His Southern Sweetheart by Carolyn Hector Read Free Book Online Page B

attention.
    â€œThank you,” Amelia said, circling her finger around the rim of her glass. “I didn’t want to risk being seen.”
    â€œIs the dating world this hard?” asked Cayla.
    Amelia pressed her lips together and frowned. “This is not about dating. This is about revenge. Nate Reyes used me.”
    â€œFrom what you told me, you used him, too,” Cay reminded her. “You left without giving him your information.”
    Why did she always tell her cousin everything? Cay lived vicariously through Amelia and in return acted as Amelia’s conscience. “Information he clearly had since he stalked me at the bar and seduced me in order to distract me from my job.”
    Across the table Cay rolled her eyes. “You’re really going to go through with this?”
    â€œI kid you not. Angels sang when Pastor Rivers announced the charity event.”
    Cay squinted her hazel eyes. “Somehow I do not think you understand what the word charity means.”
    Amelia’s eyes widened with surprise. “Are you kidding me? I donate all the time.”
    â€œSo you’ll donate your time and services for next month’s Hardware Hottie Bachelorette Auction?”
    â€œWhat?” Amelia frowned.
    â€œKind of like this, but women are auctioning their time. Greg is threatening to nominate me,” Cay said with a giggle. “I might need to do some sexy lingerie shopping. Pastor Rivers’s guilt speech does not apply to husbands and wives.”
    Giving her cousin the side-eye, Amelia shook her head. Tonight’s event offered forty hours of service from these handymen. The time put in could mean a couple hours of community service here and there. Amelia planned on cashing in her winnings this week. Once she got her grandmamma settled, she was out of here. So any sort of volunteering of her time was out of the question—especially not in this area.
    â€œNo, thanks.” Amelia’s frown deepened. “Besides, I am dropping enough cash tonight that all the schools in four counties should name a gym after me.” As she spoke, her cousin shook her head, not convinced of Amelia’s pledge. “What?”
    â€œYou can afford to hire someone else to fix Grandmamma’s place.”
    â€œ Principle , Cayla, principle .” Amelia cut her eyes back down to the bar where one woman blatantly ran her hands underneath the hem of his jacket. If everything went according to plan tonight, she’d prefer to not have him manhandled and cluttered with cheap perfume. He actually had the nerve to stand at the bar and pretended to push off one woman’s hand. “Nate Reyes used his wealth and connections to influence my job and get me suspended.”
    â€œDid he make you turn your cell phone off?”
    â€œIt wasn’t off,” Amelia confessed before biting the corner of her lip to withhold the wanton grin spreading across her face. “More like underneath a pile of clothes.” Under the techno lights, she felt her face warm with the memory of her behavior. With each bright beam striking across her face, she feared her blush would be exposed.
    â€œSee,” Cay said, her frown turning up into a grin, “this is the point where I am going to change the subject.” Her eyes wandered around the open floor space while Amelia cut her eyes toward her cousin’s no-nonsense black slacks, white collared shirt and Great-Grandma Marlow’s pearls. Far be it for Amelia to judge. Standing next to the Ruiz family she screamed frumpy, but her cousin—six months older than Amelia—took the cake tonight. Cay’s idea of dressing to kill meant something completely different; her attempt to dress sexy tonight could not have gone more wrong, if Amelia said so herself. When Amelia had arrived at her house, Cayla had met her on the porch before her three children realized Auntie Amelia was in town. With no children of her own