Page 33 of Highest Bidder
By the afternoon, he was wearing on me. A lot.
Last night, I went to bed seeing Myles in a whole new light. When I think of him, I now see him as the guy that the girls were describing. I can’t help the way I’m feeling. I may be naive, but I have to find out if this is real.
The chaotic hustle and bustle sets in as dealers scramble to get their bidder numbers and a run list for whatever lane they want to buy on. Office workers are all behind their desks and counters ready to help as many people as possible. It’s always pure chaos before and after the sales.
Jess and I go in different directions once inside, her to an employee break room to clock in and me to my meeting. Walking through the large office, I spot Myles standing outside the doors to our meeting, holding something. My heart races. Biting my lower lip between my teeth, I walk toward him. He’s looking at his phone and doesn’t see me coming. His outfit is different today. He may have on the same hat and worn jeans as always, but his black polo shirt leaves more of his tattoos on display than ever before. It’s sexy, especially with his hat on backward. There has to be a story behind it and why he’s never replaced it. I make a mental note to ask him.
The closer I get, the more my anxiety spikes. He’s leaning against the wall, and I’m not sure what to do. Do I walk over to him and stand in front of him? Try to hug him? I’m going to make this more awkward than it should be. I take a deep breath and lean against the wall next to him, painting on a face of confidence.
“Morning.”
His head jerks toward me, and a smile slowly grows across his face. “You never texted back. I was worried you were blowing me off.”
My shoulders fall. “Crap. Well, I knew I was going to see you, and I had a lot on my mind.” I suck at texting or talking on thephone, but now I regret it. I missed out on an entire morning of talking to him.Okay, don’t be dramatic. I missed out on a few hours of texting him.
He grabs my chin and tilts it up, giving me no choice but to meet his gaze. “Hey, I’m messing with you. But it sucked not getting a morning text from the most beautiful girl. I’ll settle for a kiss instead,” he says, taking a step closer to me.
My eyes bug out of my head, and my jaw drops.
“Hey, I was only kidding.” He laughs awkwardly, raising his hands up, still holding a little brown bag and a drink. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
How embarrassing. I tuck my hair behind my ear and look down. I should have known. He caught me by surprise. I would be lying if my heart didn’t skip a beat, thinking about pressing my lips against his.
He leans over, bringing us a mere foot apart. “The meeting will start soon. I got you something. I took a guess at what your favorite food would be.”
He gives me a mocha frappuccino and a bag with a donut inside covered with chocolate frosting. I stare into the bag, unable to form words to thank him for such a sweet gesture.
“I would have given you a chocolate bar”—he gestures to the bag—“but I figured this would be better for breakfast.”
Is that an embarrassed smile? How did he know? ILOVEchocolate.
“How did you”—I stop and look down at the food. He leans over, ghosting his fingers over the side of my face and tucking a stray hair behind my ear. It makes my heart race again. My eyes meet his, and it feels like his body is folding over mine, creating our own little bubble. He’s so close, but also not close enough.
“You are always eating or drinking some kind of chocolate whenever I see you. So I took a guess.” An award-winning smile stretches across his face. “Was I right?”
I give him a nod and whisper, “Yes.” I never get embarrassed,but he has a way of bringing new feelings out of me. I’m confused, but I like him. Well, I likethisside of him he’s been showing me, which is polar opposite from the guy he was at first. I feel like I can open up to him without judgment. That thought alone scares me, but Myles has a way of getting past all my defenses. “Thank you.”
“No problem. You ready to go in?”
I nod and walk around him through the doors and find an open spot in the meeting next to JT. He looks at me with a knowing smile, and I force my gaze to the front of the room.
My senses heighten as energy flows through me, and I know Myles is standing right next to me without even looking. The entire left side of my body is on alert, eagerly awaiting his touch. A magnetic energy pulsing through me, begging me to step closer. I take a deep breath to focus, but instead, his woodsy scent invades my senses. I jump when Griffin’s booming voice echoes through the room, grabbing my attention.
Everything Griffin says is repetitive from week to week, so it’s not enough for me to ignore Myles when he shifts closer to me. I feel his arm graze against mine. I shift back and forth on my feet when his breath caresses my ear, placing his hand on my lower back, causing that area to be the focal point of ignited fire. It reminds me of a hot tub. It’s hot, but you can relax into it, enjoying every bit of the tingling.
“You look beautiful today,” he whispers.
My eyes flicker over to look at him. I open my mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. I’m left standing there speechless. I clutch my hands in front of me so I have something else to focus on.What is up with me? I’ve never gotten butterflies from a guy before.
JT leans over into our space. “Thanks, darlin',” he whispers in Myles’ direction. “I just got my hair done.”
I clamp a hand over my mouth to stop the laughter from bursting out of me. I look over at Myles, and he’s just shaking hishead while standing back to his full height. But I can see the small smile at the corner of his mouth.
“Alright,” Griffin says, snapping me back to reality. “Let’s have a good sale.”
As soon asthe lane is over, Jess looks at me with the biggest smile. “Okay, you two could not keep your eyes off each other. What is going on? I think James picked up on it. I mean, he would be blind not to,” she says, only making my heart sink.
We sold a bunch of cars. Nothing was different, except Myles would turn and make eye contact with me every chance he got. I swear, he looked at me more than the dealers. But he didn’t miss a bid. We always work together flawlessly. But I don’t want this to cause any problems with dealers, and I don’t want James to have any negative feelings because we didn’t work out. I would like to remain cordial, so I don’t want to rub whatever this is with Myles in his face.
