Beyond Control (5 page)

The emcee took the first bid, and the auction began rolling, and that’s when I realized this was the second surprise. My father was in a bidding war for one of the motorcycles, and it was for me. Carla began her usual lecturing about the potential hazards of riding a bike in an attempt to stop my father from continuing to bid. But there was no use. This was part of his plan, and he was going to win this bike for me come hell or high water. She probably only had known it was something on the auction list that he had his sights on but not what in particular.

In an attempt to calm Carla down, I started teasing her about the Fifty Shades weekend up for grabs, and she couldn’t help but chuckle. Carla vowed she never read it, but I wouldn’t put it past her, especially with her weekly book club.

Brandy squeezed my arm in excitement as things began to get heated.

“I don’t think my dad’s ever let something go,” I said, laughing.

As the bidding war escalated, there were only two people left: my father, who hated to lose, and a woman sitting two tables away. I wasn’t sure if she was bidding for the bike or the guy who built the bike. I hoped she’d get neither. Her red fingernails looked like daggers as she shot her hands into the air, raising the stakes with each new yip that left her lips.

Brandy and I cheered on my dad. He looked like he needed all of the moral support he could garner as the bids continued to jump in five hundred dollar increments. I don’t think he bargained for someone else to be this interested in the bike. My father got increasingly agitated as he held up his hand after every increase, but he stuck with it.

I began feeling a warmth crawl up my body and glanced back toward the bikes. The mystery builder had his arms crossed, which somehow managed to make his abs look even tighter.

Geez! This was ridiculous. I was being ridiculous!
I was a grown woman for C’s sake!

My gaze fell down to his dark jeans, and my mind went into another world as I caught myself running my gaze up the length of him. A smirk spread across his lips as he caught me ogling, and all I wanted to do was crawl under the table. That wasn’t how I operated so I gave him a disgruntled eye roll, and took a sip from my wine glass, concentrating my gaze on the woman with the red nails.

“Sold,” the auctioneer called, making me jump out of my skin. The room erupted into applause.

What did I miss? What just happened? Who got it?

I looked at my dad who was glaring at the woman who undoubtedly made him pay far more than he intended for this bike. Not one to let things get him down for long, he turned to me and said, “This is for you. I know you’ve wanted a bike for years and—”

“Thanks, dad,” I interrupted. “You didn’t have to do this.” Brandy backed out of the way so I could grab his hand.

“Congratulations,” Aaron said from across the table. “It’s a beautiful bike. He does amazing work.”

My skin crawled at the admission from my brother. How would he know whether or not this guy did great work or not?

“Looks it,” I muttered and turned my attention back to my father and Brandy.

The other bike went up for auction and the bidding continued, but I couldn’t shake off the nagging question about how my brother could possibly know about this guy’s builds.

I glanced at Aaron, half expecting him to be watching me, but instead caught him looking at Brandy. My insides tightened at the thought. Brandy was chatting with my father and obviously had no idea my brother was waving his freak flag, thankfully.

I watched the bids for the second bike escalate, which got into another bidding war between two men across the room. When the auction was called, I watched the bikes get wheeled out of the room, and I wondered if I’d ever see that guy again.

“What did Bernie say his name was?” I asked Brandy.

“Suddenly interested now, huh?” Her eyes twinkled and she whispered, “Jason.”

The rest of the auction was quite successful. The music and dancing was to start in a few minutes, but I knew I had a lot to get done the next morning and was hoping to dodge out pretty early, especially with my brother hanging around.

“Thank you, daddy,” I said, standing up from my chair and moving toward him.

“That’s what always makes me melt,” he said, scooting his chair out.

I gave him a big hug. “You didn’t have to do that. But I’m pretty happy you did. I’m going to take off for the night. I’ve got a long day ahead tomorrow.”

“Okay, hon. They’ll be delivering the bike this weekend.”

“Great! I don’t think Brandy would be thrilled if I told her she had to climb on the back,” I said, laughing.

“Hell. No. You’ll never get me on that thing,” Brandy piped in. “Tonight. Tomorrow. Or ever.”

Carla began applauding and reached over to grab Brandy’s hand. “I knew we had a lot in common.”

“Are you free for lunch this week?” my dad asked.

My gut twisted. I knew what he wanted, and it had to do with my brother.

“Later in the week is better,” I replied, avoiding the gaze of my brother.

“I’ll have my assistant set something up for Friday,” my dad said.

“Sounds great,” I said and gave him one last hug.

“It was really nice seeing you, Gabby,” Aaron said.

I threw him a smile and nodded. “You too.”

God, I hated lying.

Brandy stood up, and we walked through the ballroom that was now being rearranged into a dance floor.

“What a night,” Brandy said.

“Yeah. Tell me about it.”

As we turned into the foyer, I ran right into Jason. Like literally right into him. My head smacked directly into his chest, and my hands somehow landed on his stomach, confirming that it felt just as defined as my eyes saw earlier. As I attempted to back away, he grabbed my hands and my heart twisted into knots. I was a complete wreck around this guy, and it was so unlike me. Worried that the squirming me would show herself under his gaze, I froze in place and let my hands remain in his.

“Like the bike?” he asked, his voice gravelly, as he looked down at me. His eyes were so penetrating…

I stood and stared, my mouth hanging open. Brandy smacked me on my back and gave me a pointed look. His eyes danced with amusement as I reminded myself to use words.

“It’s gorgeous,” I finally replied, somewhat proud of myself. “Beautiful craftsmanship.”

“I loaded it back on the trailer. Your dad said it would probably be best for me to deliver it this weekend?” His gaze slowly glided along my bare shoulders, and an entire swarm of butterflies started a war in my tummy.

“I think I liked you better up on stage as the quiet artist,” I said, feeling a chill run up my spine.

“Quiet artist?” He smirked. “Not many people think of motorcycle builds as an art form. And I’m certainly not quiet.”

“Not many people enjoy being smirked at.” I pulled away and crossed my arms, pretending that his smirk wasn’t as hot as it was. “And believe me, I’m gathering pretty quickly that you’re not the quiet type. More like obnoxious.”

“Are you always this pissy?” He raised a brow, taking a step back. His full lips and perfectly sculpted jawline distracted me more than I wanted to admit.

“What?” I asked, pretending I didn’t hear.

“Pissy. Are you always this pissy?” he repeated, grinning, a dimple appearing in his left cheek.

I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my lips, and he looked completely enthralled as I shook my head. I suppressed the impulse to let my eyes wander across his broad chest. I didn’t want to give him that satisfaction.

“Normally, she’s worse,” Brandy said, laughing. “Especially since she’s sworn off men.”

I crinkled my nose at her and started grinning.

“It’d be kind of fun to see how ornery I could get you at a coffeehouse or somewhere, maybe dinner?” he asked, his smile lingering.

“This weekend would be great for delivery. I can’t wait to actually see her in the daylight,” I replied, ignoring his request. “But it’s getting late, and I’ve got a busy day tomorrow. It was nice meeting you.”

“That’s a burn,” he murmured, his eyes twinkling.

Jason peered down at me, and I felt like I was back in time experiencing my first crush. His mouth parted and I expected him to say something, but he stopped himself.

“Hey, by the way, when did my dad talk to you about delivery?” I questioned, suddenly realizing my dad had been by my side the entire time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Jason who answered.

“He had that bike custom built for you,” my brother told me from behind. “There was no way he was going to let it get away tonight. I think he started to panic when that lady tried to outbid him. Jason donated the time, and dad paid for the materials so he could get the bike perfect when he went to bid on it for you.”

“You knew about it?” I asked, turning to face him. How long had my dad been in contact with my brother without telling me?

“Yeah. I introduced him to Jason Baines,” Aaron said, like it was obvious to everyone but me.

The sales numbers had come in for the prior week, and the office was abuzz with good news. Sales were up by three points over the previous year, and market share had shifted favorably. I was still on a mini-high from the night before so the news only added to my good mood. I could attribute my walking-on-air sensation partially because I was the owner of a custom bike that had been made especially for me, but more so because Jason seemed to have invaded every thought I’d had since I left the night’s festivities, and most of the thoughts weren’t very innocent.

Unfortunately, it was only a mini-high because the encounter with my brother threatened to wash it all away. I had spent years trying to keep the memory of my mom alive within me, while telling myself that the memories of my brother weren’t worth having. The problem with that methodology was that the memories were so intertwined that in order to forget about my brother, I had to forget about my mother.

I walked down the corridor toward my office and gave a quick wave to Brandy, who popped her head over the cubicle wall as I walked by. Since we were roommates, we’d planned on riding in together most mornings, but this morning I left at an ungodly hour and didn’t want her to share in my pain. I had already downed two lattes and was ready to roll for the day by the time the first employee came in to the office.

Trying hard to ignore my brother’s sudden reappearance into my life, I knew the best thing to do would be to bury myself deep in the day’s tasks. What bothered me immensely was that I was the last to know that Aaron decided to wander back into our lives. I hated lies, and I hated secrets, and now it felt like my parents were taking part in both. Plus, it didn’t help that a guy I might possibly be interested in seems to know my brother better than I do. That was a deal breaker…if there was an actual deal to be had.

There’s no saying he’s interested in me, and judging by his blonde helper buddy, I was probably not even his type. And I was pissy? He thinks I was pissy. Who would say that? My lips turned up slightly as I remembered running into him. His chest was so…

About to turn the corner to enter my office, I tripped on a loose piece of carpet and slammed right into the glass wall. The office erupted with applause and laughter, and I spun around to give them a quick bow as more coworkers peered their heads over the short cubicles. HR told me the short walls were the latest in team-building efforts, but I had to admit if I was out there, I’d hate the lack of privacy.

“I’m sure it’s only the beginning,” I said, smiling at the onlookers.

Picking up the folders that had scattered on the floor, I vowed to get some scissors and snip the culprit.

See!

This was exactly what happened when I let myself daydream about a guy. It just didn’t work well for me.

My phone began ringing, and I quickly grabbed the last two green folders and ran to my desk, picking the phone up on the last ring.

“Gabrielle speaking,” I spoke into the receiver, not recognizing the number on the screen.

“I thought you went by Gabby,” a man’s voice rumbled, making my heart skip a beat.

It was him!

“Are you calling because you’re going to try to claim whiplash from the accident or something?”

“That’s cold,” he laughed. “I’m not usually into insurance fraud but thanks for thinking so highly of me.”

I looked through the open door and over to Brandy’s desk. She had her head pointed in the other direction, looking at her monitor, but I didn’t want her to hear.

“Would you mind holding one moment?” I asked calmly, as my heart sputtered out of control.

“Sure.”

I clicked the hold button and hung up the phone, trying to take the great big dummy grin off my lips. I walked over to the door slowly as to not raise any suspicion with Brandy and closed it softly.

I ran back to the phone and picked it up, only to be horrified to see the green light extinguished.

I had hung up on him!

Now he was going to think I was a complete bitch! I looked around my office horrified and tried to remember the number to dial to do a callback. No. I can’t do that… then it would seem completely desperate.