Page 5 of Singled Out

I felt Dakota eyeing me from the side, so I looked at her, keeping my expression blank. She widened her eyes, as if to say, Do it! I shrugged.

I turned back to watch Max on the stage. Most people’s eyes were ping-ponging between the three women bidding on him instead of the stage. From where I sat, though, I could see his chest rise with a slow, deep breath, and he subtly tapped the side of his leg as if he was uncomfortable and couldn’t wait for this to be over.

Lucy dropped out when the bidding reached fifteen hundred. I glanced around, wondering if anyone else was playing my game.

“I’ve got sixteen hundred dollars to spend an evening with Coach,” Mayor Constantine said. “Can I get seventeen?”

Rissa raised her paddle, and Max made something between a grimace and a smile. Possibly a grimace covered by a smile.

As the mayor continued trying to get fifty extra bucks at a time, I glanced at Dakota, who sent me a questioning look.

I tried to stifle my smile. Then I raised my paddle and called out, “Five thousand dollars.”

Chapter Three

Max

I never saw Harper Ellison coming.

Not her bid. Not her interest. Not the amount she’d spent for an evening with me.

Isabel hadn’t surprised me. She’d made no secret in the past about her interest, nor had Rissa. But Harper was out of nowhere.

As I walked off the stage, more than a little stunned at the preemptive bid, and made my way to the cocktail area where we were supposed to mingle with the crowd and connect with our auction winners, my mind spun.

Harper was attractive with her dark, glossy hair, big brown eyes, and engaging smile. But I’d never looked at her as a woman, as a potential date, for a couple of reasons. One, she was young. A year younger than my baby sister, if I wasn’t mistaken, which put her around ten years my junior. I wasn’t a cradle robber.

More importantly, she was my boss’s daughter.

Bob Ellison had been the principal at Dragonfly Lake High School since I was a student myself. He’d hired me eleven years ago.

I was sure Harper was an interesting girl, but I wasn’t willing to endanger my job. I genuinely liked both teaching math and coaching football. If I lost this job, it wasn’t like I could get another position doing the same thing on the other side of town. Dragonfly Lake High was it unless I wanted to move, and I didn’t. This was the town where I wanted to raise Danny, the town where my roots dug deep.

“If it isn’t the auction king himself,” Chance Cordova called out as soon as I hit the cocktail room. He was standing with Luke and Knox. All three of them were in the single dads’ group, even though Knox was no longer single. We gave him a hard time for opting out of the single part, but we kept him around in spite of his engagement to Quincy. “Big news travels fast.”

“What’s up, peasants?” I joked as I joined their huddle. When a server hovered nearby with a tray of waters, I grabbed one. I intended to get out of here at the first opportunity so I could check on my son.

“Seems like you got lucky with your bidder,” Knox said.

“I guess that depends on your definition of lucky.” Lucky was not the word I’d use, but I’d cut him some slack. He was a relative newcomer. Maybe he didn’t immediately understand my conundrum. “Aren’t you supposed to be in there with your better half?”

“Quincy wanted me to call my father to check on June Bug. He and Faye are keeping her tonight. She’s probably having the time of her life with Mimi and Papa. So you’re not happy about your over-the-top bid?” Knox asked.

“The bid itself is great,” I said. And a date with Harper would probably be fun for a lot of guys, just not me.

“Harper is the gender you tend to be attracted to,” Luke said. “That’s a good start.”

“Hey, Linc’s a decent guy,” Chance said.

My brows went up. “Linc? As in Switzer?”

“That’s the one,” Luke said. “He’s okay. I just hope he isn’t expecting a good-night kiss.”

“Open that mind,” Chance said. “Maybe the right person for you isn’t what you thought.”

“Who got you, Chance?” I asked.

Knox covered his mouth as if to hide a grin, but he didn’t quite do it fast enough.