Free Pretty Face by Sable Hunter

looked like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “Cody, I saw the photo of you and two other women at some dating conference The Right One hosted. You were turned a little bit away from the camera, but I could tell it was you.” Nobody else he’d ever seen had a cuter turned up nose or sweeter rose bud lips.
    With a couple of jerking movements, she moved her chair completely around. For the moment her scar was forgotten. The photo he was speaking about was of her, Marnie, and Trinity at one of their planning meetings at Willow Bend, a picture Lacy had taken. Since Sage had confided to Hunter that she owned part of TRO, Cody had to wiggle around the truth, but this much was flat fact. “I do have the papers, but I haven’t filled them out for myself. I won’t. I don’t date. Period.”
    She’d been talking so fast, he’d had to concentrate to keep up. Instead of being mad that he’d snooped in her things, she was still trying to convince him that she wasn’t interested in meeting a man. “You don’t date? Why?”
    Cody looked disappointed in him. She dropped her head. “Don’t patronize me.” Her voice was weak. She realized she was tired and discussing this with Hunter hurt more than she’d ever thought possible. “This is why.” She touched her scar. “Obviously this is why.”
    He was about to argue with her, but a knock on the door prevented him from getting the first word out of his mouth.
    “Excuse me,” she said politely. Cody waited for him to proceed her down the hall. “Let me see who’s at the door. I’ll be right back with you.”
    Hunter felt like a jerk. He hadn’t liked it when he found the dating application, then he’d proceeded to tease her about it. But her sad answer had jerked the rug out from under him. Didn’t she realize how pretty she was?
    At the front door, Cody was in shock. Talk about bad timing!
    “Aren’t you going to let us in?” Marnie and Trinity stood there looking smug. “Didn’t you miss us?”
    “Like a hole in the head,” she snarled, stepped out on the front porch, and pulled the door behind her. “Listen and listen good, I have to talk fast. Hunter is inside.” She had to hold her hands up to shush the pair. “He doesn’t know I’m Sage. He’s renovating my kitchen and he can’t know we own TRO. You can meet him, but you have to act like he’s my contractor. Only!” She emphasized. “And you can’t embarrass me in any way, shape, form or fashion. Got it?”
    “Totally,” Marnie answered. There was a mischievous look in her eyes that Cody didn’t like.
    “I mean it, you two.” Cody was stern, her face white with strain.
    “Okay, honey, we got it.” Trinity hugged her. “Lead on, I for one can’t wait to meet this paragon of a man.”
    Slowly, she opened the door and backed into the house, almost tripping over Hunter.
    “Sorry, easy.” Hunter caught her, his hands on her shoulders, his hard hot body molded to her back.
    Cody moved away from him like he’d burned her. Trinity and Marnie were watching the two of them with great interest. “Hunter, these are my friends, Trinity and Marnie. You saw them in that photo. We all attended the same dating seminar. Girls, this is Hunter Reed. He’s renovating my kitchen. He’s visiting Louisiana for a few weeks from Colorado.”
    She exhaled. The introduction had taken a lot out of her.
    Marnie turned on the charm. “Well, hello, good-looking. It sure is a pleasure to meet you.” She twisted and turned, and Cody wanted to slap the crap out of her.
    “Don’t mind her,” Trinity injected. “She’s retarded. But it is good to meet you.”
    Hunter shook both their hands. “It’s nice to meet both of you.” He looked from one woman to the next. It was obvious he was missing something, but for the life of him he didn’t know what it was. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you ladies to your visiting. My work day is over. Cody, if I could see you in the kitchen for just a minute