“You’ll understand this one just fine,” Maggie said miserably. “See this? It’s our rent. With yesterday’s donations and our current ticket prices, we’re just able to pay it. Now, look at this.” She pulled up her e-mail account and opened an e-mail. Lia squinted her eyes as she read it. It was a letter from their landlord, notifying them that starting next month, he’ll raise their rent by twenty-five percent.
“What?” Lia was outraged. “Can he do that?”
Maggie nodded sadly. “Yes. It’s in our contract.”
“But that’s… that’s insane! How can we come up with that amount of money on such short notice? It’s impossible!”
Maggie sighed. “I don’t know. Let’s see our current expenditures.” She clicked back to the spreadsheet. “We might be able to cut something. Or postpone a payment.” She started looking at the entries on the spreadsheet, one by one. Her face was a mask of intense concentration, her lips moving silently. Every now and then, she punched in a few numbers into her calculator.
Lia pulled up a chair next to Maggie’s and sat down. She watched her friend work her way through the columns and rows, crossing her fingers, frustrated that she couldn’t help. Or understand a thing. But accounting was really not up her alley. “Mags, you can cut my salary for a while, if that helps.”
Maggie chuckled. “That’s sweet of you. But we’d need a bit more. Like ten times more.”
Waves of despair washed over Lia as she started fiddling with her necklace. This was not an unfamiliar situation: it happened more often than not that they had to come up with some desperate solution to make ends meet. She knew the theater was not a get rich quick kind of business, but this blow came out of nowhere and it was especially hard to deal with after all of the happiness and elation from last night’s fundraiser. For the first time since forever, she felt like they finally had a chance to work worry-free, at least for a couple of months. And now this.
“Pity this e-mail didn’t come yesterday,” Lia mumbled. “Then you could have auctioned Christina off as well. Or yourself.”
Maggie chuckled absentmindedly, her eyes still fixed on the spreadsheet. Lia looked over her friend’s shoulder and wrinkled her nose, trying to make sense of the numbers. Fat chance.
Maggie suddenly stopped typing and turned toward Lia. She tilted her head to the side and regarded her friend intently.
“What?” Lia asked.
“I have an idea.”
“Really?” Lia leant forward eagerly. “Tell me!”
Maggie chewed her lips. “Will you promise not to bite my head off?”
“Why would I do that? If your idea saves us, then I already love it!”
“Wait till you hear it,” Maggie warned. “But I want to point out that it’s actually your idea. So you can’t get too mad at me.”
Lia frowned. “My idea? How?”
“You said it’s too bad we can’t auction Christina off. And you’re right, we can’t. But we can auction you off again.”
“What? But how could we do that anymore than auctioning Christina off? The gala’s over.”
Maggie looked at Lia pointedly, tapping her fingers on her desk.
“Oh,” Lia said with a sinking heart. “You can auction me off to the same bidder again.” She buried her face in her hands. “You want me to go on another date with Travis.”
“Erm, three, actually,” Maggie said. “That should do it.”
“God!” Lia exclaimed. “But that’s insane! I don’t even know how I can make it through one date without killing him, let alone three! I can’t stand people who show off their wealth, especially if they did nothing to earn it. Not to mention that it makes me feel so sleazy.”
Maggie regarded her thoughtfully. “I sense there’s something more to your aversion to rich people than you’re letting on. What’s that about?”
“Nothing.” Lia averted her eyes.
“No, there’s definitely something. Tell me, please.”
Lia sighed. She never really talked about this, but Maggie was her best friend and she saw real concern in her eyes. “Well, remember when I told you I grew up poor?”
Maggie nodded.
“My family wasn’t just regular poor. We were dirt poor. I didn’t realize it at the time, but we were struggling to make ends meet every month. My parents spent hours every night at the kitchen table after they put us to bed, going over their expenses, trying to cut a few pennies here and there. And sometimes,” Lia sighed and started fiddling with her necklace, “I know they skipped meals so they could buy food and clothing for my brother and me.”
“Oh, Lia.” Maggie stood up and hugged her friend.
“And I never even really knew, at least not until I was sixteen when I found them hunched over the kitchen table crying over some unpaid bill. Up to that point, they did a good job keeping it from us. In a lot of ways, we had a perfectly happy childhood. But I was so ungrateful, I kept bickering about why I couldn’t buy this or that, things that my classmates had…” Lia trailed off, her voice breaking. “I’m still ashamed of how I behaved.”
“You shouldn’t beat yourself up over this, honey. You were a child. And you didn’t know any better.”
“No, and my parents were never angry with me. But I’m angry with myself. I should have known better.” Lia wiped her eyes. “We were poor, but my parents worked hard for what they believed in. They never settled for anything less and they never gave up on their dreams. This is why I can’t stand rich people who take everything for granted without ever having to lift a finger.”
Maggie turned away, allowing her friend to compose herself. There was a loud outburst of laughter coming from the stage.
Lia cleared her throat. “Anyway, Travis might not even want to take me out three times.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” Maggie asked. “If he wanted one date, why wouldn’t he want three? It doesn’t hurt to ask.”
“Yeah right. And I’m sure he’ll want to pay a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for those dates.”
Maggie shrugged. “We’ll never know if we don’t ask.”
“Aaargh!” Lia cried. “I’m not going to ask him.”
Maggie chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll do it for you. What are you afraid? Rejection?” She looked through her files, seeking Travis’ number.
Lia scowled at her friend. “When this is over, remind me not to let you near my dating life ever again.”
“Dear, you didn’t let me near it this time, either,” Maggie pointed out. She punched Travis’ number into the phone. “It’s ringing,” she mouthed at Lia who all of a sudden felt incredibly anxious.
There was a half-audible click coming from the phone. Maggie suddenly sat up straighter. “Good morning, this is Maggie Mains from Pages Theater.”
Lia strained her ears to listen. She could hear Travis’ voice (or rather, she could hear a male voice that she assumed was Travis) over the phone, but it was just a faint murmur. She couldn’t make out the exact words.
“Yes, it’s about the date,” Maggie said, then listened intently. “Excellent. Thank you. That sounds very exciting.” She gave a small laugh. Lia felt her heartbeat pick up. What was going on?
“Travis, let me stop you right there. I have a proposal for you.”
Lia couldn’t make out what Travis was saying. She let out an exasperated sigh. Lia wished she could pick up the other line and listen in like people in old movies used to do. But unfortunately, each desk phone had its own line and it would be totally noticeable if she conferenced in. Stupid twenty-first century, Lia thought to herself.
Maggie cleared her throat and said in her most professional voice, “So, here’s the thing. Our landlord has extremely bad timing, and he raised the rent on us today. Had he done it yesterday, we could have dealt with the issue with the auction. But now, we’re powerless. And we need your help.”
Travis said something but Lia still couldn’t make out what he was saying. She did notice, however, that his tone seemed t
o suggest sympathy and understanding.
Maggie chuckled. “Thank you. I didn’t quite mean that, though it would be lovely to see our landlord being chased down the street by thugs.”
In spite of herself, Lia gave a small laugh.
Maggie went on. “Your incredibly generous donation gave me an idea. What would you say if we tripled the prize?”
There was a question on the other end of the line.
“Yes, would you be willing to take Lia out on three dates, instead of one?”
Lia hated to admit it, but she was really nervous about his answer. What if he said no? I’m just nervous because I want the money for Pages, she told herself. It’s not like I actually want to go out with him three times!
A wide smile spread across Maggie’s face. “Thank you. That’s really generous of you. Lia will be thrilled to hear it too.”
“What?” Lia mouthed at Maggie.
Maggie nodded, listening to whatever Travis was telling her. She gave Lia the thumbs up.
Lia let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She leaned back in her seat, feeling elation and dread at the same time. She watched as Maggie ended the call, repeating “yes,” and “excellent,” a few times over, and “I’ll let her know”. Then she replaced the receiver and turned toward Lia, beaming.
“He went for it!”
“Great,” Lia said, trying her best to sound sarcastic. “Now I get to endure three evenings with a pretentious womanizing ass”
“Awww.” Maggie looked at her with exaggerated mock-concern. “I’m sure you’ll survive being showered with attention by a rich and handsome billionaire bachelor.”
“Whatever. Did he say anything about what we’re doing for our date?”
“Yes. He’ll pick you up tonight at eight.”
“Tonight?” Lia exclaimed.
Maggie raised an eyebrow. “What? You can’t fit it in into your busy social calendar?”
Lia made a face at her friend. “No. It’s just… it’s so soon.”
“Best to get it over with as quickly as possible.” Maggie giggled. “It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid. And who knows? You might even enjoy it.”
“Yeah, sure. Did he say something about where we’re going?”
Maggie nodded, a strange gleam appearing in her eyes. “Yes. He said he hoped you don’t get seasick.”
“Seasick?”
“Yeah. Because you’re going to have dinner… on his yacht!” Maggie squealed.
“Wheee!” Lia answered back, clapping her hands in mock-excitement.
Maggie rolled her eyes at her friend. “Don’t judge him by his money. Unless you want to be judged by your lack of it, right?” Her tone was suddenly serious.
Lia felt chastened. “You’re right. I don’t know anything about him as a person.”
“There you are. He may even turn out to be fun.”
“I highly doubt that,” Lia mumbled as she walked back to her own desk.
She tried to get back to work but it was almost impossible to concentrate on what she was doing. Her mind kept wandering to thoughts of Travis and the feel of his arms around her body. What should I wear, she mused silently. What do people wear for dinner on a yacht?
She did a quick internet search for ‘yacht dinner dress code’. Most of the search results agreed that unless stated otherwise, yacht dinners required formal wear. She rolled her eyes. Thankfully, her job required her to possess quite a few evening gowns, so she was covered in that department. At least I don’t have to go shopping, she told herself. Hopefully he won’t take me golfing next time.
With the dress code settled, she tried to get back to her tasks. But after a few minutes of staring blankly at her monitor, she found that her mind was now sorting through her wardrobe choices. She groaned silently. At this rate, I’ll never get any work done, she scolded herself.
She owned four evening gowns. She wore the blue velvet one yesterday at the fundraiser, so that was out of the question. The other three were black, pink and red, all of them floor length. Her favorite was the black one which had tiny crystals scattered across its bodice. Or fake crystals, she thought with a chuckle. The red was really sexy, it left her whole back free. She felt a delicious wave of arousal wash over her body as she imagined herself sitting next to Travis in her red dress.
Wow, she thought, a small smile appearing on her lips. For the first time since the whole ‘dates for donation’ thing started, she was starting to entertain the thought that this might even be fun.
The pink dress was really over the top, with a fluffy full skirt and a matching cape. Way too princess-y, Lia thought. So, it would have to be the red or the black. Black or red?
“What are you going to wear?” Maggie asked as if she were reading her friend’s mind.
Lia blushed and turned around to face her friend. “I have no idea what I’m going to wear,” she said, excitement creeping into her voice. She explained her two options.
“Red. Definitely red.”
“I kind of agree,” Lia replied, grinning.
“Do you need a hand with your hair?” Maggie asked breathlessly. “Oh, please, need a hand with your hair!”
Lia laughed. “What would you do with it?”
“The point of a backless dress is to show your back,” Maggie said. “So it should definitely be an updo of sorts. But to suggest a style, I’d have to see the dress.” She eyed Lia meaningfully.
“All right, all right. Maggie, will you please come to my apartment and help me get ready for my big date tonight?”
“I thought you’d never ask!” Maggie said, giggling. She checked her watch. “All right. We should go. There’s only a few hours left.” She started shutting down her computer.
“No, it’s way too early,” Lia protested. “I still have to do…”
“Tomorrow. It’ll all be there for you tomorrow.” Maggie jumped up from her chair and grabbed Lia’s hand. “Besides, you’re working tonight as well, right?”
“Fair point,” Lia said, shutting down her computer. She felt a tiny spark of excitement. She was actually looking forward to the date.
CHAPTER FIVE
Lia placed her keys onto the shoe cabinet by the door with a clink. “Make yourself at home as you always do,” she told Maggie. “I need to take a shower.”
She took a deep breath, smiling. Her small apartment smelled faintly of lavender and sunshine, courtesy of the big picture windows. The late afternoon sun shone into the living room, its rays lovingly stroked the light gray loveseat and the plush carpet on the floor.
“I’m going to raid your cupboard for something to snack on while we choose what you’re going to wear” Maggie announced, wriggling out of her coat.
“I thought we settled on the red dress,” Lia said, surprised.
Maggie raised an eyebrow. “Of course. But you need accessories as well.”
Lia chuckled. “OK.” She pointed Maggie toward her closet and entered the bathroom.
She threw her clothes into the laundry basket and stepped into the shower. She turned on the tap; the beads of water started cascading in a steaming waterfall. Lia stood directly under the shower head and let the hot water rain down on her body. She relished the sensation of the sharp beads stinging and tickling her skin.
Then she squashed a generous amount of shower gel onto her palm and lathered her thighs in slow, sensual moves. She covered her whole body in the soft, scented foam, the tiny bubbles stroking her skin. Suddenly, an image appeared in her head: instead of her own hand, she saw Travis’ long, sensual fingers smoothing the foam onto her skin. Desire trembled in her core. Her face turned crimson, and it had nothing to do with the temperature of the water.
You need to get a grip, she told herself. She turned the tap and soon, ice cold water was raining down on her body, washing away the foam and sharpening her senses almost painfully. There, you deserved that, she told herself as she turned off the water, teeth chattering. She reached for her towel and wrap
ped herself into its fluffy soft warmth.
She quickly put on underwear (she chose a black thong for the occasion) and her dressing gown. She wrapped her wet hair into a towel and padded to her bedroom.
She found her friend kneeling in front of the bed. The red dress was laid out and Maggie had lined up earrings, necklaces and hairclips next to the dress. She eyed them carefully, like a general debating his strategy for next day’s battle.
Lia giggled. “Isn’t this a bit over the top? It’s just a date, you know.”
Maggie snorted, her eyes never leaving the display of jewelry on the bed. “It’s most certainly not just a date. It’s the date.”
Lia shook her head. “I get that it’s important, that we want to keep Travis happy because there are two more dates to go. And we don’t want him pulling the plug and retracting his donation. I promise you, I’ll do my best.”
Maggie sat back on her heals. “Yes, there’s that. But it’s also a date. So you should treat it like one.”
“Fine, all right.” Lia sat down on the floor next to Maggie. “Though I don’t see why getting ready for a date is such a big deal. I’ve never really cared about dating that much.”
Maggie rolled her eyes. “Well, you might have an endless supply of billionaires lining up for you on your doorstep, begging for a date, but the rest of us aren’t so lucky. Believe it or not, this is the closest I’ve ever been to a date with a young, handsome and eligible billionaire. And even if it’s not my date, I want to live vicariously through you. So the least you can do is let me enjoy every second of the preparations. Please, just humor me.”
Lia sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you felt this way.” She surveyed the jewelry. “So, which one would you pick?”
“That’s quite obvious, isn’t it?” Maggie pointed to a pair of chandelier earrings. They were made of white gold and shaped like a teardrop. Tiny diamonds sparkled from the centerpiece, encircling a brilliant red ruby. Lia loved those earrings; they were a graduation gift from her parents. They actually took out a loan to buy the gift, but they insisted Lia deserved them.
The Auction: The Billionaire Wins a Date Page 4