I heard a noise coming from Aaron. Something very close to his earlier snort.
“TJ for those lucky enough to call me a friend.” His grin widened.
Taking his hand, I shook it with a light laugh. “It’s very nice to meet you. I’m Catalina Martín, but please, call me Lina.”
TJ’s warm palm held my hand, head slanted. “And what brings you here, Lina?”
I shot Aaron a quick glance, hesitating as to what to say. Then, my gaze returned to TJ, who waited for an answer that should have come far more easily than this.
Smiling awkwardly and not having any idea what to say, I gave Aaron another sideways glance and opened my mouth. “I … erm—”
Aaron intervened. Finally. “TJ and I were teammates in Seattle.” He turned toward his friend. “Catalina is here with me tonight.”
TJ’s eyes stayed on me as he still waited in silence, clearly wanting me to elaborate on Aaron’s introduction. All right, the whole Catalina is with me was vague and redundant, but I could definitely go with that.
I cleared my throat. “Yes, we came here together, Aaron and I.” I waved my hand between us. “He … picked me up and then drove us here. In his car. Together.” I nodded my head, seeing TJ’s eyes light up with amusement, which made me uncomfortable. Which, in turn, made me itch to fill in the silence. “I have a driver’s license. But New York’s traffic is scary. So, I have never dared driving in the city myself.” Unnecessary, Lina.What am I doing? “So … it’s a really good thing Aaron picked me up. He doesn’t look like he’s scared of the traffic. Actually, it’s him who can be a little scary sometimes.” I chuckled, but it died off quickly. “Not that I’m scared of him. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gotten in his car.” Shut up, Lina. Shut. Up. I felt Aaron’s laser eyes boring holes into my profile. TJ’s too, but in a much less hostile way and a much more absorbed one. “So, yeah, long story short, we came here together.”
Cringing internally, I reminded myself that this was what I deserved for lying in the first place.
Aaron’s friend chuckled, bringing both his hands to the pockets of his maroon tuxedo. TJ’s eyes jumped between us, his gaze bouncing a couple of times from Aaron to me and then right back. Whatever he found, it was enough for him to nod his head with something that looked a lot like trouble.
“Hmm,” TJ hummed, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, Aaron can be a scary motherfucker.” He winked. “Me, on the other hand? Just charm.”
“I can tell.” I smiled, just glad TJ had taken over.
“As I’m sure you already know, there is a bachelor auction going on tonight, and not only am I a bachelor myself”—TJ held both hands up, mischief written all over his face. Then, he peered at Aaron, as did I, and found him shooting daggers at him—“but I have also signed up for the auction. And while I’m sure I’ll be expensive, I can promise you, I am worth your—”
“TJ,” Aaron cut off his friend. “That won’t be necessary.”
Aaron’s body somehow shifted closer to me, my shoulder almost brushing his arm. That kernel that had been planted back in my apartment—that awareness of Aaron’s body, the way his proximity was really hard to ignore all of a sudden—sprouted.
I looked up at Aaron, finding his eyes already on me as his head leaned down.
“You can stop pitching yourself,” he told his friend as his gaze snared mine. Then, I felt the ghost of a touch on the small of my back. Or so I thought because it was gone far too quickly to be sure it had been real. “Catalina is bidding on me tonight.”
I blinked. Trapped by Aaron’s eyes and how close his words had fallen, almost gracing the skin of my left temple.
“You seem very sure of that,” I heard TJ say, my eyes still locked with Aaron’s. “At least for someone who sounded more like her driver than her date.”
Aaron tore his gaze off me, landing on his friend. And I did the same.
Something passed between the two men, and for a heartbeat, I felt like I should intervene.
Then, TJ threw back his head and laughed, breaking whatever tension had seemed to take shape around us. “I’m just joking, Big A.” Another cackle. “You should see your face. For a second there, I thought you were actually going to tackle me to the floor or something. You know that’s not my style. I’d never go after a friend’s girl.”
“I’m not—” My mouth opened to correct TJ, telling him I wasn’t Aaron’s girl. But the lines delimiting our deal were blurry, and I had no idea if I’d be inserting my foot in my mouth. I was his fake date and fake bidder, but did that mean I was his fake girl too? Damn, we definitely needed to talk this out before Spain. This test run was proving to be far more challenging than what I had expected. “He wasn’t going to tackle you, TJ.”
Aaron’s body seemed to relax with a sigh, somehow shifting and angling toward me. His chest brushed my arm just lightly, making me feel the warmth of his body. “I see that’s something that hasn’t changed,” Aaron muttered. “How hilarious you think you are.”
“Come on,” I intervened. “He was just teasing you.” Just how I would have if I wasn’t still feeling all tingly and weird and I could focus on something besides the point where my shoulder grazed Aaron’s chest. “It was harmless fun.”
“See? Listen to your girl. I was just pushing your buttons.” TJ’s smile persisted, lighting up his whole face. “Just like old times.”
A question popped up in my head then. Why had TJ felt the need to push Aaron like that? Was this how they were with each other? It must have been. Aaron had gotten territorial in a matter of seconds right out of nowhere.
“Oh, speaking of old times,” TJ said, his face somehow taking a somber quality. “I heard about Coach, and I’m sorry, man. I know you guys don’t talk, but he is still your—”
“It’s okay,” Aaron cut his friend off. I could feel the tension emanating off his body. The shift. I could sense how uncomfortable and on guard he was all of a sudden. “Thanks, but there’s nothing you have to be sorry for.”
I looked up at him, finding him pinning his friend with a warning in his eyes.
“All right,” TJ complied, his face taking on a somber edge. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you because you have lived through it yourself, but time doesn’t wait for you to make amends, man. Time waits for nobody.”
TJ stared back at his friend with something I failed to identify. An emotion that I wanted to understand where it was coming from. How and why did it affect Aaron, and what did it have to do with that man TJ had called Coach?
“I convinced my pops to come tonight. I signed him up for the auction.” That mischievous smile was back. “It’s time he gets out there and starts living his life again. He’s very excited.” Before Aaron or I could say anything—Aaron because he still looked a little lost himself and me because I was trying to understand why—TJ turned to me. “So, Lina, if you get tired of his boring face, just know there are not one, but two James men available on the stage.”
“I’ll make sure to remember that.” I smiled at him, trying to lighten my tone. “Although I think I have my hands full with this one.”
I felt Aaron’s eyes on me, warming up my face.
Why did I say that?
“Which reminds me,” TJ said. “The auction will be starting soon, and I was sent to steal this ugly bastard away. So, if you don’t mind, Lina, we should get going.”
“Oh, of course.” I let my gaze roam around, realizing how most of the people had shifted closer to the stage, which was at one of the ends of the rooftop. A wave of nervousness washed over me. “You guys should go.” My smile turned tight. “I can spare the company for a little while.” I lowered my voice. “I’m sure you know how chatty he can get.” I pointed at Aaron. “So, my ears can use the break.”
TJ cackled again. “Are you sure you want to spend your money on him, Lina? I’m telling you—”
Aaron glared at his friend. “Quit it already, would you?”
“Okay, okay. I was just saying, man.” TJ’s hands went up.
I chuckled, but it came out a little strangled because Aaron had eaten the distance that separated us, my arm fully coming in contact with his chest, and all of a sudden, I didn’t want him to go.
My eyes landed on Aaron, who was looking down at me with an apology shining in the blue of his eyes. I must have looked and sounded as nervous as I felt if Aaron was feeling bad for leaving me to myself for a little while. I shook my head, telling myself to stop being silly.
“Yes, I think I’m sure, TJ,” I answered TJ’s initial question while I searched Aaron’s face. “Go. I’ll be fine on my own.”
He seemed to hesitate, not moving from my side, and I felt bad for making him feel like he needed to babysit me.
“Don’t be silly, Big A. I’m fine, and you have to go.” I absently patted Aaron’s chest, my palm freezing on the spot.
Aaron looked down at my hand very slowly, just as electricity shot up my arm. I retrieved my hand immediately, not having the slightest idea why I had done that besides the fact that the touch had come naturally to me. Aaron had felt bad for leaving me alone—probably because I had looked like someone had kicked my puppy—and I had automatically tried to comfort him with physical contact. A friendly pat. But we weren’t friends, and I shouldn’t forget that.
I cleared my throat. “Go, seriously.” I lifted my empty glass in the air, feeling my cheeks heat for the umpteenth time tonight. “I’ll busy myself with getting a refill.”
“I can stay a little longer, explain to you how the bidding works.” His voice was oddly gentle. It made me uncomfortable. “Get you another drink too.”
The urge to touch him again—to reassure him I’d be fine—was back. I suppressed it. “I think I can figure it out on my own,” I told him softly. It couldn’t be all that complex.
“What if I still want to tell you about it?”
My urge to antagonize him—to attempt to get us back to how we were supposed to be—somehow pushed me to rise on my tiptoes. I leaned in, so only he could hear me. “I’ll figure it out. And if I don’t, I swear, I will try not to spend all your money on something stupid, like a yacht or Elvis’s used underpants. But I make no promises, Blackford.”
I leaned back, expecting to find him rolling his eyes or scoffing. Anything that would indicate I had succeeded and this was still us—the Aaron and Lina I was comfortable with. Instead, I was welcomed by blue eyes that were full of … something that churned and made me uneasy.
He hid it with a blink. “Okay.” That was the only answer he gave me.
No snarky comeback. No scolding comment about how unfunny and inappropriate it would be to spend his money on a boat. No appalled glance after mentioning Elvis’s knickers.
Nothing, except okay.
Okay then.
“All right, let’s go,” TJ said, encouraging Aaron to take a step away from me. “I’ll see you later, Lina.” He winked.
“Yeah,” I mumbled and then shook my head and tried to look like I wasn’t as confused as I felt. “Woo those flocks of bidders, guys!” I cheered with my fist in the air.
TJ openly laughed, and Aaron remained looking at me with something I hoped was not regret after asking me to do this whole fake date thing for him.
Both men proceeded to turn and then walked away side by side, the sight too enticing for me not to follow them with my gaze. So, I stood there and watched them. I saw how TJ leaned into my fake date’s side and said something probably just for him. Aaron’s head never turned, his step never ceased; his only reaction was a shake of his raven head. Then, he shoved TJ away with a force I was sure would have sent anybody else flying.
Another one of TJ’s cackles resonated in the air.
And I found myself grinning as I watched them stride off. Thinking about how seeing Aaron around all these people who belonged to a life I hadn’t had the slightest clue existed—one that he had kept well guarded, just like he did everything else—was as outlandish as it was fascinating.
* * *
My hand roseof its own accord, catching me by surprise.
“Fifteen hundred for the lady in the beautiful midnight-blue gown,” Angela—who had been in charge of conducting the auction for the last hour—called from behind the microphone stand with a rather shocked smile.
My throat dried up, making it impossible for me to swallow my own audacity.
I was a despicable human being because I had just bid a dizzying amount of money on someone. A man. A bachelor no less.
One that wasn’t Aaron.
The seemingly sweet and old man I had just bid on gave an enthusiastic cheer from the center of the stage, relief taking over his wrinkled face. He bowed in my direction.
As much as I felt horrible and guilty and honestly a little terrified, I couldn’t help but smile at the man in return.
Willing my eyes to stay put—and not to jump to Aaron, who was a few feet to the left of the stage, waiting for his turn to be auctioned—I tried to shake off the deserved sense of guilt that had settled between my shoulders.
Chill. I needed to chill.Someone else would bid higher. The old man just needed a little push to get this going.
And that was exactly what I had done. Or what I had found myself doing after the five minutes of awkward and heartbreaking silence following that sweet-looking man stepping on the stage. I had recognized that smile immediately. It had been the same playing on TJ’s lips.
“Ladies and gentlemen, sixteen hundred for Patrick James.” Angela’s voice came through the speakers.
No hands rose in the air. Not even one.
Dammit.