Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
“Twenty! All right,” Sloane says. “Do I hear twenty-five?”
“Twenty-five,” calls another man.
“I’ve got thirty.”
“Fifty.”
Oh my god, what is happening?
I don’t know who any of those guys are. Not one.
I swallow, searching the crowd for Ryan, then I hear a voice I recognize call, “Seventy dollars.”
Liam.
Well… I mean, that’s better than some strange guy I don’t know, I guess.
Confusion flickers briefly across Sloane’s brow as if she’s wondering who invited that guy, but she recovers her smile quickly. “All right, we have ourselves a hot little commodity. Do I hear eighty dollars? Come on, fellas, you know she’s worth it.”
“Eighty,” Ryan finally calls, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Eighty-five,” Liam calls.
“Yes, gentlemen. That’s what we like to see. Who wants to go ninety?” Sloane calls, keeping up the momentum.
“Five hundred dollars.”
My heart stops, and my gaze jumps to the edge of the room. He’s not seated. It looks like he just came in—a little late, but just in time.
Killian.
The room goes quiet, and my heart skips a beat at the sight of him. He looks so handsome in black slacks and a black button-down shirt with sleeves rolled up to just below his elbows. His powerful arms are folded casually over his chest as he leans there against the wall just inside the entrance, and my god, he looks like a dark knight unexpectedly riding to my rescue.
For a moment, I forget why I ever wanted to be away from him, because right now, he looks like… well, my savior.
Again.
A soft smile tugs at my lips. I can’t seem to help it.
He doesn’t smile, but I see the merest hint of one tugging at the corner of his mouth, and I want to kiss it.
Then he winks at me.
My heart does this really stupid thing, I don’t even know.
Stay put, you stupid organ.
But it doesn’t want to. It’s yearning for him, and I… man, I am in so much trouble.
It felt to me like Killian stopped the world, and I guess he did, but as the world always does, it recovers and continues to spin.
Sloane stumbles a bit in her bid to drive the prices higher, but she quickly recovers. “Um, okay, we have $500. Do I hear 515?”
No one speaks up.
She swallows, looking hopefully over the audience. “How about 505?”
Still, no one speaks up.
“It’s for a good cause,” she reminds them. “The poor Rho Kappas. Some asshole burned down their house.”
I glance back at her because that feels like an unhinged comment to make when I’m not sure the authorities have even landed on that being the case, but Sloane seems to be unraveling ever so slightly.
But of course, the Zeta president can’t come undone, so she quickly collects herself and tries one more time. “Every dollar counts, guys. Anyone willing to go 501?”
“Bidding’s closed, Sloane,” Killian states.
Maybe it’s my imagination that she loses a shade of color. Just a strange trick of the light.
She smiles faintly and nods, looking out at the crowd instead of at him. “Sold for five hundred dollars.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
Brynn
The Zeta with the basket of roses doesn’t approach Killian and try to upsell him—probably figuring he already way overpaid—but he snatches one anyway as he walks past her.
“You have to buy those,” I hear her tell him.
“Put it on my tab,” he says, not pausing on his way to me.
Another helpless smile claims my lips. “I like roses,” I say softly.
“I know you do,” he says, as he holds it out to me.
“Thank you.”
He doesn’t wait for me to take his arm the way Vanessa’s date did. Instead, he slides a hand around my waist and pulls me against him.
I wind my arms around his neck and lean on him, but this public display of affection when the public makes up so many… “Can we get out of here?” I whisper.
He smirks. “We sure can.”
His hand lingers on my waist, and I slide my arm behind his back, leaning on him as he leads me out of the ballroom area.
We’re nearly to the door when I hear, “Wait!” and turn around.
Addison is rushing toward us in her cute little dress and heels, holding out a bowl with a blue lid on it.
I glance at the bowl, confused.
“It’s cookies,” she states. “I stole them out of the batch I made for whoever wins me,” she adds with a roll of her eyes. “You mentioned yesterday you were jealous of whoever won, and—” she cuts a pointed once-over at Killian “—clearly you were only referring to the cookies, so I thought I’d sneak you a couple.”
Killian smirks, and I crack a smile as she hands me the bowl. “Aw, thank you, Addison. That’s really sweet.”
She flashes me a brief smile. “I have to get back. Be careful with this one,” she says, eyeing Killian.
“I think she can handle me,” he assures her.