Unwanted Heat

“Come on, Kenzie!” Cara grasps my hand and pulls me up before the DJ even finishes his announcement.

“Thank you,” Nicholas mouths to me as I’m being yanked away.

“So what do we have to do?” I ask as we wait off to the side of the small stage.

“Nothing really. When the DJ announces your name, you walk onto the stage while he tells the audience about your wonderful qualities-”

“What qualities?”

“Oh you’ll see,” she giggles. “He makes up stuff about each one of us… you know: languages spoken, our careers and so on. Then he opens the bidding until the highest bidder is announced-”

“Wait, so they’re bidding on us?”

“Well, not on you, silly. They’re bidding on dancing with you for the first dance of the night. The winner donates his bid to New Beginnings and in return you dance with him for the first dance. This is our biggest fund raiser of the evening.”

“Really?”

“Yup, you would be surprised how much money men are willing to spend to dance with their date or someone that they’ve had an eye on.”

I can’t help but feel some regret that I agreed to help Cara with this auction. How will it look if someone takes a picture of me, Nicholas’ date, dancing with another man tonight? I could easily see this backfiring on him if the press were to get ahold of pictures from the auction; they would rip him apart, even more than they already have, I’m sure. To prevent that from happening, I’m essentially leaving Nicholas no choice but to spend even more money tonight by bidding on me.

“Don’t look so worried; Nicholas will win the auction for you,” Cara tries to reassure me, obviously picking up on my nervousness. “I hope so,” I say more to myself than to her.

“I know so. Trust me, I know Nicholas-there’s no way he would let another man dance with you. He may have brought other women to these things in the past, but you’re the only one he hasn’t been able to keep his eyes off of.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” I disagree.

“We’re going to start our auction off tonight with the beautiful Ms.

Cara Parker… ”

I stop listening to what the DJ is making up about Cara, as she walks onto the stage and my nerves kick in full force. I can’t see Nicholas from where I’m standing near the stage although even if I could see him I don’t know that it would help me feel better at all. I’ll have to hope that Cara is right, that he will ensure he wins the auction for my first dance so there won’t be a controversy in the press tomorrow if someone sells pictures of me with another guy.

“And the winning bid is eleven thousand dollars!” the DJ announces as Cara comes off the stage pouting.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“Next up is the lovely Ms. Mackenzie Rose,” the DJ calls me before I can find out from Cara why she looks upset. “Mackenzie is a world renowned architect, having designed some of the most famous sites around the world. She enjoys ballet, the opera and Broadway shows… ”

I slowly walk across the stage as the DJ continues to ramble useless false information about me before opening the bidding up to the guests. “Five hundred dollars,” a voice I don’t recognize calls out.

“Two thousand,” someone else calls out.

“Three thousand.”

“Five thousand,” I can’t see Nicholas but I know that was his bid.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

“Six thousand.”

“Seven thousand,” someone counters and I cringe at the high price this is running.

I really just want to cancel the entire auction and run off the stage, forgetting that I ever agreed to help Cara out. Had I known this would be the result, I never would have agreed to help her. I thought I would be helping count bids or helping to show auction items, having no idea that I was actually an auction item.

“Fifteen thousand,” Nicholas’ voice is loud and firm, almost as if he is daring someone to outbid him.

“Fifteen thousand, going once… going twice… Sold to Mr. Parker… next up we have Ms. Cindy Smith…” The DJ presents the next girl for the auction as I make my way off the stage where Nicholas is now waiting for me.

“I’m so sorry! I had no idea… this was not what I was expecting and I didn’t-”

“What are you apologizing for? I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun bidding on an auction here before,” Nicholas chuckles.

“Really? I… I thought you would be mad for being put on the spot to bid on me. I was worried that someone else would outbid you and then pictures would be taken and leaked to the press which would-”

“Kenzie, relax,” he takes my hand and leads me off to the side of the large tent where we are away from most of the guests but can still hear the DJ. “Austin and I bid every year on the auction, so I was already planning on making a donation through the first dance auction.”

“You were?”

“Yes, Austin and I always outbid whatever loser Cara brings to these things. We ensure that the first dance belongs to once of us: it’s been our tradition since she was old enough to participate. At first it was because she was barely a teenager and thought of a grown man who wasn’t family dancing with her was sickening…”

“And now?”

“Now it’s just to annoy her. We promise her every year that we won’t outbid her date and every year we do. This year Austin won the bid and will be dancing with her. You see, even if you hadn’t participated in the auction, I probably would have outbid Austin for Cara and made a donation that way.”

“I had no idea that was what Cara meant when she asked me to help her with the auction.”

“I know you didn’t. I wanted to warn you before the auction started but I couldn’t get away from my grandfather insisting on talking about business.”

“I’m glad it’s over.”

“Ladies and Gentleman it’s time for the annual first dance. Please claim your prize and bring her to the dance floor for our first dance of the evening.”

“Well, that’s our cue,” he offers his arm and escorts me onto the dance floor. He leads us to the center of the dance floor and soon we are surrounded by eleven other couples. Out of the corner of my eye I see Cara still pouting as I’m sure she would much rather be dancing with her date.

My hand is on Nicholas’ shoulder and his hand is on my lower back, our other hands clasped together. Once the music starts, he gracefully moves me across the dance floor in perfect harmony to the music. I’m very surprised at what a wonderful dancer he is; definitely not something I expected. When the music finally stops, he leans down and places the lightest kiss on my cheek before thanking me and leading me off the dance floor.

The rest of the night goes well; we mingle with other guests and of course Nicholas talks a lot of business. At the end of the evening we say goodbye to his family before being escorted to our awaiting car by Carter. When we finally slide inside, I let out a heavy sigh, glad that the night is over and that for the most part I think it was a success.

“Thank you for tonight, Kenzie. I wasn’t sure what to expect but you… I think tonight was a success.”