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His eyes scanned the room for a glimpse of his brother, who’d nominated him for the auction. The bastard hadn’t shown up yet.
“Stephen’s finishing up some work in his office,” Lexi said, reading his mind.
Nate half nodded. “Have you taken a look at the work I did on yours?”
Lexi beamed. “I have! You’re fantastic!”
“And cheap labor, too,” he joked. For the past few weeks he’d been helping Lexi extend her dress shop. Guilt stemming from the way his brother had treated her when the two of them first met had swayed Nate’s decision to help. Thanks to Stephen’s spiteful impulse buy, Grits and Glam Gowns and Reyes Realty and Contracting were next-door neighbors. Lexi had been making a pitch for expansion the day Stephen barged into her office.
“I am going to pay you,” Lexi said.
“Whatever. I am having fun. Since Stephen decided to move down here, he’s contracted many plantation-style homes in southern Georgia to all of Hollywood. And, of course, the kids are getting ready to go back to school. Like my brother said the other day, business is slow. I have nothing but free time on my hands.”
The bartender appeared with a longneck bottle of beer and a tumbler of cognac. Nate’s eyes darted downward. “I didn’t order this.”
“The lady at the end of the bar did.”
Nate craned his neck, hoping excitedly for some crazy reason to find Amelia Marlow standing there. He grabbed the top of the bottle with two fingers and sipped while glancing down the end of the bar. He prayed he masked his disappointment well. Brittany Foley offered him a wide, toothy grin, swinging her shoulders suggestively to the techno music pounding away. Through each white laser beam flashing through the air, Brittany winked and licked her lips. The tongue. Nate willed his body to respond to her nonverbal invitation. When the hell did he need to will himself? Brittany’s body rivaled all the covers of every swimsuit magazine out there, but in order to keep her job she needed to wear dowdy drab sweaters and long pants and quite often wore her hair up. Away from school, she was a complete knockout. The other men standing around her saw her for the siren she aimed to be.
“You have an admirer.” Lexi nudged his shoulder again.
“Don’t remind me.”
“I thought you two were getting along great at the end of the summer?” Lexi said, casting a glance at the end of the bar. “Philly says you two went out on a few dates.”
Nate half grinned. “Yeah, well, Philly is five years old.”
“Five going on eighteen,” mumbled Lexi. “So what’s the deal with you two?”
“No deal.” Nate shrugged.
“Will you bring her to the Keaton wedding?”
“Hell no!” Nate all but shrieked. At Lexi’s bemused smirk he explained, “She’s in a different place than I am.”
“Meaning she wants you in her bedroom?”
“Meaning,” Nate said with a sigh, trying to come up with what he meant, “she wants things I’m not sure I can provide.”
The word bedroom only conjured up the image of Amelia Marlow. In retrospect, he did have her phone number and knew how to take the first step. Beside him Lexi pretended to sway. Her fruity pink drink sloshed onto the bar top.
“Nathaniel Reyes does not have the right stuff to give a woman?”
The other women lingering around the two of them began gawking at him with their brows raised. “Keep your voice down.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said teasing, “we don’t want the bidding ladies to think the merchandise is broken.”
Nate fought against the impulse to cover his groin as all eyes went toward his lower half. “Will you keep your voice down?”
“Oh, trust me, I don’t think anything will stop a bidding war. As a matter of fact, I heard some of the ladies in the church choir comment on how they’ve pooled their money together and are going to divide up your weeklong stay amongst them.”
“What did your future fiancé get me into?”
“A sleazy way to do a good cause,” Lexi joked.
Nate turned to her and grabbed her arm. “You’ve got to do me a favor. Lexi, I need you to bid on me.”
“I didn’t bring any cash.” Lexi stretched her eyes wide with such surprise, Nate believed her.
