Page 22 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Surgeon

“Look, I’m very sorry. I obviously misspoke.” I was starting to sweat.

“Did you, though?” Her voice was fake sweet, dripping with sarcasm. She dropped down with her mouth next to my ear. “Or do you just wish I hadn’t heard you?” She wrapped her arm around me in a half hug. I tried to concentrate on anything other than how good she smelled or the clear view I had of her amazing breasts.

I couldn’t even answer her. For the first time as an adult, I was at a complete loss for words. It was partly due to how attracted I was to her and partly because she was right; I did think she would embarrass me at a charity gala. And she knew it.

“I feel terrible,” I finally said. As I turned to talk to her, I realized she’d already walked off and was flirting heavily with a group of good-looking men a couple oftables away.

“Wow. You aresmooth, man,” Javy said.

Nico just grinned.

“Paolo, do you think maybe I could get lessons from you on how to talk to women?” Leo, the flirtiest, most notorious womanizer in the whole club, asked.

“Fuck right off. All of you.” I tossed back the rest of my whiskey and immediately wished for another. “Do you think she’s going to come back anytime soon?”

They all just laughed as if it hadn’t been a serious question.

CHAPTER NINE

Paolo

I stood in Cayenne and drank my whiskey. I was half-heartedly watching an attractive couple fuck on stage. They were really going at it, but my mind kept drifting off. It had been over two weeks since I first saw Jelly, and I still couldn’t get her out of my head.

I saw Nico across the room looking businesslike. I gave him a head nod, but it was clear he wasn’t going to have time to hang out with me. I sighed.

“What the hell is wrong with you tonight, Lanetti?” Enzo Salazar was suddenly at my shoulder. “You look like your grandma just died or something.” He gave me a once over without much expression on his face before he turned back to the stage to watch the couple. He faced them but spoke to me. “Nico says you have a thing for Jelly.”

Dammit. Did they all know? This was starting to feel like high school where everyone was up in everyone else’s business, worried about who liked who. “Yes,” I admitted grudgingly, bringing my glass to my mouth.

Enzo nodded. “She’s fucking hot,” he said calmly, as if he was talking about the weather. “And she’s not stupid. Did you know she’s in college?”

I nodded. “Nico mentioned it.”

“So why wouldn’t you take someone like her to your charity function? I’ve taken women from here before.” His blue eyes turned on me. “Is it because of your father?”

Why was Enzo so damn perceptive? “That’s part of it. If myfather is coming to the event, he’ll grill the poor woman incessantly about her background, her family, whether or not she went to the right schools growing up… you get the drift.”

Enzo looked thoughtful. “But is he coming? I thought he only comes to very specific events each year.”

“I never know. He waits until the last minute to decide, and, as you know, he’s always invited. Much like your family.”

“True. No one is going to turn away a Salazar.” He sipped his drink. “And they’re not going to turn away Dominico Lanetti, either. You said he was part of it. What’s the other part?”

“The hospital director called me into his office and told me to quit fucking around.”

His eyes widened a little. “In those words?”

“Not exactly, but that was the gist.”

He turned to face me. “So, what’s your plan?”

I gave him a sharp look. Had Nico talked to him about what I wanted to do? “I want Carmen to have a different type of auction.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Explain.”

“I want an ‘elite’ auction. The women entered into it would be high class, but down on their luck for some reason. Maybe they got a divorce, but they’re still young. Maybe their family money is dwindling fast. Just something that would make them interested in being in a sugar baby auction.”

Enzo chuckled. “Don’t let Carmen hear you call it that. She wants them known as Cinnamon Girls.”