Read The Reluctant Beauty Online
Authors: Laurie Leclair
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Humor & Satire, #Humorous, #Romance, #Contemporary, #Romantic Comedy, #Two Hours or More (65-100 Pages), #General Humor
Jamming her hands on her hips, still clutching the clipboard, she faced him. He had to talk her out of this stinky baby thing she suddenly yearned for. “S-O-S, R-I-C-O!”
His frown deepened. “Don’t you go stealing my thing. I don’t say holy moly or holy whatever more than once a day.”
The diners around her hushed. It had a ripple effect. The room grew still.
“For criminy’s sake, Rico. I need your help!” Her voice grew louder and everyone else stopped talking. All eyes were trained on her. Peg stood perfectly still, but allowed her gaze to take in the gawking guests. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Griff rise from his seat at the family table. She gulped hard.
“You don’t have to make a scene, Peg,” Rico said.
The pretty teenage girl near Rico’s elbow said, “Hey, aren’t you Austin Rhoades’s girlfriend? It’s all over the Internet. You were caught in the window display.”
That question sparked an avalanche of murmurs and gossip. She hadn’t realized just how far the rumors had spread. Her cheeks burned. Twisting around, she searched out Austin. He sat with her family, staring at her with raised eyebrows. Her heart fell.
Her parents looked on, smiling.
She wanted a break-up, didn’t she? A very public one, too.
“Succotash and sassafras,” she muttered under her breath. “What in the world am I knee deep in the middle of this time?”
Visions of embarrassing her family, the blood one and the King family, crept into her mind. But, this was what she wanted, wasn’t it? Clean, swift, and no-question-about-it break-up.
Maybe her family would stop bugging her. Maybe they’d see she was happy as a lark just working.
And working.
Her fake smile twitched as she forced it and answered the teenage girl. “Oh, you know how it is, sweetie,” she said. “He’s rock. I’m not. He’s on the road. I’m in one spot. He’s a hottie. I’m not.” The last one hurt, but she had to convince everyone, including herself, why she shouldn’t put any hopes into him or them. “Ibso, facto, finito.”
Now there were murmurs of understanding. Unfortunately, so too were there nods of agreements.
So why wasn’t she feeling any relief that they bought it?
Griff bore down on her. Holding up her hands, she said, “Boss, I ain’t crying about it. No harm, no foul, you know.”
But in the background, she focused on her family. Her mother wiped her eyes with a tissue. Her father hung his head, shaking it. She barely glanced at her sister-in-law and brother; she sensed a well of sympathy coming from them.
The King sisters and their husbands rose almost in unison.
“Peg, honey,” Rico said. “Uncle Rico will help.”
The wall of pity pelting her right now was too overwhelming. “Well, geez Louise,” she tried to lighten the mood. “I ain’t dying.”
Inside maybe.
That got a few chuckles.
“For crying out loud. I’m dented. Not broken.”
The tension eased another degree.
“I think I should have something to say about this, don’t you think?” Austin asked, moving to Griff’s side.
“You’ve said
and
done enough,” Griff pointed out.
“This is between Peg and me.”
“Really?” Griff folded his arms across his chest and looked around the audience, who were captivated by it all.
Peg would love to slink away right now. “Boys, boys, no need in fighting over me.”
Several people chuckled.
“Boss, I got it. No problemo.” A part of her was aware of her King family coming in behind her, supporting her. Another part of her realized her own family drew near and was standing to the right, ready to lend a hand.
Rico touched her arm. “Don’t worry, girl. I’ll help you find a new boyfriend.”
“Peg, honey, we’re here for you,” her mother said. “You’ll find someone else. Or not.” The catch in her voice cut through Peg.
“Just be happy, dear,” her father chimed in. Her brother and his wife agreed.
Evelyn rushed to Austin’s side. “What’s going on, Austin? You and Peg? On or off?”
“Off,” Peg answered for him.
“On,” Austin said.
Her gasp was swallowed up by everyone else’s. “Holy, peanut butter on my crackers, you can’t be serious?”
She heard a tray crash and the maître de’s familiar voice. “Shut up!”
Austin’s smile grew wide.
Peg shook her head.
It wasn’t supposed to end like this, hotness!
He nodded. His stare, blue-eyed and searing, captured hers. It stole her breath away.
“I’m going to faint! F-A-I-N-T dead away,” Rico said, fanning himself. He nudged her from behind. “Go, girl. You got this hottie. Believe you me. He ain’t joking.”
She took a step forward. Her hem crept up. She tugged it down.
“You don’t have to do that on my account,” Austin said. “I love looking at your legs. But I especially love looking into your eyes.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, Peg blinked. “Seriously? That’s not a line or somethin’?”
“Maybe it will be a line in my new song. But not for you.”
“But…but. I’m tall.”
“Me, too.”
“Giraffe size.” She stretched out her neck. “See?”
He shrugged. “I like giraffes. Don’t you?”
“Love ’em. But I’m not dainty or pretty—”
Holding up a hand, he said, “You’re beautiful, Peg not Margaret Newberry, with your big brown eyes, that infectious smile, your funny little sayings, the way you boss everyone around for their own good, and everything else about you. The whole package, Peg. That’s what I love about you.”
“Love?!” Peg squeaked out as her heart squeezed.
The way he described her, she really did feel beautiful. Just the way she was.
He took a step closer at the same time she moved to him. Now, standing two feet apart, she gazed into his eyes.
“All that is holy and pure,” she whispered, a sense of peace and rightness swept through her. “Peg Newbury, pinch yourself, ’cause, girl, you just got yourself a hottie!”
“More like, Austin Rhoades, you just got yourself a hottie!”
Laughter, clapping, and cheering surrounded her as Peg leaned in for his kiss.
Peg dropped her clipboard. It landed on his foot, and then thumped to the floor.
He winced. “Did you have to do that?”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, remembering she’d done the same thing when she first met him. She bent to pick up the clipboard at the same time he went to get it. They bumped foreheads. “Ouch!”
He rubbed the sore spot. “Wounded,” he said under his breath. “Twice in two seconds.”
Smiling, she looked into his light blue eyes and knew she’d be forever grateful for trying to find herself one measly date. Now, she had a lifetime with his holy hotness…and maybe, in one point eight years, a couple of those rug rats running around…
THE END
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Bestselling author Laurie LeClair writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction. Laurie’s habit of daydreaming has gotten her into a few scrapes and launched her to take up her dream of writing. Finally, she can put all those stories in her head to rest as she brings them to life on the page. Laurie considers herself a New Texan (New England born and raised and now living in Texas). She lives in Central Texas with her husband, Jim.
You can contact her at:
https://twitter.com/LeClairbooks
https://facebook.com/laurieleclair.75
Books by Laurie LeClair
If The Shoe Fits
– Book 1
Waking Sleeping Beauty
– Book 2
Taming McGruff
– Book 3
The Bounty Hunter Series:
***
The Heart Series:
Secrets Of The Heart
– Book 1
Crimes Of The Heart
– Book 2
Lies Of The Heart
– Book 3