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Brad punched his fist through the air. “Thank you, Lori!”
Both men laughed again. “Seriously, though,” Luke said, “Is there anything I can do to help? Any more roofs need fixing?”
Brad looked thoughtful. “Actually, there is something you could do. We’re having a college and career night this Wednesday for the upcoming high school seniors and their parents. I have a bunch of alumni scheduled to come and talk about their jobs. Mimi and Zeke will be there and Pilar Diaz-Rothman, so we have politics and the law covered. Nate Miller is talking about being a doctor, but we don’t have any engineers. What do you say?”
“Sure,” Luke said. “I’d enjoy going back to the old high school.”
Brad gave him his business card with the details written on the back. “See you then, stud.” He winked at him before going off to catch up with his wife.
Luke squelched the urge to give Brad the finger, in a playful way, of course, but he didn’t want anyone around to misinterpret the gesture. Speaking of laughing at oneself, he couldn’t laugh at twelve hundred bucks. He walked over to the bid tables to ascertain the identity of the idiot planning to spend that much money on a date with him when he spotted Sarah bent over reading the details of his bidding sheet.
He’d only seen her in a dress once before, the night she’d come to his family’s house for dinner, and she’d looked nice enough. Tonight, she wore the requisite black dress that most of the women in the room sported, only most of the women in the room hadn’t been gifted with that tight little body of hers. Her long, blond hair fell down her back in soft waves and her legs… Damn. If it was up to him, she’d never wear anything but heels again.
He hadn’t seen much of her since the night of their kiss. The next day she’d spent some time with Cameron and Toby and had even played the promised game of Monopoly, but other than that, she was hardly ever home. She leaned over the paper as if studying it, causing the dress to hug her ass.
He was instantly both turned on and irritated as hell.
“Are you bidding on me?”
She spun around, her green eyes rounded in surprise. “As if.” Then she gave him a thorough look-over. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t afford you, but I have to admit, you sure do look pretty tonight.”
“So do you,” he said without thinking.
His compliment took her off guard. “Um, thanks. How’s it going?”
“I hear I’m up to twelve hundred bucks, maybe even thirteen if you believe the rumors. I had no idea there was an insane asylum escapee living in Whispering Bay.”
She laughed and he caught the subtle scent of vanilla in the air. He instinctively stepped closer. She cleared her throat and turned away to look at the bidding sheet again. “It looks like the crazy woman is someone named Juliet.”
“I don’t know any Juliets. Do you?”
“No, but I’m pretty sure that’s a fake name.”
“Great. I just hope whoever she is, she isn’t into role playing because I have no intention of being her Romeo.”
She laughed again and his gaze automatically went to her mouth. Her lips were moist and pink. Lipstick? Or natural? He had a sudden urge to kiss her again and find out.
He drained his punch and followed her as she walked around the tables, looking at the other silent auction items. There was a week’s vacation at a beach house in Key West and a year’s worth of lawn work by a local nursery that were getting a lot of bids, but the “Win a Date with Luke Powers” entry was currently bringing in the most money.
“I’m up to a hundred bucks,” she declared proudly, pointing to her own bidding sheet.
He grabbed a pen and scribbled in a number. “A hundred and twenty. If they want one of your homemade meals bad enough they’ll cough up the dough.”
“What if you end up winning?”
“Then you can cook me dinner.” He glanced around the crowded room. “Speaking of which, have you eaten yet?”
“Not really,” she said.
“Let’s grab some food and a table.”
“You want to eat together?”
“Why not? Unless you’re trying to avoid me.”
Which could very well be the reason he hadn’t seen much of her since last weekend. Maybe he was playing with fire here. As much as he’d wanted to forget their kiss, he hadn’t been able to, but there couldn’t be any harm in a little flirtation over dinner. They were both adults. They could rein it back in anytime.
“Of course I’m not trying to avoid you.” She made a flourishing motion with her hand. “Lead the way, sir.”
