Page 60 of Forever After All

"Oh, it's on." He grins back.

The auction continues in between pleas for donations.

Mac's auction finishes with a winning bid of nine thousand, Ryan's is close behind with eighty-five-hundred, Emmett isn’ttoo far behind that at eight-thousand, and King walks back to the table like the smug dumbass he is.

"That's right, eleven thousand dollars." He flashes a shit-eating grin, and we all allow him to continue thinking we give a shit. The thing about King is that he's a prick, but he'sourprick.

"It's between you and me now, Callen. We never did talk about what the prize was going to be, did we?"

"A kiss with your girl." He winks, and it takes all my strengthnotto punch him in the face.

Before I can respond, Anna calls the final auction of the evening before the ball starts.

Yep. That would be me.

"Carter Green, get yourself up here, sir." Anna smiles andwaves me to the stage, and if I was able to will the ground to open up and drag me downwards, then I would.

I slap on a smile and walk up to the stage, passing Alice's table as I do. I look down at her as she looks up at me, smiling, twirling a paddle in her hands. Her smile turns to a devilish grin as I ascend the few stairs up on to the stage.

"As you all know, Carter retired at the end of last season, but he was one of the most influential players on the ice. I think we'll start the bidding at one thousand dollars," Anna announces to the room, and I stand under warm spotlights, feeling all eyes on me.

I keep reiterating to myself that this is for charity, and hundreds of kids will benefit from it.

A paddle goes up midway back in the room.

"Two thousand," she says, and another paddle is raised in the air, over to my left.

"Three thousand." The first paddle raises again.

"Ten thousand," Alice's voice squeaks from the front row and she raises her paddle in the air.

What is she doing? This is so stupid. She's mine, I'm hers. She doesn't need to bid for a fucking thing. I look at her, narrowing my eyes slightly.

"Fifteen thousand?" Anna asks, and the paddle to the left raises up again.

"Twenty thousand," Alice says, waving her paddle a little higher in the air this time, and a few voices in the crowd gasp a little. "Thirty thousand," she outbids herself.

Oh, princess, that's not how auctions work.

"Going once, going twice,SOLD!" Anna announces as my girl grins at me, a little menacing smile on her face.

What are you up to, Alice?

I walk down from the stage and stride over to Alice's table. I squat next to her and the material of my pants leg strains against my thigh.

With everyone watching us, I lower my voice to a whisper.

"You didn't have to spend your money on me, princess. You've got me for free." I pick up her hand and press it to my thigh. She looks down at the spot where it rests.

"Oh, big guy," she murmurs, "I didn't spend my money on you. I spentyourmoney on you. I hope you brought plenty of it." She grins and my mouth gapes a little before I quickly close it again, blindsided by her devious tactics. "You can't let Anna down now, can you?"

"You're so going to pay for this," I whisper into her ear, trying to will away a boner. Should I be turned on after falling victim to her scheme? Absolutely not. Am I anyway? Yep.

"Oh, no, I think that's what you just did." She shoots me a beaming smile. "You'd better get back to your friends, but you should meet me upstairs in meeting room D-Four on the third floor in fifteen minutes so I can claim my prize." She winks at me, and I push myself to standing.

Alice wiggles her fingers at me in a little wave and a small flush of red washes over her chest.

Chapter 31

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