Tempting The Beauty Queen. Carolyn Hector

left the bakery. The retired history teacher went so far as to wave his arms in the air. Ramon offered a quiet head nod in the direction where Mr. Myers sat with three older women. He breathed a sigh of relief when the glass doors closed behind Kenzie.

      “Hey,” Ramon said with a head nod in the direction of the table. The line moved forward to the point where the glass counter came into view. Ramon counted the number of people in line versus the number of cupcakes in the display case. If his calculations were correct and if everyone purchased only one cupcake, there would be two left by the time he reached the register.

      “Get your stuff and come over here,” Mr. Myers ordered. “I want you to meet my fiancée.”

      Fiancée? Ramon thought to himself. Which one? At seventy-eight, Mr. Myers had earned his reputation as a ladies’ man, splitting his time between the two Southwood senior centers. Ramon pointed toward his watch and shook his head, praying the old man understood the silent apology. He didn’t want to be here if Kenzie returned. Bad things happened when she was around. Once, and he couldn’t prove it, Ramon had gone to sprinkle salt on his fries at the Food Truck Thursday event at Four Points Park and managed to get a snow mountain of salt. And even though he couldn’t prove it, Ramon still felt Kenzie had something to do with his name being taken off the Christmas Advisory Council. Anyone with a business in Southwood wanted to be a part of the CAC. The council also helped bring cheer to town. He was also denied membership to a lot of Southwood events because his hotel was slightly outside of Southwood. Also last year, Ramon wanted to invite the whole town to his hotel for a holiday party but the email was somehow lost in the cyber world. And because the committee had gone for an old-fashioned theme last year, guess who had been in charge of all things last Christmas? None other than Kenzie Swayne.

      Hell hath no fury like a woman stood up. Apparently Kenzie was the type of woman who didn’t appreciate him bailing on her at the last pageant event last year. That was when Ramon decided to keep his distance and work on a No Kenzie rule...meaning, if he knew she was going to attend the same function as him, Ramon stayed away. So far Ramon had managed not to bump into her face-to-face for six months now. Soon everything would change. Ramon planned on starting up a business not just in Southwood city limits but in the historic downtown area. He was going to get a seat at that damn Christmas Advisory Council this year.

      As the cashier argued with a customer, Ramon spied the back of Kenzie’s head leaving the park. The fact his body still reacted to the sight of her proved he needed the No Kenzie rule. Pavlov’s classical conditioning theory went into effect and induced a mouthwatering reaction, much like at his mother’s coquito cupcakes. He still craved her. Just like the desserts, Kenzie was bad for his health and bad for Ramon’s concentration.

      “All right, guys,” announced Tiffani, the cashier behind the counter, “after this batch I’m out of the Wedded Bliss cupcakes. I’m shorthanded today, so I’ll need to take a break and make up some more. It will be about an hour until they’re ready.”

      Groans from the customers drowned out Ramon’s curses. The line moved forward. Folks behind him left the line, uttering their decision to come back later. As calculated, everyone else in line bought their share of cupcakes, except for the high school students who left, probably due to class. By the time Ramon reached the display counter there were five cupcakes left and no one behind him.

      “Looks like you’re in luck,” Tiffani gushed when she realized he was next. “I’ll let you have the rest.”

      “The rest?” Ramon imagined himself eating every single cupcake and then imagined how far he’d have to run to work them off. “I really just want the one.”

      “But there’s no one else in line and these are going to go to waste once I break out the fresher ones,” Tiffani said as she boxed up the items.

      “I’ll tell you what, if you’ll put four in a to-go box and leave them for the next customer who walks in, I’ll take the one and pay you for a dozen.”

      “Sounds like a deal to me.”

      Once Ramon got his cupcake to go, he turned around at the same time as Kenzie reentered the bakery. Damn, how much was this going to cost him?

       Chapter 2

      “You’ve got a lot of nerve, Ramon Torres,” Kenzie hollered at his tailored suit. She hated the way her body heated up at the sight of the man. Ramon turned to face her. His broad shoulders slumped. And she even swore he rolled his neck from side to side, preparing himself for battle. The wind blowing between the buildings whipped a loose piece of hair from his annoyingly cute man-bun on top of his head. The man mixed sex appeal with bohemian chic and wrapped it up in a sharp midnight blue suit paired with black snakeskin cowboy boots.

      “What did I do this time?” Ramon stopped his long stride in front of the old post office. He didn’t bother trying to sound shocked to see her, which annoyed Kenzie even more.

      “Tiffani told me you purchased these. I don’t need you buying cupcakes for me,” she told his backside as she approached.

      “So don’t eat them,” Ramon responded.

      Kenzie walked around his large frame to make sure Ramon saw the irritation across her face. If there was one thing that set her off, it was a man telling her what to do. Kenzie had worked too hard for the last ten years to grow from a naive girl dependent on her boyfriend. But Ramon wasn’t her boyfriend. No, he made it perfectly clear last summer he didn’t want to be in a relationship with her. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

      Ramon sighed heavily. “Do whatever you want.”

      “I ought to throw them away,” Kenzie went on to antagonize him. These were cupcakes from The Cupcakery. No one ever threw them away, especially not out of spite. Besides, she’d already had a bite of the delectable lemony dessert when Tiffani informed her the previous customer paid it forward.

      “You’re not throwing anything away.” Ramon called her bluff with a sarcastic laugh.

      With the box in her hand, Kenzie crossed her arms. “Fine. But I just want you to know from here on out I don’t want you buy me anything.”

      “For future reference, Kenzie, I paid it forward for the next person. How was I supposed to know you were going come back into the shop?”

      Back? She took in his choice of words and hated the idea of Ramon having the upper hand. He saw her before she did? “So you saw me and didn’t bother speaking? What are you, a stalker or something?”

      The square jaw of his tightened. “You were on the phone.”

      Being reminded of the call infuriated her more. Alexander had tried to sneak a project by her without her knowledge. No wonder he’d been so friendly in her office. Had his secretary, Margaret, not given Kenzie the heads-up, Kenzie would have had no idea the old post office was being considered for purchase. “Whatever.”

      “Well, if we’re done here...” said Ramon, taking a step toward the closed doors of the old post office. In two long strides, Ramon entered, disappearing from Kenzie’s fruitless rant. So what if the man wanted to do something nice for the next person? But why did it have to be her?

      The wind picked up on the street, blowing the unsecured hair from Kenzie’s ponytail into her face. With a sigh she set the box of cupcakes on the top step and twisted her hair into a bun. The doors closed behind Ramon and left her staring at her reflection from the mirrored doors. Growing up she’d hated her naturally frizzy red hair, but she hated her face full of freckles more. Now with a glimpse of herself, Kenzie smiled in appreciation. It took her a while but she found her unique look appealing and if she did say so herself, as she looked down at her attire...she looked pretty damn good today.

      Common sense told her to head on back home. She’d already gotten her coveted debut cupcakes. Now she needed to get home and destress about seeing her family at the rehearsal dinner tonight. She wondered if there was someone on Craigslist