Hot, Naughty and Nice

by Vida Zen

  Tears welled in her eyes. “Thank you, Santa.”

  Holiday Auction by Vivian Vincent

  “So what did Mr. Mason say you had to do, Jacks?” her best friend Patty asked as they sat at her kitchen table.

  “He said I had to pick a charity and organize a fundraiser,” Jackie replied, fiddling with the handle of her coffee cup.

  “Well, the first thing you wanna do is pick a charity. Did he give you a list?”

  “Yeah, here.” Jackie handed her friend the computer printed list of charities her boss wanted to donate to. “The man has more money than God, I don't know why he just doesn't pick a few and cut them a check.”

  “You've read the newspaper articles about him, I think it's gonna take more than just a few well written checks.”

  “I know. I'm all for the idea of donating to charity, I'm just not crazy about this whole fundraiser thing.” Jackie sighed heavily and glanced at the list Patty held. “There are so many.”

  “So find one really worthwhile, Jackie. There are three pages of them to choose from here.”

  “How about a homeless shelter?” Jackie asked. “What better place to donate to during the holidays?”

  “There's that new one which just opened up last spring. Is it on the list?”

  “I don't know, what's the name of the place?” Jackie took the list from Patty and scanned through it for the name.

  “ Cleveland something or other. Some rich guy and his wife run the place. They've probably got enough money to supply all the homeless people in the city with food.”

  “Every homeless shelter could use the extra help around the holidays, even one ran by rich folks.” She flipped through the list looking for the name and found it on the last page. “Is this it? Cleveland Center for the Homeless?”

  “Yeah, that's it. I can't believe this is the only homeless shelter listed.” Patty gave the list one last look after Jackie handed it back to her. “Looks like they have an 800 number, let's give them a call.”

  * * * *

  Jackie Mitchell worked for one of the largest computer repair and consulting firms in Southeast Michigan as the head of the new public relations department her boss had introduced. On Monday evening, three weeks before Christmas, her boss requested she organize a fundraiser for charity. Actually, he more than requested, he downright told her she would do it.

  Her boss had come under fire over the last few months as being one of the few entrepreneurs in the area that didn't give back to the surrounding communities in some way. Jackie had suggested to donate money in the company's name, but he wanted to do more than that. He wanted an organized fundraiser, he didn't care what it was, but something that would raise a lot of money quickly.

  Their company took up the entire third floor of the Mason building located in downtown Southfield , Michigan . Her boss, Robert Mason owned the building as well as the company she worked for. The public relations department of Mason Enterprises as it was formally called included not only his computer company, but also the other companies he owned, all housed within in the five-story building.

  At twenty-five, Jackie was the youngest executive in Robert Mason's employ. She was a tough-as-nails, no nonsense kind of woman who didn't take any gruff from anyone, including him. When she worked as his assistant, the company ran like a well-oiled machine. He entrusted her with more duties than a normal assistant and most of the executives had come to respect her.

  The promotion to Public Relations Director came as a shock to Jackie, but she welcomed the new title and job responsibilities with open arms. “I won't let you down sir,” she told him as she left his office six months ago when he announced her new position with the company.

  With as much publicity as she was generating for Mason Enterprises and Robert Mason himself, it still wasn't enough. The media hounded Mr. Mason daily and he finally decided the best way to get in the good graces of the media would be to hold some type of fundraiser. He called on his new PR director and told her to run with whatever idea she came up with.

  * * * *

  “Okay, I spoke with a Mrs. Gloria Cleveland. She told me whatever we wanted to do to raise money would be fine with her and her husband.”

  “So do you have any ideas?” Patty asked.

  “Not a one. How about you?”

  “Well, we could have a dinner and charge so much per plate.”

  “Yeah. We could have a canned food drive.”

  “Yeah. Any other ideas?”

  Jackie glanced down at the table, running ideas through her mind before saying them out loud. She wanted to do something which would be fun and raise money. She looked up at Patty who had a huge grin spreading across her face.

  “I've got it!” Patty exclaimed.

  “What?”

  “An auction!”

  “An auction?” Jackie repeated. “What would we sell?”

  “Ourselves―in a manner of speaking. We can have a bachelor-bachelorette auction!”

  “I don't know, I mean where would we find the bachelors and bachelorettes?” Jackie shook her head and raised her hand to silence her friend, seeing where this conversation was going. “Oh no. I am not auctioning myself off to some guy I don't even know. It's crazy!”

  “Why not? It could be fun. I'd be willing to auction myself off if you do.”

  Jackie noticed Patty wasn't going to back down. She reluctantly agreed. “Okay, but that's only two of us, where do we get the rest of the bachelorettes, not to mention the bachelors. How many would we need for a decent auction anyway?”

  “I'd say ten each should be a nice number to raise a good amount of money.”

  “So where do we find ten men and eight women who'd be willing to auction themselves off for charity?”

  “There's plenty of people we work with who'd probably volunteer. Let's get some flyers printed up and post them,” Patty replied.

  “Where will we host it?”

  “The second floor of our building would be perfect. There's nothing there but a few empty offices, a lounge and a couple vending machines.”

  Patty worked on the fourth floor of the Mason building in the telecommunications division. She hadn't worked for Robert Mason as long as Jackie, but she'd managed to work her way up to department manager. She was the second youngest in Robert Mason's employ, having just turned twenty-six on Thanksgiving.

  Jackie enjoyed Patty's friendship. She could let her guard down and let go of the “dragon lady” persona she had at work. She wondered if she really was as bad as her nickname implied.

  * * * *

  “How does this one look?” Jackie asked as she pulled the printed flyer from the tray. Patty stood beside her, leaning her hip on the desk and looking over the flyer that had printed while Jackie pulled up another design on the poster printing software installed on her computer.

  “I like it,” Patty said, placing the flyer back in the printer tray. “Now, we can make copies at work tomorrow and distribute them.”

  “Okay.” Jackie glanced at the clock on the shelf over her monitor and noted it was later than she expected. “Damn, it's after ten. I want to get an early start. You can crash here if you want.” She rose to her feet after shutting down her computer.

  “No, I'll head on home. What time are you going in?”

  “I was thinking seven-thirty.”

  “Good enough, I'll see you tomorrow.” Patty crossed the living room and located her purse and keys.

  “Yeah, see ya.” Jackie didn't show her friend out, but instead made her way to her room.

  * * * *

  Dean Wilson was just an average guy with an average job. He worked on the fourth floor of the Mason building as a customer service representative for Mason Telecommunications. With his short brown hair, brown eyes and average build, he didn't attract the attention of a lot of women.

  That was fine with him; there was only one woman whose attention he wanted to attract. Unfortunately for him, Jackie Mitchell didn't even know he was aliv
e. From the first moment he saw her, he knew some how, some way, he'd make her notice him. She was a tough egg to crack. Her fiery personality was the first thing that drew him in. The second was her deep, auburn hair. Those two things combined with the most hypnotic blue eyes he'd ever seen had him head-over-heels.

  It didn't matter she didn't so much as blink in his direction, he'd still go out of his way just to look at her. Ironically, Dean's immediate supervisor was her best friend. He'd tried to keep his feelings for Jackie hidden, but Patty seemed to know how he felt without him ever saying a word. She'd become his greatest ally in his quest to win Jackie's heart.

  Dean hummed quietly to himself as he made his way to his cubicle to start work for the day. He removed his jacket and hung it on the hook near the entrance to his cubicle then took the few steps to his desk to boot up his computer.

  “Dean!” a female voice called out from behind him.

  “Good morning, Patty. How are you today?”

  “I'm great, and once you hear what I've got to tell you, you're going to be even better than me.” She walked around him and took a seat at his desk.

  “Let me get some coffee then you can tell me what's got you so happy.”

  As Dean was preparing his coffee, he glanced up at the bulletin board and saw the flyer for the bachelor-bachelorette charity auction a few days before Christmas. He read through the flyer and smiled when he read Jackie's name as the organizer of the event. He pulled the flyer off the bulletin board then picked up his coffee and headed back to his cubicle.

  Yeah, like I'd have a snowball's chance in hell of being in a bachelor auction.

  He saw Patty still sitting at his desk smiling broadly at him. She rose to her feet when he approached, “So I see you've found the flyer for Jackie's fundraiser,” she said, pointing to the piece of paper he held in his hands.

  “Yeah.” He placed his coffee cup on his desk then turned to face her. “What's this all about exactly and why are you smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary?” Dean sat down at his desk then glanced up at Patty again.

  Patty pulled the chair from the corner of his cubicle and placed it beside him. She sat down and crossed her legs in front of her, leaning in to swipe a chocolate out of the bowl on the corner of his desk.

  “Mr. Mason told Jackie she had to come up with an idea to raise money for charity.”

  “Yeah.” Dean glanced curiously at his boss.

  “She's going to be one of the bachelorettes, Dean.”

  A smile played across Dean's lips as realization hit him. “She'd have to go on a date with me if I placed a winning bid, huh?”

  “Yeah, basically. I hope you're ready to win the woman of your dreams,” Patty said over her shoulder as she left his cubicle and disappeared around the corner.

  “Oh, I most definitely am.” Dean sighed then turned to his computer and began working.

  * * * *

  It was just before lunchtime and Jackie stood at the copy machine waiting for the rest of the flyers to finish copying. She wondered if she'd find enough men and women for this fundraiser and if her boss would approve of her ideas.

  As she waited, she felt a strange tingling flow through her body right before she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Only one person had that effect on her. She didn't turn around but instead inhaled deeply, enjoying the smell of his cologne as it enveloped her senses.

  Taking two steps to the side, she began to gather up the copies in the tray at the end of the copy machine. When she turned to place them on the table next to the copier, they all fell from her hands, scattering on the floor around her.

  Jackie squatted down gracefully to pick them up, only to see another pair of hands helping her. The tingle she was feeling grew stronger and she knew it was him. As she gathered the last of the fallen copies, she brought herself upright.

  She kept her gaze fixated on the last sheet of paper pushing its way out of the copier. He placed the copies he'd gathered up off the floor on the table, smiling at her even though she refused to look at him.

  “Are you this nervous around all men or just me?” he asked in a smug tone.

  She turned to glare at him, annoyed immediately with his arrogance, but he was gone. All that was left was the lingering smell of his cologne causing her head to spin and her heart to beat furiously.

  “Damn him,” she sighed and with trembling hands retrieved the copies off the table and returned to her office.

  * * * *

  The first floor of the Mason building consisted of a Starbuck's, a small deli and a café. Patty and Jackie met at the café every day for lunch. “Where the hell is she?” Patty said quietly, glancing at her watch for the fourth time in the last twenty minutes.

  She opened the menu and glanced over the choices, thinking she might as well order herself lunch since time was slowly ticking away. She took a sip of the soda the waitress had brought over, closed the menu and folded her hands neatly in front of her. The waitress sauntered over to take her order and Patty ordered while never taking her gaze off the entrance.

  “Just a grilled ham and cheese with tomatoes,” she told the waitress.

  “Anything for your friend?”

  “No, I don't know if she's coming today.” Patty glanced at her watch again.

  “Okay, be back with your lunch in a few minutes, sweetie,” the waitress said as she gathered up the menus and headed toward the kitchen.

  Patty watched as the waitress disappeared through the swinging door behind the counter. She took another sip of her soda and was startled when she heard her cell phone beeping. She reached in her purse to find her phone, flipping it open to read the text message she'd just received.

  Running late. Be there in 10. J.

  “Well no shit you're running late.” Patty deleted the text message from Jackie then dropped the phone back in her purse.

  The waitress brought her food a few minutes later and as she finished the first half of her sandwich, Jackie walked in.

  “Sorry I'm late, had―um―delays in the copy room.”

  “Oh?” Patty said, cocking an eyebrow at her friend. “What kind of delays?”

  “Nothing like what you think. I had a bit of trouble getting the copier going.” Okay so she was lying. She wasn't yet ready to admit what had really happened.

  “All right. So, where are we with finding men and women for the auction?”

  “I've had a few―” Jackie started, only to be interrupted by her cell phone ringing. “Hang on.” She pulled her phone out of her purse and glanced at the caller ID. She didn't recognize the number. She rose to her feet and walked out of the café after she answered the call and Patty wondered exactly what the call was about.

  “So is your friend gonna order something?” the waitress asked.

  “I don't know. She got a phone call, but she should be back in a minute.” Patty looked up at the waitress then turned her attention back to Jackie who was standing just outside the entrance of the café.

  “Good news!” Jackie exclaimed as she returned to her seat across from Patty.

  * * * *

  “So she got all flustered when you walked in, huh?” one of Dean's co-workers asked.

  “Yeah. Apparently she does know I exist.”

  “Well, why didn't you ask her out?”

  “Because I know she'd turn me down, Tom. I'm patiently waiting for the right moment. Being alone with her in the copy room wasn't quite what I had in mind.”

  “Come on, Dean. You and I both know there isn't a right moment with a woman like that.” Tom fiddled with some papers on his desk.

  “There is now.” Dean took the flyer out of his pocket, unfolded it and handed it to Tom.

  “What's this?”

  “A charity fundraiser for Mason Enterprises, organized by none other than my dream woman, Jackie Mitchell.”

  “Okay?” Tom said with confusion.

  “She's going to be one of the bachelorettes in the auction, Tom!” Dean'
s grin was broad. “If I make the highest bid, she has to go out with me.”

  “I wish you the best of luck, Dean.”

  “Thanks! Let's go grab some lunch, you're buying!”

  “Why me?”

  “Because if I'm gonna have any chance at all of placing the winning bid, I need to save every damn dollar I have. Now let's go!”

  * * * *

  “So just like that, we have enough for the auction?” Patty asked as she walked with Jackie toward the elevator.

  “Yeah. Mike said most of the guys would be more than willing to offer themselves up. He asked around on the fourth floor and got the word out. Leslie in your department said she could round up enough women, so it looks like we're set.”

  “See? That wasn't so hard.”

  “Surprisingly no, it wasn't. Now we've got to decide on if we want food for the evening or not.”

  “Let me take care of that.” Patty turned and headed for the deli. “You know Max has a thing for me, let me see what I can finagle out of him.”

  “See ya later.” Jackie stepped onto the elevator when the doors opened.

  She stood near the doors of the elevator and felt crowded. She glanced around at the people in the elevator with her, smiling at a few she recognized. As the doors opened on the second floor and a few people shuffled out, she felt a tingle flow through her body again. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him standing directly behind her. Their eyes locked and she felt a heated blush rise in her cheeks. She smiled at him then turned her attention toward the front again.

  He returned her smile, feeling his heart beating faster when she actually smiled at him. Maybe she's warming up to me after all. It certainly would make things easier when I place the winning bid on her at the auction. He didn't want to take someone on a date who didn't really want to be with him. The doors closed and the elevator resumed it ascent.

  When the doors opened on the third floor, Jackie was the only one to exit. She turned and locked eyes with him again, casting another soft smile before turning and heading to her office. As the doors of the elevator closed, she felt the tingles in her body dissipate.

  She entered her office and with trembling hands, she placed her purse on the tall filing cabinet in the corner of the room before slumping down in her chair and placing her head in her hands.