face and choking sound. She loosened it. “I’ll have to
think about that, but I’m sure of one thing.”
    “Just one
thing?” I asked as she wrapped the silk tie around one end to
form a bow.
    Her eyes flicked up
to mine, so green and sparkling, completing the bow and snugging the
silk tight. “You’re very cocky.”
    “I’m
sure you mean confident.” It was taking all my willpower to
stand here and chat, as if the explosive chemistry between us wasn’t
setting every particle and atom in the room abuzz.
    “Of course.
That’s exactly what I mean.”
    That was when I got
the second meaning out of that children’s book Booker had given
me. There’s a Wild
Thing in all of us—and I wanted to see how bold hers would be.
    The door opened and
Verity hissed. “Minnie, come on. The guests are arriving and everyone is asking about Deke. It wouldn’t hurt to have him photographed
in that tux. Sorry, Deke,” she said as she left, leaving the
door ajar.
    “You want me
to do a photo op?” I asked.
     
    #
     
    Minnie
     
    What I wanted was to
shove my hands into that mass of wheat-colored hair and pull his
mouth against mine. Hard. I suspected he got that wit from what I was
sure was a close-to-genius IQ, the git.
    “It’s
all about selling my designs and, at the risk of blowing your big
head up even further, you look smart in that tux.”
    “Smart?”
    “Dashing.
Smashing.”
    “Oh, go
ahead,” he said, his heartbreaking blue eyes dancing. “Blow
up my head.”
    I shoved a hand
against his chest instead of giving into temptation. “Aw, go on
with you,” I said, and turned away.
    Breathing a sigh of
relief that I had put his clothes on instead of taking them off, I
went through the door and down the stairs. Deke came down, and the
room went nuts. Conversation exploded and cameras clicked constantly.
I turned to look up, and even though I had just caught my breath, I
lost it again. He stood at the top of the stairs, his light hair
shining against the black of the tux jacket that fit superbly across
those broad shoulders of his.
    The murmur died down
as he walked down the stairs and was immediately accosted by several
women. I felt an ugly twinge.
    I tried to let it
go. He wasn’t for me. He smiled, and I turned away, grabbing a
flute of champagne. Hopefully this would all blow over by the end of
Fashion Week, and then Deke would be back at Columbia and I would be
hard at work on my fall collection.
    “Minnie,”
Verity said. “Are you all right?”
    “I’m
smashing.”
    When I started on my
second flute, she said, “You’re getting smashed, you
mean.”
    “So? It’s
our party and, luv, we were a hit.”
    I lifted my glass
and clinked it with Verity’s. “Thank you for taking a
chance on me,” she said, blinking hard, her voice clogged. “I
don’t know what I would have done without you last year.”
    “You would
have survived, my sweet. Because you are a fighter.”
    She dashed at the
tear sliding down her cheek, looking over at Boone. “I didn’t
know I could be this happy. He’s so wonderful, sweet and…”
    “Swoonworthy?”
    “Yes,”
she laughed. “The Boone Swoon is alive and well.”
    “And you have
your son Duel back. You deserve your happy ending.”
    She touched my arm
and squeezed. I loved this little Southern beauty, and I was so glad
for her. She had gone through the ringer last year. It had been easy
to first think she needed a shoulder to lean on, but I soon realized
what a trooper