But then Jessica understood why all too well. And it wasn’t sitting too well with her, thinking about any of them spending time with him.
“That frown is going to stay there.” Jillian walked up to the table.
Jessica frowned deeper. “I’m really not in the mood to be teased.”
“I see that. Remember, it’s just a date—no worries,” Jillian said.
Jessica heard Kevin telling her dates led to weddings. He was the authority after his playground buddy had told about his parents. “He is free to date whomever he wants.”
Jillian smiled. “Well, I better go help. It’s about to get started. Are you ready to write down the bids?”
Jessica picked up her pen. “Ready.”
And so it began…whether she was ready or not.
Olivia stepped up to the microphone as the master of ceremony. Levi had been told that they’d wanted Jillian to do it since it was her idea but she hadn’t come out of her shell enough to get up in front of a crowd. So Olivia had agreed to do it and volunteered BJ to be the auctioneer.
“Welcome to the first, but hopefully with your help, not the last of the Windswept Bay Resort Valentine Bachelor Auction. We are going to have a very fun night—”
Some whistled and many women laughed, having a good time as they teasingly waited for the twelve men to take their turn on the auction block.
“Now remember, these are dinner dates, ladies. We’re not auctioning off anything but dancing and dinner. Remember, almost half the lineup of men are my brothers, so no hanky-panky.” Olivia shot her brothers a smile but Levi had a hard time finding it funny.
“Come on, man.” Trent leaned in so only Levi could hear him. “Get with the program. You’re not about to face the firing squad. It’s a bunch of women wanting to pay for dinner with you.”
Levi focused on Trent as Olivia continued to talk. “You and Jake are enjoying it enough for me and all of you at the same time.”
Trent chuckled. “Jake said you were a goner and I believe it. Walk away, buddy. It’s not worth it. This is a fun night for a great cause. If your heart is somewhere else, then just bow out. The sisters will understand.”
Levi was tempted but in the back of his mind he had a small hope that Jessica might decide to bid on him. “I promised. And like you said, it’s just dinner.”
“First up, my brother Trent.”
Trent grinned at him and the other guys. “Got to go, fellas. Watch the bidding and weep.”
“You’ll be weeping when it’s my turn,” Jake said, and the crowd laughed.
“I’ll give you a hundred for dinner with that hunk,” shouted out Francine Degan, a great-grandmother in her eighties with a great sense of humor.
Levi and the other bachelors laughed when Trent’s pride took a visible hit.
“I’ll up it to one twenty-five,” Patsy Post, Francine’s buddy, called out and waggled her eyebrows.
BJ grinned. “Well, we have our opening bids, and they are setting a great pace for the charity donations. Who’ll give me one thirty-five?”
Levi had to admit this was looking as if it could be entertaining…at the expense of watching the others get picked off one at a time. When it came to him, he almost hoped Patsy or Francine would win him but Trisha Mosley had her eyes on him. He had a bad feeling she’d come with a blank check in hand.
“How’s it going?” Lana scooted into the seat beside Jessica. “Sorry I’m running late. I got tied up. Did I miss anything?”
Jessica shot her a glance. “Trent, John, and Alex have been bought. The two great-grandmothers on the front row are driving up each bid so the charity is doing great.” She turned the numbers so Lana could see them.
“Oh my, that puts me out of the ballgame. I’d bid but my teacher’s salary doesn’t allow me to splurge three hundred dollars to five hundred on a date. Sheesh. These gals are serious.”
Jessica’s stomach churned. “Yes, and well, look at Trisha. She has had her eyes glued to Levi. And look at that dress. Her cleavage is showing almost to her navel.”
“I thought you were not interested anymore?” Lana drawled slowly.
BJ called out Jake, who was one ahead of Levi.
“Well, look at her. She’s going to—” She had to stop talking as bidding on Jake broke out fast and furious. The good-looking guy had a great sense of humor and he hammed it up as he strode out onto the platform. He flexed his muscles like a body builder would and scanned the room with a bring-it-on attitude. It was more than obvious that Jake Sinclair liked the ladies and was in this for the fun of it. And Francine started the bidding off at five hundred dollars, which Patsy quickly upped to five fifty.
“You young gals need to back off and let me have this hunk,” Patsy warned, looking around the room, grinning.
The two older women were having a great time driving up the bidding. But instantly, a tall, lean, very defined and in shape woman lifted her bidding paddle.
“Six hundred,” she called. Then there were a flurry of bids in increments of ten, then twenty, and finally she ended the bid and won with seven hundred dollars.
“This is crazy,” Lana grunted. “I obviously need a different profession.”
“Me too.” Jessica wrote down the winning bid. Her nerves were shot now. She glanced at Levi. He glanced her way; his jaw was set and though he’d laughed several times at the expense of the other guys, she knew everyone in the room who was paying attention knew the woman in the tight black dress, letting it all hang out, had her eyes on him. And she hadn’t made a bid on anyone else.
Jessica told herself he was a big boy and could handle this. Told herself she couldn’t risk losing someone else again.
“You’re going to break that pen if you squeeze it any harder,” Lana pointed out. “Trisha is getting her dinner and a movie date. Look at that determination in her steely gaze. Yikes, she’s like a vulture ready to eat him alive.”
Jessica shot her friend a glare. “You are not helping.”
“Hey, I’m just calling it like I see it.”
BJ called out, “Okay, ladies—and now for our local police chief, Levi Sinclair. Any takers on this keeper of our law and order here at Windswept Bay?”
Patsy beat Francine to the punch with a five fifty bid. Francine countered with six hundred and a couple of women countered with six fifty and then six seventy-five.
Trisha calmly waited. “Eight hundred dollars,” she said, her voice as thick as molasses.
“Holy smokin’ tortillas,” Lana said, her Texas twang ringing out in the room.
Jessica’s chest seized up as though she had a horrendous case of heartburn. And she dropped her pen. Eight hundred dollars. Sweat beaded on Jessica’s forehead and her mouth went completely dry.
Trisha was going to get Levi.
Levi groaned, feeling like raw meat about to get eaten by a lioness. Trisha had a predatory gaze locked onto him and he knew he was doomed. He was a man, he told himself, the police chief and he could handle himself. This was a charity thing but he had no desire to be tangled up with the woman who clearly had some over-the-top infatuation with him.
Suddenly, another woman jumped up and shouted eight twenty-five.
“Eight hundred ninety-five,” a small blonde he knew had dropped off a pie called out.
Trisha glared at her. “Nine hundred.”
A redhead joined in. “Nine fifty.”
Nine hundred and fifty dollars for a date with him? Had they lost their minds? He tried not to look at Jessica but couldn’t help himself. Her eyes were wide and her jaw set as she stared at him and then back at the women. She was not scribbling numbers as she’d been doing on the other bids. And he felt for her as he saw her pale and heard Trisha say one thousand dollars.
“One thousand dollars,” Jessica gasped.
He stared at Trisha and she smiled at him.
“I want this date. And he’s worth every penny,” she said, smugly.
BJ waited a moment. “We have
a bid of one thousand dollars. Who’ll give me one thousand twenty-five?”
No one spoke.
“Going once. Going tw—”
“Two thousand!” Jessica yelled, jumping up and waving the clipboard.
Levi’s heart thundered. He knew on a teacher’s salary she didn’t have that kind of money. “What are you doing?” he growled, glaring at her. He didn’t want a date with anyone but her but this was beyond ridiculous.
“I’m winning you.” She shot a defiant glare at Trisha. “I’m getting this date.”
“Drop it, I’m out of this. A date with me isn’t worth that kind of money.”
“Two thousand five hundred,” Trisha said, glaring at him. “You can’t just bow out.”
“Three thousand,” Jessica growled. A pin dropping could have been heard in the room. Jessica looked back at Levi. “And I’m not looking for a date. I’m looking for a lifetime.”
“What?” Levi took a step toward the edge of the platform. Joy and disbelief jolted him.
“And that’s worth whatever price I have to pay.” She dropped the clipboard on the table and took a step toward the platform.
He laughed. His heart swelled with love for this woman. “Honey, you can have everything I have and am and it won’t cost you a cent.”
Trisha growled and then stomped her foot. “Fine. Take him,” she huffed. She threw her paddle to the ground and stormed out of the room.
“Sold—” BJ started to say but Levi wasn’t listening. He had stepped from the platform, scooped Jessica into his arms and was heading away from the crowd. He didn’t stop until he was on the beach, with the moon shining down on them and the soft sound of the waves taking the place of the ridiculous bidding.
“You know I won’t hold you to all of that.” He wanted nothing more than to kiss her and hold her for as long as she’d let him.
“I know. But, Levi, I realized back there that I don’t want to lose you. I lost Adam. And I pushed you away. In essence, I lost you and it was of my own doing. I love you and I want a life with you…I might have some ups and downs but I can’t lose you when you already have my heart.”
He hugged her and buried his face in her hair, breathing in the sweetness of her. “Baby, I’m all yours. From here to eternity.”
His heart full of love, he kissed her. Something he knew he would never get enough of…
Jessica locked her arms around Levi as his kiss filled her with longing and hope and joy.
She loved and lost and had been blessed to have shared that with Adam. Now, she let go of her fears and melted into the knowledge that her love for Levi and his for her would overcome any fear, every time.
When he pulled back and looked into her eyes, she saw the gorgeous romantic moon reflected in the depths of his gaze. “So, where do we go from here?” she whispered, unable to get her full voice.
He smiled. “Will you marry me? As soon or as far away as you want it…I just need to hear you say yes.” He set her on her feet but continued to hold her in the circle of his embrace.
“Yes,” she said, instantly. She cupped his face with her hands and kissed him. “We can work the details out as we go. But, right now, I know a little boy waiting at the babysitter’s who’ll want to know he was right all along.”
Levi laughed. It filled her with joy and she knew his love was a gift. A gift she couldn’t turn away from.
“I love that kid,” he said, and she knew it was true. “Let’s go tell him. But you need to know that I’ll never try to take the place of his real dad.”
Tears came then. “I know. But he and I both have room in our hearts for both you and Adam. I know that now. And I think Kevin has known it all along.”
He traced the side of her face with his fingertips. “Thank God.” He led her toward the resort, headed toward the back entrance, and bypassed the rowdy auction area where bidding was still going on.
“Do you think I need to go back and keep up with the bids?”
“Nope. Someone else will fill in. We’ve got a boy to see and plans to make so I can put a ring on your finger.”
Jessica nodded. Her heart was too full for words. “I can’t wait.”
And she couldn’t…suddenly life seemed brighter with Levi by her side.
A few minutes later, as they told Kevin they were going to be married, Jessica thought her heart couldn’t take any more joy on. But it could.
“I told you that you were going to be my new daddy!” Kevin threw his arms around Levi’s neck as tears stained his cheeks. “I knew it.”
Watching them, Jessica felt peace flow through her. She felt Adam’s smile, warm and dear and forever in her heart.
Levi held out an arm; she stepped into the circle of his embrace and wrapped her arms around him and her son and the new life they were about to begin together…
More Books in the Windswept Bay Series
FROM THIS MOMENT ON (Book 1)
Hurt by her failed marriage and dashed dreams, Cali Sinclair returns home to Windswept Bay with her heart wary and closed to the dreams of true love she so desperately wanted. Determined to never again risk her heart, she throws herself into running the family’s small boutique resort on the Florida coast, a place so full of romance that it’s a reminder every day of what she’ll never have. But when renowned artist Grant Ellington shows up to paint a mural on the wall of the resort, she’s swept away by her response to the artist. Suddenly, every time he looks at her, Cali finds it harder than she ever thought possible to keep her heart protected.
Grant Ellington loves his ranch, his horses, and his life as a sought-after artist. But after walking away from a plane crash that killed his best friend and the young pilot, he’s still struggling with survivor’s guilt as he heads to Windswept Bay. Painting a sea life mural at the resort started out as a favor to his neighbor, but one meeting with the beautiful Cali and he feels alive again—and determined to spend time on the moonlit beaches with her in his arms…
But, like him, Cali has her own emotional scars—can they learn to trust the love that sparks between them and move forward from this moment on?
SOMEWHERE WITH YOU (Book 2)
Sassy, opinionated Shar Sinclair is passionate about the sea turtles she rescues in the Windswept Bay area and as needful of her freedom as they are. She’s content with her life, helping run the family resort and looking out for the wildlife around her. But sometimes she wishes she had someone to share her passion, and passions, with. But that might mean giving up some of her freedom and she’s not sure she could do that for anyone…
Gage Landcaster is a self-made millionaire used to getting what he wants, but lately there’s an emptiness and a restlessness to his life that he can’t seem to fill. While visiting Windswept Bay, he spies a beautiful woman on the beach, struggling to rescue a sea turtle tangled in fishing line, and goes to help. Gage is captivated by the fire and passion that radiates from Shar and he knows instantly he wants her. But this may be one time when what he wants might not be an option.
Sparks fly on the sunset beach and sparkling blue waters of the romantic Windswept Bay as Gage and Shar battle through their attraction. Gage is determined that this is one time he’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. But can Shar open her heart to him? Can he convince Shar that love doesn’t mean shackles...but a lifetime shared with the one you love?
WITH THIS KISS (Book 3)
A Windswept Bay Short Story
A kiss is just a kiss…or so some say. But I disagree…this kiss, can change a life. It did mine.
YOU are officially invited to the wedding of Shar Sinclair to the man of her dreams, Gage Lancaster…if the groom ever makes it to the wedding.
Where is Gage?
There’s only an hour until the wedding ceremony and no one has heard from Gage, and he’s not answering his phone. Now, Shar’s ready to go looking for her man, because something just doesn’t feel right.
After Gage receives the message he’s been waiting fo
r from a private investigator, Gage can’t help but make a life-changing stop on his way to his wedding.
But, things quickly spiral out of control and everything about this wedding day is about change…
FOREVER AND ALWAYS (Book 4)
Publicist Olivia Sinclair has been away from Windswept Bay for years busy helping the Hollywood elite get out of one scandal after another. But now, she’s in the middle of a scandal herself, involving a big name actor and suddenly, coming home to lay low in Windswept Bay is her own best advice to herself.
Life has just gotten complicated for charter boat captain, Brandon “BJ” McCall. He’s recently learned he has a brother and he’s inherited half of a multi-million dollar corporation that could alter life as he knows it. Finding a beautiful, shorty pajama clad female, frozen in fear on the roof of her house is a complication he doesn’t mind at all.
Terrified and stuck on her roof…and in only her pj’s and being rescued by a stranger who could rival any of her Hollywood clients isn’t exactly what Olivia had planned. She’s trying to get off the cover of the gossip magazines—not hold her spot for eternity! Falling into the arms of a stranger, who turns out to be the long lost brother of her sister’s husband—and is a walking news worthy scandal in his own right, is not a smart PR move.
Not to mention the family complications it could make if things didn’t work out between them. Plus, she has plans to go back to Hollywood the minute she thinks the smoke has cleared.
It’s all just too complicated.
With This Ring (Windswept Bay Book 6) Page 12
