The Bachelor Auction Part X

Gulp! Breathe, just breathe. In. Out. In. Out.

I spun around with a big smile on my lips. At least, I think I was smiling and not looking like the idiot I was feeling like more and more.

“Rick!” I thought I’d seen pretty much every fantasy in the ballroom until now. OMG! It was Captain Jack Sparrow without the lack of personal and dental hygiene. Oh no, this one smelled like Old Spice, and when you think about it, it fit. Rick’s surfer blond hair was covered with the black dreads and tri-cornered hat and he even sported the black eye liner, which actually looked very sexy on him. YUM! “Look at you!” And believe me, I did. Even under the heavy clothing you could see what looked like a long and lean runner’s body.

He looked a bit embarrassed. “Your mother.”

I nodded as I wondered how she managed to persuade, or blackmail, the town dentist into dressing up as Johnny Depp although at the moment I was doing a Johnny who? shuffle. “’Nuff said. You look like the real deal.” My fingers were already itching to pop up into the air with “I bid my life’s blood for this pirate!” I already mentally calculated what I could pull from my Visa and MasterCard. I only hoped that Carly didn’t have a Black AmEx. Knowing her, she’d bid big time on every man just because she could.

I have never been a slut, but at the moment, with all these prime men milling around the room, I felt as if I was rapidly moving into Carly’s territory. Take that and your Louis Vuitton purse too! Give me an hour, or three, with makeup and hair and I could give you a run for your implants and liposuction. So many men, so little time was much more than a saying.

Except Rick was looking at me like he was on a diet and I was the biggest hot fudge sundae in the world.

No, wait a minute, that was me!

“Soooo, how’s the town’s favorite dentist?” I mentally winced, convinced I sounded about as perky as a person could sound. I needed coffee … a lot of it. Instead, I snagged a glass of wine from a passing waiter.

“Doing good.” Wait a minute! He was giving me a once over and not the she looks worn out, but the I like what I see. I couldn’t stop smiling.

Rick looked up when someone called his name and he looked genuinely reluctant as he started to move away. I seriously thought about dragging him off to an empty room where I’d be singing Hoist the Colors. What can I say? I’ve seen the movies too many times to count. He rested his fingers on my arm and leaned in, his lips barely touching my ear as he whispered