Page 50 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Bodyguard

“I thought you might say that,” Leo said. “I also told Carmen you might be pissed at her, Nadine.”

“I kind of am! You tell her that I’m going to be a St. Clair Security agent so she should fear my wrath!”

I had to roll my lips inward to keep from laughing. She had dropped her voice several octaves and tried to growl them out to sound scary. She’d sounded like a Muppet instead.

I could tell both Reynolds and Marschall were also trying to hold it together.

“Okay, Leo. Thanks for the heads up. We’ll be home as soon as possible,” Reynolds ended the call. “Let’s go eat and then get out of here.”

“We’re going to have that discussion about headquarters at dinner, right?” Marschall asked.

We were going to have to table that discussion for now.

I had to go get my girl.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Jess

I had been primped and polished to within an inch of my life, but so far Madeline and Glory hadn’t let me see myself. “You know, y’all should really open a salon and boutique together. Madeline could run the boutique, and Glory could run the salon. You’d make a fortune.”

They both got really quiet, and I looked up to see that they were staring at each other.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Glory said, which I’d come to learn was a high compliment from her.

“I love it, actually,” Madeline admitted.

“You’re welcome,” I grinned at them, and they both laughed. It was the first time I’d seen Glory laugh. She was always beautiful, but she kind of had a bad case of resting bitch face. When she smiled? She was breathtaking.

“Okay,” Glory clapped her hands. “We’re finished. Have a look at yourself.”

I stood up in my Christian Louboutin shoes and turned to see myself in the floor length mirror. I gasped and held a hand to my mouth. “Wow,” I said. “I look so… glamorous. I’ve never looked like this in my life.”

I smoothed the skirt of my beautiful blue cocktail dress. It was gorgeous with a silky netting over my shoulders. It was studded with crystals, and from a distance, it looked straplessand like I had little stars all over my chest and back. The rest was a dark blue gown of raw silk. The bodice was tight, but the skirt flared out. It ended a few inches above my knees.

“You have great legs,” Madeline said. “I wanted to show them off. Carmen’s been into putting the featured Cinnamon Girl in a ball gown each time, while the other women wear cocktail dresses. This is like a hybrid mix.”

“Well, I love it. I’m never getting rid of this dress. I’ll be ninety years old in a nursing home and still pulling it out to wear to go play bingo,” I said absentmindedly while doing half twirls in the mirror.

Glory gave Madeline a look. “Just when I start to think it’s impossible that she and Nadine are sisters, she says something like that and… well, I see it.”

Madeline grinned. “And that’s a very good thing,” she said, giving me a quick hug.

I hugged her back. “Thank you both. Seriously. I couldn’t have put this look together. I’ve been wearing biker chick chic for the past five years. It’s not exactly auction ready.”

I heard the click clack of heels hurrying our way and looked up to see Carmen almost upon us. “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready,” I said, my heart starting to pound. I didn’t love the idea of walking the runway while Carmen talked about my selling points. At least I knew someone would bid on me. Enzo would be out there waiting. I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, then followed her out to the runway.

She practically had to push me through the stage door and into the spotlight. My smile froze for a minute. The light was so bright I could barely see any faces.

And then Carmen put her hand on my back and started walking with me to the center of the long runway. I could look down and see men staring up at me from tables on either side of the runway.

Carmen stopped and started saying all these nice things about me while I walked to the end of the runway and did a few half turns like she’d taught me. Then I stood and smiled out at the audience of men, hoping my eyes would land on someone I knew.AnyoneI knew.

And then they did. With relief, I saw the Salazar table. Enzo, Leo, and Joaquin were sitting there with… Ardley? I wasn’t sure it was her. She was dressed to the nines, wearing contacts, makeup, and a form-fitting dress. She looked beautiful. Leo kept looking over at her, and I found myself more interested in what was going on between them than anything I was doing on stage.

Carmen was not. “Come on back here, Jess, so the gentlemen get to see how lovely… and sexy… you look tonight.”