CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Paolo
Sadly, my hopes for an elite auction were shot down just a few days later.
“Sorry, guys. The Vanilla Auction is a no go.” Carmen shrugged. She didn’t look all that sorry, but I knew her. If she said she was going to give something a shot, she went after it with everything she had in her. That’s just how she operated.
“Why?” I asked. I glanced over at Enzo. He looked less concerned than I was, but he’d always seemed about half as interested in it as I was.
“I couldn’t get enough girls to sign up.
I went after the women I showed y’all in that folder the other day—college-aged girls all the way up to women in their mid-twenties.
I only chose women whose families are known to be both financially strapped and to have a history of great wealth and influence.
” She chuckled. “It turns out, people don’t like to admit they have problems.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“No one loves to cop to financial issues,” she said. “And rich people? It turns out they’re even more proud than the average joe. They’re not interested in help, and they won’t debase themselves by having a daughter in a sex auction.”
Huh. That made sense. The thought of having a daughter who had to enter a sex auction because I’d lost the family money made me want to break out in hives and simultaneously murder someone. Still, that left me with a big problem.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to totally leave you hanging.” She pushed a folder towards me.
I opened it and flipped through it. There were three young women in it. One of them was Lyla VanHorne, a woman I’d been interested in seeing in the Vanilla Auction. “What’s this?”
“Only these three women were willing to sign up for the auction. When I let them know it was canceled, they were pretty upset. My thought is you should choose one of them to take to a couple of galas. Then you can see how it goes and make some sort of private arrangement.”
I nodded, closing the folder and taking it.
I’d looked over my choices for the Vanilla Auction already and pretty much decided on Lyla.
She was beautiful, from a good family, had attended all the right schools and graduated from West Bay University with a degree in interior design.
She worked in a local architectural firm’s design department.
She also had a great body. Sex with her wouldn’t be a problem.
Sure, she was a little younger than I would’ve liked. At twenty-three she was a bit more than a decade younger than I was. But it’s not like I was going to marry her. I’d just be sort of dating her. It would solve so many problems.
It would get my parents off my back. The hospital would be pleased that I was at least appearing to settle down. And I could leave her with a group of debutantes, heiresses, and society mavens without worrying that they’d eat her alive.
So, why, I asked myself as I leaned back in my chair, couldn’t I get more excited?
Who was I kidding? I knew the answer.
Jelly. Lyla wasn’t Jelly. Not even close.
But Jelly wasn’t… society material. If I left her alone with that same group of society women, they’d tear her apart like the piranhas they were. Jelly tried to appear tough, but I’d seen beneath the thick skin and attitude. I knew there was a sensitive, kind woman underneath all of that.
And I wasn’t willing to let people treat her badly.
So, Lyla VanHorne it was.
“Thanks for trying. I appreciate it.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “I still think you’re an idiot for not doing the Cinnamon Auction. But whatever.”
“What about me?” Enzo opened his arms in supplication.
“You, I don’t care about. Not for this, at least. Go find a date on your own.”
He gave an exaggerated sigh, got up from his chair, and left.
She turned back to me. “Did you need something else?”
It was a clear dismissal.
And just like that, the great idea I’d had to get out of the social season unscathed and still please my parents had become a lot more complicated. The only positive right now was that my dad had quit talking about marrying me off to Gia Santoro.
***
“Have you thought more about what you’re going to do for your date this weekend?” Nico asked me a couple of days later.
“Yeah.” I wasn’t wildly excited about it, but it would probably work out just fine.
“I’m going to take Lyla VanHorne. She was originally going to be in the Vanilla Auction that fell through.
Carmen introduced me. Said she could use a little help in the money department, so I gave her a card and told her to get herself a couple of gowns.
I’ll take her to a few of the functions and see how it goes. ”
“Did you give her a budget?”
“Do I look like a dumbass?” I’d given her a fifty-thousand-dollar limit.
I thought it was generous, but she’d looked slightly disappointed.
I knew designer dresses were expensive, but that limit was to outfit herself for two society events.
Two! I wasn’t going to commit to anything further than that before I saw how I liked her, and, more importantly, how my parents liked her.
“You think she’s hot?” Nico looked at me appraisingly.
“She’s fine.” I was non-committal.
He smirked. “I don’t think you’ll make it past one date,” he predicted.
Maybe not. I grimaced. An auction would’ve been easier. Then everyone’s role would have been laid out in no uncertain terms. I wished I could just do the Cinnamon Auction, but there was no use wishing for what wasn’t going to happen.