Page 32 of Highest Bidder
I laugh as I nudge her with my feet. “Knock it off. Come on.” Pulling my sheets off, I let my feet hit the floor.
“Wait.” Putting her hand out to stop me, she looks frantically at me then at my phone. “That was only your first alarm.” Reaching up, she puts her wrist against my forehead. “Are you feeling okay? Hold on.” She grabs my chin, turning my face side to side. “You look like you got laid!” she says bluntly, making us both laugh.
A huge smile spreads across my face as I think about my talk with Myles. I’ve never talked so long on the phone before. I didn’teven think continuing a conversation for that long, without an awkward pause, was even possible. But the whole phone call felt easy. We shared things about ourselves, and I learned a lot about Myles’ life. The love he has for his mom is obvious. It’s the sweetest thing listening to him talk about her. It was adorable, and I couldn’t get enough. He made me feel like he wanted to know everything about me too.
“Whatever.” I bat her hand away. “I slept great on my new bed. That’s it.”
“Uh-huh. I’m not buying it.” She was obnoxious the whole time we talked. Peeking into my room, she’d check to see if I was still talking to him, do a little silent dance, and walk away with hearts in her eyes.
“Go. We need to get ready for work.”
Jumping up, she skips out of my room and hums a Taylor Swift song.
I fell asleep thinking about all the stories he told me. I don’t think I’ve ever slept so well. I’ve never had a man open up so much about himself before. All Steve wanted to do was talk about himself, but he never said anything real. Myles laid everything out for me. It should have scared me, but I only wanted more. As I got more comfortable, I asked as many questions as he did. By the end of our call, I wanted to melt into a puddle on my new bed.
Since I’d gotten some cash tips from the dealers, I went shopping and found a beautiful oak bed and nearly replaced my whole wardrobe with more Florida-appropriate outfits. Jess made me show off all my new outfits in a mock fashion show in the living room.
Toeing on my slippers, I walk into the kitchen where Jess stands in front of the stove, scrambling eggs for her breakfast.
“Are you driving today?”
She spins around to face me. “Yup.”
I walk around her, opening the pantry to grab a protein bar.My phone pings with a text message, and I dig it out of my pocket. I hold it up, seeing it’s from Myles, and I can’t stop the smile beaming across my face. I go to open it when Jess lunges for me, grabbing the phone right out of my hand. “Hey!”
“Who could this be?” She lets out a gasp, holding a hand to her chest. “Why, it’s Myles Johnson!” Jess drawls in the most horrible Southern Belle accent.
“Give me my phone!” I reach to snatch it away from her, but she spins around to avoid me. Unfortunately, she knows the passcode on my phone and opens it.
“Jess, I swear to god. I’m going to kick your ass.”
“Aww! He’s sweet,” she says after reading it. She finally stops moving around and hands me my phone. Grabbing it, I look at what he said.
Myles:
Last night was the most fun I’ve had in a while. Looking forward to seeing you today.
Smiling, my eyes return to my roommate, who is giving me a knowing look. My smile falls into a smirk. I take a big bite of my bar and bounce back to my room to get ready. Jess’ laughter follows me down the hall. Nickelback trails closely behind me and jumps up on my bed to take a nap. I ruffle his head and start getting ready for work.
I spray leave-in conditioner in my hair and put on some black jeans and a fitted green cotton shirt. Even though it’s hot as hell most days, I have a hard time not wearing pants to an auction. I let my hair do its normal crazy thing and do my minimal makeup. Looking into the mirror, I quickly grab my eyeshadow palette to add more and another coat of mascara. I finish the look with little brown booties and my brown leather purse. The weather is supposed to get into the record highs for the area, so I bring a ponytail to easily throw up my hair.
Jess and I ride together on Tuesdays because we work at thesame auctions. We squeeze into her little Volkswagen red bug since it’s her day to drive. The sixty minute drive usually goes by quicker with the two of us chatting away, but today it feels longer than normal. I rest my elbow on the window and lazily watch the trees go by on the long country highway.
“Oh, for the love of god. Will you stop bouncing your knee?”
I startle at her loud voice and look at her, then down at my knee, which is still bouncing like the energizer bunny. “Oh.” I push my feet firmly into the floorboard, and nervously bite my thumb nail. “Sorry.” I look back out the window.
Jess sighs. “You have such good nail beds, and now you are going to ruin them.” She reaches over and grabs my hand to get it away from my mouth. “Talk to me. What’s going on in your head?”
A little smile plays across my lips. I’d be lost without Jess in my life. “I guess I’m just nervous that yesterday was a fluke, and he’s going to turn back into the jackass he was before.”
She nods and squeezes my hand. The auction sign peeks into view as she whips into the huge parking lot. Putting the car in park, she turns to look at me, grabbing both of my hands with hers now.
“I get where those feelings are coming from.” Tilting her head to the side, she presses her lips into a small smile. “But I have a hard time believing he would put that much time and effort in, just to ignore you today.” Releasing my hands, she reaches up to twirl a piece of my hair as if she’s thinking of more to add. “Well, it’s not unheard of because guys are stupid, but I don’t see it happening.” Patting my knee she says, “Now, are you ready?” I laugh and shove her before crawling out of her tiny car.
We walk past the guard, flashing our badges. My head goes all different directions, but I have to force myself to keep my steps as big as Jess’ so I’m not speed walking to get inside. Excitement takes over the closer we get to the front doors that are beyond the gated property.
Yesterday morning, I had thought Myles was a moody jerk.
