“Five hundred! Sold to the lady in red!”
Oh shit.
Chapter 2
Amanda
Five hundred dollars, going once, going twice, and SOLD! To the redhead whose face tells us she’s never had a one-night stand in her life!
Okay so the chick on stage didn’t actually say that but I’m pretty sure my face IS in fact that readable.
It’s also currently the color of my dress (red as a rose) and my hair (also, red as a rose), which speaks for itself.
I’m at a reverse auction (you know, women bid on hot men for charity and in turn, get a date with the hunk of their choice) and somehow, I raised my paddle on the highest bid of the night.
As the next guy saunters out onto the stage, I can’t help but ask myself how I got here, although I know the answer to that question.
My sister is getting married.
We are talking about my younger, blonder, skinnier, more reckless, more lively, less maid of honor for life little sister Kate.
Think 27 Dresses.
Except I am not five foot nine and James Marsden is nowhere to be found.
I am, in a word, thealways a bridesmaidgirl.
Yet tonight, during my sister’s bachelorette party, which happens to be in Las Vegas, after accepting shots from every guy at every bar we’ve stumbled into, Kate looked right at me, pointed a tipsy finger and said, “We need to get you laid.”
I laughed it off, as you do when you’re the older sister who has spent a lifetime taking care of your baby sister who always seems to find never ending rabbit holes of trouble to get into.
So, I guess the real question is, what am I, the sensible older sister, still doing here?
And the answer to that is, Kate is dragging me to meet a man I don’t even know and just spent an ungodly amount of slot machine winnings in hopes of fulfilling the aforementioned goal.
“Kate!” I yell as quietly as possible as she tugs me through the crowd. “Slow down. Where are we going?”
“To meet your man!” she cries out enthusiastically.
“My man? I don’t even know the guy.”
But Kate is not listening.
As she tugs me to the backside of the stage where said man is probably working on getting dressed again, it’s obvious that my bride-to-be sister has one goal and one goal only.
“Well, you’re about to get to know him. And well if I had to guess,” she shimmies her shoulders before giving me a once over. “Now let’s just spruce up your wiley hair and I think you could use some more lip gloss.”
“Kate, seriously. I don’t have time for this. I have so much going on and–”
“Let me guess. You’re thinking about work,” she says while pulling make-up out of her bag like rabbits out of a hat.
“So, what if I am?” I ask without my lips touching as she glosses them up with something that tastes like pomegranate.
“All you do is think about work.”
“Well sorry for trying to make something of myself. But I’m starting a new job on Monday. A really, really good job. I need to focus on that.”
“And you can focus on that. After you go on a date with a really hot silver fox who was fucking you with his eyes the entire time he peacocked around that stage. Seriously, Mandy. I don’t know why, but you out of everyone in this room got his attention. And now, he’s yours.”
