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Chapter7
Fool me once…
Oriana
The audacity of that man, coming here and bidding on me, then proceeding to kiss my wrist in front of my husband.
Who does he think he is?
Dressed in an all-black suit with a black tie, hair messy but somehow perfect—he’s a conundrum. An enigma.
Then there are those charcoal eyes that don’t just undress you, they penetrate you.
“We need one more item,” I hear the hostess say to Kyler as I approach. She is leaning in rather close to him, and it tightens my chest.
“One more?” I ask her, confused.
She spins and puts on a fake smile for me. “Yes, to meet our goal, we need one more item.”
“I have the perfect thing. Do you mind?” I take the microphone from her and, before my husband can say anything or try to stop me, I walk on stage and give the crowd a big smile. I lock eyes with the man sitting at the back table and wonder if he can see the glint in mine.
“Ladies and gentlemen, before we bid you goodnight, we have one last item up for grabs.” A few people start to clap, but I don’t take my eyes off Jake. “He is a business owner, single, has eyes that can strip you bare, and we all know he’s a mystery.”
At first, everyone is silent. I keep my eyes pinned on him as his jaw clenches. “Jake, if you wouldn’t mind coming to the stage. The ladies need to see what they are paying for.” He stays where he is as people clap their encouragement.
I offer him my best fuck-you smile as he stands and makes his way to the stage. I track him with my gaze as he strides over to me, not once looking at the audience in front of us. When Jake reaches me, he leans in and places a hand on the small of my back. Goose bumps cascade all over my skin, and I suck in a breath when he whispers, “I’m not the man you want to play games with.”
I whisper back, “Games? Whatever do you mean? Charity is all we are here for.” I turn to leave as the hostess walks up and takes the microphone to start bidding.
“Stay,” he commands quietly.
I lick my lips and get one step away before he speaks again, “Stay, or I’ll tell your husband the way you are looking at me is not the way a married woman should look at another man.”
I pause as the hostess starts the bidding. As I turn to face him, he doesn’t even care that everyone in this room is focusing on us as he stares at me. “Now, bid.”
“I…”
“I know you have money, Oriana. So bid.” The way he says my name makes everything in me go on high alert. He shouldn’t have that much power.
I scan the crowd for my husband. He isn’t even paying attention as he leans against the bar, talking to yet another woman.
Does he cheat on me? I hope not, but I can’t be sure.
I have never cheated. And this dance Jake and I are doing right now feels wrong. Like I am tempting fate. But I can’t seem to move away, no matter how hard I try.
“No,” I bite back.
Without turning his head away from me, he eyes the crowd as an older woman calls out her bid, and then another woman. They have no shame in bidding on him, and I see the appeal, I really do.
“Would you like me to tell you a secret about your husband?”
“We don’t have secrets.”
He laughs, again showing no concern that a crowd of people are watching our exchange. Jake leans down, hovering over me, and all I can smell is the ocean. I have decided I now hate the smell of the ocean.
“So you wouldn’t like to know which club of mine he has visited?” he asks, his gaze intense.
My breathing stops and I shake my head.
