Nice Until Proven Naughty

“Five hundred,” someone shouts, causing Dani’s mouth to drop.

“Wow. Five hundred. Anyone prepared to give six?”

Another paddle.

And then another and another.

“Nine hundred.” This time I can see who the paddle belongs to, a pretty red head in the front row.

“One thousand.”

I lift a hand to block the spotlight, and that’s when I lock eyes with Samantha. She’s standing a few rows back, but front and center. Gone is the sexy Santa dress she had on the other night, but she’s still wearing the beautiful smile I spent all of yesterday dreaming about.

Dani points to her sister with a cheesy grin. “One thousand to none other than Naughty Kringle. Anyone want to go for eleven hundred?”

The red head raises her paddle. “Twelve hundred.”

Samantha shoves her arm into the air. “Two thousand.”

This is kind of fun.

All eyes bounce back to the redhead. She acts as though she’s going to raise her arm, but Sam slaps the paddle from her hand, causing the woman to laugh.

“Call it, Dani,” Sam yells.

“Two thousand going once…going twice…sold. Lucas Dahlenberg is sold to Naughty Kringle for two thousand dollars.”

Dani stops me before I can step off the stage. She covers the mic so no one else can hear and whispers, “Hurt my sister, and I’ll cut your jingle bells off.”

“Noted.” I dart from the stage, a hand cupping my package because damn, that was harsh.

Although I can’t say I blame her for the warning. Sam is special, and I’d be a fool to screw it up.

I try to keep my eye on Sam, but she’s whisked away to make payment, and I lose her in the swarm of women. I manage to shove my way to the back of the crowd and end up by the bar, where I see Ben.

“Have you seen Sam?”

“Nope. Did she buy you?”

“Yup. Still can’t believe I got up there. Are you getting auctioned off?”

He nods solemnly. “Dead last.”

“Ouch. You have to stay here through all the other guys?”

“It’s part of the joy of owning Sal’s.”

“There’s another joy that comes along with that,” I say, looking up at the stage.

“Dani,” he sighs. “Yeah, I know. Been trying to snag that girl for a while now.”

“Try harder.”

Ben blinks, and then his eyes land on something over my shoulder. “Go get your girl.” He motions to the opposite side of the room.

I spin around to find Sam standing in the doorway between the bar and billiard room and she seems to be searching the crowd.

I start to walk toward her, politely nudging my way through the crowd, when she spots me.