But when the last bid had been made, Carm had come through for him. Not as much as Mama paid for Janowski, but a respectable amount that would go a long way. In the bachelor auction alone, tens of thousands of dollars had rolled in and they hadn’t even finished the silent auction yet.
Tony walked back to where Carm stood waiting. “Come with me.” He took her hand and led her out of the ballroom and away from prying eyes. While he didn’t care who knew that he wanted to kiss Carm, she wasn’t ready for her family to know, and he’d respect that.
The hallway was empty except for waitstaff going in and out of the ballroom. Tony pressed her up against the wall with his body, leaned in, and kissed her—long and slow and deep. She moaned and his cock stirred to life. He couldn’t wait for this evening to be over so he could take her to bed.
When the kiss ended, they stared into each other’s eyes a moment. She blinked a few times and looked like she was ready to say something but changed her mind.
“Excuse me, but duty calls. I’ll be right back after I share the grand total of what we’ve raised at the bachelor auction tonight. Then you and I will have dinner and dancing ahead of us for the next few hours.”
Tony wished they could leave now, but she was in charge and wouldn’t abandon her duties. Good thing they had the rest of the night and into the morning to make love.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
When her assistant handed her the tally for the night’s fundraising activities and donations, Carm was shocked to see how much they’d raised. She hurried to where Tony waited for her at their table.
“You know how you thought having enough money for one dive boat would be the ultimate win?”
“Yeah, and from the tallies in my head from the bachelor auction, I’d say that and much more is within reach, all thanks to you.”
She waved away his praise. “I just brought the donors together. They did all the work.”
“You’re being too modest. I know who made this happen. And if the room wasn’t filled with our family members, I’d kiss you again.”
She smiled. “I’ll take a raincheck. My place. Tonight. I hope you planned to spend the night. I don’t want you making that long drive home late at night.” With the closing of Independence Pass earlier this week, another hour had been added to his already long drive. As much as she loved the mountains, they made it difficult for the two of them to be together most of the year. Actually, both Aspen and Aspen Corners were far from the interstate.
“I’d love to stay. Sorry I haven’t been able to spend much time with you since Turks and Caicos, but—”
Carm held up a hand, palm facing him. “Stop already. You’ve been getting this dive team together. And to be honest, I’ve been working on this event and doing a few final adventure treks before the ski season starts. Anyway, based on the prices I found online for dive-team equipment—”
His eyes opened wider. “You researched how much things would cost?”
She shrugged. “I’m thorough and wanted to know how much we’d need to get started.”
“I like how you say we.”
“Well, you have me thinking of getting my dive-instructor certification too so I can help you with the training.”
“How’d I get so lucky to have you in my life?”
“Your sister fell in love with my brother.”
Would their paths have crossed if only fate had been involved? Since they’d had enough trouble getting their paths to cross as it was, she doubted that. She owed Marc, even if he didn’t know it yet.
“Anyway, I’d say you can easily consider buying two boats, or a bigger one than you had planned for.”
“Seriously?” She extended the tally sheet to him for the total on both auctions. “Holy shit! Woman, this is enough to consider having a water-rescue squad and a sonar boat, not just a dive team with a small motorboat.”
Carmella beamed with pride over how well this had gone over. Tony stood and came around the table. She wasn’t sure if he was going to hug her or what when he pulled her up from her seat. “I promise to do this right later on.” He placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Thank you, Carmella. Now, may I have the last dance of the evening before I take you back to your place for some seriously long-overdue lovemaking?”
A slow grin spread across her face. “I can’t tell you how much I’d like that.”
“Which one?”
“Both. But first, let’s dance.”
Tony led her to the dance floor and held her close against his hard body. Dancing was included as part of her winning him in the auction tonight, so she didn’t worry about what their families might think.
“You know the first thing I want to do when we get to your condo?”
“No, what?” she asked.
“I’m going to slowly pull down the zipper of your dress until I expose that sexy back of yours. Then I’ll place a trail of kisses between the nape of your neck and the curve of your cute little ass.”
Carm went weak in the knees imagining that. “Then what?” she asked in a breathy whisper.
“I’ll stand up again and slip one sleeve off your shoulder and kiss you there and up the column of that sexy neck that I’ve been missing for so long.”
“Mmm. Sounds wonderful. It’s one of my erogenous zones.”
“I remember.” His wicked grin made her wet for him.
“Then I’ll slowly slide the dress down to about your elbows, exposing those beautiful breasts while trapping your arms in the sleeves so you won’t deter me from the delightful torture I intend to inflict upon your nipples.”
She glanced around to make sure no
