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“Am I being punked?”I say, looking around the room for a camera crew.
Skye laughs.“Nope.”
“He wants a date ...my dream date ...withme?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I look around at Renee, Dee, Grams, Hayley, and Skye, and finish on Val.“But—”
“No buts.The choice is yours.He’s put himself out there and now it’s all up to you.If you want to bid, you bid.If you don’t, let Grams win and she’ll put him to work in her garden.This is up toyou, London.”
“You did this.”
Val scrunches her nose up.“Actually, I just did the recon work for him.This is all Luc and before you ask, I would not have done any of this if I didn’t think this was exactly what you both needed.After tomorrow night, you’ll have an answer to all of those what-if questions that have been holding you back.Once and for all, you’ll know whether youwantto move on or not.”
“So, it’s a pity date?”I whisper, voicing my worst worry.
“Fuck no.This is a Luc I’ve never seen before and I like it.”
I worry my lip between my teeth, my whole body vibrating with indecision, my brain warring with my heart.
Then I look across the table to Grams, knowing that out of everyone at the table, she’s got wisdom and a life’s worth of experience on her side.“What do I do?”
Grams smiles.“London, you already know what you want to do.Follow your heart, and fuck everything else.You lift that paddle, yell out a stupidly high bid for Luc to pay for the privilege of taking you out on your dream date, and then enjoy the hell out of it.Give yourself one night.What’s the worst that could happen?”
I could lose my heart to him forever.
But isn’t that the biggest what-if question of all?
I close my eyes and take a deep breath of my own, willing my heart to stop trying to beat its way out of my chest before I open them again and lock eyes with the man watching me closely from the stage.
It’s like the whole room blurs and there’s only me and him, standing there on the precipice, both of us knowing that whatever I do next, whatever decision I make will change us forever.This is like the scene in every rom-com where the hero makes a big gesture to get the heroine’s attention once and for all.
Fuck it.You only live once, right?
I lean down, up-end my half-filled glass of champagne and then, emboldened by sheer will and the warm buzz of liquor, I make my decision.Actually, that’s a lie.I don’t think there was ever any question.
“Two thousand dollars!”I call out, holding my banner up and quirking a brow at Luc, whose eyes widen at the bid.He made the first move.I countered.Now the ball is firmly in Luca Rossi’s court.
I stop breathing all together, because a slow-growing sexy smile, bigger and brighter than I’ve ever seen, appears on his handsome face before he lifts the microphone to his lips and says the five words that seal our fate.
“Sold, to my best friend.”
