Nice Until Proven Naughty

He looks so sexy up there on stage in that ratty concert T-shirt I bought him years ago. He’s wearing a baseball cap, which he’s spinning around—something he does when he’s nervous—when the first bid rings out.

As predicted, a bidding war ensues, and before long the bid is bouncing between the perky redhead who was bidding on Lucas, and a woman across the room who’s face I can’t see.

“Fifteen hundred,” Maryanne yells. “Can I get sixteen?”

“Hey!” Sam yells over the rowdy crowd. “What are you doing back here? You should be out there bidding on him.”

“Who’s going to watch the bar?” I have a helper, but we’re still swamped.

“Lucas and I will.” She pulls the dishrag from my back pocket and gives me a polite shove out from behind the bar. “Go. We’ve got this.”

I stumble onto the floor, knocking into a woman who smiles brightly. “Isn’t this fun?”

Giving her a thumbs up, I nod and push into the crowd. When Maryanne calls for eighteen hundred, I raise my arm, and I’m quickly met with a higher bid from Ms. No Face.

“Two thousand,” I yell, trying to get closer to the other woman because damn it, I want to see who else is bidding on my man.

“Twenty-one hundred,” she shouts. I see a blond head bouncing around, but that’s all.

“Twenty-two.”

Ben’s eyes widen along with his smile when he catches sight of me in the sea of people. I give him a little wave, and he waves back. I’m guessing every woman in the room thinks he’s waving at her because several cheers ring out.

I shake my head and laugh.

“Do I hear twenty-three hundred?”

“Twenty-three,” I yell.

“Twenty-four!”

“Twenty-five!”

“Twenty-six!”

Holy cow, this woman means business. I hesitate before making the twenty-seven-hundred-dollar bid—it’s money I’d have to take from my saving account, which means I won’t be getting that new car quite as soon as I’d planned.

Ben notices my hesitation and furrows his brow. “It’s okay,” he mouths.

I hold up my hands and give him puppy-dog eyes. “I’m sorry.” I just can’t do it.

“Twenty-six hundred going once,” Maryanne announces. “Going twice. Sold to the woman over here.”

A loud whoop ricochets off the walls, and I clap along with everyone else in the room.

“That’s a wrap, ladies and gentlemen. We want to thank everyone for making our first bachelor auction such a huge success. Thanks again to Samantha Kringle for coming up with this great idea, which I’m certain we’ll be using again in the future. Just a reminder that whoever you bought at the auction is your date for the cocktails and coattails party tonight at town square, and at the party we’ll announce how much money we raised for the women’s shelter.”

There’s a thundering round of applause, and instead of everyone filing out the way I expect them to, mostly everyone sticks around to talk and drink.

Avery, Crystal, and Faye jump behind the bar to help me out while Ben makes his rounds, getting stopped at every turn. Finally, he makes it to the bar and pulls me to the side.

“You bid on me.”

Why does he sound so surprised? “Of course I did.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think, silly?”