Chapter 13
Finn was standing with Niall, Devon, and Kenna not far from the door when Nina walked into the large great-room of Whispering Pines Lodge. His heart skipped a beat, then thumped hard in his chest as it took off racing.
Thank God, Peyton was right.
His older brother’s voice faded into the background as a break in the crowd gave Finn full view of Nina slipping her coat from her shoulders. His mouth went dry as he swept his gaze over her dress.
Black, sleek, gorgeous. Twin spaghetti straps attached to a center silver ring slanted up and over to her back, leaving her shoulders bare except for the wavy cascade of her golden hair. The clingy material hugged every mouth-watering curve before slinking just past her knees. From there, long, tanned legs drew the eye down to a pair of red, stiletto heels.
The whole effect was sexy-yet-classy, and he couldn’t tear his gaze away as she handed her coat to a hovering attendant with a grateful smile.
“Finn? Did you hear me?”
Somewhere in his brain he processed Devon’s voice and managed an automatic, “Sure.”
“Holy hot tamales—who is that?”
Niall’s voice jerked Finn out of his trance. His brother’s blue eyes were lit with undisguised male interest as a grin spread across his face.
“Please tell me she’s on the list. I’ll bid on her.” He took a step forward as if going to stake a claim.
Reflexive instinct had Finn reaching out to slap a palm against his chest. “Back off little brother.” Three sets of surprised eyes swung toward him, and a rush of heat flooded his face. “That’s Nina.”
And she’s mine.
I hope.
“Who’s Nina?” his sister asked without bothering to use her inside voice.
At the sound of her name, Nina’s head swiveled in their direction. Her eyes went wide as her gaze locked with Finn’s, and her cheeks took on a rosy hue. His heart gave another forceful thump against his ribs when her jaw tightened and she started toward them.
“She’s the chick Finn’s living with,” Niall said.
“What?” Kenna and Devon asked in unison.
Finn shot Niall a glare, his teeth clenched as he ground out a terse, “Shut up.”
He absently noticed Josie Riley had joined their group, and heard the redheaded bakery owner tell his sister Nina was Peyton’s stand-in as he turned his attention back to the woman stalking closer in those killer red heels. She looked like she had something to say that he wasn’t going to like, so he stepped forward to meet her and keep his nosey family from eavesdropping.
When she stopped in front of him, the height of those heels put the two of them almost at eye level. He liked that—until her glare hit him full force.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded. “Did Peyton call you?”
“Actually, I’m in the auction.”
“Oh.” Her expression softened a fraction. “I thought the auction was for veterans?”
“It is,” Josie interjected from behind them. “But the veterans willing to volunteer always bring in good money.”
Finn glanced over his shoulder to find, despite his efforts, they had a very captive audience. He turned back to Nina with a nonchalant shrug he was nowhere close to feeling. “I gotta serve in whatever way I can these days.”
She didn’t seem to find that amusing or cute.
His brother broke the silence, stepping up beside Finn while extending his hand to Nina. “Hi. I’m Niall Regan. Finn’s younger, better looking, and more modest brother.”
Devon snorted and Kenna laughed.
The corners of Nina’s lips twitched as she shook his hand. “Nina Delveaux.”
“Hey,” his sister exclaimed as the group shifted to form a circle. “I went—”
“To school with a Delveaux,” Nina finished for her. “Yes, you did, until we moved just before junior year. You were a year behind me. Kenna, right?”
“Yes! And this is our older brother, Devon.” Nina nodded, as Kenna added, “Man, I loved your Goth look back in high school. Though, you look absolutely amazing now.”
“Thanks. Same for you.”
A light bump at his elbow had Finn glancing down to see Noel Smith insert herself into their group with a warm, flirty grin. He and Noel had dated ages ago. She was nice, and funny, and he always enjoyed saying hi to her whenever they ran into each other in town. Lately, though, he’d gotten the impression she wouldn’t mind picking up where they’d left off in high school. Sweet though she may be—and at times a bit brazen—she wasn’t the woman for him anymore.
“You do look great, Nina,” the curvy brunette agreed. She swept her hair back over the shoulder of her red sweater as her brown gaze swung around the circle. “Look at this, it’s like a mini reunion.”
“It is,” Josie agreed. “And I hate to break everything up, but I need to get Nina and Finn set to go in the back. Bidding starts in less than fifteen minutes.”
He extended his hand for Nina to go ahead of him as his family tossed out a few classless comments about working it for every dollar he could. Devon suggested he take off his shirt. Niall told him to show some hip action. Heat flushed his neck as he ignored them and followed Nina.
“I already know what you got, Finn,” Noel called after him. “I’m all set to bid.”
Obnoxious whistles from his brothers drew surrounding attention as he hurried through the crowd after Josie and Nina as quick as his limp would allow without his cane.
Once back behind the curtain with the other suckers—at least that’s what he was beginning to feel like after the comments from Noel and his family—Josie handed out a list to everyone so they could see the order they’d be called up onto the stage. She took a few minutes to explain how everything would go, encouraged them all to have fun with the bidders, and headed up the stage steps with a microphone.
A cheer erupted from the crowd, then they quieted as Josie officially kicked off the event with Janelle Riley, Whispering Pines’ co-owner and her cousin-in-law, and Mallory Jenkins, the lodge’s event planner.
Nina was first up on the list, and Finn leaned out from his sixth place in line to see if he could catch her eye as she waited at the bottom of the steps. Her hands were knotted together, and a corner of her bottom lip was being tortured by her teeth.
He popped out of line and sidled up to her left side to commiserate. Even though he had a plan in place for the two of them, he still had to go up those stairs and limp across the stage in front of those people out there.
“I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t signed up for this,” he said in a low tone.
She jumped at the first sound of his voice, then cast him a surprised glance. “Why? I can’t believe you’d be nervous.”
“You heard them back there.” He jerked his head in the general direction where they’d been talking to his family. “Imagine what they’re going to do once I’m on stage.”
A furrow appeared between her brows. “I have no doubt you’ll handle it just fine.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m not nervous.”
“Oh, please. There’s probably going to be a bidding war over you. No one knows who I am.”
He let his gaze drift down over her form-fitting dress again. “Believe me, that’s not going to matter.”
“They’ll all be disappointed I’m not Peyton,” she said as if he hadn’t spoken. “Everybody usually is.”
“I’m not. Not one single bit.”
Her eyes met his for a second, then widened as she turned back toward the stage. “Oh, sweet cupcakes, that’s me.”
Now Finn heard the bio Josie was finishing up before Nina’s name boomed out over the speakers. He swore he heard her gulp, then she closed her eyes, drew in a deep, gut-filling inhale, and blew it back out.
Just like that, she seemed to have donned a cloak of calm.
Finn blinked as she started forward. He quickly took two strides with her, and when he offered a hand to help her up the stairs, she gave him a startled glance.
She placed her hand in his, and he lightly squeezed her cold fingers with his warm ones while giving her a reassuring smile. Her whispered, “Thanks,” was accompanied by an indecipherable frown, then she was up in front of the crowd.
She froze for a second when the microphone was held out to her, but she took it and said hello to everyone filling the huge room. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say more, then abruptly shoved the microphone back to Josie.
The redhead recovered without hesitation. “Thanks, Nina. All right, let’s get started, shall we?”
“Fifty dollars,” a voice called from the back of the room.
Fifty dollars? Finn thought as he walked down the line to go around the back of the curtain. He would top that no problem.
“One hundred.”
His blood pressure spiked at the unmistakable sound of Niall’s voice almost directly on the other side of the curtain. He backtracked and swept the material out of his way to stand on the edge of the crowd. Up on stage, Nina still looked nervous, whatever measure of calm she’d sought earlier completely gone.
“One twenty-five,” the bidder in the back raised.
“Two hundred,” Finn called out before Niall could open his fool mouth.
Nina’s head jerked in his direction as a frown dug deep into her forehead. He ignored the frown and took it as a good sign that she recognized his voice right away.
His little brother glanced over with a chuckle from his spot closer to the stage. “Three hundred.”
“Four.”
“Wait…” Josie’s confused voice whispered from the speakers as she glanced between the two of them. “Finn can’t bid. Can he bid?” she asked as her gaze sought Mallory’s.
The event planner shook her head no.
“Three twenty-five,” the guy in the back called.
Finn’s hands clenched at his sides. He’d had enough. “One thousand.”
The crowd went silent and Nina reached over to grab the microphone from Josie. “You can’t bid if you’re up for bid yourself. His bids don’t count,” she told the audience.
“Two thousand,” he continued.
A low hum rose up to fill the room.
“Stop it.”
“Five thousand.” When her jaw dropped open, he said, “Think of all the people that money will help, Nina. Still going to say it doesn’t count?”
“It counts!” Josie leaned closer to Nina to speak into the mic. “Going once, going twice—”
“What about the money you would’ve brought in?” Nina demanded. Then she addressed the crowd. “Who here had their heart set on The Finn Regan?”
More than a few cheers went up, and he rolled his eyes. In a flash of inspiration, he strode forward and grasped Niall’s arm to haul him the few steps necessary to shove him up onto the stage.
“My brother will take my place.”
The kid looked like a deer caught in the headlights—until a loud wolf whistle split the air and a smattering of cheers rose up. Finn recognized a second piercing whistle, and he chuckled that Devon and Kenna were egging on the crowd—and Niall.
His little brother straightened and squared his shoulders with a grin curving his lips. Despite some heckling and shouts from the men, more cheers from the women sent him across the stage in an exaggerated model strut. When he spun and struck a dramatic pose, the place went wild.
Josie stripped the microphone from Nina’s hand. “Okay, the people have spoken. Finn has won the bid for Nina’s date at five thousand dollars, and up right now, we’ve got Niall Regan. Let’s open the bid at one hundred.”
A few competing bids were called in quick succession, and his kid brother extended his arms, palms up as he faced his admirers. “You know ladies, Regan means little king in Gaelic. That means right now, you have a shot at the prince you’ve always wanted.”
Groans combined with laughter, and more approval from the women. Finn joined in with a groan until he noticed Nina leaving the stage. When she disappeared down the steps behind the curtain, he hurried to intercept her. His hopeful smile was met with a frown as she shoved at his chest to get past.
“Nina, wait.”
She rounded on him, eyes bright with hurt and anger. He didn’t understand until she accused, “You only bid because you felt sorry for me.”
“I did not. There were other guys bidding already, so I wasn’t worried about how you’d do. Well, I was, but—”
“Five thousand dollars? How can you even afford that after buying the Christmas tree farm? That’s just insane.”
“Letting anyone else have that date with you would’ve been insane.”
He was thrilled to see a glimmer of hope light her hazel eyes, but then confusion deepened the frown still creasing her forehead. “And what about Kyra?”
He hesitated in surprise, wondering how she knew about Kyra. Had they talked? “She can use the money to bid on a different date. I don’t really care.”
“What?”
Okay, maybe she didn’t know. And it didn’t matter anyway.
Finn reached out to skim his hand down her arm to grasp her fingers. “Forget about Kyra. There’s something else I need to tell you. When I talked to Peyton earlier, she told me—”
“Wait—hold on.” Nina took a short step back. “You said she didn’t call.”
“No, I said I was in the auction. Which I was.”
Her eyes narrowed as he held her fingers tight. “But she did call?”
“Technically, I called her, and she called me back, but the point is—”
“I knew it!” Moisture brightened her eyes as she jerked her hand from his grasp. “I can’t believe she did that.”
Now he was confused. “Did what?”
“Asked you to bid on my date. She probably gave you the money, too.”
“I bid because I wanted to, Nina. I want to spend more time with you, and get a proper goodbye before you leave.”
More than anything, he wanted to convince her not to leave so they could give the two of them a chance at happily ever after.
“I left you the note,” she countered. “But if you really need it in person…goodbye, Finn.”
Dumbfounded, he watched as she spun around to push through the crowd toward the exit. What did he have to do so she would believe he wanted her of his own free will?