Before we could make it up front, our waiter returned in record time with our cocktails.

I tipped him again. “Bring us another round in fifteen minutes.”

He nodded, darting away again.

I watched while Emma took a sip from her champagne flute, tasting her drink.

“Well?”

She broke into a grin. “So yummy. I think this is my new favorite drink.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that it was basically a kiddo cocktail with a splash of champagne. I wasn’t sure if she’d heard me order it. Then again, there was something I liked about the fact that she wasn’t a drinker. After some of the shit I’d dealt with, it was a weight off my shoulders.

I glanced at her smiling face as she surveyed the room, then noticed the pool of men who’d already noticed her. They looked at her like she was the biggest, juiciest steak they’d ever seen, and I placed an arm around her protectively, as if to show them she wasn’t for sale.

Not this one.

Except . . . wasn’t she? She’d essentially been blackmailed into coming here, and it was all my fault. Frowning down at her, I paused.

“Do you really want to be here right now? I know I can be overbearing sometimes, and if this arrangement doesn’t work for you . . .”

Her gaze searched mine. “I really want to be here.” Her tone was sincere.

“Okay. We don’t have to stay long. Let’s find our seats for the auction.”

As we weaved our way through the crowd, hand in hand, I realized there was already something that felt very different about this. I already knew I was intrigued with Emma, but now I knew that she was someone of substance, it seemed to matter even more what she thought of me. That was a first. I normally never gave a shit what someone thought of me, but with her? Somehow that mattered.

“Kingsley!” a man’s voice behind us boomed.

We turned, and I met the gaze of a man in his late fifties with a short graying beard.

“Mr. Thornton. Good evening.” I turned and squeezed Emma’s hand. “Do you want to find our seats? We’re 6A and B. I’ll see you in just a moment.”

She nodded and turned to saunter off.

Thornton was a top-notch client. A huge moneymaker for our business.

So then, why couldn’t I tear my gaze away from the sway of little Emma Bell’s luscious hips?

Chapter Eleven

Emma

I’d fantasized about Gavin constantly for almost a year, but now that I had his attention, everything had changed. Sipping my drink, I let my gaze wander around the room. Gavin had directed me here to a chair near the stage and made sure I was okay, saying that there was someone he needed to talk to.

As I sat waiting for the auction to begin, I enjoyed my sweet, fizzy drink and the atmosphere around me, marveling yet again at how different everything was from my everyday life.

Any moment, I expected the clock to strike twelve and everything around me would dissolve, the limo turning back into a pumpkin, my dress turning back into my boring black-and-white work clothes. But that wasn’t going to happen.

Tonight, I was freshly waxed, manicured, and wearing a fine gown. I’d had two nights like this in as many weeks with two sexy men.

Was this real life?

It certainly didn’t feel like it.

Holding tightly to the stem of my champagne glass, I glanced back toward the crowd of people, hoping to spot Gavin. It took less than a second until I found him, still talking with the man from before.

When we locked eyes from across the room, a shiver of raw heat pulsed through me. It reminded me so much of the way he’d looked when he dropped that card into the jar at the coffee shop, like there was an intimate secret between us.

His eyes darkened with unmistakable heat, and his long fingers reached down to adjust a cuff link on his wrist while he continued to watch me. A hot shiver raced through me in anticipation. He exuded power and strength, and I was weak, unable to resist him.

The way he looked at me—predatory and hungry—was like no man ever had. It wasn’t in that way other men might, leering and curious. There was no curiosity. Gavin knew. If he wanted me, he would have me, and I would be powerless to stop him.

I was a doe and he was a lion, stalking toward me with determined strides that made my knees go weak, even as I sat in my chair.

Heat spread from my face to my core, and for a moment I was worried Gavin could read me like a book. But then he smiled and another wave of traitorous desire rolled through me, making butterflies swirl in my stomach. I softened.

Dear God, I like his smile. I wanted to make him do that again.

“Everything okay?” he asked, sliding into the seat beside me.

“Yes, fine.”

I took the final sip of my drink just as the waiter delivered our next round, and Gavin gave me an approving nod as I traded glasses.

Again, he slipped a tip onto the waiter’s tray, and I watched as the guy scurried away, ready to jump at Gavin’s beck and call. Just like everyone else seemed to.

That was when it hit me. Gavin was a man.

I’d dated guys before. Their needs always came first, and I was merely an afterthought. I knew things with Gavin would be different. Maybe it was because his job was managing relationships with women, making sure they were safe and taken care of, but I wasn’t sure. Whatever the reason, all my senses were humming. This man had my complete attention.

“How was your evening with Cooper?” Gavin’s full mouth quirked up just a fraction. It didn’t escape my notice that he didn’t refer to it as a date.

“It was nice. We had fun.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“He took me to the drive-through on the way home.” I shrugged. “We shared french fries.”

Gavin smirked and shook his head. “He really knows how to woo a woman.”

“I don’t think he was trying to woo me.”

“Don’t you?”

Gavin’s expression turned serious, and for a moment, I didn’t understand the game we were playing.

“What did you talk about?” he asked.

Why were we even talking about this? Was he trying to set me up with his brother? If he wanted me to fall for Cooper, then why agree to go out with me himself?

I shrugged again. “He mentioned something about your colorful upbringing.”

Gavin cleared his throat. “Did he now?”

I nodded. “He made it sound so fascinating. Not at all like the piano lessons and strict curfew I grew up with. Though, to be honest, I can’t picture you all growing up with hippie-type parents or something.” I grinned, imagining the Kingsley brothers younger and in some sort of drum circle.

He let out a choked laugh and shifted in his seat. “Yeah, no. It was nothing like that. To be honest, things were pretty desolate those first few years.”

Cooper hadn’t made it sound that way. Though, he had mentioned something about earning Gavin’s trust . . . God, I felt stupid now. I wanted to shove my words back in my mouth and pretend I’d never said them, but Gavin was glancing at the stage, speaking as casually as ever.

“We were raised by a single mom, and times were tough. Not such an unusual story. But it made us determined to make something of ourselves.”

Gavin rising out of poverty sounded so dashing. This was probably just his way of steering us away from a too-personal topic. But deep down, as much as I didn’t want to care about him or his childhood, part of me knew what he said was true, and my heart gave a squeeze.

I took a gulp of my drink. There was a reason they called it liquid courage.

Gavin’s hot gaze fell on me, appraising my reaction to his revelation. “If you haven’t figured it out yet, we grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. I’m sure my childhood was a far cry from the country-club lunches and tennis lessons you enjoyed.”

I blinked. Ouch. I’d clearly overstepped. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said, but before I got the chance to explain myself, the lights on the stage went up and, just like that, the auction began, leaving a heavy silence hanging between us.

The hostess began with an overview of the charity we were here to support. I suddenly felt foolish that I hadn’t researched the reason we were here. As I listened to the woman speak about the topic that was clearly so dear to her heart, my throat felt tight. It was an international charity that helped rescue women from prostitution and human trafficking. From the corner of my eye, I glanced at Gavin, trying to get a read on how he felt about being here, but apparently, this was a speech he’d heard many times before.