by Jill Sanders
“Shouldn’t she be in a hospital having that kid instead of up on stage, pimping out a bunch of men?” Abby said quietly.
Jenna just waved her off and bent her head down as she glanced at the thick booklet that sat on each place mat.
“What about this one?” Jenna asked a few minutes later after their salads were delivered.
Abby had been too occupied eating the delicious poppy seed salad to even glance at the booklet.
“Hmm.” She shrugged her shoulders, not really giving Jenna the time of day.
“Abby!” Jenna groaned as she shuffled food into her mouth. “Are you going to take this seriously?”
Abby laughed. “Why should I? I mean, the food is great. Really great. How much did you say you paid for the tickets?” She was trying to calculate out the business side of holding an auction to raise money while providing top-quality food.
“I didn’t,” Jenna said, causing Abby to turn to her.
“Then how did we get in?”
Jenna smiled. “Your new boss emailed me—I mean you—the tickets.” Her smile grew.
Abby sighed. Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to work for Jordan Shipping. Why was she still having doubts about moving to a small town and starting over?
“I knew you’d want to support the town you’ll be moving to. After all, you never know if you will need”—she tilted her head and held up the glossy brochure—“one of these fine men.” She tapped the page with her perfectly manicured fingernail. Abby glanced down at the page and felt her mouth water.
Yeah, she needed one of those, all right. Maybe even that one in particular. She could lose herself, spending hours discovering every cord, ever bulge of rippling muscles. His skin was tan, but not the fake bake kind. The kind you get from being outside, shirtless. His bright yellow suspenders held his fire pants low on his hips as he leaned against a bright blue door, which almost matched the color of his eyes.
Shaking her head clear from the image of her pleasing herself with the boy toy, she thought about it on another level.
“What would I do with another empty-minded jock?” She leaned back as the waiter removed her plate and replaced it with a prime-cut steak in a bed of sweet potatoes and broccoli. Her mouth watered for another reason as she took a small nibble, then closed her eyes and moaned. “This is the best food I’ve had all year.” She nodded to Jenna. “Are you even paying attention to it?” She frowned when Jenna’s eyes continued to scan the brochure as she shoveled more food into her mouth.
“Sure…” she said, continuing to glance at the picture. “You like the strong and silent type, right?”
Abby rolled her eyes. “I am not buying a fireman,” she said before taking another bite of her food. “Really good food.” She shook her head and glanced around. Everyone else in the room seemed to be so consumed with reading through every page of the booklet, that the rich food was going unnoticed. Shaking her head, she leaned back and sipped her drink, wishing for a glass of red wine instead. Food this good deserved the best drinks. Flagging a waiter, she made her new drink request and sat back to enjoy the meal.
The steak was followed up with a lighter-than-air white mousse topped with white chocolate shavings and drizzled with raspberry sauce. She’d never tasted anything like it before.
“They could have just charged for the meal and made their money that way.” She rubbed her hands together as she sat back and watched the waiter remove all the empty plates.
“Yeah, it was great. Listen, what do you really think…”
She chuckled, interrupting her. “I told you, I’m not buying a bachelor or fireman.” She waved her hands. “Whatever. I’m not desperate and I don’t think Rod would like finding out that you’d…”
“Don’t be silly, it’s not for me.” She smiled. “Besides, you could use a distraction after Calvin.”
“Distraction?” She thought about it. Then shook her head quickly. “No, what I need in my life now is stability of my own making.”
Jenna chuckled. “Right. Right after one of these.” She tapped the booklet just as the lights dimmed.
Instead of the pregnant woman walking out on stage, a shorter woman with dark hair walked out.
“Uh, hi,” she said, glancing around. “I guess I’ll be taking over since my sister-in-law just went into labor.” Every woman in the audience oohed. “No, she’s okay.” The woman smiled. “It was her time.” She chuckled along with everyone else. “Anyway, I’m Lacey and I’ll try to get this over with quickly.” She glanced down at the paper in her hand. “Our first fireman is…”
Abby sat back and watched the show. As the evening went on, she was finding it really hard to believe that these women were paying several hundred dollars for a dinner date with a fireman. Even after paying what she could only assume was a few hundred for the tickets to get in.
For their part, most of the men looked uneasy and scared. That was until the women started whistling or cheering them on. Then they turned just plan cocky.
“I’m making a run to the ladies.” She moved to get off her chair.
“You can’t. He’s up next,” Jenna hissed.
“Really?” She let her eyes grow big, and then she laughed. “I’m not buying a date.” She slid out of her seat and walked towards the bathroom.
Chapter Three
Lane was a big ball of nerves. Why had he let Allison talk him into doing the auction? Even after all of his buddies had flaunted themselves up on stage, making it look easy, he doubted his motives.
He should have backed out when Allison had been shuffled out by Iian a half an hour ago. Her contractions had been steady all night, but she’d refused to leave. That was until her water had broken as she’d exited the stage.
It was a good thing Lacey had been there that evening to help deliver the food that Iian had spent all day making. Lacey had quickly agreed to take over for Allison. Actually, Iian’s little sister had always been a natural at entertaining a crowd. She’d run their family’s restaurant, The Golden Oar, while Iian had been head chef for years. Their older brother Todd had managed the family’s other business, Jordan Shipping. Actually, the family was one of Pride’s biggest successes.
“You’re up. Are you ready?” someone asked him and then pushed him towards the stage before he could answer.
He caught himself from tripping and then almost fell on his face when the bright lights blinded him. He forced himself not to squint and chose to look just below the lights instead. The entire room erupted in cheers as he walked down the narrow catwalk. By the time he made it to the end, he felt a little more relaxed.
Stopping at the end, he looked around and noticed that every eye was indeed on him. Everyone except a tall redhead who was making her way towards the back. He wished more than anything that he could be escaping the room like she was.
Turning around, he walked back up towards Lacey and stood next to her as she ran quickly through his bio and got the bidding started. He stood there, feeling like a complete dork as the bidding continued and finally narrowed down to two women, one, a smaller brunette, who looked very determined, the other, a tall blonde, who appeared to be getting egged on by three of her friends, all of whom looked to be a little too drunk to make any real decisions.
In the end, the shorter brunette won and he felt instant relief that he hadn’t gone to the crowd of women. Then he was shocked to hear the final bid amount and turned to Lacey to confirm he’d just been sold for the highest amount of the evening.
“Thank you everyone for a very successful night,” Lacey said, and she nodded towards him to exit the stage. “We hope you enjoyed your evening. Don’t forget, if you didn’t win a fireman tonight, you can still help out the Pride County Fire & Rescue by dropping your donations in the box on your way out.”
Lane followed Lacey backstage and leaned against the wall.
“Well?” He smiled down at her.
She smiled up and then tossed her tiny frame against his. “Can you bel
ieve it? Wait until I tell…” Then she gasped. “Allison and the baby! I’ve got to get to the hospital.” She rushed from the stage area.
He stuck around as the crowds disappeared, then after he helped everyone clean up, he made his way to collect his winner’s information.
Glancing at the name and address, he wished there was a picture to go along with the details. After all, the lights had been too bright to see what the brunette had really looked like.
She’d written down a note that tomorrow night would be best for her and scribbled a phone number at the bottom. He pulled out his cell and punched a text message to her letting her know that he’d pick her up at six, and then he waited for a reply as he headed out to the hospital to check up on his friend. He figured by now, the kid would have been born.
When he drove into the parking lot, his phone beeped.
– Six will be fine. See you then.
Short and to the point—he liked that in a woman.
When he walked into Allison and Iian’s room, he was greeted with a shock. Allison sat up in bed, holding a small bundle in her arms, while Iian walked around the room slowly, holding another.
“What?” He frowned and glanced around at the other people in the room. “Who?” He blinked and saw all the smiling faces watching him.
“Surprise,” Lacey and Allison said in unison.
“What?” he said again, still looking around at the faces, shocked.
“We couldn’t decide what we were having, a boy or a girl…” Allison said, “So we had one of each.”
“Twins?” He blinked and started walking towards Iian, who nodded at him and smiled the biggest smile he’d ever seen on a new father.
“Seriously?” He glanced down at the small bundle in Iian’s arms. The small girl was busy sucking on a pacifier. Her dark blue eyes were glued to Iian’s face. “Riley?” He glanced over at Allison, who just nodded. When he walked over to the bed, he looked down at the sleeping boy in Allison’s arms. “Lane?” He smiled and glanced up at her.
Allison blushed and chuckled a little as she shook her head. “Jacob Lane.”
He smiled. “Great name. Perfect name.” He sat next to her and ran his finger over the sleeping boy’s head. “Looks like you both won.” He glanced over at Iian, who was smiling down at them.
“So?” Allison chimed in. “How did it go?” She glanced between him and Lacey.
She squealed softly when Lacey told her the final take from the night. Even he felt proud that they’d more than doubled their current funds in one night.
***
“You did what?” Abby tried not to scream at her cousin.
“I may have bought you a fireman,” Jenna said through the side of her mouth.
“May?” She felt a headache building behind her eyes and reached up to rub them.
“Okay, I did.” Jenna nodded.
“Why? Why would you do this after I specifically told you no.” She continued to rub the side of her forehead.
Instead of answering, Jenna just shrugged her shoulders. Then she smiled and said, “Impulse buy.”
Instead of rubbing her head, this time she yanked on her hair and closed her eyes with the added pain.
“He’ll be here in an hour. That should give you plenty of time…”
“No.” She dropped her arms. “You bought him, you go out with him.”
“Don’t be stupid.” Jenna crossed her arms over her chest. “I have—”
“Rod, whom I am about to call and explain what you’ve done.” She reached into her pocket, only to have Jenna race towards her and hug her with her strong but very skinny arms.
“Don’t you dare.”
“How are you so strong?” She wiggled a little, trying to escape her grip. It became a tugging war when she finally got one arm free. Jenna moved around and started tickling her. By the time they fell onto the sofa, laughing, most of her anger towards her cousin had died.
“Just go out with him. Have a good time. My gift to you. Remember, I’m the one that introduced you to that ex of yours. The cheating, lying scum-ball” Jenna smiled over at her. “Besides, what could it hurt?”
She complained as Jenna threw a leg over hers. “I don’t like blind dates.”
Jenna laughed. “It’s not really a blind one. I mean, you’ve seen him.” She nodded to the new calendar that hung by their phone.
“Him?” She blinked a few times. “You bought me Mr. September?” Her cousin had hung the calendar up once they had gotten home.
Jenna smiled. “You can thank me later.”
Abby uttered. “What could I possibly have in common with that?”
Jenna shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe more than you think.”
Abby’s eyes narrowed at her. “What did his bio say?”
Jenna laughed. “Too late. Go, get ready. He’ll be here at six.”
She glanced at the clock and felt her heart skip.
“Fine, but if I have a terrible night, I get to…”
Jenna waited and then laughed when Abby couldn’t think of anything.
“I’ll figure something out.”
“Right. Go! Wear the green dress.”
She stopped as she was walking out. “The green one?”
Jenna nodded. “Trust me.”
Chapter Four
He hated going out on first dates. Not that he had gone out on many follow-up dates. Actually, as of late, he’d refrained from going out on any dates. It had been almost four months since he’d gone out on the last dating venture. Which, of course, had ended up a total disaster.
He sat in his car out front and watched the seconds tick by. Why he was always early was beyond him. Maybe it was a curse, taught to him by his overly protective mother who wanted the best for him. Maybe he was early just to spite his father, who had always complained about being early to every event they had gone to, then had died too early in life, in a car crash, as he was rushing to a meeting.
He sighed and leaned his head back against the headrest of his truck. His eyes moved to the light on the third floor as his mind tried to conjure up an image of the brunette. She’d been pretty enough. Prettier than the blonde, he remembered. He cringed a little when he remembered the way the table of women sitting next to the blonde had looked at him. He remembered thinking the brunette was far better than the alternative.
It was so hard convincing people, women especially, that there was more to him than the muscles they all adored. Sure, he spent his time in the firehouse gym, honing his build like most of the guys did while they sat around and waited for a job. But that didn’t mean he didn’t exercise his brain during off hours too. Actually, he’d just finished his bachelor’s in business online. He’d been thinking about switching and finding a full-time job and then helping out at the firehouse when he could. But glancing at his reflection in the mirror, he knew he was a fireman through and through. There was no way he’d ever stop doing what he loved full time. He loved his job. Loved the people. Loved everything about it.
Glancing at the clock, he decided a few minutes early couldn’t hurt. He jogged up the three flights of stairs, and some of his nerves fell away by the time he reached her door.
Glancing at his phone, he looked down at her name. Abigail Taylor. He wished he could tell more about her from just her name.
When the door flew open, he learned a lot about the small brunette. She apparently was forgetful.
“Hi,” she said a little breathless.
“Hi.” He glanced down at her cut-off jeans and T-shirt, then down at his dress pants and tie. “Am I early?”
She smiled. “Yes and no.” She moved aside. “Come on in.”
Instantly, he felt his stomach roll. This was not what he had signed up for. Even if she was a cute little package, there was no way he was spending an evening ‘in’ with someone who had paid for his time.
Her chuckle broke his train of thought. “It’s not like that.” She sobered a little. “I know you don’t have any r
eason to, but trust me.”
He nodded and stepped inside.
“I’ll be right back.” She rushed from the room and he wondered just how long it would take for her to change and get dressed.
He sat on the edge of the sofa and waited only to be shocked when she rushed back into the room less than two minutes later, still dressed the same.
“There.” She smiled and sat on the coffee table across from him. When she crossed her legs underneath her on the oak table, he couldn’t stop his look of question.
“Is everything alright?” He blinked a few times, not sure how to handle the situation.
“Yes.” She smiled and waved him away. “So, tell me all about your business degree. Is it financial, managerial…”
She trailed off.
“Financial,” he said hesitantly.
Her smile grew as she nodded.
“What about family?”
“My father passed almost fifteen years ago. I still have my mother and a younger sister, Angie.”
She nodded and then threw another question at him. “Pets?”
He smiled. “She’s mine.” He nodded towards the calendar and the picture of him holding Lady.
“Really?” She smiled. “Perfect.”
“Do you plan on this being our date?”
He watched as her head tilted, then she laughed. “I’m such a scatterbrain.” She sat up a little. “I’m not your date for the night.”
“You aren’t?” He leaned forward a little as she shook her head.
“No, I bought you for Abby.” She nodded towards the hallway just as a sexy redhead walked in wearing a tight green dress that matched the color of her eyes perfectly.
He’d like to think that he was a man who could control his emotions. But he knew by the look on her face that his lust had shown in his eyes before he was able to dial it back a few notches.