Their third musketeer, Jody, a surgical intern jumped up and down and waved her psychedelic-coloured cheque book in their faces. “Me three! Let’s do a menage a trois with him and have our wicked way.”
Beth scrunched her nose at the perky child. With a duh hanging in her voice, she said, “Ew. I don’t want to see your naked tits. Besides a menage a trois is
The three of them would be much too good for the louse. What she wanted to do to him involved whips, chains and video. He’d be so sorry he’d ever broken her heart…
“Aw shucks.” Jody scrunched her nose and pouted. “You two make three times as much as me. I’ll be lucky if I can buy Dr. Rob. I might as well go home since you two party poopers won’t share. It’s way too smoky in here anyway.” She covered her mouth with her hand and coughed as if to add emphasis.
Char’s gaze landed on Dr. Hunky, aka Ben Price, plastic surgeon to the rich and ritzy Boca Babes. “What about Dr. Hunky? He’s mighty cute.”
Jody rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Yeah, right. He’ll go for big bucks, too. I don’t stand a prayer.”
Char gave her friend’s thin shoulders a commiserative squeeze and worried when she felt her boniness. Still, she wasn’t ready to share that her great Aunt Laila had recently left her several hundred thousand dollars or that she had planned to share some with charity anyway. If she could get a little fun out of the deal, why not?
She whispered in Jody’s ear. “I’ll let you in on a secret. Dr. Hottie’s a big jerk. Don’t be fooled by those dreamy eyes or those firm, kissable lips, or his artistic, sculpted hands…”
Beth’s emerald eyes widened, and she shook Char’s arm. “Oh no! He’s gotten to you, too?”
Char stiffened her spine and her resolve. She lifted her chin a notch, turned on her heel and shot a lethal glare at Dr. Hottie. It was easier to think of him as the heart- breaking monster than as the sweet, lovable, adorable Dexter. ”You’re mine, sucker.”
Beth got in her face and snapped her fingers. “If he’s that terrible, don’t waste your money. Buy Dr. Hunky or Dr. Casey.”
Amy motioned for the crowd to quiet, and when they didn’t she made the mic whine again. As half the population of the room moaned, she gave her evil smile. “That’s better. Since we’ve had so many special requests for Doctors Hottie and Hunky-I mean Doctors Dexter Graham and Ben Price, I’m going to start the bidding with Dr. Graham then Dr. Price so that you won’t hold onto all that wonderful cash of yours for them.”
Amy winked at the rest of the bullpen. “Sorry, fellows. Maybe you should work out more before next year’s auction if you want to bring in bigger bucks.”
Several of the men on stage gaped at her. One walked off.
Jody hissed. “Bitch!”
“That’s ‘Major Bitch’, sweetie.” Beth returned Amy’s venomous glare.
“Don’t worry. She’ll get hers. Those guys don’t forgive and forget easily.” Char didn’t doubt her prediction for a moment. She’d seen these doctors in action for too many years. If the elite of Boca got wind of half their shenanigans, they’d be out on their collective asses so fast they couldn’t wink.
Amy crooked her red-painted fingernail at Dexter. “Why don’t you join me, Dr. Hottie, so we can get things hopping? You don’t mind if I call you that, do you, sugar?”
Dexter winked broadly at Amy then stood and bowed to the audience. He swaggered over to the administrator. “Not if you don’t mind me doing this.” Without warning, he bent Amy over his arm and kissed her hard on the lips.
The audience stomped and yelled. Jody snarled at Amy. “He’s slipping her tongue.”
“I told you not to trust him.” Char folded her arms over her breasts and glared at the big lummox. How dare he!
Despite the stifling heat of the ballroom, she shivered.
Dexter peeked at Charity Reynolds, woman of his dreams and the one who had gotten away. He wondered if he was doing enough to make her jealous and to make her outbid everyone else for him?
Would she bid at all?
Since she’d supposedly caught him with another woman, she’d shunned him. She’d marked his letters “Return to Sender” and blocked his emails. She wouldn’t listen to him or stay in a room with him unless the job demanded it.
Not a masochist, he was about to give up on her. Self-flagellation wasn’t his thing. He had a roomful of panting women dying to buy him for a night so why should he hold out for one who didn’t want him?
The thought creeped him out. Was it his fault if women chased him and slipped their room keys and panties into his pockets? He needed to hire a bodyguard to keep them at bay.
But tonight was different. He was here for the kids, kids like his little sister Debbie who had died of cancer shortly before a cure had been found. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes and ruin his macho act, so he banished the gloomy thoughts.
Instead, he snuck a glance at the buxom brunette who starred in his nightly dreams, but now glared at him with daggers in her eyes. Their gazes locked, and Char’s narrowed to mere slits, cold as glaciers.
A chill coursed through him, but he forced back his shudders. If that wouldn’t ruin his rep…
Amy fanned herself and sidled up to him. “Can this man ever kiss! Whew! He’s worth every penny and more, ladies. Do I hear five hundred dollars to start?”
Dex nearly swallowed his tongue. When almost every female hand in the room frantically waved, he did a double take. Keys and panties were one thing, but so much money?
He tamped down his shyness. Making his voice husky as possible he said, “It’s for the kids. And I promise you a night you’ll never forget.”
Catcalls echoed from the rafters. Stomping shook the building. “How far will you go, Dr. Hottie? Second base? Home plate?”
“Is the SWAT team on call?” he whispered to Amy. He hoped so. This group could turn into an angry, ugly mob in a snap.
Amy clamped his arm tighter to her side. “Don’t worry so much. I’ll fire anyone who steps out of line, and they know it.”
Dex thought about that, and knowing she was right, his heart resumed its normal beat. He smiled at Char, daring her to bid higher.
“Do I hear one thousand dollars?”
Half the hands went down amidst a disappointed grumble.
Dex was heartened when Char’s hand remained high and unwavering. He willed her to stay in the war ‘til the end, then finally, he’d get her alone to talk to her. He was worried, though, that several of the wealthy Boca Babes were in the audience. He doubted Char could outbid them if they wanted him badly enough.
Amy quivered as though she’d orgasm, and embarrassed, Dex tried to pull away. But like a leech, Amy clung tightly. “Do I hear fifteen hundred dollars?”
“Hell with this.” Simone Duchaine, one of the Boca elite and Amy’s best friend who’d been chasing Dex for years, pushed her way through the crowd. “I’ll give you fifty thousand dollars. I dare anyone to top that.”
Dexter’s heart slammed into his feet. No way could Char match that.
But Char climbed on a chair, cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “Fifty-one thousand dollars!”
The crowd roared as her friends Beth and Jody tried to pull her down. But Char stayed standing on her chair.
Simone smiled and purred like a cat, “Sixty thousand dollars!”
When Char came back with “Sixty-one thousand,” as if it was chump change, Simone tossed down her cheque book and rounded on her opponent.
Simone marched up to Char, her fists balled on her hips. “Seventy thousand!”
Char laughed and said in Simone’s face with glee, “Seventy-one thousand.”
Worried how Char would pay if she won, that she’d cost the hospital a lot of much needed funds and get herself fired, Dex tried to wave her off. Still, his chest puffed out and his cock flexed that she wanted him so badly that she’d lost her mind.
To his astonishment, Simone and Char dickered all the way up to one-hundred-one thousand dollars before Simone stomped off.
“Nurse Reynolds wins Dr. Hottie. Better luck next year, ladies.” Amy gave Char a wary look. “‘Fess up, Charity. Are you really good for it?”
Char squared her shoulders, wrote the cheque and sashayed up to Amy. “Oh yeah. Call my bank if you don’t believe me. I live in Boca, don’t I?”
Dex did a double take. Was Char rich? She didn’t strike him as a spoiled Boca Babe. She was hard-working and dedicated. In fact, she was too assiduous, as if she had no other life. Thank God she didn’t fit the mould of a vapid, selfish Boca Babe. He couldn’t stand the breed.
In shock but eager for their night to begin, Dex shot a sexy grin to his mistress for an evening.
Char caught Dexter’s victorious, haughty glance and kicked herself. Oy! He must imagine she was hooked on him. So must the entire hospital staff. What had she done, bidding so high? What had possessed her?
Simone Duchaine, for one. The socialite and her cutting remarks had gotten under Charity’s skin again. That and her mindless need for revenge had been her undoing.
Several people wished her congratulations. Others snubbed her, their noses high in the air. Some regarded her as if she was one of America ’s Most Wanted.
Beth took her aside and put her hand to her forehead. “You can’t afford this. Are you nuts?”
Char rubbed at the beginnings of an achy head as she regarded her friend and wondered just how much she should divulge. Finally, she admitted, “But I can.”
Beth tucked her hair behind her ears and adjusted her glasses higher on her nose. “A few months ago, you were sweating about paying your property taxes. What gives?”
Char crossed her heart and looked into her friend’s eyes. “My great Aunt Laila recently left me a nice inheritance. She was like a grandmother to me. She didn’t have any kids so she doted on my dad and me.”
Beth hugged her then shook her head. “Lucky you! I wish some of my feisty old relatives would hurry up and kick the bucket and leave me a wad of cash. I’m tired of living paycheque to paycheque.”
Aghast and disbelieving, Char shook her finger at her best friend. “Beth! No, you don’t. Take that back.”
“Well, I guess not. None of them are rich, anyway, but I wouldn’t wish that on them. So what are you going to do with Dr. Hottie?”
“Oh, you know. Whips, chains, torture, and all that good shit.” Char knew Beth would never believe the truth, not from her. No one ever believed she could be bad, and she was sick of being the good girl all the time, but sometimes it worked to her advantage. She could get away with a lot-if she wanted.
