by K. C. Crowne
His antics earned some wild applause from the crowd, and a few of the older members of the audience seemed unsure what to make of all this. Duncan gracefully took the microphone back.
“We like that enthusiasm, don’t we folks?” Cutter kept on posing and hamming it up as Duncan spoke. “And just a little reminder, the highest bid for the night wins a weekend in Vegas, flight, hotel, dinners, all the rest paid for courtesy of Pitt Medical Group. Will Cutter be the one to bring home the record bid? Let’s find out! We’ll start this charming gentleman at one thousand!”
The bidding was fast and furious. Guess it was true what they said about no woman being unable to resist a rock star. Cutter bounced on his boots, sticking out his palms and lifting his fingers to the roof in a “higher, higher” bid with his fingers.
“Going once, going twice, sold for six thousand to the lovely Miss Winters!”
Cutter smirked, nodding toward the winner.
Six thousand. Can I do better than that?
“Next up, we have a last-minute entry and a very special guest, the incredible Dr. Gavin Davenport!”
I stood up, waving and winking, as I stepped onstage and gave Duncan a shake and a firm slap on the back.
“Thanks again, bud,” he said, his voice low as the applause echoed. Returning his attention to the audience, he called, “What can I possibly say about Dr. Davenport? I could tell you he’s a graduate of Stanford Medical School. Impressive, huh? Now, what if I were to tell you that this man is just so damn smart that he graduated from college in only two years, going on to be the top student in his med school class? Even more i mpressive, eh?”
As proud as I was of my accomplishments, I’d never been one to brag. Though Duncan was doing it all for a good cause, it was still strange to be the center of attention.
“The man owns his own very successful orthopedic surgery clinic, operating on sports stars from all around the country. At the age of thirty-five, Dr. Davenport’s career is already in the stratosphere. And if you knew the man the way I did, you’d know he’s only on the way up. So, biases aside, I think he’s worth starting at fifteen hundred?”
“Fifteen hundred here!”
I recognized Mariah’s voice as the first bidder. She held her paddle aloft, a pleased expression on her face, as if she knew the bid was hers for the taking.
My stomach was in knots, wondering what Gia was going to do.
Gia
Part of me wanted to say nothing, to keep that little paddle in my purse and leave Gavin twisting in the wind. And it would’ve been sweet, too. He’d been so relieved when he’d seen me from up on the stage, like everything would go according to plan, that he – as always – would get his way. I would’ve been well within my rights to leave him hanging, especially after what he’d done to me.
But as much as I was pissed at Gavin, it was nothing compared to the grudge I had against Mariah Yarbrough. She’d made my high school years a living hell, bullying me like the little rich brat she was. If I had to ally with Gavin to make sure she didn’t get what she wanted, so freaking be it.
Besides, it wasn’t my money I was playing with.
“Do I hear two thousand?” Duncan asked.
I took a deep breath, my fingers wrapped around the paddle. Now or never, I thought. My hand shot up as I stuck the paddle into the air.
“Two thousand!”
Everyone turned around to see who had bid. Mariah’s icy gaze latched onto me, and she narrowed her eyes as if she could take me apart limb-from-limb with just a hard stare.
You’ll have to do better than that, girlie.
“Here we go,” I said under my breath, doing my best to resist a smile spreading across my face.
“We’ve got two thousand from the woman behind this amazing party we’re all enjoying tonight, the lovely and talented Miss Gia Stone!” Duncan complimented. “But can we make it even higher?”
“Twenty-five hundred!” Mariah called, not skipping a beat.
“That didn’t take long,” Duncan teased. “But we’re not stopping there, are we, folks?”
The prim expression on Mariah’s face suggested she was pissed, but she still felt like the situation was well under her control.
“Three thousand!”
“Wow!” Duncan said. “Let’s keep it going!”
I opened my mouth and prepared to speak, but before I could say a word, another voice rose up from the crowd.
“Four thousand!” Another rich woman joining the fray.
I had an idea. Rather than get sucked into a three-way back-and-forth, I’d let Mariah and the new woman duke it out. And that’s just what they did.
“Seven thousand!” Mariah called, irritation to her voice.
Silence filled the air as everyone waited to see if this new woman would take it to the next level. Up on stage, Gavin was looking mighty nervous. And I didn’t mind seeing him sweat. A cocky dude like him could stand to spend a little time in the hot seat every now and then.
“We have seven thousand!” Duncan said happily. “Do we have eight? No eight? Then…going once, going twice…and…s-”
Time to make my move. “Ten thousand!”
That got the attention of the party. Everyone stopped when I yelled my bid, from the guests to the serving staff to the band. And even though it wasn’t my money, I could feel the weight of the amount. It was sure as hell more than I had to my name. Gavin grinned, pleased that I had outbid Mariah
“We’ve got ten thousand!” Duncan crowed, looking around at the crowd. “Wow! Anyone else?”
I glanced at Mariah, the hateful expression on her face letting me know she was not happy. She broke her gaze from me, turning her attention to the older man she was married to, or in the process of divorcing, or whatever was their situation. She gave him a pout, one that seemed to say “please, pretty-pretty-pretty please?”
But he only shook his head. At that moment, I knew I’d won.
Mariah dropped her paddle onto the table and put her chin in her upturned hands, a pout on her face that would’ve been more at home on a five-year-old who didn’t get her way.
“Ten thousand!” Duncan called. “Going once…going twice…sold!”
Applause broke out. I’d paid ten thousand to take Gavin on a fabulous weekend to Vegas. Of course, what had actually happened was that Gavin had paid ten thousand to take himself to Vegas, but no one else needed to know that.
The auction continued as Gavin left the stage and Duncan brought up the next stud.
My heart raced as Kenna rushed over to me as I tried to catch my breath. “Holy shit!” she said, her eyes wide. “That was thrilling!”
“It was,” I said with a grin. “And you know what else? It was total bullshit.”
Kenna brow furrowed in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
Before I had a chance to explain to her the truth of the situation, a few other guests stopped by and congratulated me, letting me know in no uncertain terms how jealous they were that I would be spending a weekend in Vegas with Dr. Davenport. I didn’t bother telling what was really going on.
I spotted Annie, her hand on her belly as she waddled over, a confused look on her face. “Oh my God!” she said. “I can’t believe it! That was…so freaking intense I was worried I might go into labor!”
“Glad to put on a good show,” I joked with a proud smile. It was strange. One of the best parts of my job was working behind the scenes. But at that moment, I was kind of enjoying being the star of the show.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Annie said. “But I had no idea you were making that kind of money. I mean, it’s one thing to have ten thousand in the bank – it’s a whole other thing to have ten thousand to spend on a weekend in Vegas. Not to mention, why the hell would you bet on Gavin of all people? You hate him.”
I decided it was time to clear the air, to tell the truth. Over their shoulders, I spotted Mariah. She was still seated, glaring at me with pure hate in her eyes. I
couldn’t help myself. I winked at her. She slammed her fist into the table before saying something to her husband. Then she got up and stormed out of the room. It was a very entertaining private show just for me.
At that moment, Gavin, Mr. Tight Scrubs himself, approached us, his towering frame looming over the three of us. His presence stopped the conversation in its tracks.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said with a cocky grin. “But I wanted to stop by and congratulate the big winner. I can’t wait for our weekend together, G.” He took my hand into his, leaned forward, and planted a kiss on my knuckles.
I was too stunned to even begin thinking of a way to respond to that. “Um…” Was the only word to come out of my mouth.
Kenna was shocked, and Annie watched with an air of suspicion. And I was more turned on in that moment than I could ever remember being. Gavin was still a prick, a heartless cad. But I’d have been lying like crazy if I were to ignore what was happening, how much I felt like I might melt into a puddle in front of everyone.
I shook my head, coming back to my senses. It was time to put my foot down. “Thanks, Gavin,” I said, slipping my hand from his and clearing my throat. “But I won’t be going anywhere with you.”
“Wait, what?” Kenna asked, her mouth forming a cute pout.
“Vegas sounds fun,” I said. “But I’m going to be booked that entire weekend.”
That statement resulted in confused glances all around.
“Which weekend might that be?” Gavin asked.
Shit. His smirk let me know I’d messed up.
“Yeah,” Kenna piped in. “They haven’t even announced when it’s going to be, exactly.”
“Well, um, what I meant to say was that I’m so busy with work for the next month or so that there’s a, uh, really good chance that I’ll be busy.”
Kenna gave me a curious look before taking out her trusty clipboard and flipping through the pages. “Well, we’re actually pretty open most weekends, and—”
My face went red as my flimsy excuse was ripped to shreds right in front of me. So much for smoothly exiting the situation.
“You really should just go, Gia,” Kenna prompted, a smile on her face. “You really do need a vacation.”
I quietly groaned to myself as I realized I wasn’t getting out of this. All I wanted was to get as far away from Gavin as possible.
“Well,” I said. “I need to, uh, go check on some…stuff. And Kenna, I’m pretty sure you’ve also got…stuff to do.”
“Yeah,” Kenna replied, clearly still confused by my behavior. “I’ll do a sweep around the place.”
“And I’ll go check on Duncan,” Annie said, glancing at her husband, now finished with the auction, as he bounded off the stage. They both walked away, leaving me alone with Gavin.
“Don’t you have a tux to change back into?” I asked, my voice harsher than necessary.
“Sure, sure,” he said. “But I wanted to tell you something first.”
I sighed, thinking he was likely going to rub salt in the wound. “What’s that?”
A grin on his face, he put his hand on the wall behind me and leaned in, his mouth mere inches from my ear. “I can’t wait for our weekend together.” He backed off, giving me a wink before leaving me alone.
I didn’t know what to say or do. For several moments, I simply stood there wide-eyed. He’d known exactly what he was doing with a comment like that. And the worst part was his nearness, his voice, hell, even his boldness, had driven me wild. My skin tingled, my cheeks were red, and I was soaking wet.
The fucker had done it again. Because as much as I didn’t want to admit it, no man could get me going like Gavin Davenport.
And the worst part? He was going to get his chance.
Gavin
It’d been two weeks since the charity gala, and I couldn’t get that damn woman out of my head. I hadn’t seen her in years, and all it’d taken was one night for all those feelings to come rushing back.
I was at my home, a two-story house just outside of Nickle Creek proper. A lodge-style wooden house in a more secluded part of town, the mountains looming in the distance, the land surrounded by stout pines with emerald-green needles.
Drink in hand, I paced back and forth in the living room. The house was nice, a home I’d purchased a few years ago and paid someone to decorate. The furniture was modern and sleek, the décor all contemporary art, and the surface devoid of sentimental items like pictures of friends and family. A fire roared in the large fireplace. As I sipped, mellow piano jazz music playing on the state-of-the-art stereo system, I found myself mentally going back to the night of the gala.
I’d known I needed to give her some space. After all, not only had we run into each other for the first time in about seventeen years, we were set to go on a weekend in Vegas together. And she’d made it damn clear a weekend with me was the last thing she wanted.
So, after changing back into my tux and doing a little mingling, I’d found Gia a little later, toward the end of the night. She was sipping a drink in the lobby, taking a brief break from the responsibilities of running the party, and chatting with her assistant.
And the narrow-eyed look on her face as I approached left no doubts she wasn’t in the mood to have any kind of conversation with me.
“Anyway!” Kenna had said. “We can talk about this later. I’m sure you and Gavin – I’m sorry, Dr. Davenport— have a lot to talk about for your big trip.”
“Actually,” Gia said. “I wasn’t—”
“We’ll catch up later!” Kenna tossed over her shoulder as she hurried away, winking at me as she passed. She headed down the hall leading to the main event room and Gia and I were alone.
“Alright,” she said. “What do you want?”
“That’s a hell of a way to talk to the guy you’re going to spend a weekend in fabulous Las Vegas with.”
She sighed, shaking her head. “Don’t you get it? We’re not going on the trip. You wanted me to do you a solid and outbid Mariah, so that’s what I did. There’s no next part of the plan. You send the ten thousand to Duncan’s charity and wham-bam, the scam’s complete. You avoided Mariah, and no one’s the wiser.”
“Right, and then you and I go on a weekend in Vegas to celebrate.”
“No-no-no,” she insisted, shaking her head adamantly. “That’s most definitely not going to happen.”
“What, you expect me to go to Vegas all by myself? What if I get lost on the Strip all alone?”
“Then you’ll have to be a big boy and figure it out. Besides, I’m sure you can find plenty of Mariah types to occupy your attention for the night.”
Ouch. The woman knows how to stick it in me.
“Think about this – Annie put a lot of hard work into planning this trip and she’d be devastated that it’s going to waste.”
That appeared to have an effect, but not one that lasted. Her concern for her friend quickly turned into anger at me.
“Nice try, Gavin. Annie knows how I feel about you. She was there when it all went down. Don’t try to guilt me into this by invoking my pregnant friend.”
“Hey,” I said, lifting my hands in defense. “Whatever gets you in that hotel suite with me.”
“That’s really what you want?” she asked. “After all this time, after all we’ve been through, you really want to spend time in Vegas with me?”
“Of course, I do. I know we have our history, and I know things ended kind of…roughly between us. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try and be friends again.”
“Friends? Something tells me you have more than that in mind.” She lifted her eyebrows at me, sarcasm in her tone and expression.
“I’d be lying if I were to say I could look at you in a dress like that and not have a hell of a lot more in mind.”
That, more than anything else I’d said, got a reaction. She glanced away, biting on her lower lip, her cheeks turning a tinge of red. She tucked her hair behind her ear and cleared her throat. �
��Not going to happen. You want to go to Vegas, no one’s stopping you. It’s your money paying for the trip, after all. But you’re out of your mind if you think I’m going with you.”
She didn’t have another word for me, and she turned and stormed away, her heels clicking on the tiles quickly. The moment she was gone, her assistant sidled up to me.
“She’s a toughie, huh?” she asked as we watched her disappear.
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“And more than that, she’s stubborn as they come.”
“Kenna, you’re preaching to the choir over here.”
“So, if you want to get her to go, you’ll need all the help you can get.”
“And then some.”
“Then let me provide it.” With a secretive smile, she took a pen out of a hidden pocket on her dress and scrawled something down on her clipboard. Then she ripped a piece of paper off, handing it to me. “ No one has her home number, so trust that I just gave you some top-secret information.”
I regarded it for a moment before folding the piece of paper in half and slipping it into my jacket pocket. “I appreciate it. But why are you helping me?”
“Because I get a good vibe from you, Dr. Davenport. And while I don’t know what’s going on between you and Gia, I can see something’s there.”
I lifted my eyebrows in surprise. “Really? And what would that be?”
“Some majorly unfinished business between the two of you.” She winked and stepped away, but tossed a few words over her shoulder at me. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.”
Back in the present, I tossed the last bit of my whiskey back before making another. Once that was in hand, I went over to the dish on the side table near the entrance and took out the piece of paper.
The last two weeks had been an exercise in restraint. Not a day had passed when I hadn’t had to fight the urge to put that number into my phone and send her a text. But I had to be patient; jumping the gun would be the worst move to make.
With the paper in my hand, I plopped down on the couch and closed my eyes. The image of her filled my brain. I was back at the gala, but this time our conversation went a little differently. Instead of her storming off, I’d managed to smooth talk her into slipping into the nearest coat room, one nice and secluded from the rest of the party.