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When they had finished eating, he was surprised to find that he had enjoyed their lunch together She was intelligent, funny, and the conversation had never waned Unfortunately, neither had his attraction to her It would probably be a good idea to planweeks He wasn’t sure he could handle her being that close to hi it It had been a while since he had felt the need for a lunchtiht be the day

Chapter Four

Mia pulled on the strapless red cocktail dress and spent severalto get it zipped There were ti a man around She surveyed her reflection in the h her th, she absolutely loved it The dress had a pleated bodice and the narrow skirt contained side pockets She settled on a large pair of gold hoop earrings and a h-heeled strappy sandals completed the look

She had to wonder if she was putting just a little extra care into her appearance because she knew Seth would be there He intrigued her He see her outthe chemistry between them She had always been a sucker for a ne that he wore also y body and answer one of her burning questions: boxers or briefs? He definitely looked like a boxers kind of guy, and she found those so da, too fast Boxers were like unwrapping a present You never kneas under them If the outline at the front of his trousers was to be believed, she wouldn’t be disappointed in Seth’spackage Okay, so she had been checking hi could happen between the there, but after the job was completedall bets were off

She had been too busy ork and travel the last few years to maintain any type of relationship She had never been shy about going after soht now, that was Seth Jackson She didn’t want to marry the s ell, she could see things going longer than just one night Of course, this all depended on Seth being a willing participant and fro earlier, she felt that he was Thanks to the wonder of Google, she knew that he was single and appeared to be unattached She was also surprised to find that he and his family owned the chain of Oceanix Resorts He wasn’t just an eht That didn’t reallyto her, but it explained why her parents knew hih for casual conversation She would have preferred someone outside of their social circle, but at least they didn’t appear to be golf buddies or anything close It was doable and so was he

The cab that she had called aiting at the entrance to her condominium She usually preferred to have her own car, but she wanted to be able to enjoy a drink if she felt like it so she opted for safety When she arrived, the ballrooreeting the new arrivals Herher a fake, public sht" Her father was deep in conversation with another couple and gave her a perfunctory kiss on the cheek before turning away again

"Hi, Mo room only in here"

Her mother beaoes to Seth for donating the venue Everyone loves the Oceanix Resort and couldn’t resist an evening here You two seemed quite co to ive her credit; her taste has improved a lot since the last disaster Mia tried to see involved and scaring theroup of people behind her provided just enough distraction for her to make a quick escape She loved her parents, but they didn’t havewhen you were the center of their focus It was lass of cha waiter and scanned the room She was disappointed that Seth was nowhere to be found Maybe he had decided against being auctioned off tonight

When a hand landed on her shoulder, she turned to find Margie, Seth’s assistant, behind her "Well, hey there, girl, don’t you look hot" Margie earing a for black dress, which displayed a body thather

"Wow, so do you I love that dress and those shoes are a and she was happy to see a friendly face in the crowd

"Ah, thank you, dear They are killing ht? I hear your parents are throwing this shindig I didn’t peg you for one of those Gentrys"

Mia winced "Yeah, well, someone had to be their token child and hed, throwing an arm around her "I like you It’s about ti yourself athis because he payswith Seth The boy cleans up real well and the way the woood at his gaetting her drift "I hate to disappoint you, but the auction is out ofto do it? I haven’t seen him around"

"He had to take a late conference call He should be down in tiet hi with his suit"

"That’s too bad," Mia ave her a wicked grin, saying, "Use your iination, honey Mine sure keeps ood seats to the action?"

Linking their arot this covered, follow me"

Seth cursed under his breath when he looked at his watch The conference call had run later than he had anticipated and he had missed the start of the auction If he didn’t hurry, he wouldand Madeline Gentry would have his head He wondered again why he had agreed to this in the first place He had no desire to take soer out to dinner and make polite conversation Worse yet, if Mia was correct, hehands Maybe he should just stay in his office and pretend that he couldn’t get away If you do, you’ll ain

Shit, why did he care about that? He would see her toht What if she’s showing ht he couldn’t resist He had to see her If thathimself in front of a roomful of people, then so be it How bad could it be?

The spotlights were glaring down on hi a fine sheen of sweat on his neckline, and the women in the room had turned into a bunch of horny piranhas Mia, as dressed in a fire-engine red dress that was indecently short, was seated in the front row next to Margie Both of the screamed from everywhere--and the amounts were in the thousands now These woo out with a stranger? They did know that this didn’t include sex, right?

There was one bidder sitting quietly at the end of the front roho kept discreetly raising her hand to outbid the last bid Whereas the other wo more like a bridal party at a male strip club, this woman was cal, blonde hair and a blue cocktail dress He adh, worried about what an evening with her would be like She see on a date She barely even looked at hi to each bid and autorab his crotch during the date, but this one justthat someone else would win? Why in the hell hadn’t he instructed Margie to buy hiht had never crossed hisfinally ended at 18,000 with hi sold to the eerily called his mind He had contributed more to various charities than that last year, but he would have never paid thateyes and seeing the way her dress had crept up to expose aHow aze and tried to shake her frohts Maybe the ood distraction Hell, she was attractive and he needed to get his ht now