Page 17 of Love Songs

Me:Ryan.Your soon to be brother-in-law just went for $325.To Lindsey James.

Ryan: *shocked face emoji* *crying-laughing face emoji*

Haider:Betcha Rebecca will stake out their date.

Sam:Right? Lindsey’s been after Chris since high school.

Ryan:Remind me to hide till it’s over.

I could see Rebecca doing just that. She and Lindsey had a rivalry going for as long as I could remember over Chris, but he only had eyes for Rebecca.

Mary called my name. Showtime.

I pocketed my phone and hopped up onto the tiny stage like a boxer entering the ring, making a big show of it and earning catcalls and wolf whistles. No way was Chris going to beat me for the highest bid. I glanced around at the crowd while Mary did her bachelor introduction spiel, and my gaze snagged on a familiar face at the back of the room.

What. The. Fu . ..

He’d hidden his long hair under a baseball hat, but there was no mistaking Dallas Blade standing not twenty feet away from me. Beside him, also wearing a ball cap, was his guitarist Kirk. Apparently, the townsfolk hadn’t received the memo yet, because they didn’t pay the rock gods in their midst any attention. I glared at him, and he tipped his hat at me while Kirk flashed a mischievous grin my way.

Apprehension rushed through my veins at that grin. I tried to ignore them as Mary called out the opening bid of twenty-five dollars, because we’re a small town and the auction was for fun as much as for charity.

Harriet and Margret bid me up to a hundred dollars right off the bat, and then Jackson bid one-fifty. I gave him a side eye. Jackson was as straight as they came, but he was a good guy and would probably tell me to take one of the shelter dogs out for a playdate at the Harmony Lake dog park.

The bidding stalled at two-fifty, and my mind swirled.That’s all?

“Going once,” Mary called. “Going twice . . .”

Dammit. Chris is going to beat me.

I would never hear the end of it, so I rallied, of course. In a last-ditch effort, I put on the flirtiest expression I had in my arsenal, made direct eye contact with everyone I could—except for Dallas and Kirk—and struck a pose that best showed off my assets. I had to beat Chris. Nothing else mattered at that moment.

“Three hundred and fifty,” a male voice that did funny things to my insides called.

Please tell me I didn’t hear that right.

I glared at Dallas, who smiled back at me somewhat apologetically.Yep. That happened. And damn it all, that smile threatened to short-circuit my brain like his voice had when we’d first talked on the phone.

But I’d just drawn the highest bid of the night.

Ha!Take that, Chris.

I grinned and preened, making a show of it because I was now officially the highest bid of the whole auction. The audience cheered and whistled, and I shot Chris a smug look over my shoulder. He raised his beer bottle in salute.

“Three-fifty going once,” Mary called out, laughter in her voice. “Three-fifty going twice. Three-fifty going . . . And—”

“Five hundred,” Kirk shouted.

What the. . .?

Kirk, standing there sporting a mischievous grin bigger than the Cheshire Cat’s, winked at me, while Dallas stood staring at him with his eyes wide and jaw dropped to his chest. Seeming to gather himself, Dallas turned to me and held my gaze. His eyebrows lowered and his lips pursed.

“Seven hundred,” Dallas countered, his voice firm.

The breath caught in my throat, and the crowd gasped.

“One thousand,” Kirk called in rapid response.

I didn’t know what those two were up to, but Kirk looked like he was having the time of his life, and Dallas watched me with an expression I couldn’t decipher. He wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t seem unhappy, either. More like, determined?

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