Lady in Red had beaten me—and around another five or six hands—to it again.
A quick look at Aaron’s tense shoulders told me he felt as unhappy about it as I was.
I squared back my shoulders, focusing on Angela and her next words.
“Wonderful,” she said into the microphone. “Let’s raise this up, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Blackford is after all in high demand. How about nineteen hun—”
My hand shot up in the air, keeping an eye on Lady in Red, whose bid had been faster than mine. Again.
Angela chuckled and pointed at Lady in Red again, acknowledging her bid.
To my shock and surprise, Lady in Red turned in my direction with a smug smile on her face.
My eyes narrowed. Oh, hell no. This wasn’t about charity. This had just gotten personal.
Angela announced the next amount, and I launched my hand in the air with impressive speed, so much that I almost pulled a muscle, but Angela’s next words made up for possible injuries.
“For the lovely lady in midnight blue.” Angela smiled from behind the stand.
I returned it, feeling a weird burn in the pit of my stomach, matching the one on my shoulder.
Next bid was called, and it was mine again.
Ha! Suck that, Lady in Red.
As if she had heard me, her head whirled around. Her eyes narrowed to very thin slits, and her lips pursed. The woman whipped her blonde hair back and dismissed me.
I knew in that moment that I had been right to assume this was personal. This lady was after Aaron. And I wasn’t going to let her get my Aaron—
Not mine, I corrected myself. Just Aaron.
I wasn’t going to let her get Aaron.
The call for the next bid came, and before Angela’s words were out, it was already mine. Lady in Red sent me a look that could have frozen the sun on a heated New York summer day, and I was tempted to stick my tongue out, but after reminding myself that would be about a hundred ways of inappropriate, I limited myself to smirking.
Lady in Red and I battled for about five or six more rounds. Each of them becoming brisker, our arms flashing up faster, the looks we sent each other growing icier. My breath quickened, and the skin of my face felt like I had just sprinted across Central Park like I was chasing the freaking ice cream truck. But so far, it was worth it because Aaron remained mine.
Not mine. Just … whatever.
I had been so absorbed by this duel we had going on that I had almost forgotten about the man on the stage. I had barely checked on him since the bidding bloodshed started.
Just as I was about to turn my attention to Aaron, my hand rose in the air one more time—as high as the ridiculous amount of money we had reached—and this time, it did alone.
Angela waved in my direction. “Going once for the lady in midnight blue,” she called.
My heart thumped against my chest harder. I caught a glimpse of a gray-haired man beside a tight-lipped Lady in Red, who stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest.
“Going twice,” Angela continued as I watched the man whisper something in Lady in Red’s ear, to which she just sighed and nodded. Reluctantly.
Come on, come on, come on. Aaron is almost mine.
“And sold to the very lovely and very passionate lady in the midnight-blue gown.” Angela closed the bidding with a wink.
I felt the celebratory holler climbing to my throat as my head finally turned in Aaron’s direction. I wanted to do a little victory dance. To throw my hands in the air too. I also felt the urge to shout a couple of inappropriate words, which, in hindsight, I would have realized was extremely stupid and I would have immediately regretted it.
But as Aaron came into view, that whirling emotion that had been too loud a moment ago, fell silent on its own. He wasn’t even smiling. He simply … looked at me.
The disappointment at not finding that grin I had gotten a glimpse of earlier returned, and I wondered if it would be this way from today on. Me searching for Aaron’s smile and him keeping it locked away again.
I swallowed that up, shoving those stupid thoughts out of my head.
My lips tugged up regardless of all that, and I gave a halfhearted cheer. To which Aaron simply nodded, looking like he did when he had something in his mind. Something that bothered him.
Frowning, I watched Aaron’s long legs climb down the stage and walk to my side, all the while ignoring how the way he wasn’t even celebrating with me made me feel. Instead, I focused on keeping what I hoped looked like a genuine smile in place.
The blue-eyed man I had just bought for a date that would never happen stopped in front of me. He dipped his head, his chin almost touching his collarbone. I waited, but he didn’t say anything.
I reached for something to say and came up empty-handed, returning the silence.
That awareness I had been familiarizing myself with far too rapidly for my own good and comfort came rushing back, raising the short hairs on my arms. It hit me then how weird, how strange, and how shocking in many different ways it was that we’d found each other in this situation. How tonight didn’t even seem real.
Shifting on my feet under the weight of Aaron’s gaze, I swallowed. One more time, I wasn’t capable of taking in this heavy silence that settled between us. “I hope you come with a boat, Blackford,” I finally said, my voice sounding a little off. “Otherwise, I might regret not sticking with Patrick.”
Aaron’s eyes didn’t waver. They held mine. And just as they did, I watched how they warmed up for just a heartbeat. The skin around them wrinkling only slightly with the smile I now knew he refused to give me.
I felt something shift in my chest. Something very subtle and small that I almost missed, but it didn’t help the pace of my breath—still all over the place from the auction—to return to normal.
He took one step closer. “Sometimes, I’m convinced you enjoy making me suffer.” His usually deep voice sounded hushed. Giving to his words an afterthought quality.
“Oh.” I frowned. My mouth opened, but I still struggled for a few more moments. “Okay, you have every right to be pissed, but in all fairness, we are even because you should have warned me it would get that intense.” I laughed awkwardly. “If I had known, I would have added a ninja star or two to my outfit. They would have definitely come in handy with Lady in Red.”
Aaron towered over my short height, quiet and still gazing at me in that way that made me shift on my feet again.
Silence settled between us once more, bringing to my attention that we were no longer surrounded by the crowd that had gathered in front of the stage. Instead, the murmur of voices accompanied with a mellow tune came all the way from the other side of the rooftop.
Aaron broke the silence, saying, “Dance with me.”
Chapter Nine
He offered his hand, letting it hang in the small space between our bodies.
Dance?
Gaping at his hand, I hesitated. Not really sure whether I had a reason to doubt his offer or if it was just the way I automatically reacted to Aaron.
“Is this part of the deal?” I heard myself ask.
Aaron frowned.
“Us dancing, I mean. Just for show, right?” I explained.
I wasn’t blind—or stupid—and I was pretty sure that dancing wasn’t something we needed to do. But a big part of me was effectively confused, and I was growing more so by the moment. So, by saying that out loud, I was simply throwing myself a lifeline I could grab on to until I could clear up the mess in my head.
“Right,” Aaron answered, that frown disappearing and his hand still waiting for my decision. “Just for show.”
I accepted his offer, letting his large palm wrap around mine, unsure of how good of an idea it was.
Aaron pulled me gently behind him, and my legs shook with a weird mix of anticipation and unease. His hand was warm and firm against mine, making me feel good and tingly even though I could tell it weighted down that lifeline I was trying to hold on to with teeth and nails.
I was still unsure of how good of an idea this was when he softly dragged me where a small group of people had gathered to dance.
But it was when he stopped walking, turned, and stepped close—so very close—that my mind finally flagged this as a bad idea. So much that a part of me started debating whether I should run away or pretend I fainted right there and then so I didn’t have to face what we were about to do.
Dancing.
Together.
As in Aaron Blackford—the man I had been antagonizing for so long—and me.
Oh sweet baby Jesus.
Aaron draped his arms around my waist, and I felt a shock of electricity spreading across my body from the points where his hands rested on my back. My breath caught, and something heavy and solid dropped to the bottom of my stomach.
Swallowing hard, I tilted my head back. I thought I saw dare and wariness in his gaze. All at once. And that sent an unsolicited spur of anticipation through me.
I placed my hands on Aaron’s chest—noticing how hard and toned it felt under my fingers—but unlike earlier tonight, when I had accidentally touched him, this time, I let my hands rest there. Only then did he bring me to him. My small frame immediately cradled in his much larger one.
A heartbeat later, we were moving, almost every part of our bodies from our chests down pressed together. Aaron’s motions were sure, directing, while mine were stiff and incompliant.
Releasing a breath through my nose, I tried to relax my limbs. To focus on the mechanics of dancing. To calm that red-hot awareness raging inside of me. But the knowledge of how close our bodies were was blowing up alarms inside my head and making it impossible for me to think about much else besides that.
Dancing. We were dancing. Bodies flushed. And that was something we weren’t supposed to be doing. A situation in which Aaron and Lina, who barely tolerated each other, shouldn’t be finding themselves in because this wasn’t something that people who couldn’t stand each other did.
Aaron spun me in a circle with a swift motion and pressed me against him one more time, making my heart quicken in a way it had no business doing.
The music was slow, perfect for swaying and forgetting about everything outside the smooth rhythm. Ideal for getting lost in the peace that being in someone else’s arms could bring. But the more we swayed, the further I was from feeling anything that resembled peace. Not when Aaron was so … big and hard and warm against me.
That was probably why I tripped. Before I knew what was happening, my feet had messed up the beat and tangled together, and they would have probably sent me straight to the floor if not for the man—the pair of strong arms wrapped solidly around me—who held me in place.
“Thank you,” I muttered, feeling my face heat up and my body tense up further. “And sorry.”
God. I had never blushed so much in one single night. I didn’t recognize myself.
Aaron’s arms tightened around me. “Just for precaution,” he said, bringing me even closer.
Each and every nerve ending in my body turned into the end of a live wire. My skin tingled, my heart raced, and my mind whirled.
“Oh. Okay.” The words reached my ears, strangled, as if it had come out of me in a gurgle. “Thanks.”
The skin on my face heated up further.
Aaron hummed, just as his thumb brushed my back very lightly, drawing one single circle that left a tiny trail of goose bumps behind. Goose bumps that traveled to all corners and nooks of my body.
As much as I told myself that this was a simple physical reaction to being held against a male body, being held by a man’s arms, it was Aaron’s male body and Aaron’s arms after all. So, either I had been alone for too long or I was losing my mind. Because this felt … good. Really good.
Too damn much.