The Beauty and the CEO Read online

  “Over there” meant a long station with at least six black chairs in front of makeup mirrors. Confusion clouded Zoe’s head. She was under the impression she’d be the only makeup artist today. The pageant started at noon and she would have been working nonstop until at least four. A part of her was relieved to know she’d be able to give each contestant her full attention. As a professional she could get a job done in ten minutes.

  “Zoe.” Rebecca waved a gold curling iron with a pearl handle in Zoe’s direction. “Hey, girl.”

  Zoe was in midwave when the man standing next to Rebecca turned around. She snarled when their eyes locked. “Titus.”

  “Zoe,” he mouthed with utter disdain, then turned his attention to Rebecca. “So, you two are supposed to be friends now?”

  Rebecca’s soft smile didn’t ease the situation. “We’re friends, Titus. Stop being rude.”

  “I’ll stop being rude when she stops thinking she brought eighties makeup back by telling everyone I copied her.”

  Her upper lip curled, Zoe’s body heated from the blood boiling in anger and with her fists clenched she stalked forward. “Why are you even here?”

  “Uh, it looks like I’m about to show Ravens Cosmetics that I’m their new Creative Design Director.” In usual Titus fashion, he did a dramatic spin. His black smock twirled around his large frame.

  “I don’t understand,” Zoe snapped.

  “You didn’t think you were going to keep the CEO’s attention all to yourself?” Titus asked with his hands on his hip. “Luckily for me, the board found out about this little trip.”

  Suddenly Zoe remembered what Will had told her about half the board at Ravens. They wanted to see the company fail. Bringing Titus on certainly would do the job. She needed to talk to Will. Did he know what they were trying to do? Zoe absentmindedly reached to touch her good-luck pearls and remembered again that she hadn’t brought them with her.

  “Don’t look so lost.” Titus continued to gloat. “Once I am the CDD, I may hire you to consult on the Halloween special I plan on hosting.”

  Rebecca elbowed Titus in the gut and offered Zoe an apologetic smile. “Go gather your girls, Titus. Let Zoe get settled in her station.”

  It was then Zoe realized that her station was right next to Titus’s. Photographs of the contestants were taped against their mirrors, lining the frames. Zoe went over to her spot and peeked inside her beauty box. Any bit of anger washed away. Lying in the center of the lavender satin box was the soon-to-be-released glitter lipstick from Ravens Zoe had been dying to get her hands on. The lipstick was a two-part design, one containing color, the other glitter. This was the idea she’d been concocting for a while now, but it had taken using several different products for one ultimate look. Someone at Ravens had a great mind like her. She couldn’t wait to collaborate. A few celebrity faces popped into mind, women who would love buying this in one tube rather than combining lipsticks. Renewed energy gushed through her veins. Zoe was armed with all the tools she needed and was headed into battle.

  The girls Zoe had been given were all under the age of twenty. As with most pageants, there were age divisions. All of the makeup artists were given girls from each group. The Wee Peaches were between the ages of one and five. Everyone had at least one Wee Peach but Lexi insisted those girls be as natural as possible. The next division was the six-to-eleven age group. These girls were given full glitz makeup if they wanted it. This meant they could wear false lashes and false teeth—or flippers, as they were called. Zoe hated to admit that Titus’s work was heavy but good. Zoe was not too comfortable putting her signature wingtip on. They were still little girls.

  The contestants were broken down in ages somewhere between twelve and fifteen, and then sixteen to twenty-six. All were dazzled with the makeup and wanted more. Some of them were eager to sit in Zoe’s chair because their sisters had gotten their makeup done for prom yesterday. Occasionally Titus stood by and sneered. It didn’t help that during her downtime, Rebecca shared photographs from last night’s dinner. He muttered under his breath about how, if Zoe was given the position, he was sure he knew why. Titus even commented about the time stamp on each photograph and noticed that, at some point, Zoe and Will disappeared. This was exactly the kind of thing Lexi had warned her about.

  By noon, the beauty portion of the pageant was on its way for the sixteen-to twenty-three-year-olds. Zoe enjoyed getting to know her girls and learning about them. She wanted each girl’s makeup to be an expression of herself, rather than a painted face. In Zoe’s eyes, none of the other artists were competition. But Titus went for the kill. He didn’t care about the ages of the girls. He used the glitter gloss on each girl. Zoe was tempted, but she knew the colors were too mature for clients. And, unlike Titus, Zoe’s groups of contestants were all under the age of sixteen. She overheard one of Titus’s girls say she was twenty-six. A part of her wondered if this was part of the competition. Was Ravens Cosmetics looking for a way for the interviewees to integrate their new makeup line?

  Everyone was able to take thirty to forty-five minutes for lunch. Everyone who worked backstage gathered around the long buffet table. Riddled with guilt, Zoe decided to give Lexi a call. She needed to know what she should do. Did she go against her morals of keeping young girls looking young or did she go full out to get the job? The cell service in the back was horrible.

  Zoe went outside to get better reception. She headed over to the bridge for privacy and clarity. Lexi’s phone went straight to voice mail, so Zoe decided to finish her walk, then she’d try again. She wondered if her father had ever made it out here to check out the view. At any point now, Zoe expected a call from him to give the go-ahead to bring her mom back. It wasn’t like her mother didn’t know about the proposal. He did it every year, just in different places.

  The summer sun felt good on her face. Freezing air conditioning blasted in Zoe’s station. It had to, in order to keep the girls from melting. Green leaves littered the walkway of the bridge over the lake. With everything there was to do this week, there hadn’t been a lot of time for long strolls over the water. A low limb of a weeping willow blocked part of the way. As she grew closer the clear sound of a conversation grew louder. Zoe hesitated and wondered if she should turn around or try to walk through the group talking.

  “So, how did Will take it when he found out we’re backing his choice for the director by whomever he votes to win the pageant?”

  Will? Zoe decided to stand still. Whoever was talking about Will—her Will—did not have a caring pitch to his tone. Through the leaves she spied three people: two men and a woman. All three had the height of the Ravens family. She wondered if these were some of the cousins Will warned her about.

  “Charles, can you believe he told me and Dixon it was fine?” the woman said. She spoke as if her head were held high in the air, very snooty. “As if he has things under control. I can’t stand him.”

  “Katie,” the man named Charles answered, clapping his hands together, “we are so close to being done with this company, once and for all. We just need to focus.”

  “I promise you guys—forcing Will to choose this quickly is going to throw his game,” said the man Zoe guessed was Dixon.

  “I can’t believe he has no idea we found Octavia.” Charles rubbed his hands together manically.

  A row of hairs rose on the back of Zoe’s neck. Octavia Ravens? The missing heir?

  “We’ll just keep her under wraps until after the final vote. Grandma will be upset with the company, but we’ll be the ones softening the blow when we bring our long-lost aunt home.” Charles chuckled. “Let Grandma’s favorite continue thinking he knows what he’s doing.”

  “And we owe this to my fabulous sis.” Dixon gave a silent round of applause. “If you hadn’t broken your nail after trying to negotiate things at Pink Stilettos Cosmetics, we might never have had this
opportunity.” He gave a harrumph. “Will ain’t the only one who can play hero.”

  “Oh, my God, don’t get me started,” Katie gasped. “Did you hear him talking about beat-faces and winged eyeliner? You would have thought he took a class.”

  Through the seething anger, Zoe’s heart swelled with pride. So Will had been listening to her all this time.

  “Whatever,” a male voice said. “He still thinks he’s going to be Grandma’s savior.”

  “That’s because he never had to work hard a day in his life,” the woman sneered.

  Well, Zoe shrugged, before knowing Will, she might have agreed there. But that didn’t mean she agreed with whatever these people were saying. They truly were trying to ruin the company. Zoe turned around and headed back toward the pageant. She spied Will’s broad shoulders immediately. He sat heads above the rest of the judges at their own booth with his back to her. A red velvet rope separated them from everyone else roaming around. If she had superpowers right now she’d use telepathy to get Will to turn around.

  “You know I can’t let you get any closer,” said a security guard.

  Zoe read the name tag of the man-wall. “I’m sorry, but Mr. Anderson, it’s imperative that I speak with Will Ravens.”

  “And you can,” the giant man turned Zoe around, “after the pageant.”

  “Fine.” Zoe scooted off and realized she didn’t have Will’s cell phone number. She had last week, but was sure she’d thrown it away after her interview. Zoe swam upstream in the sea of mothers and daughters. A cloud of hairspray choked her and she had to stop and catch her breath for a moment.

  “Zoe, right?”

  Zoe glanced down at the beefy hand on her shoulder. She glanced up and tilted her head to the side, trying to recall the name of the man who’d let Will land his plane on his property. When she had met him he was wearing a pair of greasy overalls and now he wore a tailor-made dark-blue suit. Sharp, Zoe thought to herself.

  “Dominic,” he offered. “Will’s frat brother. You guys were at my place earlier this week.”

  Earlier this week seemed more like a lifetime ago. “Hi, yes. How are you?”

  “A bit out of place.” Dominic chuckled. He slid his hands into his pockets and looked around. “This isn’t really my speed.”

  “Yet, here you are.” Zoe widened her eyes. She decided to skip the obvious. The man was here supporting his friend and checking out the women. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

  “It’s a bit insane,” Dominic admitted with a quick nod of his head. He fanned away another cloud of hairspray from a mother spraying her young daughter as they rushed by. “I can’t believe people willingly put themselves through an ordeal like this.”

  “All in the name of the crown,” Zoe offered.

  “That is the end game, right?”

  “Say, how much do you know about what Will’s going through at his company?”

  Dominic extracted his hand from his pocket to scratch his chin. “You mean, about half the family wanting to shut down the operations?”

  “That would be it,” said Zoe. “Well, his cousins are here and I just overheard them plotting about his decision for today’s contestant.” She relayed the story, and Dominic listened with fierce intent. Clearly he cared for his friend. “And I can’t get close enough to warn him.”

  “So you’re afraid if he doesn’t select your work as the overall winner, he’s going to lose the company?”

  The tone of his voice changed more into an accusation. Zoe took a step back. “Well, I...”

  “Sounds to me like you may care more about your future job than his.”

  A jolt of embarrassment shocked Zoe’s system. “I care a lot about Will.”

  “As long as you’re in the running for this position he has to fill?”

  It was then that Zoe realized Dominic’s eyes were a fiery light brown that practically glowed red with anger. “Hey, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. If you’re asking me if I want the job as Creative Design Director, well, the answer is hell yes. I’m sure you’re just looking out for your frat brother here, but I can assure you I could get any job that I want.”

  Dominic crossed his arms across his wide chest, making him look even larger. “So you wouldn’t care if he doesn’t pick you today?”

  “He’s already picked me,” Zoe snapped.

  “Well then, you have nothing to worry about.”

  A set of identical twin women were returning to their seats and stopped at the sound of Zoe’s declarations. She had no doubt in the world these were Will’s sisters. The lights dimmed. So much for trying to get hold of Will.

  Chapter 11

  Will glanced down at the score sheet once again. He had no idea what in the hell half the items on the lists meant. He was supposed to rate these ladies and young girls on a scale of one to ten in several categories. Evening gowns, hair, smiles, makeup, talent and technique. What did he know about any of those?

  Technique? No one fell off the stage. A few girls tripped while tap dancing and some hit the wrong note while singing, but other than that, Will didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Sasha, who sat beside him on the right, scribbled over her sheets with each contestant. Vera, on his left, did the same. She made notes, smiley faces and even drew the devil on one girl’s page. Kathleen, at the very edge of the table, already had her paperwork stacked together with her hands folded on top. Kahlil leaned forward and gave him a head nod. They were in the same boat. Sort of. Will knew what was at stake.

  According to the meeting held after he left Zoe’s side this morning, his scores determined who received the Creative Design Director position. Zoe’s future was in his hands. Besides his immediate family coming to Southwood for the pageant, the anti-cousins had arrived, as well. They were tired of the position lingering unfilled and wanted him to make a quick decision. Katie and Dixon were smug with their demands, stating that as members of the board, they had a right to make him choose.

  So far he hadn’t seen anything too crazy and over-the-top to make him think any of the numerous girls walking across the stage were done up by Zoe. He studied the eyeliner, but it seemed as if every other girl wore the winged look. It wasn’t until a contestant blew a kiss into the crowd that Will found his winner. The crowd loved her. Will liked her makeup. And to add icing to this cake, the girl wore the glittered lipstick the same way Zoe had applied it to the prom girls at Magnolia Palace and most importantly, the dramatic wing tip. He teetered on the contestant with the modest beauty, but after last night and this morning, Will set aside his morals. He needed Zoe near him.

  To be sure he chose right, Will glanced at the other score sheets whenever the other judges came across the same girl. Everyone gave her high scores, except for the beauty queen seated next to him. Vera had been generous, even to the girl who dropped her baton, which was on fire, giving her a higher score than she did Will’s favorite. He was more confident that the other beauty queen, Kathleen, liked the same girl, too.

  “Are we all settled on who the winner is?” asked Kathleen.

  Will, along with everyone else at the table, nodded. The houselights dimmed. There were girls and parents seated beside him at the judges’ table. Will doodled on a piece of paper as the names were called for each category and age range. The young girls went first. Winners were called by special titles. Everyone got a small trophy for participation and then crowns were given to the winners in those groups. There were awards for the prettiest smile, friendliest contestant and most helpful. The runner-up princess of each category received a sizable tiara. But they had to go through this for each group. At this rate, Will wasn’t going to get back to Miami until late, and he still had plans to be with Zoe tonight, with or without her as Ravens Cosmetics’s newest employee.

  Finally it was time to crown Miss Southwood Glitz.
The top three women stood dressed in sparkling ball gowns—pink, blue and yellow—on the stage, clutching hands. They’d changed into their evening gowns. The winner, as the emcee explained, would travel across the county and represent Southwood in the official Miss South Georgia pageant in December.

  The pageant contenstants were narrowed down from fifty to ten girls, and then down to five left on the stage. Each girl drew questions written by one of the judges from a clear fishbowl. The five were slimmed down to three final contestants. Will was glad his question wasn’t chosen. He’d wanted to know if any of the ladies had a superpower, what it would be. He would definitely wish for the power of transportation. He’d be anywhere else but here—with Zoe.

  December. Will zoned out with the idea of Zoe. He wondered what he’d get Zoe for the holidays. Would they stay in Miami or visit someplace cold? Without thinking, Will wiggled his eyebrows at the idea of stretching out in front of a fireplace with Zoe.

  “And the second runner-up...” the emcee said into the microphone.

  Second? Leaning forward, Will shook his head and blinked into focus and realized there were just two girls on stage. His daydream of Zoe had caused him to miss the final three going to answer the same question from the emcee. They faced each other, clutching hands for dear life.

  “Second runner-up is Miss Cupcakery.”

  The audience screamed with applause. Miss Cupcakery was whisked away by a few ushers. The reigning Miss Southwood placed a crown on top of Miss Restoration’s head and the queen began her walk across the stage. His choice won.

  The applause of the audience was deafening. The other judges at the table mouthed congratulations and shook hands. Will glanced around the stage. The other contestants surrounded the new Miss Southwood. The behind-the-scenes staff peered through the curtains. Will shifted in his seat for a glimpse of Zoe and her purple smock. The spotlight caught her golden hoop earrings, visible beneath her hair, piled on top of her head in a messy bun. Will’s heart seized.