by Milly Taiden
Nick grinned. The owner reminded him of his dad. Before his parents passed away in a car cras some two years back, Nick’s dad pulled his coat on everything.
He sighed and gave in to the poking and prodding by Mr. Attiomo.
“I think a cup of coffee will help you relax,” Mr. Attiomo told him. He stopped pinning the hem of his pants and pointed to a black leather chair. “Sit.”
Nick laughed and sat. Yeah, Mr. Attiomo definitely reminded him of his dad. “Got a latte somewhere in this store?”
Mr. Attiomo raised his bushy brows and finally smiled. “I like lattes, too. I do have a very good machine in the next room. I’ll be back shortly.”
Nick let the nerves go and focused on the fact this event was for charity. Many people would benefit from all the money they’d raise. That was reason enough to get him on that stage. He could only hope he wasn’t sold to some grabby old lady thinking she was going to be cougar of the year.
* * *
Nick took a deep breath. Nope. It didn’t help. A glass of champagne materialized in front of him.
“Drink it.”
He took it and gulped, then turned to face Ryan. His friend was dressed in a tux much like his own, but a different neckline style.
“I see you’ve been to Mr. Attiomo, too, huh?”
“He reminds me of your dad,” Ryan laughed. “I think that’s why I keep going back. That, or I’m some kind of sadist for his sarcasm.”
Nick laughed and gave his empty flute to a passing waiter, taking another full one. “He did remind me of my dad.” Nick glanced around the backstage. Names were being called and thousands of dollars were being offered for a night with each man. “So why a bachelor auction?”
Ryan shrugged. “I asked Kayla the same thing. She said the chair head of the Scars Foundation, the people helping to host this, suggested it as a great way to raise funds. From what I’m seeing, they were right.”
The hotel ballroom was packed. Nick had never been to The Plaza, nor an event there, but nothing could have prepared him for the place looking like a wonderland. They’d decorated with many yellow roses since that was the color for soldiers and they were the ones on auction. All the bachelors had a boutonnière with a yellow rose.
“Listen,” Ryan cleared his throat and squeezed his shoulder. “It will be fine. I’m glad you decided to do this. After what Scars Foundation did for you, I really am.”
Nick frowned. “What did they do?”
Ryan’s brows rose. “You mean, you don’t know?”
One of Kayla’s assistant showed up and grabbed his arm. “Let’s go, Mr. Gates. It’s your turn to show them what you’re working with.”
Nick was dragged off before he had a chance to find out what Ryan was talking about.
“Have fun,” Ryan called out. “We’ll chat tomorrow.”
Nick was taken to a stage where Kayla was playing MC behind a podium.
“Our next bachelor is extra dreamy,” she gushed. The women ooohed while lights focused on him, making him almost blind in the process. He couldn’t see anyone at the tables. “Ladies, this is Captain Nick Gates. He likes to eat Chinese food. His favorite movie is Jaws and his favorite thing to do when he’s not in the military saving our country is playing pool. So, let’s hear the opening bid for Captain Gates. Do I hear a thousand dollars?”
Nick smiled stiffly at the crowd of females he knew was there but couldn’t make out. With his hands in his pockets, he probably looked like he was posing, but he really didn’t know what to do with them.
“One thousand from number thirty-seven,” Kayla said. “Anyone want to up that? Captain Gates is going to make someone laugh with his charming sense of humor, tonight.”
Nick glanced at her. Why was she making shit up? Nick had no idea where this humor would be coming out of. His ass? Not like he was known for being funny. Broody, yes. Serious, yes. Funny, no.
“Two thousand from number forty-six,” Kayla said. “Three thousand from number thirty-seven.”
Nick squinted, trying to figure out who the numbers were. “Five thousand,” said a voice from the floor.
“Five thousand from number sixty-nine,” Kayla giggled. “Anyone want to challenge?”
“Ten thousand,” said someone else.
“Ten thousand from number thirty-seven,” Kayla chuckled and winked at Nick. “Captain Gates also loves the beach. He’s been given use of my family’s beach house in Golden Island. The winner will get a full weekend with Captain Gates. Do I hear fifteen thousand?”
Nick’s brow rose as he turned to Kayla. When had that invite been sent? He hadn’t gotten it yet. The woman on stage next to him grinned at him.
“Twenty thousand from number thirty-seven,” Kayla smiled. “Oh, I see another. Thirty thousand from number forty-six. Captain Gates has surpassed our highest bachelor who went for twenty-five thousand.”
“One hundred thousand dollars,” said a soft but strong female voice. There was something familiar about the voice, but he couldn’t see the face through the lights.
“One hundred thousand from newcomer number seventeen. Going one. Twice. Sold.” She slammed a hammer down. “Thank you, Captain Gates.” Kayla smiled and waved at him. Her assistant was there in seconds, pulling him from the stage and dragging him somewhere else.
“Where are we going?” he asked, tugging at the bow tie.
“Your winner already paid for her time with you. Tonight, all you have to do is meet her and have a few drinks. Kayla is giving up Golden Island for a few days so you can have a weekend with your winner.”
He stopped short and glanced at the assistant. “What exactly are we doing there?”
She gave him a look as if he’d lost his mind. “Swim, eat, talk. The usual beach stuff people do. She said to make sure you knew there was no matchmaking involved. Kayla realized this might bring more money so that’s why she offered. It worked. Now let’s go meet your date.”
They went down to the bar area where a blonde woman in a yellow gold dress stood by the bar with a glass of champagne. She looked familiar from profile until she turned to look at him. Fury filled his chest. He marched the rest of the space between him and her and stopped a foot away.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
FOUR
Addilyn gulped at the anger emanating from Nick. She’d yet to formally meet him, and had been so nervous, it was making her stomach hurt. Drinking champagne was not helping. But seeing his reaction to her, she’d been right to be worried. Nick hated her guts. Well, not hers exactly.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me, Gracen. You dumped me at the worst time of my life and you think you can come here and throw a bunch of money and I’ll just forget what you did?”
Addy realized Gracen must have never told him she was a twin. She was trying to figure out how to explain it to him when Kayla showed up.
“Nick! I see you met Addy. Addy, thanks so much for tonight. Girl, one hundred thousand for this grumpy man is a fortune.” She laughed and glanced back and forth between them. “You two okay?”
“Who’s Addy?” Nick barked.
Addy winced at the venom in his voice. He looked like a wild animal, ready to tear her to pieces.
“Nick!” Kayla gasped. “Addilyn Walton is the head of the Scars Foundation and the woman who won you for the auction. What is wrong with you?”
“This isn’t Addilyn Walton. This is Gracen Walton,” he spit out, his anger bright in his gaze.
“What?” Kayla frowned.
Addy cleared her throat and took a sip of champagne. “Allow me to explain. I believe Nick has confused me for my twin sister, Gracen.” She met his gaze and watched confusion cloud his eyes. “I believe you dated her before you deployed, yes?”
“Wait,” Nick growled, narrowing his eyes. “You’re not Gracen?”
Addy shook her head, aware of how he was seeing her with new eyes. No longer with the anger from when he thought she was her twin. No
w, he was assessing her from head to toe, in complete disbelief. “No, Nick. I know we never got to meet while you dated my sister, but I am not Gracen. I’m Addilyn. Gracen’s twin.”
Kayla gaped at both of them. “You thought she was someone who dumped you,” she mumbled, shaking her head. “No, Nick. Addilyn is the sweetest, nicest person ever. Her foundation has done so much for so many.”
“Please,” Addy stopped Kayla. “I think Nick is having a hard enough time trying to come to terms with the fact he couldn’t vent his anger at my sister on me. Nick, you don’t have to take me out or spend time with me,” Addy told him, grabbing her clutch from the bar top. “I would have donated to the event no matter what.” She put the flute on the bar and then smiled at Kayla. “Thanks for everything. I’ll chat with you Monday.” Then she met Nick’s still angry but now confused gaze. “It was nice to meet you in person, Captain Gates, goodnight.”
She didn’t wait. She couldn’t. Heading straight for the elevators, she was glad she got a suite at the hotel for the night. She’d sent her driver home and the last thing she needed was to worry about finding a ride or taking a taxi in her one-of-a-kind dress. Her friend, Gerard, the designer would have her head if she went into anything but a limo in his creation.
Her hands shook as she pressed the button for the elevator. She had her cell phone and key card in her clutch. She’d need the keycard to get up to her suite.
“Wait,” Nick grabbed her arm and turned her to meet his gaze. “I never said I wouldn’t hold my end of the bargain.”
The elevator arrived and she slipped inside. He followed behind her. After she slipped her key in the card slot to press access to her suite, she turned to face him.
“Look, Nick. I appreciate what you’re trying to do here. I do. But you went out with my sister and it is clearly still something sore for you. It would be awkward and I don’t like awkward. I like simple and to the point. So, let’s cut our losses and leave it as is, okay?”
He’d been staring hard at her, his gaze stuck on her face, roaming from her eyes to her lips. “You really aren’t her. I see it now. You’re not as identical as I thought at first. You have a beauty mark, right here,” he said, touching the tiny spot on her right cheek. One of the many ways her mom and dad had learned to tell them apart when they were babies. “Your voice is different, too,” he said, “less whiny.”
She laughed at that. “That’s one I hadn’t heard before.”
His frown grew fiercer. She bet he scared the crap out of a lot of people when he was pissed. “Even listening to you speak, I can tell you’re nothing like her. Not once have you spoken about yourself.”
The elevator dinged and she got out on her floor and he followed next to her. “We are two very different people, Nick.”
“I’m starting to see that,” he said.
Her suite was at the end of the hall. “I appreciate you acknowledging that. But it’s probably not a good idea for us to be…familiar.”
They stopped at her door and she turned to face him, but didn’t realize he’d gotten so close. Air froze in her lungs as she glanced up at his face.
“Why not? You bid on me and now I’m yours.”
She licked her lips, wanting badly to touch his face but keeping her fingers to herself. “Mine?”
“It can’t be that bad, Addilyn. Why did you bid on me?”
She gulped and swallowed at the dryness in her throat. “I…uh…”
A wolfish grin spread over his lips. “I’m not looking for love, beautiful. But if it’s a good time you want, maybe we can work something out. You can’t be that different from Gracen. She loved a good time.”
Her hope fell and anger flooded her cheeks. “A good time?” She turned and opened the door and then faced him again. “No, Nick. I thought you were worth more than a few hours of fun. And you know what? I know I am. Have a good night. Don’t worry about the bid. The payment has been made. You’re off the hook, Captain.”
She then shut the door in his face. As much as she hated doing it, she realized Nick had one mind frame, easy liaisons. Addy wasn’t a one-night stand type of girl. That was all Gracen. She was the commitment girl. The one who didn’t have sex with a man unless they were in a relationship.
She’d come to like Nick from that time in the hospital. She’d come to feel things for him. Even though he’d been drugged for all of it. Now, she realized, she’d been doing this all alone. Nick had no clue and he’d never see her as herself. She’d always be the mirror image of the chick he hated for dumping him at the hardest time of his life.
No, she wasn’t looking for a good time from Nick. She was looking for more. So much more, it scared her.
FIVE
Nick glanced at the report Matt handed him.
“What is this about, Nick? Why did you need a full background on Addilyn Walton?” Matt asked, picking up a beer at the local bar where Nick met him to get the report.
“She paid one hundred thousand dollars to spend time with me.”
Matt grinned and raised his beer in toast. “You’re not cheap, man.”
Nick frowned. “I dated her twin sister, Gracen. It makes no sense to me why she’d do this. Why me?”
Matt shrugged. “I don’t know. She likes you?”
“I’ve never met her before.”
Matt scowled as if puzzled. “You got me there, then. I’ve no idea why she’d spend that kind of money wanting to waste time with your boring ass,” he joked. “But seriously, Nick. Maybe she was doing it for charity.”
Nick shook his head. “No. There’s more there. I just don’t know what. She seemed so…nice. It was weird.”
Matt nodded. “Because her bitch of a twin hurt you, now you expect the same from her?”
“I’m sure they can’t be that different.”
Matt put down his empty beer mug. “Well,” he sighed, “according to that report, she is. Where Gracen is partying and having fun all day every day, Addilyn is busy running a Fortune 500 company. She’s a CFO and handles multiple charities for her Scars Foundation, which is her baby. She put that together.”
Nick’s gut told him he was missing something. How could Addilyn and Gracen be so different but look like two drops of water? It was strange. “They’re identical twins.”
“Yeah. According to the medical records, Addilyn is actually older by, like, two minutes. But from the looks of things, it’s almost like those two minutes meant a big deal to the family.” Matt picked up a barbecued chicken wing and took a bite. “She’s been working at the company since she was a teenager. She’s gotten to know it so well, everyone loves her.”
“And what about the family life. What there?” He leafed through her history, looking for anything to prove to himself she was just like her twin.
“She’s got a huge trust fund. Much like her sister. Except Addilyn works, so she’s made another fortune on top of it. She invests and does well.”
Nick gave Matt a look. “I don’t care about her money. I want to know about the family relationships.”
“I didn’t get a sense she’s close to Gracen. From what I found, Gracen is always in the spotlight with celebrity friends and at parties or traveling. Addilyn works a lot. She’s always seen out and about for her charities. Her parents are a bit weird. They seem to dote on Gracen as if she were a child, but her, they treat like an adult. Strange since they’re the same age.”
Nick recalled meeting Gracen. He’d been invited to a party by an old college friend. He was a movie producer, so there were lots of celebrities at the event. Nick felt completely out of place and readied to leave when he saw her. She was laughing and had a group of people enraptured by whatever she was saying. Then she stopped, glanced at him and left the group, no excuses or anything, and came straight to him.
They’d been inseparable after that. He’d gone to floor seat games and parties he didn’t want to attend but did for her. She’d been so sweet and almost innocent in asking to get her way.
> She’d begged him to go to Paris for a short break before he was deployed again. He’d proposed in front of the Eiffel Tower. She’d said yes and he really thought this was his dream come true.
What a fucking moron he’d been. The call of her breaking up with him was one he didn’t forget. Mainly, because he had the voicemail of her doing it. She didn’t want to wait to know if he’d live or die. Instead, she made sure to let him know she wasn’t able to deal with a man who might not be whole, so best to break it off. She’d mailed him the ring.
“So, what are you going to do?” Matt asked, wiping sauce off his face. “You look like there’s something about her that caught your attention. Why not get to know her? You might be surprised. Maybe she’s really nice.”
Highly doubtful. Still, she’d paid all that money for his time, and he was a man who honored his promises. He flipped through the report. “Her foundation is having an event to honor breast cancer survivors.”
Matt grinned and grabbed another wing. “Yeah. It’s called Beauty Scars for women who survived a mastectomy. It’s by invitation only.” He picked up his beer and drank. “But I know Kayla got invited.”
Bingo. Kayla was going to be his ticket into that event. Now he just had to figure out how to get her to agree to take him instead of her husband, Ryan.
* * *
“Come on, Kayla. I did what you asked. I need to go to this dinner.”
Kayla stirred a pot of something delicious and stopped to glare at him. “Why should I? You upset my new friend. Addy has been nothing but the sweetest person ever. She’s given so much and her foundation has helped the hospital tremendously with their donations. I won’t have you upsetting her again.”
He groaned and ran his fingers through his short hair. “I’m trying to rectify what I did. I would like to hold my end of the bargain and see she gets the time she paid for with me.”
Kayla sniffed and closed the lid on her pot. “You’re lucky I like you. And I’ve gotten to know you pretty well. I know she caught your attention or you wouldn’t be this willing to put on a tux again.”
