Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 61851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 309(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
“You’re going to do him, aren’t you—I mean, do it,” she amended, with a naughty gleam in her eyes at her double entendre. “You know, putting him to work around your place?”
“Of course,” Jessica drawled, knowing her friend meant something else entirely. “What else would I do with him for a whole weekend?”
“Oh, Jessica.” Avery’s sigh was filled with feigned disappointment. “Do I really have to give you a list of all the ways that man could fulfill every single dirty fantasy you’ve ever had of him?”
Her cheeks heated with a telltale blush. “Derek doesn’t see me like that.”
“Maybe that’s because you’ve never given him a reason to. A whole weekend, under your roof, at your beck and call. Your every wish granted, so to speak.” Avery grinned. “You know, you could model the new Curvy Girl Couture Lingerie line for him and get his opinion on the different outfits.”
Jessica laughed. “You’re incorrigible. And the designs are already set for the launch next month, so his opinion isn’t going to matter.”
Avery shook her head, a hopeless look in her eyes. “Do you really have so little imagination or sense of adventure?”
“I’m being a realist here, Avery,” she said with a shrug. “No matter how I might feel about Derek, all he and I will ever be is friends.”
“With benefits?” Avery waggled her brows.
Jessica rolled her eyes at her friend. “And on that note, I’m heading out to the greeting area. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
She left before Avery could say anything more. As she approached the lounge that had been set up for the auction couples to meet up, she saw Derek already standing there with the other men and women who’d been paired up before him.
His tailored tuxedo fit his broad shoulders and lean form flawlessly, and as she walked closer, she was very aware of the appreciative way he looked at her. His eyes skimmed across her breasts and slowly perused their way lower, to the thigh-high slit in her dress, then all the way down to the red heels she wore, his gaze seemingly lingering longer than a friendly or brotherly glimpse.
Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on her part, she mused, taking a drink of her champagne. Regardless, that illusion made her feel desirable, so she pretended, in her mind, that maybe there had been something more to his eyeing her.
When she finally reached him, he took her free hand, stepped up to her, and brushed his warm lips across her cheek in greeting like he’d done a hundred times before. Affectionate but always chaste, and every time, Jessica fantasized about turning her head at the last second so his lips touched hers, just to see what would happen. Despite gaining confidence over the years, she wasn’t that brazen.
Derek stepped back and smiled at her. “I should have told you earlier that you look beautiful tonight.”
The compliment, coming from him, was everything. “Thank you. You look very handsome yourself.” An understatement. The man was sexy as sin, drop-dead gorgeous, and no matter how good she felt about herself these days, way out of her league.
He looked down at himself, then back at her, a playful gleam in his eyes. “What, this old thing?”
She laughed, enjoying the fact that they were so at ease with one another. There was no awkward getting-to-know-you phase like the other two couples seemed to be engaged in.
Derek tipped his head, his vivid green eyes regarding her curiously. “So, you know I have to ask . . . why did you do that?”
“You mean why did I bid on you?” she clarified.
“Uh, yeah, in the amount of a hundred and fifty thousand.”
She shrugged and downed the rest of the bubbly liquid in her crystal flute. “I guess you could blame it on the champagne.”
He smirked as he took the empty glass from her fingers and set it aside. “You should have learned long ago that you don’t make the best decisions while intoxicated, Ms. Cavanaugh,” he teasingly reminded her. “But regardless, I owe you, big-time.”
“Oh, yes, you do,” she agreed in a subtle tone. He was referring to Jessica saving him from Claire, while she had a fun little payback in mind.
“Can I at least help cover the donation?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Thank you for the offer, but no. I knew what I was doing and how much I could afford to spend.”
He shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “Well, thank you seems inadequate, considering the alternative that was waiting for me.” He winced at what he’d narrowly avoided.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll get my money’s worth,” she said, just mischievous enough to leave him wondering. “Want to know what I saved you from?”
A pained look passed across his handsome features, and he tugged at the bow tie securing the collar of his shirt. “A nightmare weekend with my ex?”