"It's OK, Charlotte," Adam said teasingly at one point. "If you want, you can still take Aiden out for ice cream or something."
She just smirked. "Don't worry. I'm not done yet."
Bidding finally slowed down as the finance guys were close to claiming victory with a bid of $13,000. The auctioneer started to look around, trying to spur on the crowd for one last shot at dinner with the captain.
"This is going to be a new record bid for dinner with Jordan, but I think we can get it a little higher for the Community Garden Project. Miss, do you want back in?" A woman in the back shook his head. "Ladies?" The puck bunnies simply looked down, knowing they had been defeated. "Miss Stone?"
All eyes turned to Charlotte, waiting for her decision before they had to swallow that bitter pill for another year. They all knew the old guys in the back would win. But while all of them watched Charlotte, she could only look at one person: Jordan King. His blue eyes seemed to shimmer mischievously, coaxing her to make a move.
"You know, I will make another bid."
She heard the murmur beginning to spread through the crowd and could only imagine the faces of the men who were about to go home empty handed. But still, she was transfixed on Jordan. Charlotte could tell he was intrigued by what she was about to do. It was only fair that she give him what he wanted.
"I bid $61,000."
There was a gasp in the crowd followed by a loud "Dammit!" that she assumed came from one of the old guys. Some nervous laughter was soon covered up by a smattering of applause that began to spread to the entire crowd, becoming more raucous. It was as if the fans were beginning to rally late in the third period to cheer their beloved Pirates to victory.
And yet still, Charlotte couldn't take her eyes off of Jordan, whose jaw had gone slack when she announced her bid. He shook his head in disbelief and then gave her a huge genuine smile, one she hadn't received from a man in years. It was one of those smiles that went right to her core and she could feel her heart skip. She wasn't nervous about bidding that much money. She had done it before at other auctions. And yet one look from Jordan King was forcing her to breathe deeply and calm herself down.
The gavel began to bang on the lectern as the auctioneer tried to regain order from the rowdy crowd. "Alright, alright!" he yelled. "We have to finish this."
The crowd began to calm down and Charlotte finally had a chance to look around the room. There were quite a few smiles in her direction — except for the rich guys' table and the puck bunnies.
"We have a bid of $61,000 from the lovely lady over here," the auctioneer said, pointing his gavel in Charlotte's direction. The crowd started clapping again with some yelling coming from the back of the room.
"$61,000 going once!" Cheering filled the room. "$61,000 going twice!" More cheers engulfed the space as Charlotte looked up to see the captain clapping along. "Dinner with Jordan King is sold for a record $61,000!"
The gavel banged to confirm her bid but if there was any noise after that, Charlotte couldn't tell. Instead, her focus was on Jordan, who had jumped down from the stage, making a beeline for her table. His eyes were fixed on her as he jogged over, his button-down shirt straining against his chest and his tuxedo jacket swaying around him as he moved his arms enthusiastically. He came over and knelt next to Charlotte's chair, taking her hand in his to give it a warm and gentle kiss.
"M'lady," he said sweetly. "I'm looking forward to our dinner."
Then he stood and winked at her before heading back to the stage while Charlotte's smile stayed plastered on her face. She was smitten with him. In that moment, she refused to remind herself that the whole reason she fell in love with hockey was because she had fallen in love with a hockey player who ended up breaking her heart. Falling for a professional player was surely not the way she wanted to start over in a new town, but right now she didn't care.
She broke out of her haze to look at the friends sitting with her. Rachel had a huge smile on her face while Adam looked completely stunned.
"So," Charlotte said, nervously clearing her throat to get their attention. "Are you guys up for dinner?"
Adam turned to her, the stunned expression frozen on his face. "This is going to be the most amazing meal I will ever eat."
Chapter 3
Charlotte hung up with the Pirates' representative after ironing out details for dinner with Jordan King, wondering what she had really gotten herself into. This wasn't just her dinner. Other people would be there so it wasn't like it was a date or anything. And by there, she meant here. As in her penthouse, the place she lived that was still only half unpacked.
She was actually excited about having everyone over. Her mother was a bit too fancy and formal at times, but even Charlotte loved a good dinner party. When she first moved out of her parents' place, her mother made sure to send her daughter away with a set of china, silver and crystal. Sure, it was ostentatious, but she still found it fun to set the table in her small condo in Manhattan with all the decorative pieces, even for a quiet dinner with friends. Her place now had much more space, which allowed her to have a huge kitchen and a big table. It was just another reason why moving to a city with a much lower cost of living was actually a good choice for her.
Of course, that also meant Charlotte was going to have to unpack her fancy dishes along with everything else still in boxes. Despite the fact that she had lived there for almost a month already, she was still trying to figure out exactly where she wanted things to go before unpacking them.
There were also boxes that Charlotte was dreading, boxes she had pushed into one of the guest bedrooms, knowing she would have to sort through them at some point. This wasn't just a small move for her. She left absolutely nothing behind in New York. The extra space had allowed her to pull things out of a storage unit she had rented in Brooklyn like old report cards from school, souvenirs she had picked up from trips over the years, photos of friends and family.
Charlotte finally decided it was time to dig in and see what she had. After pouring herself a glass of wine, she sat down and started sorting. Books were set aside to go on the shelves she had installed in her office, thankful that she now had a place to actually display them. Some trinkets from college would have to remain in a box for now.
Then there was the box simply labeled "Stuff" in Charlotte's handwriting. But it wasn't just any stuff. The label had been her vanilla description for the Boyfriend Box.
Starting with her freshman year in college, she had spent a decade tossing random items into the box as she finished one relationship after another. Right on top was the bracelet Marcus had given her. She remembered throwing it in the box when she did an inventory of the storage unit a month before moving. It had been sitting on her dresser taunting her, a reminder of her latest relationship with a man she thought she could marry someday, only to have him dump her with the generic "It's not you, it's me," and no other explanation. It had been one of the reasons she had finally decided it was time to get the hell out of the city and for that, at least, she was thankful.
Charlotte kept digging through old t-shirts and postcards, love poems and... Her hand brushed against something plastic, sending shivers down her spine. Her fingers curled around the cage mask and she tugged, pulling out an old helmet from Declan. "This is for you," he explained causally when he gave it to her. "You don't want to lose any teeth and get ugly if you go skating with me."
She stared at it in her unsteady hands. It had been more than two years and Declan still had this kind of effect on her. Clammy hands, shaky arms, erratic stressed-out heartbeat.
