Itwasphysically impossible.
Unless—
The rubbing.
They’d put something on the pumpkin to keep it from exploding on takeoff.
They’d lubricated it to reinforce the skin.
And the judge had seen them do it.
She’dwinkedat them.
Kaci’s blood vaporized and her temper spiked madder than a wet bumblebee.
She didn’t mind losing. But she minded losing to cheaters, especially when her students were being robbed of a prize they’d not only earned but needed. She had a hair up her butt to show those cheaters just howredneck she could be.
If Kaci had learned anything from her mother, Miss Mississippi and second runner-up in the Miss USA pageant, it was the power and advantage of chin up, shoulders back, and belle them to death first.
Then they’d never see the redneck coming.
“Y’all stay here and get Ichabod hitched up to the Jeep,” she said.
She wanted to charge headfirst like a bull over the trampled fairground grass to show those macho, cheating dingbats howthislady handled problems. Instead she put a sway in her stride and a smile on her lips while she approached the other team.
The team’s shirts all bore the logo for the Wild Hogs, Gellings Air Force Base’s 946th Airlift Squadron. Military men in general made her twitch—especially lately—but flyers were enough to induce a seizure.
“Excuse me, gentlemen.” She stopped at the edge of their group and ran her finger down the closest one’s arm.
Eight close-cropped heads swiveled in her direction, and all their backslapping and pompous self-congratulations over their victory trickled to a stop.
She curved her lips into a coy smile. “I just wanted to say that y’all did aspectacularjob today. I have never seen a pumpkin sprout wings like that.” She batted her lashes. Lull them into safety, then get them to admit they cheated so they’d be disqualified. “Y’all must besostrong. And smart. Me and my impressionable young friends wouldlovesome pointers on how we could get our poor little thingie over there to work half as good as yours.”
The one with the aviator sunglasses flashed a wolfish grin. “Well, miss, it’s all in getting the right torque.”
“And a really good pumpkin,” the fresh-faced one added with a snicker.
She treated him to a smile and a subtle tug on her pink V-neck, exposing the barest hint of cleavage. Four of the men went slack-jawed. Three more angled closer to her.
The young pups were so easy. They had a few years on her girls—couldn’t be pilots without a good bit of schooling—but she doubted any one of them was pushing thirty.
“Y’all got a magic pumpkin?” she whispered.
“Close—” The fresh-faced one’s voice came out on a prepubescent squeak. He cleared his throat and covered with a wink. “Close enough, miss.”
“No magic pumpkin,” Aviator Sunglasses said. “We’ve got something better.”
Nomagic pumpkin,her ass.And she’d bet anything hissomething betterwas Vaseline or beer rubbed all over its skin. She flutteredher lashes while glancing at the pop cans, rags, and tools scattered about the ground. Had they used Coke?
“We’re just a poor group of college kids doing our best on a small budget and limited brains,” she lied. “We’d love to hear more about your methods.”
Such an easy half lie to tell. And for a good cause.
Her girls were mostly second- and third-year students who had been busting their tails designing and building Ichabod since they’d all come out to the fall festival and observed the competition last year. They’d lost sleep, boyfriends, and weekends for this. Every last one of them was on a scholarship or financial aid of some kind, and half of them worked part-time jobs to keep their heads above water.
And these men had cheated their way to the top and robbed Kaci’s girls of splittingprize money that would’ve gone a long way toward next semester’s books for each of them.
Not to mention the publicity of having an all-girls team win. Too few women believed they were smart enough to go into science and technology careers.
