Ashlyn reaches over, pulling me down to the chair next to her. “Sit, I have to know everything.”
“What do you mean byeverything?” I laugh.
She sits back dramatically, clutching her chest. “Alexandra! You dirty girl. Obviously,everything, everything. But you can start with the PG things for now.”
We both double over laughing. Ryder drops back down in his vacated chair as James pulls the one next to me a tad closer, putting his arm across the back of mychair. “What’s so funny?” Ryder asks, leaning right in front of Ashlyn’s face.
She pushes his forehead back. “Mind your business.”
Ryder pretends to be wounded while James and I chuckle at them. “Excuse me, but this is my table that I invited you to. So therefore, everything at this table is my business,” he says as a matter of fact.
James leans forward to look at Ryder,.“Actually, this is my table.”
“Stay out of it.” Ryder playfully snaps back.
The tapping of a mic pulls everyone’s attention to the front of the room. “If you’ll excuse me, we are ready to start the auction. We are going to start tonight off with one year of free advertisement generously gifted from The Edward Corporation.”
There’s quiet murmuring all around. I look around the room trying to figure out where the owner of the company is seated as they have to be present for the auction, but various tables are pointing at us.
I lean over and whisper at James, “Why is everyone pointing at this table?”
His answering smirk is interrupted by the announcer. “We will start the bid at five million dollars.” He points to a man holding a paddle. “Five million, do we have six?” Another paddle goes up and another.
My mind is reeling. What in the hell? I feel James’s breath on my ear before I hear him. “They’re pointing because the owners of The Edward Corporation are atthis table.” I turn to look at him with wide eyes, my mouth falls open. “I’m JamesEdward.”
“What the fuck do you mean?”
I turn so we are face to face. I watch as his smile gets bigger. “I mean what I said. It’s my company. I have the largest share then Ryder and Alester split the rest.”
I blink at him a few times, trying to comprehend just how much money these three are worth. “Wait. I thought you just worked for them? Why wouldn’t you correct me?”
“People sometimes act differently when they know I have the kind of money I have. So, I usually avoid bringing it up.” He places a hand on my thigh with the slit. His thumb rubbing circles on my bare skin. “It wasn’t a secret. Just a precaution I tend to take with everyone ever since Rebecca.”
“Hmm.”
He leans closer to me. “What are you thinking?”
“I really don’t fucking understand why you don’t have a full-size generator for the cabin now.”
His head drops back in a deep belly laugh, and soon I’m joining in.
I feel my overly full stomach after the five-course meal they served alongside the auction. “I think this dress is at its capacity.”
James looks at me, mortified. “It’s a brownie!”
“And I think I’m going to pop all of my seams if I eat that brownie.”
He blinks at me slowly before sliding off his jacket, then motions for me to put my arms in the sleeves sliding it over my back and buttons it. He picks up the brownie and holds it in front of my mouth. “Now you can eat it, and if the seams do break, you’re covered.”
He waits, watching my mouth, so I open with a giggle and let him feed me.Mmmm, he’s right. This is the softest brownie I’ve ever had.I close my eyes, savoring the rich chocolate melting in my mouth, the sweetness coating my tongue. I feel like I’m floating in a sea of sugar. I love it.
“I’m getting you another one. That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.” My shoulders shake with laughter as he jogs towards a server circling the room with a tray hovering over her shoulder. He swings around herblocking her path, and swipes five more brownies before jogging back to me. We are in the large ballroom. People are still filtering in from the auction room, ready to start business discussions and strike deals outside of the office. “Alright. Part those lips for me again, babe.”
I’m glad my friends are engrossed in other conversations because I’m sure I’d never hear the end of the comments if they could hear James talking to me now. I do as I’m told and open my mouth, never breaking eye contact as James slowly slides the brownie past my lips. I bite down on the gooey chocolate and moan as it melts in my mouth again.
“Dammit, Alex. We need to get out of here.”
CHAPTER 24
