Thank God.
I notice something else, too. There’s no hesitation in her voice or actions. Hell, she doesn’t even check in like the other bidders, glancing around the room.
She just keeps her eyes fixed on me, like we’re the only two people in the room. And suddenly, I care a whole lot about what happens.
Dallas laughs, delighted. “Five hundred! Anybody going to take her on?”
I say a silent prayer.
Quiet prevails.
The earlier energy never comes back. No feeding frenzy like before with Hollywood. Just a general sense of… disappointment.
“Five hundred going once…” Dallas drags it out, eyes sweeping the room. “Going twice…”
My chest tightens, something unfamiliar pressing in.
“Sold!”
The sound cracks through the space. Applause follows. Much lighter this time, but real.
I barely hear it, because she lowers the paddle slowly, her gaze still locked on mine. And there’s nothing accidental about it or what that look does to my pulse.
Dallas claps me on the shoulder. “Looks like you’ve been claimed, my friend.”
Yeah. It feels like it, and though I don’t want to admit it, maybe this whole small-town bachelor auction thing isn’t so bad after all. Even for a too-quiet, anything-but-famous smoke eater.
I step forward automatically, the lights still blinding, the crowd still there. But none of it matters the way it did a second ago.
Because now I know exactly who I’m walking toward. And for the first time all night…
I’m not in a hurry to leave.
Chapter
Two
SCARLETT
Is this really how it works?
On the run from a man threatening to kill you? Then, you slip into a small-town bachelor auction to bid on muscle?
It’s too late to second-guess myself. After all, it’s not like the authorities are stepping in to do anything.
I tell myself all I need is a weekend away from all of this. I look down, still clutching the Las Vegas Weekend Giveaway in my hand. I won it earlier with a handful of raffle tickets.
For a good cause—kittens and puppies. I couldn’t turn it down.
And the guy on stage? Either he’ll play along for room, board, and plane fare, or he’ll leave me like men always do.
But something about this guy, the quiet one, exudes a steadiness and security I’m hungry for. A wall of muscle who saves people’s lives for a living and isn’t afraid to sweat while doing it.
Like a bodyguard who knows hownot toget burned.
He might be exactly what I need right now.
As for the five hundred dollars? I wasn’t quite counting on that. I look around, straining my eyes in the dim lights to makeout the sign behind the decorated tables where Roxy’s selling raffle tickets. Yep, they take checks.
