All-American Princess - Maggie Dallen Page 0,9

those eyes.

I suddenly and profoundly understood the meaning of the term “bedroom eyes.” Her gaze locked on mine and it was filled with promise. When she started moving toward me, I froze. Every muscle went rigid with desire as she sashayed in those heels, her tongue flicking out to wet her pouty lips as her blue eyes kept this eye contact that went beyond intimate to something else entirely.

We could have been the only ones in the kitchen.

We could have been the only people on the planet.

When she was close enough that I could reach out and drag her into my arms, she stopped. That breathy, low voice of hers seemed to melt over me. “See, Jack? You’d give me what I need, wouldn’t you?”

Yes. I would give this girl anything she asked if she kept looking at me like that, if she kept coming closer, if she leaned forward and whispered in my ear. My blood was on fire, and lust had me in its grips. I found myself staring at those lips—pink, puffy, soft, and covered in lipgloss. What would they taste like?

When I glanced up and met her gaze again, the fire was doused just as abruptly as it had ignited. Her eyes were filled with laughter at my expense. Her gaze was filled with cruel mockery and a conceit that made me burn in a whole other way.

This time, it was the burn of humiliation.

“See, Tess?” she said to her sister, her eyes still locked on mine. “I’ll have us out of this hellhole and back to civilization in no time.”

She’d called my home a hellhole.

Hellhole?

Who did Lila Baker think she was?

I slammed a paint can down and reached for another from the back office where the surplus products were kept.

“How’d it go upstairs?” my dad asked from behind me.

“Great. Just great,” I muttered. I didn’t have the heart to tell my father the things that girl said. We might not have had a lot of money, but we did our best to make the upstairs apartment clean and functional.

It was where my father’s parents used to live, and where he’d grown up before he and my mom bought a house a few blocks away. How could I tell him that his precious new tenant thought it was Hell on Earth?

“How long are they staying here?” I asked, my mind replaying that bizarre conversation between the sisters.

My father shrugged. “They weren’t sure, and I didn’t want to pry.”

“Why not?”

He shrugged again, his smile apologetic. “It seems like a sorry situation, don’t you think? The fact that those two are here on their own, uncertain of their future. I mean, that poor girl you met today will be starting her senior year at a new school with no family or friends around.”

He shook his head as if the thought pained him. Leave it to my dad to somehow make the ice queen pitiable.

My father’s gaze turned thoughtful. “She seemed sad to me.” He glanced at me. “Did she seem sad to you?”

I thought back to her snide comments to her sister and then to that unexpected little seductress routine. I cleared my throat. “Sad wasn’t the vibe I got.”

He nodded, but he didn’t seem to hear me. “That girl needs a friend.”

I stared at him in horror because I knew what was coming. “No. No way.”

Dad held his hands up in defense. “I didn’t say anything.”

I gave him a knowing look.

“Okay, fine. Maybe it would be nice if you showed her around, introduced her to some of your friends…”

I shook my head. “No way.”

His silence was telling. My father wasn’t one to scream and shout, but his quiet disapproval could be felt for miles.

I held back a groan. The next thing coming would be, “What would your mother say?”

The only thing worse than quiet disapproval was calling upon the judgement of my saintly mother. My saintly dead mother.

“Those two girls are sitting up there in that bare-bones apartment,” he continued with another shake of his head.

It was his use of the word ‘two’ that gave me pause. Lila-the-diva wasn’t the only Baker girl up there, and Tess had actually seemed nice. Normal, even.

Just because her sister was a witch didn’t mean she should pay.

It was the thought of Tess up there all alone with the manipulative blonde sister that had me caving. “Okay, fine. I’ll go up there before I head out to the lake.”

My father beamed and clapped me on the shoulder. “That’s my boy.”

I nodded.