บททั้งหมดของ She's No Beauty Queen: บทที่ 71 - บทที่ 80

Edward wasn’t sure what he was supposed to think about the new developments with his contract fiancée. Obviously, he was thrilled things were so much better than before but Angel still hadn’t set any concrete boundaries or talked about her feelings at all so he had no idea what she was thinking.In the past slightly more than two weeks, she had slept curled up in his arms every night because she was too afraid to sleep otherwise, done most of her homework in his office, accompanied him to a business dinner pretending to be his secretary, and asked him to come with her on pageant-related business. All of that was so far outside the bounds of their usual relationship he was having a hard time keeping up. That didn’t account for the handholding, hugging, cuddling while watching TV, or light kisses either.What on earth was going through that woman’s head? She even touched him casually like elbowing him in a teasing way and giving him a high five when he managed not to knock over the rath

Angelina forced herself through a very long day of schmoozing the day before the Miss Teen California pageant. The morning got off to a rough start because she truly thought Aria would come wake Eddie up before anyone came looking for her and she was running late getting ready anyway.She woke up twice in the night because of nightmares and was so tired that she slept through her first couple of alarms, burrowing into Eddie’s chest as if that would make them stop blaring at her. Unfortunately, that didn’t work and she had to get up anyway.The hurt that flashed across his face when she essentially banished him so she wouldn’t get in trouble bothered her all day. She hadn’t meant to come across so harshly; she just didn’t want to get in trouble so close to the finish line!Miss Americana was only a few weeks away at this point so she couldn’t fail now when she had come so far and given up so much. He would understand that, wouldn’t he?Angelina was worried that he wouldn’t. The guilt c

Angelina had to wait until Aria was asleep to strike. Eddie was reading a book on the couch downstairs and she parked herself on his lap rather abruptly, wrapping her arms around his neck.“Angel, what—”She cut him off by kissing him with all the desperation in her heart. If he needed her to try harder, she would try harder! She would do anything not to be banished when she had nowhere else to go.It was ironic, really. In the beginning she hadn’t wanted him to take responsibility at all and now she was trying her hardest to get him to stick to it. She had screwed up by saying the worst possible thing to him when he already felt like she didn’t care about him at all and now she was paying the price for it.She did care about him much more than she originally thought—thinking about him so much when she was locked in that birdcage proved it—but she wasn’t on the same level that he was toward her yet. That was the problem. He wanted more than she could give right now.Eddie could go rig

Everyone was curious about Angel but at the very least they didn’t bombard her with questions about how she and Lily met and their rather unique family situation. It was all basic get-to-know-you stuff like whether or not she was in school and what her hobbies were.When she told them Randi’s friend Evan laughed. “So basically you’re the less manly version of Lily. Are you seeing anyone? Because if not I would totally ask you out.”Lily scowled at him. “I am not manly! You’re just a wimp.”Everyone laughed at that but Angel, who fiddled with her hair a bit awkwardly. “Actually, I’m engaged.”“No way, for real?! Where’s your ring then?”“…I accidentally forgot it at home as I scrambled to get out the door.”Lily was willing to bet that ring didn’t actually exist. She hadn’t seen any traces of a ring in Angel’s room all the times she had been there. It was one of the things she had noticed was weird about her and Eddie’s supposed relationship.“Oh, I see. So when’s the big day?” Randi a

Mark hadn’t expected to see Lily at the bowling alley tonight but he was even more surprised to see Angelina. Hadn’t she been glued to Edward’s side lately? He supposed she needed to be around people period and he happened to be available most frequently but still.He didn’t know how much she had said about her situation to Lily’s friends so he gave minimal detail when one of them asked how he knew the twins. He noticed that Luke referred to her as Angel so she must have introduced herself that way to be more inconspicuous.She certainly didn’t look like Miss California right now—she looked like a slightly less casual version of Lily since she was in a blouse and her twin was in a t-shirt—but someone might recognize her name if they were familiar with pageants at all. She had always been on the cautious side when it came to her identity considering Mark knew her for years and hadn’t been aware of it until recently.“I work with Angel’s fiancé but I also knew Lily in high school,” he e