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Chapter One
Aiden Black sat opposite the gorgeous blonde who’d applied to be a part of tomorrow night’s auction, held once-yearly inside a function room of the Sydney nightclub he and his two brothers owned. His hands shook as he pretended to peruse her application form, which he’d already read a hundred times over.
Luna Ashton.
He’d thought she’d be happily married by now with the handful of kids she’d once professed to want. Instead, she’d just signed on the dotted line to be auctioned off for charity to the highest male bidder.
His heart lurched, his belly knotting. He should have guessed seeing her again would bring bittersweet and poignant memories to come rushing back. So much for pretending he was over the one woman he’d turned his back on eighteen damn years ago.
But then at sixteen they’d been childhood sweethearts and little more than kids themselves. So in love and so incredibly naïve.
He swallowed back a sentimental sigh and instead cleared his throat. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Luna blinked her big hazel eyes, her gaze the same vivid intensity, her skin still smooth and flawless. It was only her sleek golden-blonde hair that fell all the way down her back that had changed. It’d once been untamed, a riot of curls, the kind of hair he’d loved dragging his fingers through while they’d kissed and made out.
He exhaled roughly. As beautiful as she was right now, he preferred the carefree and unrestrained look she’d once proudly flaunted.
Maybe her other lovers enjoyed scrunching up her flawlessly straight hair?
A vein in his forehead pulsed. Who had been her first true lover? Although he and Luna had experimented and been close to penetration many times, they’d been young, and he’d respected her far too much to go all the way and take her virginity.
The dozens of women he’d taken to his bedroom since would laugh like hyenas to imagine him so noble and selfless. What they couldn’t know was that something within had shattered when he’d lost his parents. Those same jagged pieces had slashed his heart to ribbons when he’d walked away from Luna.
He dragged his suddenly unfocused gaze away from Luna to again stare down at her contract. He shuffled her paperwork until her application form sat on top. According to her work history she’d been a flight attendant for most of her working life. A glamorous career, yet so different to the life she’d once envisioned.
“I’m sure,” she finally answered. He looked back at her, and she tilted her chin and added huskily, “When I want something, nothing stops me.”
His dick jerked at her voice, which had grown huskier and sexier over the years. The girl he’d known was now most definitely a woman. That her words suggested she was still that same girl who’d followed her heart straight to him made him swallow hard and he had to reject the sudden need to apologize for the past, to explain the sickening sense of despair and utter loss, along with an abandonment that had left him feeling defeated... a failure.
And not good enough for anyone, let alone the carefree and uninhibited girl he’d cherished so deeply all those years ago.
Instead he forced a smile and said, “Then I guess I’ll be seeing you tomorrow night.” Along with hundreds of other sex-crazed men. “I hope your charity,” he glanced down, pretending her non-profit organization of choice wasn’t ingrained into his brain, “YSO Foundation—Youth Starting Over—appreciates your contribution.”
She nodded. “Being that the aim of the charity is to end youth homelessness in Australia, I imagine there will be many young people who will appreciate a roof over their heads and food in their bellies.”
Good choice.
He nodded, then conceded, “I’m sure you’ll raise a very tidy sum for them.”
Her lips tightened and her eyes cooled. “That is the plan.”
Aiden frowned. He’d said the wrong thing. Shit. He hadn’t meant to sound derisive, like she’d sell her soul to get a high bid. He was happy for her charity, had in fact donated money to them in the past.
Then she stood, all refined grace and elegance, and his thoughts dissolved. His gut clenched, need pulsing through his bloodstream before pooling in his already rock-hard groin. She still moved like a classically trained dancer, her whole body symmetry in motion. Except now there was a subtle reserve to her movement, a tweak to her poise.
Did I do that?
He almost snorted. How arrogant. She’d well and truly moved on and left him behind. A pity he couldn’t say the same.
“So you’ll be there?” she asked, her tone edged with caution.
He nodded, and somehow he kept his own voice neutral, unaffected. “I never miss an auction.” He cocked his head to the side, studying her. Her face was a little flushed, her eyes bright. Fuck. She didn’t want him there. “Do you have a problem with that?”
She smoothed a hand down her simple, fitted navy dress that showed off her slender physique and womanly curves, and Aiden shoved back a sudden desire to rip off the don’t touch me vibe she now exuded to expose the woman beneath.
A man could tell a lot from the panties and bra a woman wore. His mouth watered. He’d bet his last dollar she wore something lacy and deliciously sexy beneath. Not hard to believe knowing she’d once enjoyed frivolous and expensive underwear even beneath a pair of sweats and an old T-shirt.
Her chin tilted. “Of course I don’t.”
