CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Jelly
“Hey, Ardley. Is she ready for me?” I asked as I approached Carmen’s office.
The small, quiet woman jumped when she heard me.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”
“No, it’s not you.” She waved a hand to indicate it was no big deal. “Leo has taken to jumping out at me from different places and scaring me.” She looked around, her pretty hazel eyes magnified by the thick glasses she wore. “He could be anywhere.”
I tried not to be amused by her tone, almost like she was afraid of him, but I had to work to keep from smiling. “Oh, I’m sure he’s nowhere around…”
“BAM!” Leo yelled as he jumped out of a closet I didn’t even realize was there.
Ardley and I both screamed our heads off, but that didn’t stop him.
He kept on coming, running straight at Ardley.
He got a couple of feet from her desk and launched himself in the air.
He landed on top of her desk, slid across it, fell on top of her, knocked her out of her chair, and they both ended up lying on the floor.
I sat in my chair, speechless.
Carmen opened her door. “What the fuck, Leo? You do realize this is a place of business and not your personal playground, right?”
Leo popped up from behind Ardley’s desk, dragging the poor woman up beside him. She adjusted her glasses while staring at him, her face turning pink. “Ah, come on. Ardley and I were just having a little fun.”
Ardley’s face told a different story. “I’m not sure I would call that fun…”
Leo looked down at her. “So, Ardy, couldn’t help but notice you’ve got some stellar breasts under all those clothes you’re wearing. Why don’t you wear more… revealing clothing?”
Ardley’s face turned bright red. “First off, don’t ever call me Ardy again. Second—what the heck? You can’t talk to me like that! And you shouldn’t have had your hands anywhere near my breasts.”
Enzo and Nico happened to be walking down the hall and heard the tail end of the conversation.
Nico shook his head, looking pained. “I swear to God, Leo, if you land us in a lawsuit, I’m going to fucking kill you.”
“I’m not going to sue,” Ardley said. “But… keep him away from me, please.” She grabbed tissue off her desk and hurried down the hall to the restroom.
Carmen smacked the back of Leo’s head. Hard.
“Ow! What the fuck, sis?”
“You’re a goddamn, idiot, that’s what,” she hissed. “I swear if Ardley quits, I’m going to make you my personal assistant.”
Leo got a slow grin on his face. “Hmm. That’s not a terrible idea. I mean, don’t you get visits daily from lots of the hostesses and dancers at Sugar?” He gestured to me as if proving his point and gave me a sly wink.
Carmen made a face. “Jesus. There’s no winning with you, is there?”
“You should know that by now.” Leo flopped down in Ardley’s chair, leaned back, and put his arms behind his head as he put his feet up on her desk.
“Get out of that poor girl’s chair,” Enzo said. “You’re going to run her off, and then who will you have to play with around here?”
Leo got a thoughtful look on his face. “You think I enjoy hanging out around Ardy?”
“You at least enjoy torturing her,” Nico said, sighing and running his tattooed hands through his black hair. “I don’t have time for this today.”
“Neither do I and neither does Ardley,” Carmen said. “We’re finalizing the girls for this month’s Cinnamon Auction.”
“Ooh,” Leo rubbed his hands together. “I’d be good at that. Let me help.”
“If he helps, I’m going to go help Joaquin run the restaurants,” Ardley said, appearing from the restroom with her hands on her hips.
“Oh, damn.” Leo looked at his watch. “I’m supposed to be somewhere.”
“You do have a few major restaurants to run,” Enzo said drily.
Leo took off down the hall. He grabbed Ardley and gave her a big kiss on her cheek as he ran to the back hallway that would lead to Salt, one of his and Joaquin’s many restaurants. “Bye, Ardy,” he called over his shoulder.
She shook her head and stalked back to her desk. The effect was ruined since she was short, covered in a large cardigan sweater coat, and kind of adorable.
“Really sorry, Ardley,” Carmen said. She turned to me. “Are you waiting on me?”
“Yes. I didn’t know it was so entertaining being outside your office or I would have come by more often.”
Nico leaned back against the wall. “If you’re in search of entertainment, just come find me, baby.”
I rolled my eyes. “Such a line, Inky.”
He laughed, his blue eyes twinkling.
I walked into Carmen’s office. She shut the door behind us, effectively shutting out her brothers. “Do you know what I don’t recommend?”
“What?”
“Having five brothers.”
I smiled. “I don’t know. I was an only child, and watching the six of you together makes me happy. Most of the time.”
Carmen grinned, looking out the window at the water in the bay far below. “I know I complain a lot, but I wouldn’t actually trade them for anything.”
We were quiet a moment before she said, “What can I do for you?”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I would like to enter this month’s auction.”
“Yes!” Carmen pumped her fist, and I raised my eyebrows. “I was hoping you were going to say that. What brought you to this decision?”
I explained everything about the internship to her. “But why were you hoping I’d enter the auction this month?”
“To be honest, I didn’t have a headliner.
I like to have one clear standout girl each month to be the Cinnamon Girl for that auction.
This month, I didn’t really have anyone that the men would be excited about.
I mean, sure. I have some beautiful women in the auction.
But the guys have come to expect that the last girl auctioned will be someone special, someone they dream of getting to bid on.
That’s you, baby!” She clapped her hands.
“Really?”
“Come on. Are you kidding? Ever since Nadine brought you here, you’ve become more and more popular. After Daisy left, you became the most popular hostess behind Glory, and that’s a big deal.”
She pulled out some paperwork and pushed it towards me. “Okay. We have some things to go over. First, what do you want from the auction?”
“I just want security. I want school paid for. I’d like a house. I’d like my car paid off. And I’d like money in my bank account. That’s it. I don’t need fancy clothes or jewelry or anything like that.”
Carmen raised an eyebrow. “Honey. You’re going to be seen on the arm of one of West Bay’s leading members of society. You damn well better have the right clothes, jewelry, bags, and shoes or you’ll get eaten alive on West Bay Today.
I made a face. “Well, I mean that’s fine, too.”
“You just let me handle that part of your contract. I think I’ll be better at it than you’re going to be.” She pushed another paper my way. “Now for the sexual compatibility questions.”
My eyes widened as I looked over the first page. “My God. It’s very… thorough.”
“It needs to be. We don’t want a mismatch of sexual expectations. The sex is the most important thing for the men, of course.”
I swallowed hard. “I’m pretty open to almost anything,” I said. “I’m not super experienced. I’ve really only been with two guys, but we did… a lot together.”
Carmen looked surprised. “Just two guys?”
I nodded. “Is that bad?”
“No. It’s just not the norm. Of course, Nadine was only with one guy, and she made Reynolds more than happy.”
I didn’t really want to hear about my best friend’s sex life. “So, can we just put anything goes?”
“No.” She flipped the paper over and pointed to a section of questions.
I read over them and before I’d read more than one question, I said, “Oh my God! Is that really a thing? People pee on each other and enjoy it? What the hell?”
“Yeah, it’s a thing,” Carmen shrugged. “See why you need to go over all of the questions?”
“I do now.” I quickly checked ‘yes’ or ‘no’ beside each question. There were a couple of questions I marked with ‘maybe’ and then I was ready to turn it in.
“Okay, so this one is big,” she pointed to a question I was just about to answer.
“A lot of guys really enjoy getting to share their Cinnamon Girl. Some of them have sex parties, where there’s a lot of partner swapping, while others invite a couple of guys from work over to try their girl.
If you check off that you’re okay with this, be very clear on the follow-up questions.
We don’t want you stuck fucking ten guys in a weekend house party where you’re the only woman, when you’d really only be okay with maybe one other guy. Be specific.”
I nodded, trying not to look scandalized.
When you’d been raised like I had, this was insanely outside my comfort zone.
I checked off that I’d be okay with one other guy besides my auction guy, and that was it.
I bit my lip. I’d always been interested in having two guys at once, but thought I’d probably never have a chance for that fantasy to come true.
“The only other section you need to be careful with is this one.” Carmen pointed to one detailing rough sex, BDSM, and the like.
“Some women say they’re fine with rough sex, not realizing how rough some men like it.
Be very honest in your answers. I don’t want you ending up in any kind of situation where you’re uncomfortable. ”
I looked it over, remembering Thad saying he liked it rough.
How rough was he talking? I’d never done much of that with Evan.
I mean, he’d liked to go hard, and I’d enjoyed that.
But that didn’t mean I wanted someone to whip me with a riding crop.
I marked that I was okay with spanking, choking, being tied up, and so on.
But I did not think nipple clamps or things like that were up my alley.
Finally, I finished and pushed it back to Carmen.
“Okay, is that all?”
“Pretty much. I know you have a lot of regulars. Do you have anyone that you think is going to bid on you?”
I hadn’t expected Carmen to just come right out and ask that. I was relieved.
“Thad Russett,” I said, and her eyes got a little wide.
“He likes a lot of sex,” she said. “He did the auction once before, and his girl basically had to tap out several times. She begged for him to bring another woman in to help her out. Are you okay with that?”
I wasn’t, really, but I didn’t want to admit that. And besides—what if I was really tired one day and he wanted to go for, like, five rounds? I wasn’t sure I could handle it. “Yes, I’d be okay with that.”
She looked relieved. “Okay, then.”
“Can we just make it an addendum for him in particular, though? If he doesn’t win me, then I don’t want to share with other women.”
“Sure,” she said, making a note. “That’s not a problem at all. And you’re pleased at the thought of Thad winning you?”
I bit my lip. Paolo’s face flashed in front of my eyes. I took a deep breath, forced a smile, and nodded.
She studied my face for a moment. “Jelly, I know you and Paolo have a lot of chemistry and he’s been very interested in you for months now.
I just wanted you to know that him insisting on society girls for his auction is less about snobbery and more about what his parents and the community’s expectations of him are. ”
I nodded, but I still couldn’t help but feel rejected. It was just another version of what Evan had done to me. And I didn’t think anything she could say would make me feel better about it.
I kept up my fake smile, though. “Are we done?”
She had a look on her face that pretty much said I hadn’t fooled her, but she was okay with moving on. “Yes. We’ll get you advertised. Would you like to do some sort of dance or something? Kind of like what Daisy did a few months ago?”
“No. I mean, I don’t mind if you introduce me or something mild like that. But I don’t want to do a dance in front of anyone.”
“Okay. I’ll think about what might work and get back to you. Other than that, I’ll be choosing your makeup, hairstyle, and clothes for the auction. Are you okay with that?”
I got the strong sense that it didn’t matter whether I was or not. “Sure, that’s fine.”
“Okay, then.” Carmen put all my paperwork in her file folder. “I’ll be back in touch as we have any questions.” She eased back in her chair. “This is going to be a great auction now, Jelly. Ray Ann, I mean. God. Now I’m calling you Jelly, too.”
I gave her a small smile, my mind elsewhere as I left her office. I couldn’t believe I was really doing this. I was going to be a Cinnamon Girl, just like Nadine and Daisy. While I didn’t expect my experience to end like theirs had, I just hoped that it wouldn’t be something I’d regret doing.