Page 1 of Tinsel and Teasing

One

Isadora

Rushingtotheseatmy friends saved for me, I plan on watching the auction from the audience until it’s my turn to take the stage. Maggie and Roxy are up first.

As I weave through the maze of tables and chairs, my heart skips a beat that the table behind ours is occupied by three burly mountain men. Our town isn’t that big, so I’m aware of them—good and respectable, but reclusive men. They live off-grid way up in the Cherry Ridge mountains and one of them has created quite the stir on social media by doing lumberjack things under the social media handle ‘Hardwood’.

Yes, I’m one of his followers.

I’d secretly hoped one of them would come to the auction to bid on me. Can I tease them into it? I’ll give it my best shot.

I stare at them—too long—and lock eyes with the thickest, bearded one. All I have to do is look away and navigate past a couple more people to get to my seat, but I don’t.

Lost in his eyes, I wonder how good he would look between my—

A miscue catches my foot on the chair I’m passing, and I flail toward the lumberjacks. It’s possible that I shriek too, but that’s drowned out by the slap of my body onto their table.

All three of them have their attention on me, although the mounds of my boobs that are amplified as they’re squished against the table are garnering the most attention.

A glance at my cleavage before I right myself assures me that my breasts didn’t pop out of my dress in the accident.

“Are you okay?” they ask simultaneously, rising to their feet.

“Yeah, all good.” I pat the table as I push up and away, noticing the bidder’s paddle in the center of their table. “Show’s over, you can return your attention to the stage.”

That isn’t what I had in mind for teasing them. Can I swallow my pride and try again?

They’re exactly the kind of guys that bid on me in my dreams about the auction. Rugged, handsome, capable men who would take my cherry then keep me for their own while we live off the land and have a brood of kids.

That’s the dream—one that probably has my grandma rolling over in her grave. I run my hands through my hair as I turn to my seat.

The reality is that if I can’t even walk between tables and chairs, how could I expect them to trust me to live in the wilderness with them? The other reality is that getting to my job, my internship, and my college classes would be extra difficult from way up in the mountains.

But seriously, the auction is just for four hours of my time to assist with basic chores. I’d rather do that for them than anyone else in this room.

With nothing to lose, I look over my shoulder. “If you want to see more of me, keep that bidder number handy.”

I toss in a wink for good measure then sink into my seat before their slack-jawed expressions have a chance to change.

Daisy and Nikita quietly fuss over me, and I assure them I’m fine.

Shuffling from immediately behind me catches my attention, and Daisy’s eyes go wide. Glancing over my shoulder, I’m shocked that one of the guys, not the social media one, moved to the seat right behind me, and inched it closer than would be considered normal.

His two friends remain on the other side of the table, watching intently.

Unsure how to cope with this lumberjack’s proximity, I return my attention to the stage. Is the universe giving me a chance to toss a little non-awkward teasing their way?

I need a second to think up something better than what I used in my dreams.Hey, now that you won me, would you like to pop my cherry?

A tap on my shoulder tells me that my time is up.

“Isadora.”

He knows my name? How the hell can his voice sound like sexy, swirling heaven?

My throat feels dry. My body must be sending all hydration to my sex because the sound of my name on his lips has wet heat pooling between my legs. Slowly turning my head, I keep my voice down. “Yes, do I know you?”

“You’re going to.” His chiseled jaw, iceberg-blue eyes, and broad flannel-covered shoulders add to the confidence in his statement. The rich scent of his cedar cologne fills me with a torturous combination of Christmas coziness and wild sex—or what I presume wild sex would feel like.

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