A Dangerous Combination

Angelina unsteadily hopped off the railing and leaned against it to look back up at him. He was half a foot taller than her. “Nobody’s ever asked me that before, let alone someone I just met. No one cares about a pageant girl’s motivations.

“But I’ll tell you for the heck of it. I want to be a neurologist and help people like me. I have epilepsy. You know, the seizure disorder? I’m supposed to be the first person with epilepsy to become Miss Americana.

“My mom talked about it in interviews all the time because she wanted to appeal to the audience’s sympathies about how brave I am. Ha. I’m not brave at all. I simply exist with what I’ve been given.

“I’d rather work behind the scenes than be the poster girl for overcoming epilepsy but I guess whatever publicity I do get helps raise awareness for people like me. As if she would ever have such a selfless motivation. She’s just trying to make me look better.

“I’ve never talked about this to anybody. I guess you have the kind of face that makes people want to spill all their secrets, Eddie. Thanks for listening, I guess. I should get going before my manager freaks out on me.”

Edward frowned. She was dumping all of that information on him and just wanted to walk away? He had never shared such an intriguing, albeit one-sided, conversation with another person before.

“If you have health problems, why are you drinking alcohol as a minor?” he blurted.

Angelina stared at him blankly for a moment before bursting out laughing. “Like I said, no one cares about me. I’m not a minor—I turned eighteen two weeks ago—but suppose I count as one when it comes to drinking…

“Truth be told, I’m not supposed to have alcohol at all. My doctor warned against it but my manager insists I need to drink to be polite. He says no one here is going to rat me out for being underage. And they probably won’t because they all want a piece of me. Hypocrites.”

Her expression suddenly fell as she began swaying. “Hey…I don’t feel so good…”

Edward immediately rushed forward to grab her and picked her up princess-style. She began convulsing in his arms a moment later. This must be one of her seizures. Had the alcohol brought it on?

Oh, what did that matter? He didn’t know anything about helping people with seizures! He needed to get her out of here without making a scene. He doubted she would want that.

And if what she said about her manager was true, he definitely wouldn’t do anything to help. It was up to Edward to take action.

The seizure stopped faster than he expected though. It only lasted about a minute before Angelina blinked up at him weakly. “Hey…can you get me out of here? I really want to go lie down.”

She trusted him, a virtual stranger, to do that? Obviously, he had no intention of doing anything to her but what if she had ended up asking this of someone else?

“…do you have any sense of caution at all? You’re a beautiful woman and I am a man, you know.”

“Yeah but you wouldn’t take advantage of me,” she said as confidently as she could considering how exhausted she looked. “Someone who gets used all the time wouldn’t use someone else. So, are you going to help me or not?”

Edward couldn’t argue with her logic. “I was going to help you anyway. I’m just saying you need to be more careful. Not everyone is as chivalrous as me.”

Angelina laughed slightly before coughing. “Thank you, Sir Eddie. Now, take me away on your noble steed before my manager drags me back in there.”

With the way that man had schmoozed everyone earlier and forced an at-risk underage girl to drink, he wasn’t even surprised. He did as she said and took her out to a secluded part of the garden with a long bench, setting her down before sitting next to her and readjusting things so her head was in his lap.

“Are you sure you don’t need to go to a hospital?”

“Nah, I know the drill by now. There’s nothing they can do for me anyway. I should just lay down here for a while until the dizziness passes and then drink lots of water. I’ll live,” she said matter-of-factly.

Edward felt a pang of sympathy for this girl. She might not think she was brave but he certainly did. Seeing her have a seizure had been somewhat terrifying and she dealt with those at least somewhat regularly based on her nonchalance.

Angelina yawned. “Hey…is it okay if I take a little nap on you? That should help me regain my strength. Then we can go back in one at a time so there aren’t any weird rumors.”

She didn’t want to have rumors with him? That was a first. Every young woman he had met since making it big in the real estate world had tried to use rumors with him to their advantage.

He found himself thinking that he wouldn’t actually mind having rumors with someone like her. Which was ridiculous because he loathed gossip.

“That’s fine. But if you’re going to do that, I think I’ve earned the right to call you by a nickname too, Miss Teen Monterey Angelina Dawson. Is that fair?” Edward asked.

A half-smile made its way onto her face. “So you knew who I was the whole time. Unfair, since I don’t even know your last name. But sure. Go ahead and call me Angel. Some of the girls at the toddler pageants called me that when I was little because they couldn’t pronounce my full name.”

She closed her eyes and he found himself staring down at this unique girl who seemed to hate her life yet continued on with things as if to spite it. A beauty queen taking advantage of the system to become a doctor was an intriguing concept.

Pageants were scholarship programs, after all, even though they were primarily known for being beauty contests. Angelina—no, Angel—was both beautiful and practical. A dangerous combination.