Auction Time: Bad Boy Bachelors of Orange County BK3

by Gray, Khardine

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t know that. The news these days is awful. How do you think I’d feel if I heard that something bad happened to my girl?”

  My lips parted, and I had to bite back a smile. I failed though. “Your girl? Since when am I yours?”

  “Just now. Carpe diem, right? Seize the moment. I just did.”

  This guy was something else. “You are the one who’s a challenge.”

  Now he started running backwards. “Yup, people say that a lot.”

  “Eric Declan, I’m going to drive like a bat out of hell in about one second.”

  “Mia Cartwright, bring it on. I can assure you no bat, even the hell ones, is faster than me.”

  I giggled. “Jesus, you don’t give up, do you?”

  “Nope, I know where you live, so I’ll run all the way there if I have to. Of course, if you give me your number, that will solve everything.”

  Oh my God. What the hell? Madam Phoebe did say I already knew what I wanted to do. I did want to give him my number. So, I should just do it. Right?

  Much to his satisfaction, I stopped the car.

  “Alleluia.” He beamed looking up heavenward with his hands clasped in prayer.

  I grabbed a sticky note from my handbag, scribbled my number down, and gave it to him. As he took it, he made a show of acting like he’d just won some kind of medal.

  “Satisfied?” I asked.

  “This course of true love never did run smooth,” he answered, shocking me more than he already had.

  It was a famous quote from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

  “My Lord, what fools these mortals be.” I smirked, throwing in my own Midsummer quote.

  “The lady doth protest too much me thinks, and surely she should know that nothing comes of nothing. I may be a fool, but a man can die only once but live many lifetimes through adventure if he tries.” He well and truly answered me, stunning me to complete silence. I knew some quotes from a few plays, but he sounded like he read it so much he talked like that anyway. “Good night, Miss Mia.” He held up the note with my number. “I’ll call you in half an hour. Then I’ll call you tomorrow to ask you to dinner. Another non-date that will get me that much closer to surprising you.”

  I couldn’t resist the smile that danced across my lips. “What if I say no?”

  “You won’t.” He chuckled, turned, and walked away.

  He was right.

  I wouldn’t say no.

  Chapter 9

  Eric

  * * *

  18 months ago…

  It was another great night. Points for me for taming the shrew.

  Although that was completely figuratively speaking because Mia Cartwright was so very far from a shrew. It was more like taming the temptress, especially with the way she looked tonight in that little dress of hers that showed off her finest assets. Which, by the way, was everything. The woman was perfection. Complete perfection. And the fact that she was a challenge made me want her more.

  She didn’t say no to me.

  I not only got the goddess to go on two non-dates with me, but she came to the Super Bowl, and she came back to the stadium tonight to see me.

  A week after the glorious Super Bowl win, and The Centaurs were back on the field training.

  It was a map-out of what we were going to do for the rest of the year because we wanted that damn title again. It was victory, but I would be as damned as the men in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, cursed by the albatross because I celebrated the victory of getting Mia Cartwright, the woman who hated athletes, to come watch me play.

  That was what made me happy.

  Tonight was another non-date, but I could see my magic breaking down that wall of hers.

  We’d walked along by the beach near her house, spent hours talking, and now I was walking her home. It was another late night, one verging on midnight, and I only took her home because it was getting cold.

  It was getting cold, and while I was on my best behavior, the dog in me came out when I absolutely noticed her nipples hardening against the silk of her dress.

  I didn’t think a man alive would have failed to notice. She had that kind of body that made you want to stare anyway. Curves in all the right places, and volume in all the right places too.

  But, like I said, I was on my best behavior. Noticing, then pretending I didn’t notice, then taking her home.

  We stopped outside her door while she talked about her trip to Europe. She was telling me how great the food was in Italy, and I was listening.

  Maybe half listening, and not because what she said wasn’t interesting. It was because I was conjuring up the next thing I could do to see this woman again.

  “Italian food is the best,” she bubbled.

  “I agree, which is why you should get some with me,” I said quickly before she could jump to the next topic or cut me off with a wave of her hand like she had the other time.

  She gazed at me, momentarily stunned, like she actually didn’t know what to say.

  “That sounds awfully close to you asking me out again.” She smirked.

  “Because it is.” I widened my eyes at her, and she laughed.

  “Why with the same question? We have a great thing going on here.” She nodded.

  There was no way she could believe that. “Why can’t you just admit you like me? Is it better to pretend you don’t?”

  “That is a strange question.”

  “Nope, it isn’t. You’re a challenge, and I’m direct. I don’t talk around the bush with shit. It’s a valid question. Let me guess. Some asshole broke your heart, so you’re pickier?” I did wonder if it could be that.

  “I would really love someone to try and think they could do that to me,” she answered, scrunching up her little nose. That was her attempt to look tough, but to me, it made her look cuter.

  As I looked at her though, the answer came to me. It wasn’t heartbreak. Just as she said. It also wasn’t that she wanted to keep herself free and available. During this whole time we’d been talking, I saw that she liked to be in control. She wanted to call the shots on her emotions, and she wanted to be the one who decided what happened. She wouldn’t be a slave to her emotions or passions and allow them to influence her.

  It was strange for someone who took carpe diem as gospel. Living for the moment required acting on impulse and going with how you felt at the moment. Seizing the moment was exactly that. Control didn’t come into play.

  I gave her a wicked smile.

  “What? What’s that smile supposed to be for?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at me. “I didn’t say anything funny.”

  “Nah, you didn’t. You just went all Mr. T on me. What you said was just a little better than the ‘I pity the fool’ mantra.” I chuckled, but she wasn’t impressed. “It’s control, isn’t it?”

  That threw her. Something in her eyes darkened. Although it was dark and we were lit by the moonlight and the soft porchlights, I saw it. I saw it phase into her stare and linger.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You like being in control. You claim to be this person who loves adventure and carpe diem but really don’t have an ounce of the essence it takes to truly be like that.” Maybe that sounded a little harsh, but it was true.

  “What, did I just bruise your ego?” she countered.

  “Nope, it can’t be bruised. How about I prove myself right, then?”

  “Go on. Do that.” She placed her hands on her hips.

  I gave her a pointed stare and decided I would shock her to death. I leaned in closer, so close I could see she thought I was going to kiss her. “Go to Tijuana with me. Let’s leave now. Just go upstairs and grab a small bag.”

  She frowned and narrowed her eyes. “A small bag? Do I look like the kind of woman who would pack a small bag?”

  “Like fuck, it’s not about the bag. I’m allowing you a toothbrush and a phone. Small bag.” I turned up the desire in my smile. “We won’
t need clothes for this trip. In fact, I plan to keep you in bed with me the whole time. I’m good at two things in this life: football and great sex. You coming?”

  She looked at me like she didn’t know what to say to me.

  In the subtle light I noticed the flush in her cheeks and the desire that fill her eyes. But like the woman who loved control, she stepped back and straightened.

  “No.”

  There was that glorious word again.

  I raised my brows and nodded. “That’s okay. Well, I guess that tells me everything.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like… if I said I had a date tomorrow, you’d be happy about it.”

  She stiffened, and her shoulders tensed clearly in response to the thought, but the stubbornness remained. “Why wouldn’t I be? That’s great.”

  “So, if I had a date tomorrow, you’d seriously be fine?” There was only so much a man could take, and this was beginning to irk me the wrong way.

  “Yes,” she answered boldly.

  “Okay, Mia, I guess I will see you around, then.” I meant that, even though I didn’t want to stop chasing her.

  It wasn’t my style to chase a woman, and definitely not one who didn’t want me. I thought she did, but maybe I was wrong.

  I backed away and started walking down the path.

  “Eric,” she called me, and I stopped.

  I stopped in my tracks and turned back to see the terrified look in her eyes. It was something I hadn’t seen before. Like something just kicked in or awakened.

  “Yes, Miss Cartwright?”

  She walked down to me, stopped a breath away, and shook her head. “I wouldn’t be okay with it.”

  “It?” I tensed my jaw and looked at her, wanting her to elaborate.

  “I wouldn’t be okay with you dating someone else tomorrow. I don’t want you to… Do you actually have a date tomorrow?”

  I looked her over and felt like she just came through for me. There was only one way to answer her, and it wasn’t with words.

  I reached out to touch her cheek and nearly melted at the feel of her smooth, silky skin beneath my palms. Soft like fine feathers and velvet.

  I lowered my head, and her eyes locked with mine. Her lips parted as what I was going to do became evident, and I could have rejoiced when she moved to me too.

  Our lips met as I pressed mine to hers, capturing that pretty mouth of hers for a kiss that was a long time coming. Soft and searching, then hungry and hungrier as I pulled her flush against me. With her lithe body pressed up against mine, I wanted nothing more than to devour her right here, but that would defeat the purpose of all these weeks of breaking down that wall she’d built up.

  So, I stopped. I stopped kissing her and stepped back out of the kiss, but I still kept my hold on her.

  “Date with you tomorrow night.” I would have made it sooner, but Coach wanted us at the stadium all week in this pursuit to set up plans prior to the actual training season, and I wanted to devote the time to her.

  “Me…”

  “Yes,” I released her and backed away. “And don’t you dare cancel on me or make up some crazy excuse.”

  “I… won’t.” Although she smiled, she looked completely out of her element.

  As I walked away, hope filled me because I knew I’d taken her outside of that element. She wanted me more than the aspect of control. It was a triumph I would absolutely run with because for some reason, the universe had drawn my attention to the beautiful Mia Cartwright, and I truly couldn’t get her out of my head.

  I glanced over my shoulder one last time before I jumped in my truck and saw she was still watching me.

  Definitely a good sign.

  Chapter 10

  Eric

  * * *

  Present day …

  Gilly tensed his jaw and gave me a tentative expression.

  I just told him.

  I just told him about Rory being my father, same as I’d told Mia. Except I went into more details. I actually told him, and I could almost read his mind.

  He was probably contemplating which he should comment on first. The part about Rory being my father, or the part about Rory going to prison. The last time we spoke about Rory, I’d lied and told him he was travelling.

  Like Mia, he was looking at me like he didn’t know what to say to me. I wouldn’t have known what to say either. Like what was the right thing.

  “Man… that is deep. I wish I knew the right words to say.” He straightened against the sofa, then leaned forward again, resting his elbows on his knees.

  “It’s okay. I didn’t expect you to know what to say. It’s just that it was time to talk. Time to tell you. Also, I kind of told Mia before you,” I offered, hoping he wouldn’t be offended.

  Instead he looked surprised. “Wow, really? You told her?”

  “I felt I had to, to save myself in some way.” I lifted my shoulders into a shrug.

  After the kiss, I realized it was the first step I had to take to try to put things right. It was an attempt that might have worked. It looked like it worked from the way she’d looked at me.

  “Fuck… I get it. I do. The other day, I wondered what the hell reason you could have had to treat her the way you did, then chase her after. Now I know, and I get it. Eric, you kept this secret this whole time?” he asked, intensifying his stare.

  I nodded. “Yeah. As of now, you are the third person I’ve spoken to, and I really want the next person to be Rory.” All these people knew what I knew, and he didn’t. I’d stopped by briefly to see him earlier, but it was exactly that. Brief.

  While I wanted to spend time with him, I didn’t want to be too overbearing. I knew too that as much as he enjoyed my company, he had stuff to sort out. That was the sort of stuff I couldn’t help with.

  “I wish I knew what to tell you. It doesn’t feel like an easy solution, especially when it comes to Jack.”

  Fucking hell, would Dad raise hell if the word got out. Jack Declan was not a man to be trifled with on any given day. He would not take the truth well when it came out. I was pretty certain heads would roll. He couldn’t stand Rory as it was. Dad even had the snip at thirty years old because to him, I was enough of a handful, and he didn’t want any more children. To think he’d never fathered any, well… that would be something to take in.

  I figured though that his reason for getting himself done was so he could screw around with his women and not have any consequences. That was my take from what I’d seen.

  “I can’t worry about that. I actually don’t want to. He did his part as a father, and as bad as he is, blood won’t suddenly take the title away from him. It’s a lot, Gilly, and I probably should tread softly, but I think the focus should be on working with what I have.” I drew in a deep breath. “I want Rory to know me as his son. We’ve always been great together, and I want him to know me like that.”

  Gilly nodded in agreement. “I’d do the same if it were me. Fuck everyone else and whatever they may think.”

  “Yes, fuck everyone else. Mom made it sound like she was some kind of victim, but she just wanted to be with the guy with the deepest pockets. She’s all worried Dad will find out. I can’t allow that to get to me.”

  “When are you going to tell Rory?”

  I answered with a smile. “I have no idea. I have no plan or anything. I’m not even sure I can play it by ear. How can I? I think I just have to see how it goes, but not for too long. I think he needs some time to get back into the swing of things too. Then I’ll tell him.”

  “God man. Tell me when you decide to, and if you need any support or anything, I’m here.” He made a fist, and bumped it with mine.

  “I will. In the meantime, I’d love any tips you could offer on how I’m going to get back in Mia Cartwright’s good graces.” It was a joke. I knew there was nothing he could actually tell me. She was a category all on her own.

  Gilly sighed a deep sigh and chuckled. “Eric, you are on your own with
that one. Mia’s a sweet girl but feisty when she needs to be. Each sister is different, but I’ve never been able to figure her out. Some days she’s one way, other days she’s a different way. Changes like the wind. And her carpe diem slogan. I swear she took the meaning of the saying to another level that you need a pass to reach.”

  I laughed. “Sounds interesting.”

  “Yes. Very. She’s the girl who I knew to only date men who can’t promise her anything.”

  “No strings?”

  “Nah, not like that. It’s literally the live-for-now-and-see-you-later kind of guys.”

  “Well, I want to change that.” I chuckled.

  He gave me a hopeful look. “Good luck, man.”

  I was hoping I wouldn’t need luck.

  * * *

  Friday night came again, and this time, I went to play pool with some of the guys from the team. We’d normally go to Tom’s Sports Bar on a Monday, occasionally on a Friday when we wanted to hang out. Gilly still came on Mondays.

  Tonight, I was playing on autopilot because I was thinking and brainstorming my next moves with Mia.

  Two days ago when we spoke, she mentioned going to the venue. I was planning to arrange that on Monday if she didn’t contact me over the weekend and take it from there.

  However… as I lifted my head and looked up to the balcony above the pool table, I saw her standing there.

  By herself.

  No date. She was by herself up there looking down at me.

  I straightened and looked back at her knowing she would have only come here to see me. I knew how this woman worked, and this bar wasn’t her usual hangout. A, it was a sports bar and she hated athletes so would have hated the scene in its entirety, and B, she was more the sort of club goer.

  All of that aside, the way she looked at me told me she was here for me.

  I set my cue stick down and made my way up the steps to her. Each step fueled the desire that rippled within me. Each step that took me closer to her fueled that intense need I felt to have what we had before.