Page 17 of A Christmas Auction

“What the fuck is wrong with me?” I hissed as I slammed the conference room door.

I walked over to the table, pressed my palms to the wooden surface and braced myself as I sucked in several deep breaths. My usual nerves of steel were completelyrattled. I’d spent years on a battlefield without so much as a twitch in the middle of combat, but the idea of Holly parading around in lingerie in a room full of strangers like some sex kitten set me off.

Why?

Holly was my charge,notmy girlfriend.

I huffed at the thought of her being my girlfriend. I hadn’t had a girlfriend in longer than I could remember. Maybe I just needed to get laid. It had been a few weeks since my last hookup. That’s all it was. I needed to wet the whistle, clean out the pipes, and take the edge off. I’m sure that’s all it was…right?

My phone buzzed in my pocket. The display said it was Jonas, my second, calling.

“Yeah,” I grunted into the phone, still thinking about Holly and the fool I’d made of myself not only in front of her, but a fucking client.

“You asked me to check out a guy named Colin Omstead,” Jonas reminded.

“What’ve you got?” I turned around and sat on the edge of the table, content to disappear into work versus my muddled thoughts of a blonde I had no business imagining in her lingerie.

“Omstead is an American actor. Beloved by his fans, most specifically of the female variety.”

“Yeah, I’ll just bet he is.”Fucker.“And?”

“Worth about two hundred million. Thirty-five. No police record. Received a few awards in acting over the years. Has a BA from UCLA. Donates ten percent of his income to charity each year…”

“For fuck sake. Is the man a saint?”

Jonas chuckled. “Seems like it, man. I haven’t found a single skeleton in his closet. He not only looks good on paper, he’s onPeoplemagazine’s list of most eligible bachelors and often referred to by the media as, ‘the man with the gilded chest,’ because he looks like an Adonis. He’s clean.”

I rubbed at my temples with my thumb and forefinger. “So he’s perfect,” I grumbled.

“For bidding on a wife in Ms. Toussaint’s auction, yeah. Why did you have me run him a second time?” Jonah pushed. I knew he would ask. I never had him run things twice. If he did the job, I knew straight to my bones he’d do it right the first time, every time. Because in our line of work, people died if mistakes were made, and we’d learned that lesson the hard way.

Jonas was like a brother to me. Not by blood, but through sacrifice. We’d survived some serious shit together in special ops and when we finally got out alive, he was one of two people in the world I trusted.

“Honestly?”

“Always man, you know you can unload on me.”

I let out a long breath. “I don’t know, Jonas. There’s something about Holly being a part of this charade that’s getting under my skin.”

“Do you think it’s the fact that you saved her life, so you feel protective over her?” His tone was exploratory.

“Maybe.”

“Are you attracted to her?”

“You’ve seen her picture, Jonas.”

He laughed out loud, the sound easing the tension in my chest a bit. There was a time Jonas didn’t laugh. Years of time, in fact. To hear it now proved how far we’d come.

“Maybe you just want to fuck her and you’re feeling territorial. It’s not your normal MO, brother, but that woman is your type, man.”

“I don’t have a type,” I snapped.

“Bullshit! The last five women you had me do background checks on before you fucked were blonde, tall, with a banging body. You can’t lie to me. I know you better than you know yourself, you broody bastard.”

I growled under my breath. “Then what should I do about it?”

“Ignore it. She’s off limits, Bruno. She’s spoken for. When she’s settled in for the evening, put one of our men at the door and hit the casino. Find yourself another blonde that strikes your fancy and have a night of good old-fashioned, consensual fun with a lady that wants the same.”

---