“Roman.” Anna pinched her mouth into a line. “This smells like my brother.”
Babushka nodded. “He is young. Smarter with Sadie, but still inexperienced in the vays of love. So much promise with the auction, but he fails vith the lock. He vill learn to be like his babushka someday. Not today, obviously. Someday.”
“God, I hope not.” Anna’s chest rose and fell heavily.
This was fun, really, but Drake had his Anna back and now he needed a job in Denver and an auction removal plan.
“Should we get back out there so I don’t accidentally get purchased?” Drake asked.
Being purchased by a fan with limited comprehension of boundaries would really put a damper on his evening with Anna.
Chapter 5
Anna
* * *
“There’s so much interest in your auction block. The disappointment if we pull you from consideration will be…intense.” The committee chair was all-in to convince Drake not to remove himself from the bachelor auction.
Drake blew out a breath.
Anna held hers.
If he pulled out of the auction and disappointed all of Denver—in front of Medford—it would not help his prospects of a Denver transfer. There was no way Anna could let him do this. She looped her arm through his and leaned into him.
“It’ll be fine. I’ll just buy you myself,” Anna assured.
Drake glanced down at her and nodded.
“Deal,” he said, resigned. “I’ll pay you back.”
He wouldn’t—Anna wasn’t going to let him—but they didn’t need to argue about that now. Once everything worked itself out, Anna wouldn’t be paying to move to Miami, so she figured spending a little—or a lot—on the purchase of a boyfriend made sense.
“Let me just”—Drake held up his cell—“step outside and let my guys know the latest.”
He pressed a kiss to Anna’s cheek and she couldn’t help but grin.
Drake strode out of the ballroom doors toward all the cell service a person could want.
Anna had a plan of her own.
The auction started in an hour, which meant—
“Jase.” Anna hurried toward her brother, her favorite at the moment.
“Yeah?” Jase turned from the appetizer buffet, a skewer with chicken in both hands and a mouthful of something making the word come out garbled.
He was sort of an animal when he was around food, but Jase had a skillset that she required. “I need your help.”
He smiled. “Do I get to punch somebody?”
“Your call.” She shrugged.
“Then anything for my baby sister.” He gnawed on one of the sticks of chicken while she continued.
“I need you to tie Roman to something so I can kick him in the nuts,” Anna said abruptly.
Jase paused, mid-chew. “Um…”
“Did I hear my fiancé’s name?” Sadie asked, infiltrating their conversation.
“Your fiancé locked me in a room with Drake.”
“Seriously? I told him not to do that.” Sadie glared around the room. “He and I are going to have a serious conversation.”
“He also put Drake in the bachelor auction,” Anna added, tilting her head to the side.
“Are you kidding me?” Sadie asked, her eyes bulging. “Has he been taking Babushka lessons?”
“Actually, yes.” That was the problem.
“That serious conversation is going to involve an abundance of f-bombs.” Sadie crossed her arms, scanning the room in search of Roman.
“You can have your conversation with all the bombs you want when Jase ties him to something. After I kick him in the nads, he’s all yours.” Anna crossed her arms over her ribcage.
Sadie pondered the proposal for a brief second. “I am on board for the tying. It’s a ‘no’ to the testicle kicking. We would like children someday and those are necessary for that outcome. Also, we’re sort of here in support of testicles, so it seems inappropriate to maim them.”
Anna sighed. “Can I at least get all up in his face and tell him he’s an idiot?”
“Of course.” Sadie smiled her divorce-attorney smile that probably made clients piss themselves in fear of what she could accomplish with the law on her side.
“Can I pretend like I’m going to kick him in the groin?” Anna asked.
“Will contact be made between any portion of your foot and his body?” Sadie asked, her attorney-mode switch flipped on and ready to roll.
“No.” Anna sighed.
Sadie held out her hand. “Then we have a deal.”
“First, I need my phone back,” Anna said. “So I can take off that dating app.” Thank God she wasn’t going to need that after all.
“Give me five minutes to deal with Roman.” Jase handed Anna the half-eaten skewers of poultry. “You know the kitchen?”
Uh. Yeah. She knew it. She nodded.
“Behind the kitchen there’s a hallway. You with me?” he asked, low with a note of ominous.
Anna nodded like a bobblehead doll.
“Second door to the left, there’s a supply closet.” Jase kept his gaze on Anna’s, only briefly glancing at Sadie in acknowledgement that she was in on the deal.
“Okay…” Anna said, certain she could find the supply closet.
“Meet me there in five minutes.” Jase stepped away and before Anna could say Holly Jolly Christmas, he’d disappeared into the crowd of attendees.
“What’s going on?” Drake slid his hand against Anna’s back, trailing his fingertips along her spine. Even now at this gala full of people, Drake made her feel special.
Anna disposed of Jase’s half-eaten chicken. “Jase is helping me get revenge on our brother for sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“Fun.” Drake pressed a light kiss behind her ear before swiping a skewer from the platter for himself.
“We should probably head that way.” Anna tilted her head to where Jase had disappeared.
After giving Jase the full five minutes he needed, Drake, Sadie, and Anna moved through the ballroom, nodding toward Babushka and her date for the evening—an elderly man named Harry who Anna had become very fond of.
Past the kitchen, down the hall, Drake pulled open the door of the supply closet.
“What…?” Anna’s jaw sagged and her lips went numb.
Jase was trapped against a hot water heater with a string of dish towels tied together to form something that resembled a rope. Roman stood beside him, leaning against a utility sink and studying his fingernails.
“Things didn’t go as planned,” Jase said, frowning even as his fingertips worked at one of the knots holding him hostage.
“Clearly,” Anna said, grasping Drake’s hand. “What happened?”
“You want the play-by-play?” Jase asked. “Or do you want to help untie me?”
“Negative.” Roman shook his head. “No untying. You get to stand there until you’ve learned your lesson. Now, sis, I understand you have some things you want to say to me?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” Hands firm on her hips, Anna sauntered toward him, pressing her fingertip against his chest. “What the hell were you thinking tonight?”