“Hey, Darren,” Kimber called out.
“Hey, Kimber,” Darren returned the flirty greeting. “I’ll let you guys go. Dario, it’s messed up the way you’re letting me hang.” And he disconnected.
Kimber bit her bottom lip. “I’m sorry. We can grab a cupcake another time. I have some errands to run.”
Dario’s brow rose. “What kind of errands and how?”
“I can drive,” said Kimber.
“But well?” he asked her with a grin, then ducked out of the reach of her playful punch in the arm.
“I don’t suspect there’s a lot of traffic to the hospital.”
“C’mon in. I’ll take you where you need to go.”
Before stepping over the threshold, Kimber poked her head inside to look in both directions. “Where’s Alisha?”
Damn, that was right. Alisha had left him to deal with all this Christmas decorating. He’d teased his sister for not knowing how to do it, but what the hell did he know? How was he supposed to make this place kid-friendly? Dario flagged Kimber in. She sidestepped a few half-opened boxes with Christmas wrapping paper leaning out the top. While he told Kimber about Alisha leaving the country, Dario concocted a plan. “I’ll make a deal with you, Kimber. Help me out with making this place kid-friendly for Christmas, and I’ll do you a solid by driving you around again like old times.”
Kimber’s hazel eyes lit up, igniting a fire in his soul. “Seriously?”
“Sure.”
She flung herself into his arms, not caring about his still wet body. “Oh my God, that would be so awesome! I could totally use you and your brain to help me dig deeper into the mystery of the tiara maker.”
“Oh yeah,” Dario said over her shoulder, willing himself not to take a whiff of the peach scent of her hair. Working closely with Kimber would help him keep her off his trail. The last thing he wanted her to do was to discover he’d created them and not told her. If he was being honest with himself, he knew he should’ve just come clean at some point, but now he felt like he was in too deep. She’d never understand why he’d kept the truth from her all this time.
Kimber wiggled her body against his. “That sounds great.”
Do not squeeze too tight, he told himself. Do not notice how soft she feels in your arms. But it was too late. His body reacted.
Kimber took a step back. Her lips parted. There was no hiding the full-fledged erection underneath the fabric of the towel. He owned it with a shrug of his shoulders. “I’m a man, Kimber.”
“I see.” She twisted a few strands of hair around her finger. “And I think we can work something out about that.” Her eyes lowered toward his waist. “Something that would benefit the both of us while I’m here.”
Well damn, Dario thought. How was he supposed to say no to that? Oh yeah, right. You’re going to show her how mature you are now. A mature man isn’t going to just jump at the chance to roll around in the bed with her...right? Was it too late to ask Santa for strength?
“I don’t know, Kimber,” he found himself saying. “We’ll see.”
Chapter 4
We’ll see.
We’ll see.
The words haunted Kimber for the next twenty-four hours. How she managed to walk through the Christmas aisles of the shops downtown with him beside her, with his big muscular arms bumping up against her skin, was beyond her. Kimber wasn’t ignorant of the way the women welcomed his return with open arms. Some of the church ladies dismissed Kimber’s presence. One woman even smacked Kimber in the face with her ponytail while turning her back to her.
At The Cupcakery, Tiffani Carres wasn’t the friendliest when she realized Kimber had walked in with Dario. Kimber figured the abrasive welcome was more out of loyalty to Alisha than anything else. Alisha and Tiffani were tight.
Instead of just showing up at Four Points General Hospital, Kimber set up an appointment for their Friday Fun Day in the children’s ward. That gave her enough time to rally the local princesses and queens from Lexi’s troupe for a visit filled with cupcakes and toys. She arranged for Miss Vonna, owner of The Cupcakery, to have a few dozen holiday specialties for pickup.
Leading up to the big meeting at the hospital, Kimber fulfilled her promise of helping Dario get his place set up for kids. That meant first going through all the old decorations they had. And when she said old decorations, she meant it. Dario’s box of garland was filled with more tinsel off the string than on. They made lists of things they needed. She wondered why Dario didn’t just decorate the ranch house, but his explanation about the private planes who used their airstrip in the back field made sense—for the most part. They’d been apart for a year. Dario may have changed in some ways, but in others, she still felt like she knew him. Something weird was up with his quick excuse about the house.
Perhaps she was still upset that Dario had rejected her proposal for the two of them to revisit their fling. He’d taken her comment more as a joke than anything else and brushed it off. At one point Dario would have pounced on the offer. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he’d matured.
“We’re here,” Dario said, backing the red ’92 Dodge Viper into a visitor’s parking space in front of Four Points General.
Kimber didn’t realize she’d zoned out during their drive. Dario sat behind the steering wheel in an oatmeal colored cable-knit sweater. The neckline came up to his strong, square jawline. She licked her lips and forced herself to stare straight ahead. “It doesn’t look like the Grits and Glam van is here yet.”
“This baby does zero to sixty in under five seconds,” Dario explained, patting the leather wheel. “Do you want to go in before they get here?”
Already unbuckling her belt, Kimber nodded. “I want to see if there’s anyone who can help me access the visitors’ records. I thought I’d start there with who may have signed in on the day the first tiara appeared.”
Kimber adjusted her midnight black stockings over her knees. The color blended perfectly with her black suede ankle boots. She then straightened her black-and-white-striped skater dress, helping it fall into place. A four-point silver tiara perched on the top of her dark hair. She’d come to represent.
“You’re still on that, huh?”
“Of course I am,” said Kimber. “I am not leaving town until I know the name of that designer.”
“Didn’t you just tell me the other day you don’t plan on being a lifelong resident of Southwood?”
Damn it, she had. “I meant figuratively, Dario. I want to put in an order for Lexi. Something about the tiaras spoke to me.”
“Spoke? Kimber, they were just scraps of metal put together.”
Kimber rolled her eyes. The doors slid open. He was a man. What did he understand about the crowns? No, she quickly took that back. Ernest Laing had tried to monopolize the local area with a stake in the tiara business. Kimber hated him on principle alone. He’d hurt Lexi years ago before she met Uncle Stephen. Ernest had passed on backstabbing and conniving ways to his daughter, Vera Laing. He and his wife would do anything to make sure Vera had an edge in beauty pageants, including bribing judges.
Kimber frowned and inhaled. The clean, antiseptic scent filled her lungs. People in the waiting room to the left looked up at the newcomers. A cable news show played on the mounted flat-screen television on the wall.
“Hi,” Kimber said in a sugar-sweet drawl to the young man dressed in blue scrubs at the front desk. “I’m Kimber...”
“Kimber Reyes,” he finished for her as a red tint stained his pale freckled face. “I went to high school with you. I was a few years behind, but everyone knew about you.”
It took control for Kimber not to return the blush. “Oh yes, well, those high school days were something else, weren’t they, Auggie?” She read the name off his garnet-colored badge to avoid Dario’s piercing eyes.
“Tell me more about the
se high school days,” asked Dario.
“We’re on a schedule,” Kimber noted. “I’m sure Auggie doesn’t have the time.”
“Well...” Auggie began.
“We don’t,” she said quickly. “We have an appointment with Dr. Ross over in the children’s ward.”
Auggie fiddled with the keyboard of his computer, then nodded. “They’re expecting you. You can sign in there if you want.” He pointed to a sign-in sheet on top of the desk.
It dawned on Kimber about signing in downstairs. “Auggie,” she said sweetly, “how far back are your records?”
“What do you mean?”
Kimber tapped her fingernail on the clipboard. “These. I mean do you trash them after one night?”
“No, ma’am.” Auggie gave his head a vigorous shake. “We keep everything for seven years. You looking for someone particular?”
Kimber shrugged. Dario stepped close behind her, his hand at her lower back, rushing her. “I’m looking for the mysterious tiara designer. Know any?”
“Can’t say that I do, but if I hear anything, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks,” Kimber and Dario chorused.
Her boots squeaked on the clean floors as they walked toward the elevator. Kimber loved the hospital—not enough to be a doctor or to go into medicine, but she’d paired volunteer service with her pageantry. When she won Miss Grand Supreme at the Southern Style Glitz Pageant, Kimber witnessed how wearing the crown on her visits to the children’s ward brightened their spirits. As she got older, she tried to come out every summer and winter.
“I’ve been away too long,” said Kimber, dabbing the corner of her eye with the pad of her thumb to keep her mascara from running.
Dario, his hands folded in front of him, nudged her with his shoulder. “You are here now, that’s what counts.”
“Sure, but I don’t feel good about not having been here.” Kimber let out a sigh. Four Points General was a long-term home for several children. Some of the parents stayed in the local communities of Southwood, Samaritan, Black Wolf Creek and Peachville. Hotels lowered their prices for the families. Everyone wanted to do their part.
The elevator stopped on the seventh floor. As soon as the doors opened, bright natural light from outside greeted them. Her uncle Nate had had a hand in taking out the cold fluorescent light in the entry and some of the rooms. The alphabet carpet led to the main office where a group of young nurses waited for them to enter.
“Kimber!”
Thank God Nicolette was still there. Her former college classmate had gone through the nursing program at Florida A&M and they’d often shared rides back home. She had been there for parts of Kimber’s wilder days. Now, seeing her with a pregnant belly, Kimber bet her partying days were behind her.
“Oh wow! Girl, hey!” Kimber cried, coming through the doors. Nicolette had been there last year when the tiaras first arrived. They caught up for a moment about what had been going on in their lives. Dario walked over to the window. Before the rest of the crew came up, Kimber wanted to get a little insight on the sign-in sheet. She leaned forward against the counter. “Say, Nicolette, I have a question.”
Nicolette tore her attention away from Dario. “Yes, girl, you should go after that. He is fine.”
“Who?” Kimber asked and followed her friend’s gaze. “Dario?”
“Are y’all finally going to get serious?”
“Et tu, Nicolette?”
Smacking her on the arm, Nicolette shook her head. “You must have noticed his hotness. If I wasn’t pregnant with Jackson’s baby, I’d take a go at him.”
“I’m going to assume horniness is a part of pregnancy?” The ladies shared a laugh. “But seriously, Nic, I have a question about something.”
“Man, I can imagine what he looks like in a pair of gray sweatpants,” said Nicolette.
If he heard, Dario didn’t say a word. The man leaned against the wall beside a clay potted plant to read the screen of his mobile. Kimber didn’t need to imagine what the man looked like in sweats. She’d seen him naked. But no one needed to know that.
“Nic!”
“Sorry, what’s your question?”
“Do you remember last year and all the trouble we had with the tiaras from the Laings, when they wanted to charge us for the tiaras when everyone else donated stuff for the pageant?” The ensuing grimace gave Kimber her answer. “And then we had the other tiaras pop up?”
“Oh yeah, they were so elegant.”
“I know, right?” Kimber agreed with Nicolette. “And I still have no idea who brought them here.”
“Someone with access to this wing,” Nicolette said simply. “Have you thought about going through the files? I think we have them—”
There came a ruckus from over by the window. Like a kid caught with his hands in the cookie jar, Dario’s dark eyes stretched wide open. He’d somehow managed to turn a nearby potted plant over, spilling black dirt everywhere.
“My bad,” he called out.
“I can’t take you anywhere,” Kimber groaned.
“I’ll be right back,” said Nicolette. “I need to get that cleaned up before the kids come out. They’ll think it’s botany day and get dirt all over themselves and everything else.”
Nicolette waddled down the hall. Kimber guessed it was more to flirt with Dario. Good thing Jackson wasn’t there, or he might go toe-to-toe with Dario in the boxing ring. Sighing, Kimber signed her name and Dario’s on the sign-in sheet. A few pages covered the clipboard from the previous three days, leading her to believe the sheets were only changed every month. The tiaras had been discovered just over a year ago. She set the pen down and spied a long black filing cabinet labeled Records. If Nicolette kept flirting with Dario, Kimber might have a chance to take a peek. She tiptoed around the counter. Just as she got close to the cabinet, a voice shouted out.
“Kimber Reyes!”
Everything and anything Kimber wanted to do was lost when she heard her name being called. The elevators closed behind a doctor in a white coat. Kimber stepped back in front of the counter and flipped her hair off her shoulders. Her eyes focused on the man and she tried to recall who he was.
“It’s Vin,” the deep voice said. The closer he came to Kimber, the more she started to recognize him. It couldn’t be. “You know, Marvin.”
“Holy crap,” Kimber breathed. A flashback of memories flooded her. The good kid who’d posed as her fake boyfriend in high school now stood before her in a white lab coat, teal pants and a teal plaid oxford. Gone were the wire-rimmed glasses that had hidden his chocolate-brown eyes. Kimber reached out. Marvin wrapped his oversized arms around her waist and twirled her in the air. With each spin, Dario stalked closer and closer until he stood right beside them. “Dario, this is my old friend Marvin Smith.”
“Just Vin now,” Marvin clarified.
“Vin,” Kimber let his name roll off her lips. “I didn’t know you were still around.”
With a chuckle, Vin nodded his head. “I decided to stay after I finished up my residency last year just after you and your crew had that awful bout of food poisoning.”
Kimber grabbed her stomach and groaned with the memory of eating her uncle’s potato salad with raisins in it.
“You kept tabs on her when she left?” Dario asked him. Suspicion drizzled from his voice. It was be weird that he would jump to that conclusion, Kimber thought. And this was funny, since he was adamant about keeping them at a friendship level.
Vin squared his shoulders at Dario. “Of course. Kimber’s a very special lady. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Ask the kids who missed seeing her come around here to cheer them up.”
“But you didn’t bother letting your presence known until just now?” Dario pressed on with his mini interrogation.
“Dario,” Kimber interjected, hitting him in the
chest with a playful swat. “Be nice.”
“He’s got a point,” said Nicolette. She sidled up beside the doctor and elbowed him in the ribs. “I told Vin when he was around last year to say hi to you, Kimber. But he didn’t think it was a good idea. Now that you’re back, well, hmm.”
“Well hmm, indeed,” Vin said. “No one wants to a reunion over food poisoning.”
Had it not been for the elevator opening and the beauty queens’ excited conversation interrupting them, Kimber was sure Dario had been going to say something nasty. There was no need. Vin was one of Kimber’s good friends from high school. They’d studied together, hung out together, but that was it.
Dario’s inner growling ended when the tiara squad and children all caught sight of one another and met at the counter. Kimber, glad for the distraction, clapped her hands and made the introductions. The young group of girls ranged in age from four to fourteen and every single one of them wanted to try on the sashes and crowns.
“Girls,” Kimber said, “I’m glad you’re excited about the sashes. This week I thought we could start by making your own sashes. I want you to think about your power word that best describes you and then write Miss in front of it.”
Kimber immersed herself with the girls and forgot everything else. This was what being a beauty queen was all about—inspiring others.
* * *
It didn’t take long for Dario to decide he didn’t like Vin. Sure, it was hypocritical of him to question Vin’s reasons for keeping track of her after seeing her a year ago when Dario had done the same thing in Dubai. Dario had justified his secrecy by telling himself he wanted to keep an eye on her but keep his distance at the same time. She’d made it clear she had other places to go in life and he’d been standing in her way. But for Vin, Dario found it creepy. Friends, his ass. Vin had a thing for Kimber.
The entire time the batch of beauty queens talked to and fawned over the kids, Vin was watching Kimber. Dario didn’t appreciate the way the good doctor’s hand lingered on her back when he introduced her to the other doctors. Since Kimber and the rest of the beauty queens planned on being there for the remainder of the afternoon, Dario decided to head over to the garage at the ranch to divert his attention from Vin.
Christmas with the Billionaire ; A Tiara for Christmas Page 21