Page 11 of House of Desire

An arm, clad in red and gold brocade, reaches past me, setting a vodka soda with lime in front of me. I look up and Miles is smiling down at me as I thank him for the kind gesture. He makes his way to the stage, but his eyes stay locked on mine while Sasha finishes her speech. She thanks everyone for their attendance and the bidding begins.

Sasha has hired a professional auctioneer and the energy is electric as the price goes up and up. Looking at the young guys, I think about their muscles and the work I need done around the shop.

“Do you think, instead of a date, the guys would do some work around the bakery?” I ask Lorelei in a low whisper.

She shrugs. “I think most of them would do pretty much anything you wanted. What are you doing to the bakery?”

“I’ve been wanting to rearrange the kitchen equipment to make it more efficient for me, but all of that stuff is heavy.”

“Why didn’t you ask Dom and Tank?

“You mean before or after their practices, meetings, and games?” I snark, making her laugh.

“Dom did force you to take some money and made you promise to spend it on someone.”

"On him! Not some random guys."

"Pfft," she says, waiving away my objection.

“You’re right,” I say as I raise my paddle that was placed at my dinner setting, all the alcohol in my system blowing through my reservations about using Dom’s money. Before I can blink, the gavel is dropped, making me the winner of five strapping, young, football players. Everyone claps as the next round of guys are brought forward and the entire thing begins again.

And then, Miles makes his way to the front of the stage.

The bidding becomes a frenzy as the players with more prestige come to the stage one after another. Miles goes for ten thousand dollars to the wife of the owner. I bid a few times so he knew I was interested, but even the opening bid was outside my spending limit.

As Dominic walks onto the stage, I make sure to hoot and holler, making his cheeks red with a blush. The bidding starts at two thousand dollars and the blonde daughter of one of the coach’s pounces, lifting her paddle before the auctioneer is even done announcing the price. With a giggle, I raise mine, increasing the price by two hundred. He glares at me from the stage and Lorelei leans over.

“I think he has designs on that blonde,” she says as the girl in question raises the bid again.

“I think you’re right,” I say as they make eyes at each other. “I sure hope the coach is oblivious or he’s going to easily pick up the tension there.”

After another hour or so, the auction comes to a close. As a winner, I go and provide the payment for my bid and give my contact information. A little over heated from the booze and number of bodies in the room, I make my way to a side door hoping to get some air until, suddenly, one of the younger guys in one of the groups I didn’t win cuts me off.

“Hi there. I’m Aaron. How’s your night?” His blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin give him the look of every high school quarterback in the movies.

“Hi Aaron. Would you excuse me?” I try to move around him, but he moves in front of me.

He runs his fingers down my arm and every instinct honed by years of lessons learned from overly pushy men puts me on high alert.

“You should have bid on my group. I would have made sure you had a good time,” he says, pushing into my space and backing me against a pillar, blocking us from view of the room.

“I have a boyfriend,” I lie.

“I know you don’t. Your brother told me.” Suddenly, his grip around my arm is bruising and painful until his mouth is pressed roughly against mine. I try to break out of his grasp, but it’s too firm. I bite his tongue as he shoves it into my mouth and he pulls back.

“Ow, you stupid bitch!” His hand comes up and he grabs my face.

“Stop, get off me!” I yell. Right as his angry face comes closer to kiss me again, Miles Lawson rips him off me and shoves him to the ground, shielding me with his body in the process.

“What do you think you were doing? She told you no. That doesn’t mean keep going.” Anger darkens his voice as he stares down at the kid slowly getting back to his feet.

“You see how she’s dressed? She was practically panting in my arms, begging for me to fuck her. I was just going to give her a little taste down here before I took her back to my room,” he says, tucking his slightly too large shirt back into his pants.

The commotion has drawn eyes and now my brother is barging over, realizing I was in the ruckus.

“Anya, are you alright? What’s going on, Lawson?” he demands as he walks up to us, but pitching his voice in order to avoid a scene. I understand. Everyone who’s anyone to the team is watching us right now.

“This little shit stain was making a pass at your sister. She said no, he didn’t retreat. She didn’t do anything wrong.” He turns toward me and addresses me only. “Anastasia, you’re well within your rights to press charges for assault. I’d be happy to get my lawyer for you, no cost to you.”

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