Chapter 5
“This is lame. Wanna bounce?” Tag McAllister asks.
“You say that about anything that doesn’t involve speed or women,” I say, brushing off his whining. We’d come to the bar to dawdle until we could make a well-timed exit. Too many people knew me for us to leave early.
Word would get back to my father, and I’d hear all about it. I could hear him now, “Anderson, your actions reflect on the firm, and we are known for our charity work. When you leave early, it reflects poorly on our family…” He’d go on and I’d tune out, and it would blow up into another argument about familial duty. What I wanted in that regard was immaterial to the old man. It didn’t matter that I was bored by the law, or that he knew it. I had responsibilities.
I’d heard the lecture my whole life. Hearing it again was not worth leaving a few hours early.
“Nothing worth bidding on,” Tag mutters. “The weather girl is pretty enough, but they always have that plastered, mannequin look to them. Not my thing.”
“You’d be bidding on a lunch with her. Not fucking her.”
He laughs. “I’d hit it in an hour, tops.”
“You’ve always been so sophisticated, Tag. Hard to imagine why you’re single.” The truth is Tag was my best friend from childhood, but our styles had diverged in high school in that I grew up, and he opted not to. Not that he needed to. As the youngest son in his family, no one expected much of him.
Not like me.
He shakes off the comment with a laugh. “Single by choice, my friend. Why tie myself down—wait. That doesn’t sound so bad.” He waggles his brows, then laughs harder.
I chuckle and glance around the bar. The same boring people I see at most charitable functions. Senator Briggs, Mrs. Goldfarb, a stunning woman in a dress designed to make her appear naked…I don’t know her. I jut my chin her way subtly, and Tag’s quick to look.
He mutters, “Dibs.”
“She’s all yours.”
“Seriously?”
“Have you ever seen me with someone that bony? I mean, she’s beautiful, but?—”
“Great. More for me.” He walks up to her, so I’m on my own.
Finally, a moment of peace.
I have always been a lucky man. Born with a silver spoon, I went to the most exclusive schools, had the best nannies, and I could have gotten into any university I wanted. As the eldest son of Harold West, life came easy to me, though it was packaged with responsibilities. So, perhaps I shouldn’t have been taken completely off-guard when I spotted June Devlin at the Chamberlain Charity Auction. Luck had always been on my side, after all.
Except when it came to her. I’d never gotten lucky when it came to June. Figuratively or literally. And it was all my own fault.
We had attended Appleton Academy together, and unfortunately my teenaged self did not understand the racing heart and sweaty palms I had around her. It made me feel awkward and unprepared, and unaccustomed to such things, I made an ass of myself with her.
No. That’s too generous. I had been an asshole to her.
She was there on a scholarship, so that had been the first thing I zeroed in on, but it wasn’t the last. Her hair, her body, her clothes, anything I could pick apart, I did. I made sport of her, and looking back now, I loathed my younger self.
I’d been cruel to someone who did not remotely deserve it.
To her credit, though, she fought back.
June was not the kind of woman to take criticism. Not even as an awkward teenager herself. She gave it right back to me, and that only deepened my relentless crush. She was witty and sharp, and I adored that about her. Given my privilege, I wasn’t used to someone who stood up to me. She was a breath of fresh air.
Now, as a grown man, I still feel like that uncomfortable teenager when I look at her. Over the years, she’s become more breathtaking. Her body has curved out with full hips and breasts that own her blue dress. I’m happy to see she isn’t shy about showing herself off anymore. At Appleton, her uniform had always been a size or two too big, so she could hide. Something I blamed myself for.
Funny how, had I not picked on her, she probably would have dressed in her correct size, and I could have appreciated her body even more back then. But stupid teenaged boys do stupid teenaged things, I guess.
I need a closer look.
So, I carefully mix into the crowd so she won’t see me. With my back to her and her blond friend, I overhear their conversation.
The blond asks, “You can’t be thinking about this. Not seriously.”
“Callie, what else can I do to make that kind of money?”
Money?
“But … an auction? That kind of auction? There has to be a better way.”
Out of the corner of my eye, the nude dress woman joins June and Callie. “So, have you thought about it?”
“Pretty much all I can think about right now, Camille,” June says, her voice tight.
“Think of it this way. It’s one night with some random man, and whatever you want the money for is yours, no questions asked. It’s a better return on investment than any date I’ve ever had.”
That auction? She can’t seriously be thinking about it. She’s a lawyer, for god’s sake.
Callie sighs. “I hate to admit it, but she has a point. You wasted two years with Trent with nothing to show for it. In one night, you could pay off your student loans?—”
“And my credit card debt. And have money left over. In theory.”
Camille adds, “Last year, I made over five hundred thousand dollars. One of the things you have to do going into this is to be honest with yourself. I’m thirty-five this year and I’ve been doing this for close to a decade, so I don’t expect to hit that kind of money again. But I’m hoping for the mid-four hundreds. You’re young and new, and those men love novelty. I would think you’d hit at least three hundred, easy.”
“Why so low for me compared to you? What is it they like?”
“I was a runway model for a few years. That gets me some clout. You’re a lawyer, and forgive me, but there are plenty of people who do not like lawyers.”
June nods and shrugs. “Are the men … gross or desperate or something?”
The thought of some other man with his hands on her … renting her … it boils my blood. This cannot be happening. I won’t allow it.
Camille laughs. “No, not at all. Well, some of them aren’t the most attractive, others are well past their prime. But they’re respectful and appreciative of us.”
“These guys,” Callie says, “they’re wealthy enough to do this. So, why resort to it?”
“People pay for company for all kinds of reasons. The transactional nature means it’s honest?—”
“Honest?” she asks incredulously. “They’re paying you to pretend to like them.”
“Sometimes. But it’s not like going on a date where he’s not sure why the other person is there. For men of a certain echelon, it’s hard for them to know if someone likes them for them or for their money. Difficult to build trust that way. So, when he pays for a night, he knows precisely why we’re there, and so do we. But it’s not always for physical intimacy.”
June frowns at that. “What else?”
“One year, a man asked me to simply hold him while we talked about his life. It was my favorite. Not that I don’t enjoy the other kinds of attention, but it was different. Sweeter.”
June turns to Callie. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“If you want to do it, I stand by you.”
She takes a moment, then chugs Callie’s drink. “I want to do this.”
“Good. Because the auction is about to start,” Camille says. “Let’s go.” The three of them leave the bar, and I follow.
There is no way on this Earth that I will let some other man pay to put his paws on June Devlin. Tonight, she’s mine.
“Thought we weren’t leaving yet,” Tag says from behind me.
Fuck. I force a smile on when I turn around, but I keep an eye on where the women went to. I had been invited to take part a couple of times over the years, but I am not sure where it is held. The mansion is expansive. I’d never been interested before now—it seemed in poor taste. But at the moment, I don’t care. June will not fall into some other man’s clutches.
Now to cook up a lie. “I just saw someone I have to speak to. Work stuff. Don’t wait up.”
“Another merger?”
If I play my cards right.“It remains to be seen. I won’t bore you with the details.” Knowing what I know now about the woman in the naked dress, I wonder how it went. “You and the bony woman in the nude dress? Did you get her number?”
“Nah. She’s taken.”
Not yet.“Too bad. Talk to you tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Good luck with your work thing.”
“Thanks. I’ll take all the luck I can get.”
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