"Seriously?" Adam asked. "That's a five-minute drive across the river. How is Windsor considered romantic?"
Then the auctioneer cleared his throat. "The next item up for bid is always a fan favorite here. Dinner with your captain, Jordan King!" There were some loud cheers and applause that greeted Jordan as he stepped up on the stage and took a dramatic bow. "Let's start the bidding!"
"This is going to be entertaining," Adam muttered in Charlotte's direction.
"What's so entertaining about this?"
"You see that table of young women over there?" he said, leaning over so Charlotte could hear him better. "They're puck bunnies who pool their daddies' money every year in the hopes that they'll go on a group date with Jordan and he will fall in love with one of them."
Charlotte bristled. "That sounds like it could get pretty messy."
"Good news is they only won once and that was a few years ago. Bad news is that they've lost the auction to the finance guys over there."
Charlotte turned to see a table with three older couples. The women looked bored while the men looked like giddy school children. "Jack mentioned them to me. What's their story?"
Rachel leaned closer to her husband. "They spend their wads of cash on dinner with Jordan where they act like they're his best buddies while the wives make inappropriate comments to each other about Jordan's ass," she explained. "And then sometimes they make inappropriate comments to Jordan's face about his ass. Not that I've noticed, of course."
"Oh, of course not," her husband sarcastically replied.
"But he does have an amazing hockey ass," she whispered loudly.
Charlotte laughed before turning her attention back to the bidding, surprised it wasn't up too high yet. She was starting to get antsy. She didn't want to make a big scene by jumping into the bidding, but she also did enjoy the occasional rush from charity auctions like this. In that sense, she was very similar to the socialites she didn't like. They all wanted to win.
Plus, her parents did tell her that she needed to think about making a name for herself in the rich charitable circles of Detroit. Charlotte thought the request sounded crass. After all, her parents at times cared more about the fund-raising parties and the appearance of charity than the actual charity itself. But she was in Detroit now and really did want to help out some groups in the area. Tonight would be the perfect time to start.
"Hey, would you guys like to come to dinner with me and Jordan King?"
"Seriously?" Adam asked. "That could be fun. How much do you think we should each throw in?"
Charlotte just shook her head. "Dinner is on me."
Rachel looked at her skeptically. "Are you sure? We can at least give you something in return."
"Can Aiden be my date?" she asked.
"We can do that," Adam replied, a sly smile forming on his face.
She turned back to the room, listening to the trickle of bids coming in. The bidders were such amateurs. Only a $300 increase in the offer? Charlotte decided it was time to make things a bit more interesting.
"$4,000!" yelled the puck bunny in charge of table number eight before giving a dirty glance to the rich boys club at the next table over.
"$4,000 from the ladies," the auctioneer announced. "Anyone want to go higher?"
Charlotte smiled, remembering a hockey game earlier this week when young Aiden had explained with awe just how sacred the number 61 was to Jordan. He had apparently chosen it when he played hockey in high school and hadn't changed it since then.
Charlotte raised her hand, officially signaling that she was getting in the game. "I want to bid!" she yelled, getting the attention of the auctioneer. "$6,161!"
Jordan King turned and gave her a little smirk as a buzz started to rise from the crowd.
"Is that Charlotte Stone?"
"Did she use his number in her bid?"
"What the hell?"
She distinctly heard that last comment from around the area of table eight and turned to see the puck bunnies turning their dirty looks to her. She checked on the rich boys, proud to find that she was at least able to get the two groups to see eye-to-eye on one thing: Charlotte was their new target. Leaning back in her chair, she put on her best game face as the two groups plotted their revenge against the interloper from Manhattan.
In the meantime, Charlotte's bid did what she expected it would do. More people started getting into the game now that they were going up against the Charlotte Stone, including some wives who were trying to prove how rich they were by tossing some of their husbands' extra cash around. She just sat and watched them duke it out, waiting for her perfect time to strike.
