Page 13 of The Devil in Blue Jeans
Her eyes widened. “Oh.”
Of course, she wouldn’t have known that. Jaxon had made the bar a corporation when he’d opened it. So when he’d sold the property, it was under the business name.
She looked him up and down as she contemplated his proposition. “What if I refuse to this agreement?”
“Then I won’t take part in whatever grand scheme you’re devising, and it will fail. I don’t think you want your first event to fail. Right?”
She narrowed her eyes into slits. Obviously, she knew he had her cornered. After a long, tense moment, she held out her hand in agreement. “Deal.”
A spark flared between them, storming heat into his groin. By the darkening of her cheeks, he knew he wasn’t the only one to feel this unexplainable energy pulling them together.
When their hands separated, she grabbed the microphone from behind the bar and switched it on. “Ladies, get ready to bid for Jaxon Reed. Come on, cowboy, show us what you’ve got.”
Jaxon shook his head slowly, grinning back, feeling like he’d been bested, but for once, he liked it. Though he also had no intention of going on a date with someone he wasn’t asking himself. He leaned over to Gunner, discretely grabbed his wallet from his pocket and whispered in Gunner’s ear, “Give what’s in there to Janessa.” She had a serious boyfriend and would have no interest in this date. “There is only one woman I want to win this date.”
Gunner chuckled, accepted the wallet and gave a nod. “Got it.”
Jaxon then followed Charly as she got onto the bar and readied himself for whatever absurdity awaited.
Charly kept her gaze on him as he hoisted himself up onto the bar as if expecting him to relish every second of the moment, and he didn’t understand it. She hadn’t even met him before. Evidently, somebody had told her that he enjoyed his bachelorhood too much. But those days were far behind him now. Women just didn’t get that when he started the bar business, work came first. He couldn’t blame them for not wanting to take second place. Then after his father had passed away, he’d been lost in a foggy stupor when it came to dating and drowning in his sorrows. But he had never made any promises to anyone; he knew that for certain.
He began to wonder what had happened in Charly’s life that made her think the worst of a man without even knowing him.
He cast his gaze out over the gathering of women and he spotted Gunner chatting with Janessa. She smiled, caught his eye and nodded, and Jaxon exhaled a breath of relief. The last thing he needed was a date he did not want. He didn’t recognize anyone in the crowd, telling him all these women came from out of town. He suspected Charly had posted this on social media, which brought in a crowd. No one in town cared about dating a real-life cowboy. It was simply a way of life.
Charly stepped forward and addressed the crowd, saying, “Ladies, thank you for coming here tonight to support Haley’s Place. We have a genuine real-life cowboy up for auction tonight.” She then turned her attention to Jaxon and asked, “Jaxon, what kind of evening do you have planned for your date next Friday?”
Obviously, she intended to really put him on display and thought he’d fail at coming up with a good date. He grinned devilishly at her. “We’ll start off at my ranch, where I’ll cook dinner for you,” he told the crowd. “Afterward, we’ll get on our horses and ride out to the mountains so that we can watch the sunset before staying a bit longer to stargaze as we make our way back in the moonlight. How does that sound?” he asked the crowd of eager women.
Cheers filled the room, but if he listened closely, he could hear Eli and Gunner barely containing their laughter behind them.
Charly looked taken aback by Jaxon’s answer, making him question again what she’d heard about him. She cleared her throat. “All right, ladies, let’s start the bidding at fifty dollars. Call out your name before you make your first bid.”
Jaxon began to feel like cattle as the woman threw out bids, going higher and higher, with Janessa topping each one.
Until the bidding got to twelve hundred dollars.
Charly said, “Twelve hundred? Going once? Twice? And the winner of the date is... Janessa!” she called.
Jaxon breathed a long, slow sigh of relief.
Applause echoed through the bar until it was silenced by Janessa, who said, “But I’m afraid I can’t go on the date. I’ve got a boyfriend.”
“Oh,” Charly said in surprise.
“I want to give it away to you, then,” Janessa suggested.
Jaxon had difficulty concealing his grin as Charly’s eyes thinned and her stern gaze settled on him. “Is that so?” she remarked icily.
“Yes,” Janessa answered before Jaxon could open his mouth.
Cheers shook the bar this time from all the excitement watching this show unfold.
With everyone looking her way, Charly swept her glance across the room and gave them a smile. “Thank you for your support for Haley’s Place and to The Naked Moose.” She hopped off the bar soon after and music filled the room again as everyone started singing and dancing.
Once he jumped down as well, Charly faced him and scowled. “You cheated.”
He shook his head. “No, I simply played your game and won.”
