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“Good.” He tugged at his tie, feeling a need to tug it off and suck in some deep breaths. “It should be a great night.”
He only hoped he could tolerate her half-naked on stage while no doubt every testosterone-loaded man in the room bid for her.
She nodded serenely, even as she white-knuckled her copy of the signed contract close to her chest and said cryptically, “I’m counting on it.”
Then she twirled away and was gone, the door clicking shut behind her. Leaving Aiden buzzing with excitement and an adrenaline he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
Luna pursed her lips in front of the dressing-room mirror as she carefully applied her cherry-red lipstick. It’d been a little over twenty-four hours since she’d seen Aiden in his office, and already nerves twanged deep in her stomach, her heart beating out-of-rhythm and her mouth drier than sawdust.
It was insane to once again acknowledge it’d taken just one photo of Aiden in a gossip rag that a passenger had left on an airline seat, for Luna to know she had to see him again.
Not because all her repressed emotions had rushed back with a vengeance, leaving her dizzy with their intensity. No, it’d been the overwhelming gladness that it was Aiden’s brother getting married to the beautiful, blushing bride, and not him.
She’d known there and then she had to expel him from her mind once and for all, so that she’d no longer dream about him, and no longer compare every man to him she met...and found lacking.
She’d requested a week’s holiday out of her work schedule, before she’d flown back to the apartment she shared in Sydney, Australia. It hadn’t taken much research to learn all about the Black brothers and their wildly successful nightclub.
It’d taken a little more to uncover the charity auction. But the moment she’d set eyes on the upcoming event, she’d been flushed with overwhelming rightness. Fate had surely conspired to bring them together. Not only was the auction perfectly timed, it was also the perfect tool in which to get his attention.
She capped her lipstick. He might have seen her half-naked plenty of times in the past, but she’d been a girl then as much as a woman. And she intended to flaunt the difference.
Click-clack.
Luna was dragged back to the present as the first woman of the auction, a dark-haired, Asian beauty in a string bikini, strutted past her in towering platform shoes. The curtains swished shut behind the woman and Luna’s stomach did a slow somersault.
Shit. I’m really doing this.
She might have learned the fine art of confidence and poise; she hadn’t had a choice in her profession. But to sashay out there in this getup, holy smokes, she was going to have to put on the performance of her life.
The audience outside the curtains hooted and cheered as the auctioneer got the bids started, and Luna drew in a steadying breath and eyed off her reflection.
She only hoped her riotous spill of golden-blonde hair reminded Aiden of the girl he’d once supposedly loved. She blinked. If her hair didn’t get his attention, her outfit most certainly would.
The gothic leather bustier and matching studded collar were sinfully wicked, while her teeny-weeny, white frilled skirt might have been angelic if it didn’t so artfully reveal her lacy white thong and garter belt. She flexed a foot in her fire-red stilettos that matched her lipstick, and absently admired her sheer, thigh-high stockings that subtly shifted with the motion.
Did she really have the nerve to go out into a room of salivating men like this? If she didn’t break her neck in these shoes, she’d either hyperventilate or faint the moment she pushed through the curtain.
This is your chance to get Aiden out of your system once and for all. This is your chance for empowerment and taking back control of your life.
Anticipation scorched through her veins, burning away her fear. So that the moment her name was called, she was already armed for battle and ready to take on the world.
