Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
Nina
“No!” I roar, grasping Lance’s forearm as I lean over in hysterics.
“Charles was stuck there for three days,” Elliot tells us.
Charlie nods as if he’s reliving the story as it’s being told. “My mum thought I wasn’t coming home. I’m surprised she ever let me back in the house.”
“Charlie! I never took you as such a playboy!” Megan accuses, laughing along with us. “Those poor girls.”
“Poor girls?” Scarlet asks. “What’s poor about those girls?!”
“Right!” I tip my glass to her.
“It was over ten years ago, ladies,” Charlie tells us, downplaying it.
“We all had our day, Charles.” I wink at him, giving him a soft smile.
“Girls, the band finished! Scar, we have to do the auction!”
“Oh no, can we not!” I plead.
“Yes! We have to,” Scarlet tells me. “I had other prizes added too. It’s going to be a blast.”
“Auction?” Mason asks.
“Nina, and Lucy,” Elliot tells him, his eyes set on Lucy. “They’re auctioning themselves for a date tonight.”
“What?!” Mason snaps, already outraged.
“It’s just for fun,” Scarlet reassures him.
“Vinny said he will bid,” I tell him. I turn to Megan. “Accept Vinny’s offer, Megs, please!”
“Sure thang,” she mumbles, her eyes heavy.
Megan’s drunk! Good god, this won’t be good.
I give Mason a wave as Scarlet pulls me through the crowd and over to the stage. The boys all take a stand at the bar, a hard look on every one of their faces.
“The boys are pissed,” I tell the girls.
“They’ll get over it. It’s for charity.” Scarlet rolls her eyes, fluffing my hair.
“Your tits are wonky,” Megan tells me, her smile lazy as she stands in a daze.
“Gee, thanks Megs. Just wait till you have kids! Scar, you can’t have this idiot doing the auction!”
“She’ll be fine.”
“I’m fine!” Megan grins.
I stand to the side with Lucy as she slowly climbs the steps onto the stage.
I’m thankful for the alcohol I’ve consumed tonight, otherwise, I’d never have the guts to do this.
Somehow, Megan pulls the whole thing off. Her wit and drunken charm seem to get the crowd warmed up, and as Lucy and I step up on stage they’ve already raised an impressive eight hundred thousand pounds.
The money in the room tonight is unbelievable.
My stomach twists into knots as I stand on the stage, Megan’s voice like white noise as I struggle to focus on what she’s saying. This has to be my worst nightmare. I don’t know why I ever agreed to it or why the girls thought I would be able to do it.
Fucking Lucy!
My eyes seek her out and I glare at her, watching as her face drops. Are you okay? She mouths.
I shake my head, wondering if I should just slip off to the side of the stage quietly and hope that nobody notices.
Taking a deep breath in, I try to concentrate on Megan.
“So, which one of you gentlemen would like to take this beautiful bombshell out on a date?”
My eyes scan the crowd. The majority of the men in the room are married off or brought dates with them tonight. What if no one bids on us. It’s embarrassing.
“Five hundred,” John shouts, lifting his hand and placing a bid on his own daughter.
A smile breaks past my lips even though the situation is ridiculous.
“Six!” someone shouts.
I look at Lucy who’s focused on the crowd; I follow her line of sight and see she is looking at Miller. He shrugs at her, looking at a loss.
Shit.
“A grand,” Elliot calls, shaking his head as he knocks back his drink, his eyes not meeting the stage.
“Hot damn, any advances on one thousand pounds?” Megan asks.
“Two,” Lance calls out, a grin plastered on his face.
“Five,” Vinny announces, drawing my eye to the opening of the marquee.
He throws me a wink, a silent acknowledgement to let me know that Ellis is fine.
Everything is a buzz. Lucy is giddy, laughing and blowing kisses to Vinny, and Megan is standing, breathing loudly into the microphone.
“Ten,” Elliot counters, causing the room to fall silent. He spins where he’s stood, placing his tumbler down and signalling for another drink.
You could hear a pin drop.
“Megs,” I hiss over at her. “Wrap it up.”
“Going once, twice, sold.” She brings down her hammer, swallowing loudly into the microphone before turning her eyes to me.
I realise it’s my turn, and the thought that people will be looking at me, placing bids on me, Vinny or not. It makes me want to run.
But I promised him I wouldn’t.
My eyes meet his and everything else slips away.
“Next up, we have the gorgeous Nina. She’s a fiery one, boys, so only bid if you think you can handle her bite.”
Mason’s eyes grow tighter at Megan’s challenge.
My heart starts to pound as the bidding starts, but my eyes don’t leave his.
“How about we start at—”
“Five hundred!” John shouts again, making everyone laugh.
“Five thousand!” Vinny yells, and my heart swells.
“Ten!” Charlie calls out.
“Twenty-five thousand.” My eyes snap to the bidder, realising it’s the man Mason was talking to when I arrived. Hemmings, he said his name was.
I flick my eyes back to Mason and instantly get lost in him again, his stare catching me on fire. He isn’t concerned with Hemmings, Vinny or John, he is honed in on me. Nothing else. Me.
His eyes seem to pinch tighter together, and I frown as something passes between us.
He won’t bid on me.
He won’t buy me.
“Twenty-eight!” Lance grounds out.
“Twenty-eight thousand! Wow, guys! Going once…”
“Thirty!” Hemmings outbids Lance, earning a collective gasp from the crowd and myself.
Mason’s lip curls and I worry I’ll lose his eyes, but he doesn’t look away from me, his knuckles only grow tighter against the marble top, as if he is restraining himself from going after Hemmings.
His head dips slightly, and the reassurance he gives me in that one look is the only thing keeping me on the stage.
“Uh.” Megan seems to have lost her voice, and I look to her, praying she doesn’t wrap things up yet.
She shrugs. “Going once… twice…”
My eyes fly to Mason’s.
“Sold!” Megan fans herself, shaking her head helplessly at me when I look at her in horror.
My gaze goes back to Mason, and I find him striding towards the stage. He looks lethal, his smirk promising and measured. I learn all too quickly that he wasn’t restraining himself from getting to Hemmings. He was restraining himself from coming to me.
“Oh.” Megan taps the microphone. “Do we have a last-minute bidder?” She grins.
“Mase,” I warn as he nears.
He doesn’t slow, not stopping until his shoulder is at my hip, and I’m being thrown over his shoulder.
“Oh my god! Mase!”
“Hey! You can’t steal the prizes, Mr Lowell!” Megan laughs.
I don’t dare look up, placing my hands on his lower back as he strolls through the cheering crowd. Mason carries me from the tent and through the grounds until we are at the back doors of the terrace that leads off of the kitchen. He slides me down his body putting us mere inches from one another.
“What was that?”
His eyes dart all over my face. “You belong to me, Pix.”
“You didn’t bid on me.” My lips twist up into a smile.
“I didn’t need to,” he says, proud. “You’ll love me anyway.”
I feel my dimple pop as I rise onto the tips of my toes, placing a soft kiss to his lips. Chills run down my spine the second our lips touch, and I push into his body farther, grasping his tux jacket in my hands.
He groans against my lips, tearing away from me as he tries to find an opening in my dress. With no luck, he tries to lift it, but the material is too tight and doesn’t budge past my thighs. “Fuck!” he hisses.
“You’ll have to unzip it, Bossman.”
His nose brushes mine as he meets my eyes again. “Yeah? You’d let me unzip it?”
I nod, biting my lip on a smile.
Swinging my legs up over his arms, he lifts me like a bride and breezes in through the house. We bypass Ellis’s room and then go deeper into the west wing.
“So much choice, Mr Lowell,” I tease as we pass multiple doors.
“Shut it.” He grins, lowering his mouth to mine again and taking my lips in a deep kiss.
He drops me to my feet as we get lost in the kiss, our tongues tangling together as I pull open his tux jacket.
I need him naked.
I need us both naked.
My back hits the door hard in our haste, and I grunt slightly as the wind is knocked from my lungs.
“Shit.” He pulls away.
Slipping my hand in his hair, I draw him back into me, biting down on his lip until I taste the faint copper tang of his blood. A growl vibrates from his chest.
The bedroom door is thrown open and then I’m being lifted again. I’m placed on a cool hard surface, and I have to break our connection to see what I’m sitting on.
“Mase.” I look at him, my heart wild yet pained in my chest.
It’s been so long. I smooth my hands over the smooth black surface.
“Is it weird that I feel the need to fuck you on it?”
“Completely.” I reach for his jacket as he pulls at the straps of my dress.
His mouth goes to my neck, his breath hot and wanting as his tongue lashes at my heated flesh. His hand palms my breast before he bends, sucking a nipple into his mouth. A moan falls from my lips. “Mason.”
“Hmmm.” His mouth works back up my throat quickly, locking onto my lips, and sucking them into his mouth. It drives me wild.
I start to pull his shirt from his trousers, having already undone most of the buttons. My hands smooth over his body, feeling the expanse of his strong chest and soft skin beneath my fingers.
“I’ve missed this.” I pant between the soft kisses I rain down his throat and torso.
“Fuck.” He lifts me from the piano, dropping me to my feet and spinning me to lower the zip. My dress is discarded, and his arms encase me from behind. I didn’t wear a bra and my thong is a thin lace that matches the dress. His hand dips beneath the fabric, sliding through my folds with ease.
“Pix,” he growls, rolling his hips against me.
I whimper as his fingers dip into my heat, then glide up over my sensitive bud.