Carissa

My head was still reeling in shock from the outcome of my stroll across the stage for the bachelorette auction, but there was one thing of which I was certain—the man standing in front of me had no need to drop a quarter of a million dollars to get a date. He probably didn’t even have to buy a girl a drink before getting her to agree to go home with him. Not with his rugged good looks.

He didn’t quite fit the tall, dark and handsome cliché, even though he certainly met all the requirements. He had to be a few inches over six foot with the way he towered over me while I was wearing four inch heels. His hair was uber-short, but very dark. So were his closely cropped beard and mustache. His eyes were the deep brown of a dark-chocolate bar, one of my biggest weaknesses. He was wildly attractive, but I wouldn’t describe him as handsome because he was somehow more than that.

Even dressed in an impeccably tailored Brooks Brother tuxedo, he had a dangerous air about him. The black material only accentuated his muscular build. He was tanned, but I highly doubted it was from spending too many hours on a golf course like my dad did. His hand was warm in mine, but there were callouses on his fingertips which sent shivers down my spine as they stroked against my palm.

He was everything mothers warned their daughters about—the kind of man who could easily crush your heart. Yet he’d just won a date with me at an event my own mother had basically forced me to attend. It only served to reinforce the feeling that I’d fallen down the rabbit hole since I returned home.

He tugged on my hand, and I followed him towards the table where the event organizers were handling all the details for the winning bidders. Or, at least, that’s where I thought he’d been leading me until he side-stepped into the curtains lining the stage and pulled me with him. We were hidden from the rest of the crowd, and it felt as if the entire world had narrowed to just the two of us.

“What’s your name, beautiful?”

“Carissa,” I gulped as he drew me closer.

“Carissa”—he repeated softly, the deep rumble of his voice making me shiver again—“what?”

“Hastings.” My answer sounded more like a question since I was confused. “But you knew that, right? Because of my father. He arranged for you to place the winning bid tonight.”

“I don’t know your father.”

I jerked back slightly, surprised by his answer. “You don’t?” I gasped, instinctively trying to look over my shoulder to locate my parents. It was no use, not with the curtain blocking my view. “Crap! They’re going to be so pissed off.”

His fingers tightened on my hand, and the narrowing of his eyes and twitch in his jaw made it clear he wasn’t happy with my reaction. I rushed to explain further. “My parents tend to be over-protective. Ridiculously so.” His grip loosened, and my nerves settled slightly. “This is my first real outing since I returned home from boarding school.”

“How long have you been back?”

“A few weeks,” I admitted softly, hoping it didn’t make me sound like a complete loser—the girl who had barely left her parents’ compound in almost a month.

“I assumed that a young, beautiful girl like you would have an active social calendar. Shopping trips with friends. Hitting the clubs. Going out on dates.”

I blushed, completely unused to receiving compliments. It left me disarmed, and I blurted out exactly what I was thinking. “My closest friends live on another continent, I’m not old enough to drink, and the date you won will be my first.” My admission left me feeling vulnerable, especially since… “I don’t even know your name.”

“Vaughn Westbrook.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I replied out of habit.

“The pleasure’s all mine,” he purred. “For now at least. Our date will be an entirely different story since I have the honor of getting your first one.”

“Our date!” I yelped. “I can’t believe you bid so much for such a simple thing, and my father didn’t put you up to it.” I’d gone into the evening worried that I’d embarrass my parents by gaining the lowest bid of the night, but the opposite had happened thanks to Vaughn. Although, the amount he’d paid was beyond my comprehension when he could have just as easily walked up to any other woman—ones who would have a clue how to handle a man like him—and accomplished the same thing without having to dip into his wallet. It was mind boggling.

“A date with you will be anything but simple,” he murmured. “But well worth the donation I’m making tonight. I couldn’t let some other man sweep you off your feet, now could I?”

“That’s hardly a concern,” I laughed awkwardly. “Considering my father arranged for someone else to win the date with me.”

“Well then I guess your father and his choice will have to suffer their disappointment while I have the pleasure of taking you out on a date.”

“I’m not sure how this whole thing works.” I waved my free hand towards the curtain, in the direction where the table we’d been headed towards was. “Or what kind of arrangements have been made for the date, except that it’s supposed to take place sometime this next week. My parents didn’t give me a lot of details beyond the timeframe.”

Oddly enough, he seemed pleased by my admission. “Don’t worry, beautiful. I’m sure our date will be perfect.”

“Okay.” I paused awkwardly, unsure what to say next. “Well, then. We should probably go see what they have planned for us.”

“I suppose I should let you rejoin the party since I’ve had you to myself longer than I planned,” he agreed. “Your parents are probably looking for you by now. You’d better go find them while I’ll take care of the details with the organizers.”

He was a complete stranger, but I was oddly reluctant to be separated from him. “How will you find me for our date?”

He lifted his hands to cup the sides of my face with both palms. “Trust me,” he whispered before his mouth crashed down on mine.

His lips were firm and hot, and he tasted like he’d been drinking hard liquor. Bold and spicy with a punch. Bourbon, maybe. I’d tried it with my friends a couple months ago and hadn’t enjoyed it. But the flavor was so improved when accompanied by a searing hot kiss from Vaughn Westbrook, I could easily find myself addicted.

He tilted my head further back and swiped his tongue along the seam of my lips, and I let out a startled gasp. Vaughn didn’t waste the opportunity, his tongue surged inside and tangled with mine. His thumbs stroked my jawline as he groaned before pulling away.

“I’ll find you.”

With that promise, while my head was reeling from his kiss, he stepped away. Pulling the curtain aside, he freed me from our private cocoon, only to walk away without looking back. I was so focused on staring at his spectacular backside that I didn’t sense my mother approaching until her fingers wrapped around my arm and she hissed in my ear, “We’re leaving.”

“But—”

“Be quiet,” she bit out. “Smile and act like nothing’s wrong.”

“It’s not an act if I’m not aware of anything actually being wrong, Mother.”

“Nothing wrong?” she sputtered. “You may have just destroyed an important business relationship for your father with your antics up there, garnering such a ridiculous bid when Mr. Bellamy had expected to win your date.”

My spine straightened, and I almost had to bite my tongue to keep myself from screaming at her as she led me towards the exit. “Really, mother. What was I supposed to do? All eyes were on me, due to your machinations. This is hardly my fault. You’re the one who signed me up to participate in the auction. I didn’t ask for any of this.”

Although, I certainly wasn’t going to complain about the outcome. I had a date with the delicious Vaughn Westbrook to look forward to. I wisely refrained from gloating about it to my mother, though.