Rough: Daunting Temptation (Coral Gables Series Book 1) (32 page)

When they arrived in front of the small town hall, many residents were already pushing their way into the building, but all welcomed Bessie enthusiastically. Kate had to smile and nod constantly as Bessie loudly proclaimed that her granddaughter from Los Angeles had come to visit.

Once inside, they snatched seats in the third to last row, in the rear part of the room, which didn’t inspire Bessie much. However, she had better things to do, which included jabbering with Laura Greenfield, who sat in front of them in a hideous brown jacket. With the scandal of sitting in the back forgotten, the two women talked about Claudine MacArthur’s proposal to sew the costumes of the Christmas carolers in a Mexican style this year. Apparently, both Bessie and Laura found this idea preposterous. Kate, however, only leaned back in her chair and dug her hands deeper into the pockets of her sweatshirt.

Ted O'Reilly, who’d been the head of the town meetings for decades, stepped onto the stage, grayer and slightly plumper than Kate remembered. He asked for silence and looked down from the stage contentedly, as calm slowly settled upon the room.

“Welcome to today's town meeting. The mayor will be a few minutes late, but he shouldn’t be too long. While we wait, Claudine will present us with her suggestions for the carolers’ costumes.”

Claudine, a woman in her sixties with a small, wiry body, joined him on stage and explained in her squeaky voice how she’d seen traditional costumes on her trip to Mexico last year and how beautiful they’d been.

Bessie, snorting, leaned toward Kate. “That's ridiculous! We’re in Texas, not Tijuana! Why should we wear Mexican costumes?”

Kate declined to answer but shrugged her shoulders. She’d been subjected to the obscure ideas of Hailsboro residents since she was a girl and, thus, couldn’t be shocked by anything anymore. She quickly placed a hand in front of her mouth to stifle a yawn, as Bessie went on to ignore her presence and whisper to Laura while morosely staring at the stage where Claudine continued her praise of the Mexican tradition with a burning red face.

“What the fiddlesticks do we have to do with Mexico?”

Laura had whispered that so loudly that the surrounding rows all heard. Some turned around and Kate ducked her head.

Bessie just scowled. “Except for Juanita Gonzales, who hasn’t lived here in five years, no Mexicans have ever lived here.”

“Juanita?” Laura looked at her questioningly. “Juanita who?”

“That adorable little thing that worked at Frida’s salon …”

“Her name was Juana, and she was from Puerto Rico,” Hatty corrected from two rows in front of them.

Bessie looked at her doubtfully. “Puerto Rico? Are you sure?”

“Yes dear, you bet I am.” Hatty sighed. “She used to tell me all about where she came from while she was doing my nails.”

“She used to do my hair,” replied Hatty’s sister Gabby, who was sitting next to her. “After my hairdresser spoiled my hair with a bad perm twenty years ago, I never wanted to have another one. I looked like a Chia Pet for months. But Juana persuaded me to try again. When she moved away from here, I was terribly disappointed.”

Kate rolled her eyes just as Hatty squealed with laughter. “I remember that perm!”

“Well,” Gabby added quickly, “apparently Juana met someone from Kansas and wanted to marry him so …”

“Kansas?” Bessie looked skeptical. “I doubt it’s gonna work.”

“Ladies!” Ted O'Reilly had to raise his voice to be heard over the women, who had abandoned their whispering and turned completely around to talk loudly to each other. “Claudine is not done with her proposal yet.”

“Ted, why on earth would we want to wear Mexican costumes?” Bessie piped up.

“But—”

“Yeah,” said Hatty, turning back toward the stage. “What's so wrong with our regular costumes? For my part, I don’t wanna look like a Mexican drug dealer singing ‘Jingle Bells.’”

Kate almost laughed at that, but stopped herself just in time as Claudine continued. From there on out the debate was somewhat amusing as Kate listened to the Texans argue about Mexico and Christmas costumes and the repeated use of the word
drugs
. Apparently, here in Hailsboro, it was a matter of common knowledge that drugs were the only thing that existed in Mexico.

Just as Bessie stood to interrupt with a tirade on vulgar Mexican fashion, the back doors opened. Ted announced in relief, “Oh, thank God, you're here!” He cleared his throat and said with a sigh, “Ladies, the mayor would be pleased to deal with this issue.”

Kate glanced up from her nails, which she’d been closely inspecting after the talk of Puerto Rican Juana inspired her to do something about her own torn fingernails. Still bored, she looked up at the stage, and suddenly all her thoughts about nail care were blown away.

The mayor was smiling broadly as he greeted Ted and then sauntered to the podium.

In a panic, Kate grabbed Bessie's arm and pulled her harshly toward her.

“Kate …” Bessie looked disapprovingly down at her granddaughter.

“
Hugh
is the mayor?”

Bessie nodded amiably. “Of course he is.”

Open-mouthed, Kate stared at her grandmother for a brief moment before hissing angrily, “How did you fail to mention that?”

“Of course I mentioned it,” Bessie said nonchalantly.

“No, you did not,” Kate announced, outraged, and unfortunately, a bit too loud. She blushed as almost all the heads in the room swiveled in her direction. Quickly releasing Bessie's arm, Kate slid down in her chair, trying to make herself as small as possible. But it was no use. From the stage, Hugh looked in her direction, confused, and Kate could see in exactly which second he recognized her. His face changed into an amused grin and he cocked his head ever so slightly.

“Mrs. Hammond, how can I help you?” he asked her grandmother, who was still standing in anticipation of her tirade.

“We were talking about Christmas costumes,” Bessie explained. “Claudine made a proposal we don’t like.”

“
We
?” Interested, Hugh looked at Kate, who clenched her teeth and stared back at him with a frown.

“Laura, Hatty, and I are of one mind. Even my granddaughter …”

That was as far as Bessie got before Kate pinched her in the butt, hoping she might
finally
keep quiet.

“Ow!” Bessie gasped, throwing an angry look toward Kate.

“Aha.” Hugh seemed even more amused. “Then maybe we should vote.”

Kate remained glued to her seat, even though she would have preferred to stand up and make a run for it. Her misfortunes just wouldn’t end. Hugh Lindsay was really the
last
resident of Hailsboro she wanted to meet.

If she’d known he had settled down here, she would certainly not have come. She wanted to pinch Bessie in that exact same indecent place again for never mentioning that Hugh had not only returned to Hailsboro, but had also become its mayor! How had such a fact escaped her grandmother? Usually, when Kate called her from L.A., Bessie would report every tiny piece of news about this boring town, but she had
never
mentioned Hugh.

Kate’s insides were boiling as she peeped in his direction again. He was casually standing behind the podium in jeans and an open sports jacket, running his fingers through his dark hair, and, she noticed, grinning again and again in her direction. That grin drove her
mad
! It didn’t just remind her of the charming teenager Hugh had once been, but it also made her think he was remembering a certain
thing
they had done together. It was no wonder Kate blushed like a tomato when Hugh stared at her with a devilish twinkle in his eye! After all, he knew what she looked like naked. And even though it had been quite a few years since the two of them had lost their virginity to one another, just remembering it brought an embarrassing crimson cloud to Kate’s face.

Seeing Hugh shouldn’t bother me
, she scolded herself. Sure, back then they’d been downright inseparable, but that was more than ten years ago. Hugh had stopped meaning anything to her a long time ago. Therefore, it shouldn’t matter to her that he was now standing before her, rambling about city ordinances and looking in her direction with his dark green eyes.

As the meeting finally seemed to reach its end, Kate breathed a shaky sigh of relief. She had to get out of there and escape Hugh’s nerve-racking gaze.

Slowly, people stood up and made a beeline for the covered tables laden with cupcakes. Kate leaned over to Bessie, who was still chattering with Laura, and whispered, “I'll wait outside.”

Her grandmother nodded absentmindedly, trying to listen to her friend. Kate hurried out of the room toward the double fronts door where she paused to frantically search the pockets of her sweatshirt for some gum. Her hands came up empty—she’d left the pack of spearmint at home. Annoyed, she ran a hand through her dark brown bangs and sighed. She should have stayed at home on the couch with the cheese and reality TV shows.

“Hello, Kate.”

Alarmed, she turned to find Hugh standing right behind her, smirking.

“Hugh.” She forced herself to put on a tight smile and crossed her arms nervously. She still had to lift her chin to look at him. Kate was taller than most women, but Hugh still towered over her just as he had in high school.

“Long time no see.” His mischievous eyes swept over her face. “You look good.”

Sure
, Kate thought sarcastically. She wasn’t wearing makeup, hadn’t done her hair in days, and was wearing a pair of old jeans that definitely sported a few holes and a sweatshirt at least two sizes too big. Internally chastising herself for not making the slightest effort to look halfway decent, she managed only a small smile back.

His green eyes sparkled with amusement. “When did you get back to Hailsboro?”

“Oh, it’s … uh … been a few days.” She cleared her throat. “And how are you doing?”

He seemed surprised that she was talking to him at all, for he was staring at her with a slightly puzzled expression. “Good. As you’ve noticed, I’m the mayor now,” he said, his mouth twisting into a grin. “Funny that I, of all people, got elected. When I think of all the bingo evenings and tea parties the two of us used to ruin …”

Kate smiled involuntarily. She vividly remembered all the nonsense she and Hugh had gotten into when they were young. Sabotaging bingo evenings was the lightest offense.

“Do you remember how we used to throw water balloons into the meeting room?” Hugh nodded his head back at the room where Hailsboro residents were gorging themselves on cupcakes.

Kate rolled her eyes and snorted. “Your dad caught you in the act. You got grounded.”

“Hey,” he defended himself light-heartedly. “I never mentioned your name. I valiantly took all the blame on myself.”

She suppressed a broad smile and replied, “Thank you, once again.”

“You're very welcome.” He buried his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “So … how are you doing? I heard you live in L.A. now?”

She would rather have dropped dead on the spot than tell Hugh that her life was a complete mess or that she’d moved back to her grandmothers’. So she replied tersely, “Yes, I do. For … uh … several years now.”

“Awesome. And what do you do for a living?”

Wonderful. Another question she didn’t want to answer. But that’s the thing with ex-boyfriends. When you run into them, you should look fabulous, sport the attitude of a very successful person, and spout off a host of impressive answers. Unfortunately, this was not the case for Kate. Currently, she was succeeding at none of those things.

Instead, she took a shaky breath before replying, “Well, I studied marketing, but after graduating, I ended up in the fashion industry. So for the past few years I’ve been a purchasing agent for a clothing company.” That wasn’t exactly a lie. Not the
whole
truth, but not a lie.

He laughed softly. “That sounds like you, Kate. Glad you've made it so far.”

She gritted her teeth and forced a smile. “Thank you. And when did you get back to Hailsboro?”

“It’s been about a year now. As you can see, this town hasn’t changed much.”

His well-defined features curled up in amusement, and Kate lowered her eyes. After all those years, standing in front of him totally confused her. Hugh had been her first love. Her first boyfriend. And her sole true friend.

They’d been inseparable in preschool, a real Bert-and-Ernie combo in elementary school, and even best friends during high school. That is, until the year Kate spent summer vacation in Arizona with her dad.

When she’d come home two months later, she’d just turned fourteen and had changed a lot, at least in Hugh's eyes. When they went swimming together after she got back, he’d stared at her constantly. Kate hadn’t noticed at first. She’d just lain comfortably beside him on the dock in her new bikini, telling him all about the trip to her father’s. Later, she found out that for the first time in his life, Hugh had seen her as a
girl
, not just a playmate—and he liked what he saw.

Kate had experienced almost all the important moments of her young life with Hugh. The first day of kindergarten. The first day of every school year. Falling off her bike for the first time. Her first swimming lesson, her first kiss, her first dance at prom. Her first time having sex … and her first heartbreak.