Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
If Liv were here, she'd stand up on one and shout out for Evie. I'd want to crawl under a table, but now that Liv isn't here, I’m seeing how much I miss her antics. At least now it would be rather helpful.
"You're here." Sawyer spins me around to face him, and I can see the relief in his eyes.
"I'm here,” I confirm.
"Bid on me." The hands he has on my shoulders squeeze in a tight hold.
"Sawyer—" I start to say, but he’s shaking his head.
"I only want you to win me."
"Because you know I won't jump your bones?" I tease. Kinda.
"I wish," he mutters.
"Shut up." I try to push away, but he grabs my hand and puts it on his chest over his heart.
"Bid a couple of times. For me." Damn, his puppy dog face is good. "I've got a plan."
"Really?" I lift a brow. Honestly, who doesn’t love a man with a plan?
"I do." Sawyer steps closer, grabbing the straps of my overalls. "Trust me."
"I want to." I'm scared to get my heart broken.
"Then let me prove it."
There’s something in the way he’s looking at me that makes me weak in the knees.
"All right," I say, and he gives me a slow, sexy smile.
“Thanks, kitten.” He kisses my forehead and backs away. “I’ll see you on the stage.”
He runs off, and I guess I don’t have time to change my mind. Crap, if I bid on him, I’m not sure I can bid on my own piece. There’s no telling how much this is going to cost. Sure, the business is doing great, but it’s still fairly new.
It would be worth it to let the china cabinet go and win Sawyer. If that’s what it truly means. He was, after all, the inspiration for the piece.
Chapter Eight
SAWYER
“Are we sure about this?” I ask Rhodes as I bounce on my toes. My anxiety is rising, and I’m wondering if this was a huge mistake.
“You want the girl?” He looks me up and down.
“Yes,” I answer, no hesitation.
“Then you know what you have to do.” Rhodes peeks out of the curtains, and I can see him smile. “Looks like you’ve got quite the crowd.”
“Great,” I groan and then rub my hands together. “Why is it so cold in here?”
Mrs. Evie is the host for tonight, and she’s already auctioned off a few items. It’s time for what she’s calling “the main event,” and that means me.
“Ladies, it’s time for what you’ve all been waiting for.” Her voice echoes around the room, and it’s met with cheers. She calls my name, and I grab the bag next to me before I step out on stage.
As I suspected, the crowd goes wild with catcalls and whistles, and I try not to shy away. Instead, I look for Lane in the crowd, and when I spot her, that’s where I keep my focus. Her eyes are wide and her lips are parted in shock as I walk to the end of the stage and drop the bag next to me.
“Oh my,” Mrs. Evie says and then clears her throat. “You know, Sawyer, if you were going to come out here half naked, you could have at least warned the married women.” She fans herself before calling everyone to be quiet.
I’m wearing nothing but a pair of baggy swim trunks, a t-shirt and a smile, but there’s a bag of clothing next to me. This was Rhodes’s idea, and if it doesn’t work, I’m going to have to murder him. There’s no other way around it.
“Let’s start the bidding at one hundred dollars,” Mrs. Evie says, and someone quickly responds.
When the first bid goes up, I grab a flannel shirt out of the bag next to me and pull it on. There’s a few groans of disappointment in the crowd, but Mrs. Evie keeps going.
“Do I hear two hundred?” Someone bids again, and I take out a pair of socks and pull them on. “Three hundred?”
At the next bid, I put on a pair of jeans over my trunks, and the crowd is thoroughly confused. I’m not paying attention to anyone except Lane, who is watching all of this happen.
“Can I get four hundred?” Mrs. Evie calls out, and I put on my boots.
The crowd is starting to murmur to one another, and even Mrs. Evie is confused.
“I think Cottonwood’s hometown cutie is getting shy.” She chuckles, but I can hear the worry in her tone. “Do I hear five hundred?”
When someone else bids, I grab the cowboy hat out of my bag. I put it on and grin at Lane, and that’s when I see the smile tug at her lips.
“Six hundred dollars!” Lane shouts without waiting for Mrs. Evie to ask.
When she bids, I take the hat off my head and toss it at her.