Page 7 of Welcome Home for Christmas
Griffin Black walked onstage and the crowd roared with excitement. Troy listened as the bids went higher and higher, ending at $250.
Wow. That would buy a decent amount of Barbie dolls and monster trucks for the kids. Troy hoped to bring in half that much.
Adrenaline surged through his veins as Griffin trotted offstage.
His turn. Here went nothing.
Troy stepped out from behind the curtain, blinded by the amateur lighting that shone directly into his eyes. The cheers from tipsy women full of holiday spirit rose to a new earsplitting level. He had to admit, this was good for his ego.
“Okay,” Kat Peterson said behind the mike. “Who wants to start the bidding?”
A flutter of bidding cards flew into the air. From in front of the lights, Troy couldn’t tell who was holding up their cards. Kat’s response to the bidding seemed to be happening so fast that he had no idea what was going on. But he thought the commotion was a good thing. So he kept smiling, reminding himself that this was for the orphans. This was his one good deed for Christmas, to prove that he wasn’t Scrooge, despite Griffin’s insistence that he was.
“Sold!” Kat called, pointing her finger to someone offstage.
Troy blew out a breath and exited without looking to see whom he’d been sold to. Hopefully someone nice, who wouldn’t expect the world on a platter. A few guys high-fived him as he passed by.
Griffin waggled his eyebrows from a few feet away. Troy was just glad this was over with. He’d done his part and he could be on his way home now. He was sure Kat would contact him later with the details of who had won him and what he needed to do next.
“Nice!” Lawson said as Troy walked by.
Troy kept moving, even as he wondered about his friends’ reactions.
Then Allison stepped in front of him, chewing her bottom lip—a lip he wouldn’t mind getting a hold of himself. She had a sheepish expression on her face.
He stopped walking and grinned, loving how she flushed every time they saw each other.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I really don’t know what I was thinking. It all just happened so fast.” She wrung her hands in front of her. “This was stupid,” she mumbled under her breath.
Troy read her lips, unable to hear her over the loud music and chatter. He touched her arm, gaining her attention. “Not following you, baby.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t call me ‘baby.’ You called me that at the wine store, too. And weren’t you paying attention up there?”
He glanced at the stage and back at her. “The lights are blinding and it’s loud up there. This crowd is man-hungry. Not what I signed up for.” Griffin had tricked him into coming to a holiday function; he’d be addressing that with his friend later.
Allison’s lips pinched.
“I mean, yes, I signed up for the cause. It’s a great cause, but I didn’t realize this was a Christmas party or that I’d be showcased like that. I just hope the lady who bought me isn’t crazy.”
She full-on glared at him now. She was hungry all right, but not in the good kind of way.
“What?” he finally asked. “Did I not earn enough for your cause? Want me to go back up there and flex some muscles?” He was kidding.
She didn’t laugh. “I bought all your hours. You’re mine for Christmas.” She started to walk away, then turned to look at him over her shoulder. “And I am a little crazy, according to my mother, who’s a trained psychologist, so she would know.”
“She sounds lovely,” Troy said. Almost as lovely as the woman shooting daggers at him right now.
“You’ll see. Since you aren’t going to your home for Christmas, I bought you to accompany me to mine. As my boyfriend.”
Troy’s eyes widened. He closed off the distance she’d started to create between them. “Listen, babe.”
Allison held up a finger. “It’s Allison.”
“Okay, but I’m not going home with you to meet your mother.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “She lives twenty minutes from here. A couple hours pretending to like me and you’re done. What’s the matter? You said you didn’t have a girlfriend.”
He scratched his chin. “I don’t.”
