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Mandy reaches out her hand as I take my seat by her side. Alex’s arm drapes over the back of her chair.
“You’re still smiling.” She points to my sore face.
“I can’t stop,” I say through clenched teeth, trying to relax my facial muscles.
Turning, I feel a familiar heat at my back. I fight the shiver. He leans in, his breath across my neck.
“There you are.”
Fluttering my eyelashes dramatically, I pout. “Miss me?”
His voice is low, gruff, and every inch of my body reacts when his thumb sweeps over the exposed skin where my dress dips. “Always.”
For a moment, I forget we’re in a room full of people.
People that don’t know we’ve seen each other naked.
“Claire.” Mandy tugs at my arm. “Nora is calling for you.”
“What?”
Spinning around, my eyes find Nora’s mischievous smile.
The auction should be finished.
Why is she calling me from the stage?
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have one last item tonight.”
Frantically, I grab an auction sheet from the table, my blood suddenly burning.
I’m already shaking my head when she ignores me and announces, “It’s a last-minute entry. It won’t be on your auction sheet.”
“Shit, shit, shit,” I mutter under my breath.
I’m going to kill her.
I know what she’s doing.
“Our final auction tonight is for a dance with our beautiful Doctor Claire Russell.”
The rooftop erupts into applause.
I’m going to die.
Mandy bursts into a fit of nervous giggles while Jake tenses at my back.
“What the fuck?” he curses.
Eyes wide, I silently plead with him to help me. “Did you know about this?”
“No idea,” he answers honestly, running his fingers across his jawline.
“Who is going to pay for a dance with me? This is ridiculous. I thought this was an auction to make money.” I don’t even know who I’m talking to anymore. I’m just hoping someone will carry me out of here.
A bomb scare could work.
Jake is looking at me like I’ve grown an extra head. “Every goddamn man with eyes is going to want to dance with you.”
