by Jan Hinds
On the dance floor, she resisted Sawyer’s attempts to pull her close. A linebacker could have walked between them as they danced.
Sawyer tilted his head. “Look, it’s obvious you’re more than a personal assistant. I’m not trying to come between you and Cooper. That isn’t my intention.”
Paige’s forehead wrinkled with her frown. “Just what is your intention?”
“I feel terrible that Cooper’s career ended the way it did. I heard about him starting up his design business. I plan to open a chain of combination fitness centers and spas. I’m calling it a Fit Spa. The pilot facility will be here in Fort Wayne. I want to contract with Cooper to design a building that will be unique. Something that, when anyone sees the shape of the building, they’ll know it is one of my franchises.”
“Cooper’s going in for another surgery on Monday. We also won’t earn our interior design degrees until spring. Currently we are working on a project with Whitley Barrow as the interior designer.”
Sawyer cringed. “I’ll trust you and Cooper for the interior design, or wait until you feel you’re ready to do it. I’m opening a temporary facility in a vacant store off Dupont Road until the pilot center is finished. I’d love to give you a tour of it and get a feel for the space I’ll need.”
“Me or Cooper?”
Sawyer shrugged his broad shoulders. “You for starters. I figure if I can convince you, you’ll persuade Cooper to work with me.”
“I can’t promise Cooper will want to do business with you. I understand there are hard feelings between you.”
Sawyer looked sideways at Cooper, who still stood watching them dance. “We used to be best friends. I’d like to earn his friendship back. I never was a good enough friend to him. I’m trying to be a better man.”
Paige gave her head an exaggerated nod. “Oh, you mean now if your friend is in the hospital your first inclination won’t be to run off with his fiancée?”
“Look, I’m trying hard to not be that guy anymore. Will you talk to Cooper for me?”
Paige felt uneasy. “Why are you asking me for help?”
Sawyer shrugged his broad shoulders. “I know if I go to him directly, he’ll refuse to even talk to me. I can’t tell you how much it will mean to me to make amends with Cooper. I’ll do anything I can to make it up to him.”
Paige saw a blaze of crimson hair heading toward Cooper. “If you want my help, keep Whitley Barrow away from Cooper and don’t let her win him in the auction.”
A familiar hand touched Sawyer’s shoulder. “Excuse me. May I cut in?”
Paige’s mouth dropped open as she looked up into the handsome, clean-shaved face of a tall lean man with brown hair and blue eyes. His lean physique tapered from wide shoulders to slim hips in a tuxedo that fit too well to be off the rack. “Ted. What are you doing here?”
Ted shouldered Sawyer out of the way and pulled Paige close, twirling her quickly away, as he skillfully maneuvered her across the dance floor. “I saw your name on the email of the bachelorettes up for auction. I decided if you really are available, there is no way I’m letting anyone outbid me. I still want you back, Paige. I’m willing to fight for you.”
Paige tried to press away from Ted. He was much stronger than she expected and he only pulled her closer.
“Ted, I told you I’m in love with someone else. I respect you and still want to be friends, but if you can’t move on, our friendship won’t last. Now please let me go.”
A firm hand slammed down on Ted’s shoulder. “I believe my daughter asked you to let go of her. I don’t think any of us want to create a scene at this lovely event, but son, I’ve got to tell you that if you don’t let go of my little girl, I’m prepared to break both your arms and all ten fingers. Then how will you play your little video games?”
Regret flashed across Ted’s face. “Please, Paige, all I’m asking for is another chance.” He released her and Stuart danced her away from him.
Stuart looked around them and said in a low voice, “Princess, what’s going on with you and Cooper? And don’t tell me nothing. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I can still cut through the crap. Talk to me.”
Paige pressed her forehead to her father’s shoulder. “Oh, Daddy. I’m in a pickle. Cooper and I aren’t really engaged. He hired me to work for him to take the stress off his parents. There never was an engagement. It’s all fake.”
“Sweetheart, I’m not much of a man of the world, but I’d bet my bottom dollar that Cooper loves you. Either that or he’s one heck of an actor. When you were dancing with Sawyer, he looked like a man about to lose the most important thing in his life.”
She shook her head. “He and Sawyer Pierce have this rivalry and he picked me because he wanted someone not attractive enough for Sawyer to be interested in.”
Stuart tipped her chin up and forced her to look into his eyes. “If he thinks you’re unattractive, he’s either blind or a fool. Haven’t I always told you how beautiful you are?”
“Dad, I know you said those things to counter Mom’s criticism. Mom used to tell me you and Aunt Marty weren’t doing me any favors and that she told it like it was so I didn’t live in a fantasy world. I always loved you and Aunt Marty for being in my corner. It helped give me courage. It helped me accept that I didn’t need to be gorgeous to be loved.”
Stuart sighed. “Sweetheart, I’ve failed you by not keeping your mother and sister from constantly putting you down. The truth is, they were both jealous of you. You were always smarter, had a better sense of humor, and were never afraid to work and fight for what you wanted. I think your mom went on her culinary crusade to try to not be outshined by you.”
Stuart shook his head and grimaced at Evie. “Setting aside your mother and all the negatives she’s been focusing on all these years, what is it that you want, Paige?”
Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “I want Cooper. I love him so much it hurts. I just don’t know if I can ever believe he could love me.”
Stuart gave her a sad smile. “Perhaps you need to focus on learning to love yourself first. I don’t think you’ll lack for men falling in love with you. Just promise your old man you won’t settle for someone that you don’t love. Wait for the real deal. You deserve it, Princess.”
The music stopped and Paige kissed her father’s cheek. “Thanks, Dad. I promise I’ll work on it. And I won’t settle. I’d rather be alone than with the wrong man.” She held onto her father’s arm as he walked her back to the table.
Cooper pulled her close and whispered. “I’m an idiot. Please forgive me.”
Paige’s chest burned as she nodded, unable to look him in the eyes, as she sat down next to him.
Natalie Pratt took to the stage and thanked Garrett Marcel and his band for the music as she began the auction. She introduced each individual to be auctioned off and a professional auctioneer orchestrated the bidding.
Paige riveted her attention on the stage, ignoring Cooper’s repeated attempts to talk to her. When his name was called he whispered in her ear, “I’ve earmarked five thousand dollars for the auction. Please, don’t let Whitley win me.” He pressed the auction paddle into her hands.
She glanced at the paddle, placed it on the table, and folded her hands in her lap.
Cooper frowned. “Honey—”
“They’re waiting for you. You’d better go,” she said softly.
He made his way to the stage. Cooper could easily have been a GQ cover model with his crisp tux, his handsome face and those mesmerizing brown eyes. He stood with his weight shifted to his good leg and both hands on the cane in front of him and daffodils, he made a cane look sexy.
Paige picked up the paddle, but Natalie announced, “Early bidding has placed the opening bid for Cooper Jennings at five thousand dollars.”
Whitley smirked at Paige, letting her know she held that bid.
A hush spread over the audience. Paige put the paddle back on the table, convinced she’d lost Cooper foreve
r—until the bidding escalated. The winning bid for Cooper Jennings topped off at twenty-five thousand dollars. A crushing fear pierced Paige’s heart as she craned her neck to see who the woman was who wanted Cooper that badly. Natalie announced the winner. “Cooper Jennings, sold for twenty-five thousand dollars to Sawyer Pierce.”
Sawyer stood up and winked at Paige before he bounded to the stage. He grabbed the microphone from Natalie. “I want to assure everyone that there is no bromance going on with me and Cooper. I promised his girlfriend I wouldn’t let Cooper go to another lady. He’s all yours, Paige. Why you want him is beyond me.”
Paige joined the applause and laughter in the room. When the spotlight centered on her, she stood and blew Sawyer a kiss.
He handed the microphone back to Natalie and walked Cooper down the steps. They shook hands and Cooper headed toward Paige.
Still bathed in the spotlight, she remained standing until Cooper reached her. He handed his cane to his father and with one hand on the back of her neck and the other around her waist, he kissed her.
Melting into his embrace, she returned the kiss, which ignited a fire in her she had no desire to extinguish. Only when his lips left hers did she hear the applause that broke out in the room.
As she and Cooper waved to the room and sat, she saw Ted glaring at her, or perhaps at Cooper, from across the room.
“Am I out of the doghouse now?” Cooper asked as they sat down and the applause subsided.
With an aloof hitch of one shoulder, she said, “You think one kiss will atone for what you did?”
Natalie called Sawyer back to the stage and offered him for auction. Paige lifted the paddle from the table and said “Five thousand dollars.”
Her bid, quickly dwarfed, had the desired effect of silencing Cooper.
When Cooper tried to give her the ring back, she shook her head and focused on the auction.
Sawyer Pierce earned the charity seventeen thousand dollars and was purchased by the CEO of a local accessory manufacturer, who wanted Sawyer to coach her twin high school boys for a day to improve their football skills.
The rest of the auction was a blur as Paige dreaded her turn to come up for bid. As if reading her mind, Whitley sauntered over and looked down at her. “Don’t worry Paige. I’m sure Cooper will make a pity bid for you.”
Cooper slid his arm around Paige’s shoulder and kissed her temple. “There will be no pity involved. I want her and I don’t want anyone else to have her.”
She almost succumbed to the tenderness in his gaze, until she felt her naked ring finger and realized his motivation was to perpetuate the lie with his parents. How could he fake that kind of intensity? He used her to convince his parents they were in love. Was it wrong for her to use him to convince Whitley of the same thing?
She kissed him and her fingers lingered on the side of his handsome face.
Whitley stormed off in a huff.
“Will you put your ring back on before you go up there?” he asked.
“No. I—”
Natalie’s voice stopped their conversation. “Our next and final individual up for auction is Paige Vaughn. Paige is currently working as Cooper Jennings’ personal assistant in his start-up company Jennings Design Services. She will be earning her degree in interior design in the spring and adding her design skills to the company. I have a feeling Cooper won’t be the only one with designs on the lovely Paige. Let’s give it up for Paige Vaughn who already has the highest early bid at fifteen thousand dollars.”
Shock rippled through her. She looked at Ted who tipped his glass to her with a confident gleam in his eyes. She smiled and waved as she made her way to the stage. Comments about her gown filtered through the applause as she drifted by and noted the appreciative nods from women who wondered aloud where she got it, if it was an original, how much it cost.
Her stomach lurched when she saw Ted twirling a paddle in his hand. She knew he was worth a lot more than most people thought. He loved to brag about how much money he was raking in and had delighted in showing off his net worth to her on the spreadsheet he designed.
Sawyer Pierce winked as she passed him. Odd that she’d dated Ted for two years and yet thought being bought by Sawyer Pierce sounded like a safer alternative. Not that Ted would ever hurt her. She glanced at him again and saw his features soften. Did he care for her as much as he said, or was it his competitive nature driving his continuing pursuit of her? He so hated losing.
Whitley sat with one knee swung over the other. She grimaced at Paige when Natalie announced Paige’s early bid was higher than anyone else’s had been. Paige wished like anything to have the low-bid humiliation she’d been expecting, rather than the bidding war she now anticipated.
She again noticed many women nodding in her direction as she passed. Before the bidding started, she asked Natalie for the microphone. “Hello. As Natalie said, I’m Paige Vaughn. Most of you don’t know me. Although the program indicates I am up for bid, there has been a miscommunication.”
A low murmur rippled through the room. Natalie took a step toward her, but she held up her hand for her to stop.
“This evening I am wearing a gown that is an original design from an up and coming fashion designer, Tina Pruitt. Regardless of your body type, ladies, Tina can make you a work of art. So what you are bidding on now, is an original fashion design by Tina Pruitt.” She looked across the audience to Tina who nodded her head in approval.
Paige pointed to Tina. “Can we get a spotlight on the designer Tina Pruitt, please? Tina is also wearing one of her own creations.”
Tina stood and soon found herself bathed in the spotlight. She did a little model twirl and the crowd favored her with applause.
Paige turned to Natalie. “Due to the confusion, I feel it only fair to void the early bidding and start the bidding over.”
She handed the microphone back to Natalie, who grinned at her. “Tina, come up and join Paige on the stage,” Natalie said.
Natalie looked down at Ted. “Does the early bidder want to let his bid stand?
Ted nodded his head once and looked at Paige with a resigned warmth.
“All right then, the current bid is at fifteen thousand dollars. I’m taking the liberty to tell my husband Aaron, you’ve been asking me what I want for Christmas? This is it.”
After a heated bidding war, Aaron won the bid for Natalie, who rejoined Paige and Tina when the auction ended. “Well played, Paige. Sorry about the auction set-up. Whitley blackmailed me with pictures of a spring break gone wild when we were in college. I hope there are no hard feelings.”
“None whatsoever. Congratulations on winning the bid.”
Natalie turned to Tina. “Do you have a business card?”
Tina looked flustered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t bring any with me.”
“No matter. Here’s my card. Call me. I’m wanting a design of office wardrobe that will be attractive and expand through my pregnancy. I’ll pay for all the materials and I don’t want you to spare the expense. All I bid on here was your design for one outfit, but I’ll gladly pay for an entire wardrobe.”
Tina took the card. “I’ll call you next week to set up a time for your consult.”
Before they got back to the table, at least ten other women pressed business cards into Tina’s hand.
When they returned to their group, Cooper politely shook Sawyer’s hand. Sawyer gave Paige a wink and headed off Whitley again as she made a beeline for Cooper.
Cooper clapped his hands for Paige and Tina, and the rest of their party joined him. He drew Paige close and whispered, “Please put your ring back on?”
She shook her head as Natalie’s excited voice drew her attention back to the stage where Natalie announced the winners of the silent auction. “The winning bid for a three-month membership in Sawyer Pierce’s new Fit Spa, including personal training by Sawyer himself, goes to Paige Vaughn!”
“But I didn’t bid on anything,” she said with her brow wrinkle
d in confusion.
Evie Vaughn hugged her daughter. “I bid on it for you, dear. You want to lose that last forty pounds in time for the wedding.”
Cooper grumbled, “She doesn’t need to lose any weight. She’s perfect.”
The sound of glass shattering drew Paige’s eyes to Ted, whose angry glare fixed on her. He stood next to the bar with broken shards of glass at his feet.
Chapter Eleven
Cooper leaned his forehead against Paige’s closed door. “If you think I’m going to spend the rest of our lives together pleading through a closed door, you’re mistaken. This ignoring me and shutting me out when we have a disagreement ends now.” He held his breath and waited¸ wondering if trying to force a confrontation was the right move.
Her muffled response sounded furious and Cooper stepped back, uncertain he wanted to know what she said.
He loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. She had every right to be angry. He’d screwed up. Royally.
The whole reason for starting this sham engagement was to get through the next surgery without burdening his parents. His surgery was less than two days away.
Did it really matter that Paige wore a ring? That the hospital considered her his fiancée? He’d given her power of attorney, and signed the forms to give the hospital and doctor permission to discuss his care with her. He was confident she and Tina would keep the business flowing until he recovered. So why did he keep insisting that Paige perpetuate the fake engagement? “Paige, please talk to me.”
The knob turned and she opened the door. She folded her arms and leaned her shoulder on the door frame. “I can’t keep doing this. It’s too confusing. I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t anymore.”
Cooper’s mouth suddenly felt parched as if he’d been wandering in the desert for days. A suitcase lay open on her bed. That it was still empty gave him a modicum of hope. “Please don’t leave me now.”
“I won’t participate in a fake anything. If you ever want me to wear an engagement ring, then you’d better be prepared to marry me. I deserve a life. I deserve to find someone who will love me.” Her fist slammed against her outer thigh. “Petunias! I deserve my own happily ever after and I’ll never find it if I’m pretending to be engaged to someone who doesn’t want that with me.”