Bidding On The Billionaire (The Sherbrookes of Newport Book 8) by Christina Tetreault Page B

Horne. Originally from Georgia, Colton attended Brown University and now lives in Providence where he works at Merrimack Investments.”
    Colton walked the entire length of the stage. When he reached the far end, he stopped and winked at someone in the audience, which caused a round of applause to break out, and then he returned to stand closer to the podium.
    “For the winning bidder’s first date, Colton has an exciting night in Boston planned, including a stop at Platinum.”
    Brooklyn avoided talking about the auction as much as possible with Derek, and other than the night he’d asked for her help, he hadn’t mentioned it often either, so she hadn’t realized each bachelor was supposed to plan out the dates ahead of time. Brooklyn couldn’t help but wonder if Colton hadn’t included a visit to Platinum, an exclusive nightclub in the city, to deter older women from bidding on him. While she’d never been there herself, she’d heard about the club and it didn’t sound like the type of place a fifty-or-sixty-something would enjoy.
    “That could be fun,” Milan said to no one in particular.
    “This evening we’ll start the bidding at five thousand dollars.”
    Next to her, Milan didn’t hesitate to bid, officially starting off the night.
    Gradually, the dollar amount increased until only two bidders remained, Milan and another woman seated across the ballroom.
    “Our highest bid is at twenty-five thousand. Can I get twenty-seven thousand?” Rose asked, looking in the direction of Milan’s competition.
    Right away, the unknown woman raised her auction paddle, and Rose swung her glance back toward their table. “I now have twenty-seven, can I get thirty?”
    Milan reached for her paddle again, but then pulled her hand back. “There are eleven other bachelors. I’ll let her have this one.”
    Brooklyn stifled a groan. Had her sister not been considering who else was due up on stage tonight, or was she considering bidding on Derek too? While he’d insisted she go as high as necessary with her bid tonight, she’d rather not be in competition with her older sister. Already she expected an unpleasant conversation with her father once he heard about what happened here tonight. She didn’t need to add an angry sister to the mix as well.
    “Going once.” From behind the podium, Rose glanced around the crowd. “Going twice.” Still no further bids came. “Sold to bidder number thirty-five.”
    Polite applause broke out as the winner joined Colton on the stage and a photographer appeared from somewhere. Without hesitating, Colton kissed the woman while the photographer snapped pictures, and Brooklyn’s stomach joined her feet in her new Christian Louboutin pumps. Did the photographer expect to snap pictures of each winner and bachelor kissing? If she and Derek didn’t lock lips like the winner and Colton were doing now, would someone in the crowd suspect the truth? And what if Derek did kiss her the way the couple onstage was kissing now?
    Phooey. This was turning into more of a disaster than she’d feared.
    On stage it appeared as though Colton was trying to end the kiss; however, the winner didn’t look ready for that yet. Finally Rose stepped in and placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder. The little reminder had the woman pulling her lips away, although she kept her arms around Colton’s neck. Then, after one more smile for the camera, the couple exited the stage together and returned to her table.
    “And now I’d like to introduce our second bachelor this evening, Daniel Johnson.”
    Brooklyn watched the next man walk on stage. She’d never meet the professional football player before, but she’d heard his name on the news and seen his picture in the paper.
    Slowly the night went on and each handsome bachelor was auctioned off to the highest bidder. She didn’t know exactly how the foundation had gone about recruiting the men, but they’d done one heck of a job. Everyone from investment