TWENTY-SIX
Nathan
I didn’t imagine the way Mina looked in that dress. It wasn’t a story I told myself to rationalize what I did in the dressing room at Blush. Her waist begs for my hands. Her breasts call to my lips, my teeth. I want to revel in her. To steal her away from my family and lock us in one of the rooms at The Hut. I’d be on my knees again. Then she’d be on hers, those lips wrapped around my cock.
Instead, Angela whisks her away with Garrett’s sister, Charlie, to go over paperwork and details before the auction. Our little group dissipates, leaving me with Dom standing a few feet away, looking wholly unimpressed. His clothes are expensive, his posture casual yet self-important. He’s the kind of guy who comes to a charity auction to boost his image, not help those in need, and he looks the part. How could I stand to be around him for so long?
“Did you hear that?” Dom lifts a judgmental eyebrow. “Mina’s mom sounds like a perfect candidate for your new program. What a lucky break for her that the two of you found each other just as you’re ready to accept your first round of applicants.”
I slide my hands into my pants pockets and shift back on my heel. “The timing’s a coincidence. This is the first Mina’s heard about my plans to expand the foundation.”
Dom scoffs. “How can you know that?”
“Because I haven’t told her.” There’s an edge to my voice he’s not used to hearing. One that says back the fuck off.
But Dominick Taylor does what he wants.
“How much did you spend on her dress?” he asks.
“None of your fucking business,” I bark, then step closer so I can lower my voice. The last thing I need is a public argument that fuels a round of gossip. For all I know, Fallon Mae is lurking nearby. Or the person who’s feeding her information. Either way, the headlines would not be kind.
“Look, brother,” Dom says without a care in the world who hears. “Don’t hate me because I’m running defense for you when you should be doing it yourself.”
“I don’t need anyone running defense,” I reply through a jaw tight enough to bend steel.
Dom scoffs. “You just got out of this exact situation with Blossom and you’re letting it happen all over again. It’s the classic story between the haves and have nots. They’re in it for what they can get from you. You’re fooling yourself if you think otherwise.”
“Who hurt you?” I grimace, then refresh my ‘party face’ as a server wanders by, pretending not to eavesdrop. “Mina isn’t Blossom. And if you’d get your head out of your ass long enough to talk to her, you’d realize what a fucking dick you are for everything you just said.”
“You keep calling me names like I don’t know who I am. I am an asshole, Nathan. It’s one of the reasons you like me. It helps when I’m distracting pretty young ladies so you can schmooze their rich fat uncles. I play my role so you can play yours, just like Mina is gonna play hers. The rules won’t change just because you wish they were different.”
No wonder my family has been worried about me. If this is who Dom really is and I’m just now seeing it, that says something uncomfortable about who I’ve been.
“Hear me when I say this, Dom. Stop dogging Mina. Get to know her better, get on board, or shut the fuck up.”
“I’ll take it under advisement,” he says, then heads for the bar, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
The guests begin to arrive, and Angela returns Mina to me in time to greet the more generous donors on our list. We chit and we chat and laugh and smile and all I can focus on is her.
I remember her moans. Her sighs. I remember her taste and the way the dress hit that floor, a cascade of fluttering silk and there she was, bare to me. No bra. No underwear. Just her.
And I suspect the same is true tonight. No bra. No underwear. She’s just there, waiting for me to claim her and it’s driving me fucking crazy.
Mina and I dance. We laugh. We talk with friends and family. We find Benjamin Bancroft standing on the outskirts, watching everyone with interest, and chat with him until Angela finally arrives to steal Mina for the auction.
“She’s something, isn’t she?” Benjamin asks me, unable to take his eyes off Mina’s back.
She’s everything.
I swallow hard, watching as she disappears with Angela.
“She is more than I bargained for, that’s for sure.”
Benjamin lifts his glass, his eyes on Mina. “Here’s to finding happiness in unexpected places.”
There’s something strange about him tonight. Something tense. Or expectant. The usually friendly architect seems reserved. Before I can decide if I’m imagining things, Aunt Maisie steps onto the stage my uncle Joe and cousin Mason built specifically for this event. With long strips of sheer fabric draping from arching timbers, its simple elegance is striking. I say goodbye to Benjamin and grudgingly take the nearest open seat…right next to Dom. He spares me a cool glance, then glues his attention to the stage as my aunt explains the rules for the auction. There’s a light spattering of applause when she finishes, and the games begin.
Several ROF employees take the stage. My assistant, Rita MacDonald. David Doughtry, one of our best caseworkers, an older man we affectionately call Keto Santa. After we cycle through employees, we move on to family members. Micah. My sister Maren and her twin Joshua. Angela. Charlie. Even Uncle Lucas and Aunt Cat.
And then Mina.
There’s a collective gasp as she steps into the spotlight. That champagne colored dress. Her red lips, pale skin, and ebony hair. Aunt Maisie starts the bidding at one thousand dollars and several hands hit the air. The price rises, but so do hands, strangers fighting for a night with the woman who came with me.
“Do I hear twenty thousand?” asks Maisie with a conspiratorial smile for Mina.
Twenty-five.
Thirty.
Dom raises his hand. “Fifty.”
“What the fuck are you doing?” I whisper.
“Taking your advice and getting to know her,” he responds and my jaw clenches.
Before I can say anything, a voice calls out from the back, “Seventy-five thousand dollars.”
The audience gasps. Mina’s jaw drops. And I turn to see Benjamin Bancroft lowering his hand with that strange look still on his face.
