Page 80 of Power Play

“Management doesn’t allow it. Someone else has to make the bid: a season ticket holder. A kid with their parents’ credit card.Figured next year I could come down with the stomach bug and avoid the whole thing altogether.”

“That’s a good plan to have.” Her laugh is light, and she waves at someone across the ballroom. “I should mingle. I’ll see you after the auction?”

“If I don’t poke out my eyeballs first.”

“Good.” She heads to a group of people hanging out near the bar on the left side of the ballroom. “Hang in there, Liam.”

I do my best to not watch her ass as she walks away, and I fail fucking miserably.

My hands are sweaty.

The lights are so goddamn bright, and I wish I’d ditched my jacket before climbing up on stage.

“Next up is Liam Sullivan,” the emcee announces. My name echoes out to the crowd, and everyone cheers. I give them a grimace and a wave. It’s far from the flashy charisma my teammates showed up here, but I’m doing my fucking best. They’re lucky I didn’t bolt when Emmy forked over forty thousand dollars to win the bid on Ethan to piss off Maverick. “The opening bid is going to start at five thousand dollars.”

“Five thousand,” a man in the audience calls out, and I play with my cufflinks.

“Six thousand?”

“Six,” another deep voice says.

“Seven thousand?”

“Seven,” someone chimes in, and I shade my eyes with my hand, trying to spot the woman who entered the bid.

I find her in the front row with a group of girls. When she holds up her champagne glass, I can’t control the way my lips twist in an unfriendly way.

“Seven,” the emcee repeats. “It’s time to make this interesting. Ten thousand dollars?”

“Ten,” the first man says.

“Eleven,” the woman adds, and I wipe my hands on my slacks.

“Twelve,” a new voice adds.

It’s one I recognize, and I whip my head to the right, surprised to see Piper holding a paddle, her arms crossed over her chest.

A slow grin forms on my mouth. There’s determination in her gaze. Razor sharpness to her posture and a steel tint in her tone I’ve never heard from her before.

You have to be assertive to work in her industry. Piper’s shown her scrappiness when she’s trying to wrangle someone into the media room. The change in her voice when she’s talking to a man who considers themselves superior to her just because she’s a woman.

I’ve never seen her like this, though.

Ruthless. Like she’s waiting to attack, and I fucking like it.

“Thirteen,” the first woman says, flipping her hair over her shoulder like this is a walk in the park.

Piper scowls. “Twenty thousand.”

The audience whoops and hollers, getting into it. The two women go back and forth, and it’s like I’m watching a tennis match. When the bid reaches thirty-five thousand, I have no clue who’s going to give up first.

“Thirty-six?” the emcee asks the woman in the front row.

She consults her friends, having a hushed conversation before shaking her head.

“Sold to the feisty blonde on stage left,” the emcee announces, and relief floods through me.

I practically run off the stage, eager to get out of the spotlight. I push through the hordes of people and ignore some of the guys trying to get my attention. When I finally reach Piper, I’m almost out of breath.

---