Page 18 of Sweatpants & Sweet Tea

“Harlan Mitchell!” iPad woman was back.

I stepped out of his embrace, and he dropped his arms.

“I’ll see you when I’m done. Don’t leave.”

“I won’t,” I promised him.

I knew in my head that he was just talking about tonight; he didn’t want me to leave the event, but my heart was making longer-term plans.

No, I reprimanded the organ in my chest.Stop it. I wasn’t going to fall into my old ways, planning a future with someone I barely knew. Going all in and losing myself.

He walked down the corridor, and as soon as he turned the corner, a thought hit me. Even if something did happen between us, there was no way it could lead to anything serious. I was leaving in less than twenty-four hours, and we lived thousands of miles away from each other.

To most people, those circumstances wouldn’t be ideal. To me, they ensured I wouldn’t get carried away. I would be on that plane tomorrow evening. I didn’t have that much time left in Firefly Island, but if Harlan was up for it, I wouldn’t mind spending it with him.

8

HARLAN

“Holy shit!”Dawson’s eyes were wide as he slapped his hand on my shoulder. “I feel like I should get the Wingman of the Year award.”

I grinned, still feeling like I was floating on cloud nine as Dawson and I made our way backstage. My head was spinning from the dizzying kiss I’d just shared with Daphne Moore. She’d taken me completely by surprise. When I called her bluff and leaned down to kiss her, I’d thought for sure she’d bail. But she held her ground in that kiss chicken game.

“You two, here!” Lorraine Shelby, the event organizer who had interrupted my and Daphne’s kiss, pointed for us to take our place at the end of a line of three men.

I glanced down and saw that the lineup of Firefly Island’s most eligible bachelors was stacked.

“First up, we have Mark Lyons!” Leo Paulson, who was emceeing the event, announced. Leo was a retired radio personality who left his morning DJ job to start a true crime podcast.

“Go, go!” Lorraine waved Mark onto the stage.

As he stepped out, Leo spoke even louder over the applause. “Mark Lyons was born and raised on Firefly Island. In high school, as quarterback, he led Firefly High to victory as they won two consecutive state championships in his junior and senior years. He is a single dad of a six-year-old girl and the CFO at Lyon Vineyards, which has been in his family for two generations. He loves surfing, spending time with his daughter, and good food paired with the perfect glass of wine.”

The Lyons were one of the wealthiest families on Firefly Island, along with the Culpeppers and Abernathys. Between the three families, they owned ninety percent of the island.

“We are going to start the bid at one hundred. Do we have one hundred?”

As the bidding went on, I started to get a little nervous. What if no one bids for me? Typically, I wouldn’t care, but I was a little self-conscious with Daphne out in the crowd.

I still couldn’t believe she’d kissed me. My lips still tingled from the brief encounter. It had been…electric. The energy between us had crackled with intensity. I didn’t want to be backstage waiting to be paraded out like a piece of meat. I wanted to be with Daphne. In the hallway. In the ballroom. Hell, I’d settle for the parking lot. I just wanted to be near her.

“Fifteen hundred, going once, going twice. Sold to the woman in red!”

The crowd cheered, and Mark walked backstage, passing Jerry Clemons on his way.

“Next up, we have Jerry Clemons,” Leo announced.

Jerry was a few years behind me in school. As a kid, I remembered he was an incredible dancer. He won breakdancing competitions in middle and high school, but his real accomplishments had been on the football field. Unlike Mark, who hung up his cleats after high school, Jerry had made it to the NFL.

The crowd was cheering as Jerry hit center stage.

“Jerry Clemons is also a Firefly Island native and had his own success on the gridiron. He was a second-round draft pick and spent three years in the NFL before retiring.”

Dawson and I shared a look. He hadn’t so much ‘retired’ as he was dropped because he’d failed drug tests and had three DUIs in the span of six months. Although, I have to say, since being home, I’d been impressed at how much he’d cleaned up his act.

“Since returning to Firefly,” Leo continued, “Jerry has dedicated his life to motivational speaking and started a mentorship program that helps at-risk youth. He enjoys any sort of competition, loves to hike or do anything outdoors, but equally enjoys lounging on the couch binge-watching television shows. Jerry is ready to settle down and find someone to join him on trails and to cuddle with on the sofa. Let’s start the bidding at one hundred dollars. Do we have one hundred?”

This time, the bidding went up to eighteen hundred. As the last person in line, I wondered if there was going to be anyone with deep pockets by the time I went.

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