Beauty Shot (Hope Parish Novels Book 5) (5 page)

“You have to
know you affect me, and I won’t lie. But could we just put a
lid on this right now?” I couldn’t think when he looked
at me like that. I sighed. “Get dressed at least.” I was
embarrassed to hear a plea in my voice.

“I’m not
going anywhere. I’m here to support Verity and Boone. I haven’t
even said hey to Braxton and River Pearl. That just ain’t
neighborly.”

Could he be any
cuter, any more appealing? Heat flooded me when he hooked his thumbs
into our scrap of a swimsuit and started to pull it down. I caught
his engaging grin as I turned around. I couldn’t look at this
man fully naked and keep my hands off him.

I heard the rustle
of clothing. “I’m going to talk to my friends,” he
said when I heard the door handle turn. “We’ll talk
later, because you still didn’t give me an answer, and I can be
patient for only so long, Minnie.”

My stomach did a
tumble. Now,
that
sounded like a promise.

Emmie

I knocked on
Travis’s door, and he answered almost right away. There is
always this moment when I first see Travis that I get this
oh-shit
feeling. Like he’s so good looking, and I think about how
getting close to someone makes you soft and loose. Telling my secrets
would make him think less of me. I was sure of it. But then I
realized this is Travis and he’s my friend. I’m used to
him, and he’s so sweet.

It’s hard to
believe that I ended up being friends with two of the most gorgeous
guys on campus. Deke was a good guy, but he was most definitely
friend material. Travis, on the other hand…well, I didn’t
want to think about him that way. Where I came from, taking care of
myself was paramount to survival.

What I
was—correction, had been—was still too recent, and the
scars I had hardened into my own personal armor. If Columbia ever got
a whiff of what I had done just to get here, I would lose everything.
I wiped my sweaty palms on my baggy jeans and said, “Took you
long enough.”

He frowned. “That
wasn’t long…oh,” he said, when he saw my raised
brow. “You’re being your sarcastic self.”

That’s right.
Tiffany had called me a harpy. It was far from the first time I’d
heard that nickname. It was my street name. It’s what everyone
had known me by back in the day. I needed a layer of body armor to
protect me, and acting unaffected was a good way to keep people I
didn’t quite trust at bay—even my friends—especially
my friends, because, other than your enemies, those are the people
who can really hurt you. I learned the hard way that if you’re
always on guard, then no one can sneak in under your force field.

I entered the room
and settled on Deke’s bed. “Where’s Deke?” I
asked.

His mouth tightened,
and he said, “He’s at some Fashion Week thing. The guy he
was working for in Suttontowne, his wife is a designer. They’re
showing at Lincoln Center.”

“Oh.” I
wasn’t sure I wanted to be alone with Travis. I liked having
Deke as a buffer between us. Not that Travis had any ideas. I was
sure he didn’t, even though deep down I had a kernel of sad,
pathetic hope. Travis was majorly focused on why he was here, and he
wasn’t about to squander the opportunity. His father was
shelling out some serious money. I was on scholarship, and so was
Deke, but Travis was here to usher in a new generation of ranching.
To learn better practices and modernize the process. He’d been
raised under a lot of pressure. His father was counting on him to
take their 1870 ranch into the 22
^nd
century.

“He probably
won’t be back until late. He said there were two showings and
some kind of party tonight.”

He sounded mad, and
I wondered why. Maybe he was busy and he was too polite to tell me to
get lost. “That’s fine. I was just thinking we could
study, but if you’re busy…”

Travis reminded me
of that classic old-movie cowboy, quiet, reserved, stoic, but just
damn sexy as hell. He had the longest eyelashes fringing amazing
cobalt blue eyes with heavy black brows that gave him this stirring
desperado look. But it was his mouth that grabbed most of my
attention. His lower lip was full, but his upper lip—damn, it
was a perfect, provocative, cupid’s bow. It gave a girl ideas.

He shuffled his
feet, which were in his usual worn cowboy boots that weren’t
for show. “I reckon I am busy.”

I sat there for a
second. There was a new tension in him, something that made the
tension in me build. We had been friends since classes began. I met
him and Deke at orientation when I crashed into their line. The way
he was acting made me nervous, and I stood up. “Okay, no
biggie,” I said. “I don’t need you to hold my hand
to study.”

“Yeah, well,
I’ll see you later,” he said, and I headed for the door.
As it closed behind me, I had to wonder what was going on with him.

It was better if I
just minded my own business. Travis and I were worlds apart. The wild
West was about as far away from my world as I was from the fashion
world.

Misfits didn’t
really fit in anywhere, and that suited me fine.

#

Deke

I headed back out
into the chaos of a second show, only this time instead of a room
full of dicks, there was a room full of boobs and smooth, tiny butts.
I had to say, I preferred Minnie’s full curves to these tall,
skinny girls. Didn’t mean I wouldn’t look. I was a guy,
after all. I walked through and into the viewing room to join Boone
and Braxton. When they saw me, both of them stood and shook my hand,
chest-bumping.

“Hey, there’s
the big man on campus,” Brax said, grinning. “You making
good use of my gift?”

“Shut up,
Brax,” Boone said. “What he’s doing is his own
business.”

Brax snickered.

They indicated a
chair, and since we were real close to the runway, I settled between
them. The show went off without a hitch, and River Pearl looked
amazing. Verity and Minnie were really talented, their clothes both
pretty and functional. I liked the short skirts best. Big surprise,
right?

As the room cleared
out, Verity came out from the back with a garment bag and hugged me.
“Thanks again for filling in. You can ride over to Minnie’s
apartment with us.”

Outside Verity
walked toward a black limo, and I glanced at Boone, who smirked.
“We’re traveling in style. Minnie is a class act all the
way.”

I settled in with
the the brothers and Verity. It was plush and comfortable, but I
didn’t want to look like a newbie, so I held back when I saw
the bar. The trip was short, and we got out in front of a high rise
and Verity again led the way. “Verity,” I said, touching
her shoulder. “I’m not exactly dressed for this kinda
thing.”

She turned to look
at me and nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ve got it
covered.”

“He’s
taller than me, sugar,” Boone said.

She patted the
garment bag. “I planned ahead.”

I followed her to
the elevator and up to the…penthouse. “Minnie lives on
the top floor?” I asked.

“Yes, we’re
staying with her until we fly home day after tomorrow. We’re
going sightseeing, if you want to come with us. Statue of Liberty,
Ground Zero, the Guggenheim and the Empire State Building. When I was
here last year, I never did any of those things.”

“You were a
bit preoccupied,” Boone said.

She turned and
cupped his face, giving him a soft kiss on the mouth. “Yes, I
was.”

“Seems like
you’re distracted again, too,” Brax groused.

I was still
assimilating that Minnie was a successful-enough businesswoman to
live in a penthouse suite, which impressed the hell out of me. Okay,
the girl was rich, but I was going to continue operating on the
message from the Wild Things book. Don’t judge. Minnie might
have a lot of money, and I was as poor as a church mouse, but I
wasn’t going to let that stop me from wooing her. From going as
far as I could with her.

I didn’t
notice the elevator had opened until Brax nudged me and we stepped
out. Verity was already heading away from us, into the interior. She
slipped past white sofas and colorful area rugs scattered over a
black hardwood floor. Big domed windows gave a panoramic view of the
city full of lights and activity. Verity climbed a set of stairs and
leaned over the railing. I could see there was activity in the
kitchen, and whatever she was having catered smelled really good. My
stomach rumbled.

“Come on,
Deke. The guests are going to be here any minute. We need to get
changed.”

“Monkey suit
time,” Brax said as he brushed past me and took the stairs two
at a time. The elevator opened and River Pearl stepped out. “Oh,
hello, Deke,” she said, giving me a quick hug and looking up
the staircase. Brax had paused at the top and was smiling down at
her.

She forgot all about
me and hurried up the stairs. When she reached Brax, he slipped his
arm around her waist and they disappeared down a hall.

I climbed up to
Verity, and she led me down the hall into a bedroom with modern
furniture that mirrored the décor downstairs.

“It’s a
tux,” she said, nodding at the garment bag. “One Minnie
designed, and it’s gorgeous. You will look amazing in it. We
have a good line for the campaign. Want to hear it?”

“A tux,”
I said, trying not to panic. I knew nothing about tuxes. She didn’t
say anything, and I didn’t want to look like an idiot, so I
didn’t say anything either. “Um, yeah, the line. Hit me,”
I said to fill the awkward silence.

“‘Everyone
is whispering about Bespoke, because you can only be you.’”

“That’s
great,” I said.

She disappeared out
the door and closed it behind her. I stared at the garment bag like
it was full of snakes before finally realizing that if I didn’t
open it and get dressed, Verity would be back here to check on me,
and what I was trying to avoid—looking like an uneducated
moron—would be abundantly clear.

I unzipped the bag
and pulled out the black and white garments inside. There was a tie,
white shirt, jacket and pants. This couldn’t be that hard. I
pulled off my clothes and stepped into the pants. They fit me
perfectly. I zipped them up partway, but got distracted by the shirt.
It was the softest material I had ever felt. This must be silk.

I slipped into it,
looked at the tie, and panicked all over again. There was a knock on
the door, and before I could say anything it whipped open and Minnie
stood there. She took one look at my face, came inside and closed the
door behind her.

If she was surprised
to see me, her scowl didn’t show it.

She didn’t say
anything, just walked up to me and started buttoning my shirt. Her
hands brushed against my skin and I shivered.
Shivered.

I could only
attribute it to the fact that I had never been with a woman. I’d
kissed and petted, but had never gone all the way. Holding out when I
didn’t have a clue as to who it would be for the first time
wasn’t easy, but it was manageable with my hand as a stand-in.

But now I knew who I
wanted to be my first. And, God, I wanted her. Had been wanting her
since before she left Suttontowne. The heat of it scorched my nerve
endings. There was no way she couldn’t feel it.

Her fingers brushed
against my stomach, and I shivered again, not sure if she lingered or
it was my stupid hope that she had.

I watched her face
while she worked. So beautiful, delicate, an innocent-looking sprite.
I wanted to touch her hair so badly it was almost unbearable.

She lifted her gaze
to mine, and I wondered just what I was putting at risk here. I had
an inescapable feeling that, now I had everything straight in my
head, I had been waiting for her, for this moment, all along. Which,
considering how she was hemming and hawing, wasn’t a given. She
kept me riveted, as if I was the one holding her in place with such a
light touch.

“Tuck,”
she said, her voice breathless.

Grateful for
something to do with my hands, I pushed the soft fabric into my
waistband and hooked the clasp.

“Tie?”
she asked.

“You’re
on a roll, and I’m just a poor country boy that don’t
know nothin’ ’bout fancy duds.”

I loved the way she
met my eyes without so much as a quiver. I had to work to keep from
adjusting myself. She leaned away from me, snagged the tie off the
bed, and reached up, encircling my neck, displacing my hair and
sending more shivers down my spine.

“I don’t
believe you’re being honest with me.”

My brows rose and I
smiled, 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.