I shot her a grin, no longer surprised when my sister knew even the most minuscule goings-on of our family. She was like a bloodhound with any tiny detail, especially if it concerned us. She may have been the youngest, but she mothered us to death. And by that, I meant she bossed us around like she had a doctorate in it.
“It’s a good thing you’ve decided to use your powers for good,” I said.
She nodded once. “I could make your lives a lot worse than I do, it’s true. The five of you should remember that.”
“I am well aware.”
The auctioneer banged the gavel, calling sold for Beck’s offerings, which meant I was up.
“How much do I need to beat?” I asked, stepping up to the back of the gazebo as I cracked my neck, eyes on the prize.
“If you get to a grand, you’re golden.”
“Consider it done.”
If I had to whip off my shirt and pull a littleMagic Mikeaction to make it happen, I was going to have this crowd eating out of the palm of my hand before I walked off the stage. There was no fucking way I was leaving before I hit that grand. Not when the consequence of losing to Levi was another body modification. My dick didn’t need any more jewelry, and I wasn’t interested in getting my nipples pierced.
The auctioneer glanced back, and a grin spread across her face as she gestured me to step forward. “And the last bachelor up for auction tonight is none other than Starlight Cove’s favorite flirt, Ford McKenzie.”
I strolled down the makeshift aisle, one hand in my jeans pocket as I shot a smile at the crowd. This was exactly what I needed. An escape. A distraction. A little something to forget a certain blonde bombshell with curves for days and a smart mouth I wanted to put to better use. The one who’d infiltrated my thoughts and haunted my dreams. Who’d somehow turned my own dick against me like the she-devil siren she was.
Well, no more. I was tired of jackin’ the beanstalk every night, and this was my comeback…the shake-up needed for my dick and me to finally be on speaking terms again.
“You know him best for shooting a salacious grin and a wink your way,” the auctioneer continued, “but he’s also good with his hands, if you know what I mean.”
The crowd whooped, and I played into it, giving them exactly what they wanted. Exactly what they’d come to expect from me.
Bidding started with a frenzy, several women calling out dollar amounts and rocketing the total into the mid-hundreds within seconds. The two who were now locked in a bidding war were stunners—a brunette and a redhead with looks on their faces that said they were all too willing to spend our time horizontal.
And neither one of them did a damn thing for me.
It was official. My dick and I were in an all-out war.
The stubborn fucker couldn’t even muster up a yawn at the women’s enthusiasm, despite the fact that they were both objectively gorgeous.
Well, that was just great. Especially when I needed to sweet-talk whoever won this into joining me at my ex’s wedding. Maybe by that time, my dick would finally agree to be attracted to someone other than the one woman who hated my guts, and I could finally fuck out some of this bottled-up tension.
The bids crept toward a thousand and then slowed. I was so damn close to beating Levi… Maybe now was a good time to take off my shirt? I just needed a little—
“Two thousand dollars!”
I snapped my head in the direction the voice had come from and narrowed my gaze. Even if I hadn’t been able to see her—which I could, plain as day, as she stood wearing jeans that should be illegal, considering what they did for her full ass and those thick thighs I wanted to sink my teeth into, and a black top that swept over her curves and dipped low enough to make my dick perk up, the disloyal bastard—I’d know that voice anywhere.
Quinn, my oldest rival and the woman who loathed me and made it her mission to make my life as difficult as possible, just spent two grand to go on a date with me. She also just took away any chance I had of fucking out this pent-up tension that’d been building up inside me, all thanks to her.
What—and I couldn’t stress this enough—thefuck.
CHAPTERFOUR
QUINN
Besides the factthat my parents were no longer here, nothing much had changed in Starlight Cove in the fourteen years I’d been gone. It still had one of the most beautiful beaches I’d ever seen. Everyone in town still knew everyone’s business. And Ford McKenzie was still an insufferable ass…and hotter than any man had a right to be.
And I’d just paid two thousand dollars to go out on a date with him.
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
The phrase had started running through my head since the second I’d called out my bid, and it hadn’t let up in the time since. Not when Everly had gasped and asked what I was doing. Not when she’d excused herself to go in search of Beck after I couldn’t come up with a plausible reason why I’d lost my mind. Not when one of Addison’s helpers had come over to collect the ungodly sum of money I’d bid. And it only increased now as my gaze locked with Ford’s from across the park as he stalked toward me.
