Page 59 of Auction Time
A night like that with him sounded beautiful, and I wanted it. I wanted it badly, but wouldn’t that take us outside the remit of whatever we were?
For the last four weeks, I saw him every day. I’d either wake up with him at his place or my place or go to sleep with him at his place or my place.
It was fun. As far as I knew, he’d only been with me. Still, I kept my mind wide open and my sense of logic about me. I never allowed myself to think for one second that this man was mine.
Except…
Except for the moments when he was with me. He belonged to me then. At least that’s what I told myself.
“Would a date of that nature ruin your image?”
“I don’t care about image. I care if you say yes or not, goddess.”
I’d noticed he’d taken to calling me that a lot.
“So,”—he gave me a lopsided grin—“Vanessa Cartwright, will you go out with me on a real date?”
I nodded of course, saying yes like I knew I would. It was a date. A date with him no matter what it meant. “Yes.”
He smiled. “Okay, I’ll pick you up at eight.”
“Eight sounds great.” I nodded, and he bent down to kiss me. It was another kiss that nearly pushed us to the arms of passion.
He stepped back though and gave me a wink before he left.
My lips burned with the memory of his kiss, and the memory of him lingered in my mind.
* * *
My sisters all came to my place after work.
We’d usually hang out back at the beach house the girls used to share or here, and the routine just stuck.
They knew I had a date, so they took it upon themselves to do my hair and makeup, getting me ready while they told their crazy stories.They, as in Mia and Abby. As per usual, Taylor and I sat and listened, amused by the two. I was convinced that Abby took completely after Grandpa because the type of bizarre she came out with was unreal. It was also very clear that while she and Gilly were now husband and wife, they were still as insane as they had been when they were just best friends.
“It’s true, you know,” she bubbled. “We saw her with him.” Abby nodded as she passed the eye shadow pallet to Mia.
She was talking about Judge Witherspoon. Abby and Gilly thought the good judge owned a sex dungeon in her house.
It was the first thing Abby came out with when they’d arrived.
That was half an hour ago, and Taylor was still laughing at the thought of an eighty-year-old Judge Witherspoon dressed as a dominatrix holding a whip.
“Abby, just because you saw whatever it was you think you saw doesn’t mean she has a sex dungeon,” Mia chided.
The wild look that washed over Abby’s face made me worry.
“My dear sister,” she said, straightening, “allow me to finish the story.”
Oh God.I already knew this was going to be some on-the-edge-of-your-seat shit.
Mia stopped doing my makeup, and we all looked to Abby, who had a proud smile on her face as she whipped out her phone and showed us a picture of two men dressed in full leather and masks. One carried a whip. They were inside the house. We all gasped, and Taylor burst out laughing.
“Abby, how did you get that?” Mia shrieked.
“We broke in.” She nodded. “Got as far as the second floor.”
“Abby, you did what?” I gasped.
