Underneath It All

She imagined that voice in the dark, his lips close to her ear, so close his warm breath tickled the hair at the base of her neck.

“We’ll hop in my vintage 1959 Cadillac convertible and head north to the new Santiago Resort and Spa in the beautiful Atlanta foothills,” he said. “My date will have a choice of how she’d like to spend the day. If she’s the outdoorsy type, they offer golf and tennis, or if it’s relaxation she’s after, there’s the full day spa or cruising on the lake.”

“Ooh, that sounds divine,” the announcer said. “And that’s a brand-new resort, ladies. I haven’t been but I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”

“We’ll finish the day off with dinner at the restaurant which sits right on the water’s edge,” he said. Then he turned and set his gaze directly on Nicole. “And with the right woman,” he added raising a brow, “who knows where the night could end.”

A million-dollar smile polished off his presentation leaving Nicole weak in the knees and ready to mortgage off the condo if she had to. With no effort, her imagination picked up where his description left off, turning the afternoon date into an adventure of sun, fun and sex.

She’d visited the Santiago Resort for a recent episode where they’d given away a romantic weekend for two. She’d toured the facilities and had no trouble imagining herself in one of those suites, buried under the fluffy down comforter with Devon Bradshaw in the flesh.

The thought swelled her insides and heated her blood, the way it apparently had with the rest of the women in the room. A round of hoots and whistles erupted, and though a number of women voiced their desire for that package, Devon never pulled his gaze from Nicole.

As if to signal her intentions, she smiled and faintly nodded, and the sexy expression on Devon’s face brightened to a grin.

“He’s mine,” Nicole said, twisting the pages in her hand, and when the announcer presented the opening bid, she raised her hand without hesitation.

And so did two dozen other women, but the numbers didn’t faze her. She was about to be a millionaire, and even though she didn’t have her money yet, staring into those beautiful blues with a weekend of sex on her mind, the sky was her only limit.

The price flew up from a few hundred dollars to over a thousand, and when it hit fifteen hundred, it was only Nicole and two other women.

“I don’t know if the station will go this high,” Eve said.

“I’ll pay for it myself.”

Fifteen-fifty and Nicole raised her hand taking the bid to sixteen hundred.

“Oh, my God,” Penny beamed. “He just passed the high water mark for the evening.”

A tall, too-thin woman, who looked a lot like the animated version of Cruella Deville, seemed as intent to win Devon as Nicole was. It was the same woman she’d seen him talking to earlier, and though that fact gave her pause, Devon’s heated stare swept away any doubts. Everything about his expression said he wanted Nicole to win, the smile of promise in his eyes, the sexy quirk of his mouth, right down to the way he rubbed his thumb against his fingers as he held his hand at his side.

It was his only hint of nerves, and Nicole couldn’t help but zero in on it. The higher the bid, the faster he rubbed, the faster he rubbed, the more intensely his eyes fixed on her. It was as if he was begging her to keep going, and she smiled, thinking he didn’t have to worry.

Nothing would make her stop.

Seventeen, then eighteen hundred, and the third woman finally backed out. Now it was just Nicole and Cruella, who really needed a solid meal more than she needed the date.

Like two opponents in a game of table tennis, the bids bounced back and forth between the two.

Eighteen-fifty, nineteen hundred, nineteen-fifty. Every time Nicole took the bid the other woman took it back and the higher they went, the more annoyed she became.

Who was this nightmare?

Nicole nearly yelled out to tell the woman to give up, now understanding the fierce annoyance that could throw a civilized woman into a cat-fighting frenzy. She felt like storming over and giving her a push.

Not that it would take much.

“That other woman really wants him,” Penny whispered.

“I’m taking her out,” Nicole replied, not at all feeling like it was the joke she’d intended. The more persistent Cruella was the more aggravated Nicole became. The woman was relentless, like a dog with its teeth clenched tightly on a sock. No matter how many times Nicole raised her hand, she just smiled and raised hers. It was becoming a ridiculous test of wills and checkbooks, and if Devon hadn’t continued to encourage her with the pleading look in his eyes, she might have backed out by now.

The price was now topping twenty-five hundred, nearing its way to three thousand, and though she could care less about the money, something about the situation stopped her in her tracks.

The contest between two brothers. The brunette talking casually with Devon before the auction. Her unfailing insistence on keeping up with the bidding and Devon’s heated encouragement for Nicole to keep going, to keep raising the price.

Was she being played?

“Nicole,” Eve warned. “This is getting pricey. You can’t count on the lottery, hon. We might not get our money thanks to Liza’s lawsuit against us.”

Raising her hand, Nicole took over the bid once more, but this time less intently. She didn’t care about the money, but the sudden flash that something here might be foul.

It was all too perfect, her attraction to this stranger, more hot and fiery than anything she’d felt before, all brought on by this undersea Eden set up to breed passion in everyone who entered. There was romance in the air, from the oysters on the half shell to the champagne to the plates of chocolate hearts on the tables.

And to find this instant connection with someone who gave her every signal he felt the very same way? How likely was that to happen? How much of this was simply the act of being swept up into the evening?

In a serious wave of doubt, her mind began spinning backward, rewinding to the first glance, her first impression, trying to recall what started all this and how she got caught up into it. Was this man sending her genuine signals or was he just trying to win the bet against his brother?

“Going once,” she heard.

Penny jabbed her in the ribs. “What are you doing? Don’t stop now.”

With a quick jerk, she raised her hand and took the bid again, now unsure exactly how high it was. Then she tried to shake the clouds from her thoughts.

This was silly, these doubts. If the man was trying to set up the bidding, he would have arranged it ahead of time, maybe with women he already knew. Not once had he approached her. In fact, he hadn’t approached any of the women here tonight. While all the other men were making contacts and getting to know the prospective buyers, he’d stood at the bar casually watching the room.

No, she thought. This was real. There was real heat here. Real attraction and she really wanted this date.

“What are you doing?” Penny asked. “You almost lost it.”

“She’s regaining her senses,” Eve said. “Nicky, don’t get carried away. Like you said before, you have the man’s phone number. You can always call him after the auction.”

“No,” said Nicole. “I want this.”

Up flew her hand to take over the bid again, the brunette still going on as if she could do this all night. And Devon still held his eyes on Nicole—that intense stare focused directly on her, the smile telling her she won’t be sorry, and that brush of his thumb caressing back and forth, prompting her to keep bidding.

To keep driving the price up so he can win the bet.

Damn, that voice of doubt. It was the same voice that had been paralyzing her for too many months now.

This was all about her parents and the situation that had stripped away her trust in everything pure and honest. And who could blame her? When the two people she should have believed in most handed her the greatest betrayal, how was she expected to have faith in a stranger in a bar? Maybe a year ago, she would have played into this without thinking twice. She would have taken everything at surface value, never considering that Devon and Cruella were conspiring to win this wager from his brother.

But when her parents were forced to admit they’d lied to her about her birth, her basic trust in human beings was destroyed.

It wasn’t even finding out that she was adopted that hurt the most. Millions of children are adopted and grow up with a solid sense of self. It was that her parents had never intended to tell her. That she’d always been led to believe that she was their natural child, that their heritage was her heritage, their culture her culture.

That she was a Reavis, and Reavis’s were doers and go-getters and survivors. It was in her blood, who she was.

And only when her mother became ill and the truth leaked out were her parents forced to confess the family secret.