I righted myself in my seat and focused again on Ryker, who was still looking at me.
“Well?” he mouthed.
I shook my head, hoping he would get the message that I was good. Actually, my nerves were singing for another reason. Someone was going to pay for a date with Ryker. Beverly was confident it would be her sister. But whether it was Tabitha or another woman, I wanted to puke as jealousy filled a spot inside me.
I’d forgotten why I’d even agreed to do the event. I really wished that I had stood my ground and not participated.
Thirty minutes and seven thousand dollars later, eight of the ten men had dates with some lucky women.
Next up was Lucas, and the room sizzled with excitement.
I swiveled in my seat to eye Vicki, who had her number-ten paddle ready to wave in the air. Yet if I recalled, she’d told me she didn’t have the money to bid on Lucas.
“Let’s start the bidding at three hundred,” Sandra said loudly into the mic.
“Five hundred,” Vicki yelled.
Maybe she’d found money or asked her parents.
“One thousand,” a woman yelled.
“Fifteen hundred,” a guy shouted.
Lucas’s face paled.
Ryker smirked.
“Twenty-five hundred,” another woman in the back said.
The room quieted.
I glanced at Vicki.
She shrugged, frowning.
“Last chance,” Sandra said. “Okay, sold to number fifteen.”
Lucas ambled past Ryker, said something in his ear, then made his way back to his seat in the front row.
The room went deathly silent as Ryker strutted up to the podium, all swagger and confidence.
I dug my nails into my palms.
He glanced at me with the biggest grin, silently saying, “No worries. I only want you.” At least that was what I garnered from his expression.
“Here we go,” Beverly said. “I can’t wait to see the look on your face.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why do you think I even care who gets Ryker?”
Her answer was a cocky shrug.
The women in the room went berserk. Some lady nearby tittered. “He’s mine.”
I actually laughed. The pheromones in the room were off the charts.
I gnawed on my lip as I watched Ryker, who had his gaze on me. I got the feeling he was trying to tell me he was sorry.
It was only one date and dinner and nothing else… I hoped.
