A Man for All Seasons (6 page)

Axelle blinked slowly, as though incredulous at the change in subject. “Several. Although I did not first ask if they were single and looking,” she said, sounding snappish.

Ty slowly withdrew his arm. “Who knows if they're her type, anyway? She just needs to get out there.”

Axelle gave him a smile he had no idea how to interpret. “Perhaps it is a little early for her to have a type.”

Now, that was a definite slam. “Hey. You're not jealous of Marlie, are you?”

Axelle was immediately contrite. “That sounded awful, did it not?” She put her hand on his arm, which warmed and distracted him. “I have butterflies and it is time to start the auction.” She squeezed. “Wish me luck.”

Ty captured her hand before she could withdraw it, pulled it to his shoulder and kissed her.

He didn't kiss Axelle nearly enough. He was ready to forget the auction and everyone in the ballroom until someone announced that it was time to begin. He became aware of an insistent pushing and Axelle turned her face away.

“Good luck,” he whispered.

As she swept through the crowd and climbed the steps to the podium, he admired her back and the way the dress moved and felt good that other men envied him…. Then he realized that she hadn't kissed him back.

 

D
UE TO THE FACT THAT
Ty was right in front of the webcam that would be providing close-ups of the auction items when he planted one on Axelle, Marlie got a very good demo of his kissing technique. The way he masterfully drew her toward him, determined and passionate…She sighed deeply. And she zoomed in with the camera, which was weird, because did she really need to know how Ty kissed? Really?

And the look on his face as he watched Axelle waltz away. Marlie's own private movie. All she needed was popcorn.

But there wasn't time for popcorn. The auction was about to begin.

Axelle was introduced and she stepped up to the podium as though she owned it. Marlie centered her in the frame and checked out the other cameras she'd positioned around the room. Axelle was going live over the internet.

“…coming this evening. As you know, the Midtown Business Mentor program provides a positive alternative to less desirable urban influences. Youth aged thirteen to sixteen are mentored by representatives from professions that interest them. They work as junior interns and gain valuable experience and skills they can use in their chosen field. Instead of roaming the streets, they learn software programming, commercial food preparation, first aid, and sales skills. We are here tonight to raise money to purchase a van that we can use to transport students from their schools to the businesses.”

Beautiful, competent, and doing good work. No wonder Ty was smitten with her.

Marlie panned the crowd. Not quite as large as Axelle had hoped. Marlie tightened the frame so the empty edges of the ballroom were out of the picture.

She's so hot. Randy, down front with his laptop, messaged her. If she were up for bids, I guarantee you we'd get the van.

Marlie frowned.

Axelle turned to one of the assistants and flashed the side of her bare back.

Smokin'.

I get the picture, Marlie messaged back.

Sorry. Forgot you were a girl.

That's okay,
Marlie thought.
So did I.
She looked at the bouquet of flowers Axelle had sent. Only one of the flowers
appeared past its prime. There was still a lot of life left in them. And there was still a lot of life left in her, too.

The auction got underway with a couple of spa baskets. Nothing special, just some warm-up items to get the crowd going. Next up was dinner for four at Ravigote, Axelle's restaurant. For this item, her brother joined her at the podium.

He was better looking without the chef's uniform he'd worn in the dating package picture. A lot better looking. He rocked a tux as well as Ty did. And he had a way of sweeping his gaze over the crowd and lingering on the females. Even remotely, Marlie felt its effect. She zoomed in on Paul instead of the certificate on the display table. Paul was going to sell this, not the food or the clip art on a certificate.

Bidding started at an embarrassingly low amount. Marlie had seen the menu prices. Dinner for four with wine could run several hundred dollars easily.

There was an awkward silence when Axelle hesitated before tapping her gavel and announcing that the dinner would go for the bargain price of one-hundred and seventy-five dollars. Paul was gracious, but not overly so.

They'd also donated a romantic dinner for two and Marlie messaged Randy to hold it for later.

She was blogging live on the website and increased her use of exclamation points in relaying the bargain price. She also encouraged everyone to get ready to bid on the dinner for two later.

The energy went out of the auction after that. Rather than moving quickly, Axelle slowed down in hopes of increasing the bidding. Mistake.

Tell her to keep it moving Marlie messaged Randy.

Moments later, an assistant whispered in Axelle's ear and she raced through a series of lower-ticket items. Now that was too fast.

The Wimberley, Texas B&B weekend went for an embar
rassing one hundred dollars. But Marlie was getting web interest,
significant
web interest focused on one item: The Twelve Men of Christmas dating package. According to the comments on the blog, nobody wanted to bid on anything else in case they needed money for the package. Marlie asked how many were waiting for The Twelve Men of Christmas and the comments flooded in.

Marlie called Ty's cell, hoping he'd answer.

“What's up?”

“Tell Axelle to take a five-minute break and auction the dating package.”

“Now? But that's the big finale.”

“Women aren't bidding because they want to have enough money for it. Tell her to auction it now so the losing bidders can buy something else. I've got extreme web interest.”

“I don't know. She's got everything planned.”

“And how's that working for her?”

Ty didn't answer right away. “Not horrible.”

“Her brother was ready to strangle her after dinner at their restaurant went so cheap.” Marlie panned the crowd until she saw Ty off to the side, hand over one ear as he spoke to her.

There were no bids on the next lot.

“Ty, I'm telling you, it's time to auction the dates. Use the break to make sure all the women have fresh drinks. Play some peppy music and get the energy going. I'm opening up bidding online.”

“Will do.”

She heard the click and watched him pocket his phone before striding toward the podium. He looked confident and manly and—

Item picture? Randy messaged.

Oops. She'd been distracted.

But that was okay because Ty had convinced Axelle to
announce a break while the men from the dating package gathered up front to be introduced.

Marlie dutifully blogged a wild excitement about the yummy men, sprinkled a bunch of exclamation points around, and started rumors about the number of buying cartels.

Maybe they weren't rumors, she thought as clusters of women gathered. When the pens came out, Marlie zoomed in and let the online bidders see their competition. Better text your friends, she suggested, and used another camera to focus on the gathering men.

The break was longer than five minutes, because the men were getting props. Marlie could sense the energy in the room building at the anticipation.

The online traffic was hopping, too.

And then it happened—a confirmed online bid. Randy messaged that he'd seen it, too, and Marlie exhaled in relief. At least Axelle's main auction item would make the minimum bid of six hundred dollars. She hoped it would go for ten times that, but Marlie thought she was being optimistic.

Online interest was strong as the men were introduced, with another bid coming in when the adorable drummer in a kilt pretended to show everyone exactly what he was wearing under it.

“As if spending time with a dozen fascinating men is not enough, as a memento, the lucky winner will receive a silver bracelet and a charm after each Twelve Days of Christmas date,” Axelle informed the crowd. “I have been asked to say that if a group wins the auction, the auction committee will see that each lady receives a bracelet.” A ripple of excited murmuring broke out.

“We have confirmed bids from web bidders, so I am happy to say that I'm looking for six hundred and fifty dollars,” Axelle announced.

There was a flurry of bidding and applause broke out when
the amount reached one thousand dollars. There was one more bid online for twelve hundred and then a lot of disappointed posts when five women on the hotel floor bumped it up to fifteen hundred dollars where it stuck.

If you're going to bid, now is the time, Marlie posted. Twelve fun dates for a hundred and twenty-five dollars each? Come on! It's for charity!!!

No response.

Maybe she should have added another exclamation point.

Maybe Axelle should have auctioned them separately. Marlie felt for the guys, but this was not good.

“Two thousand,” someone said. A man someone.

Ty.

He was sweet to support Axelle like that, but unless he was prepared to buy the package, he'd better watch it. Marlie wasn't up on auction protocol, but it might be unethical for the auctioneer's boyfriend to drive up the bidding.

Still, Ty's bid started the bidding again. However now, it seemed stuck at twenty-two hundred.

 

T
Y NOTED THE STRAIN ON
Axelle's face. He knew what was at stake for her. Axelle wanted entry to the Houston social scene so Ravigote would become a “see and be seen” place. The expense account meals that had been the restaurant's mainstay had dried up, so Axelle hoped to tap into a new customer base—the ladies who lunch and the charity circuit. She had held dinner meetings at the restaurant, and was catering the food at cost tonight. A success would attract attention. A failure would, too.

He saw her gaze dart repeatedly to the side and looked over to see a film crew from the local news. She'd sent out press releases, but it was too bad that the bidding wasn't going well for her centerpiece auction item.

Impulsively, he raised his bidding paddle and called out, “Twenty-five hundred” just to stir things up.

He felt the glare of the video light point his way and kept a smile on his face as he ignored it.

His bid rekindled interest and bidding started up again, but only in twenty-five dollar increments.

“Do I hear three thousand?” Axelle asked, her smile a little too fixed.

“Twenty-five hundred seventy-five.”

A group of giggling young women in seriously short black dresses next to Ty went through their purses and called out, “Make that twenty-five ninety-five!”

One of the date group, the Milk Man, pulled a bill out of his wallet and jogged to the women and back to the lineup amid much laughter. The camera crew was trained on the girls as one waved the money over her head. “Twenty-six hundred!”

It would have made a good story for the bidding to end there and Ty could see that the guys in line certainly wanted it to end there, but Axelle looked ready to cry.

The news reporter was interviewing one of the girls. “Why are you bidding on the dates?”

The girl looked at her and then over at the men. “Duh!”

“Yes, that is a bunch of good-looking guys.” Unfazed, the reporter held her microphone to another girl. “How about you?”

“It's a great way to meet men,” she said. “You get to go out, have a good time, and it's all for charity.”

Another girl leaned toward the microphone. “And if you click with somebody, there's nothing in the rules that says you can't keep dating.” She giggled.

Yeah. It was too bad Marlie—

Marlie.

Ty remembered Marlie typing captions for the men's photos.
She seemed to like them. All of them, or at least the eight whose pictures he'd seen her work on. Twelve dates. Twelve nights—or days—it didn't matter. What mattered was that a winning bid would get Marlie out of the house on twelve occasions
and
make a grand gesture for Axelle. And might possibly even be a tax write-off. Did it get any better?

“The bid is twenty-six hundred,” Axelle gamely cut through the crowd noise. “Do I hear—”

“Three thousand,” Ty said, and the crowd hushed. The girls and the reporter looked disappointed. The men looked uncomfortable and the camera light swung Ty's way once more.

“Wait!” called one of the girls. The camera group swung back.

Another group had approached them, apparently combining resources.

“Thirty-five hundred!” the new buying cartel shouted, jumping up and down.

“Four thousand,” Ty bid, and smiled at Axelle. She smiled back.

It was going to be worth it.

“Forty-five hundred.” He was surprised to hear from the group. They sounded more determined than excited now.

The reporter had been approaching him, but stopped and waited. The camera panned the line of men, some of whom were staring at him and murmuring.

Axelle raised her gavel, obviously about to close the auction.

“Five thousand,” Ty called. He smiled at Axelle.

She didn't smile back.

The girls looked at him resentfully and the reporter jogged over to him.

“The bid is five thousand dollars,” Axelle said, her accent more pronounced than usual.

There was silence. “Sold to the gentleman in the back who had better have a very good explanation.”

The reporter faced the camera. “Alicia Hartson here with the surprising winner of The Twelve Men of Christmas dating auction. What is your name, sir?”

“Tyler Burton.”

“You just bought twelve dates with men. And the question everyone wants to know is, why?” She stuck the microphone in his face.

“Not for me.” There was laughter, most of it relieved. “The mentors program is a very good cause and I wanted to support it. But even more, I want to express my appreciation to my friend, Marlie, who has put up with me living at her house while mine is being built. She works really hard, and could use a few nights out on the town. And so, Marlie—” he twisted until he was facing one of the webcams “—Merry Christmas!”