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“Here you go. There’s been an addition to the lineup. I threw him in at the top.” Dani grins from ear to ear and hands me the paper.
My eyes hone in on the name penciled on the list.
Lucas Dahlenberg.
“He’s here?” I ask, my heart nearly beating out of my chest.
“Yup. He’s in back. And he looks delicious. Maryann is back there right now drooling over him. Who knows, she might bid on him.”
“Over my dead body. Here—” I shove the paper at my sister. “You’ve got to take over the auction for me.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I’m about to win me a man.”
“There you are,” Ben pants, standing beside Dani. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. We need to talk.”
“Uh…” Dani looks at me, and I shake my head. “It’s going to have to wait. Sam needs my help.”
“But—”
“Later,” she says, earning a less than eager nod from Ben. “I promise. We’ll talk as soon as the auction is over.”
Thank you, I mouth, hopping off the stage before anyone else can stop me. I bury myself in the growing sea of women until I find the perfect spot.
12
Lucas
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I mumble to some dude named Garrett.
“You and me both. Sam promised there’d be a special girl here who would bid on me, and she’d better be right. If I sell for a measly amount to some old chick, my friends will never let me live it down.”
His words stop me in my tracks.
She promised someone would bid on him? That’s the same promise she made me.
Did she say that just to get me here?
Damn it. I knew she was too good to be true. I’ve been made a fool of once already by a woman; I’m not about to let it happen again. I turn for the door just as a Santa hat is shoved on my head and I’m pushed through a set of black curtains.
I blink past the bright lights, and when my vision acclimates, I’m practically face to face with hundreds of women—and not one of them is Samantha.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Dani says, reading from a card. “I’d like to remind you that all bids must be paid for in full. All proceeds go to support the local women’s shelter. And whichever hunk you purchase is your date for the annual Christmas party tonight.”
The crowd cheers. Women of all ages and shapes and sizes jump up and down, some of them waving money in the air as though they’ve never seen a man in the flesh before.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was naked with the way their hungry eyes are raking over me. As it is, I’m wearing my favorite jeans, a simple black sweater, and boots. Oh, and that damn Santa hat someone put on me.
“Up first is a home-grown stud. That’s right, ladies and gentleman, Lucas was born and raised right here. He’s hot. He’s single. He’s yours for the bidding.” Music starts blaring, and Dani waves at me as though I’m a prize on “The Price is Right.” “Who wants to start the bidding at one hundred dollars?”
“One hundred,” someone yells.
“Two hundred,” another voice calls out.
Dani points toward the back of the room. “Two hundred to the woman in pink. Can I get three hundred?”
A paddle gets raised, but I can’t see who it belongs to because there are so many people and the lights are blinding.
