Bidding On The Billionaire (The Sherbrookes of Newport Book 8) (3 page)

“You’ve heard about the upcoming bachelor auction the Helping Hands Foundation is holding this month.” He’d seen her name on the list, so it was a stupid question, but it was a good way to ease into the topic and make his request.

Brooklyn nodded as she changed her mind and snagged a handful of pretzels from the bag he held. “Mom bought tickets for all of us. She said something about it being good PR for the agency.”

While Brooklyn’s father was the CEO and President of Dimension Marketing, one of the top marketing firms in New York City, her mom lorded over the top-notch talent agency she’d established once her modeling days officially ended. The talent agency, which represented some of the biggest names in movies and modeling, was only a tiny piece of Scarlet Novak’s empire. She also had a whole clothing line, as well as a line of makeup and beauty products.

“Milan is looking forward to it. I know, big surprise,” she said, referring to her oldest sister. The one he’d always liked the least. While there was no denying the woman was beautiful, she had a nasty side to her. “Paris too, but only so she can gloat about her recent marriage to Seth, I think.”

As always, it amazed him how different Brooklyn was from her two sisters.

“Anyway, what about it?”

He took another swig from his cream soda, grateful she always kept several cans on hand. He knew she did it for him. She hated the stuff. Actually, she rarely drank any soda. “Aunt Marilyn roped me in to participating.”

Brooklyn’s eyebrows all but touched her hairline, and her eyes got as big as dinner plates. “Stop. It. She did not.”

He still couldn’t believe he’d agreed either, so his friend’s astonishment made sense. “She did. She nabbed my cousin Scott too, which was inevitable. And that’s why I need your help.”

She grew serious as she reached for more pretzels, but pulled back at the last minute and folded her hands together. “Yeah, sure, of course. But what do you need my help with? Do you need someone to dress you or something?” Her lips inched up into a smile. “I’m sure you could find plenty of other women to volunteer for the job.”

Most nights he’d appreciate her humor and would even have a great comeback. “I need you….” Man, he hadn’t expected this to be so hard. “I….” He stopped again. What if she’d planned to bid on someone else during the auction? There were a lot of men participating. He gave himself a mental shake. Brooklyn wouldn’t participate in such an event. She was only going because her mom had purchased her a ticket. With the unpleasant thought pushed aside, he returned to his original purpose. “I was hoping you’d bid and win the romantic dates with me.”

“Excuse me?” Brooklyn asked, her voice several octaves higher than normal.

“There are some guests on the list I’d rather not get saddled with. So I thought you could help me out and bid on me.”

“Ah, Tasha’s on the guest list, isn’t she?”

At least she understood his reluctance. “As well as a few others I’d rather not spend any evenings alone with.”

“Let me make sure I’ve got this right. You want me to win so you don’t have to back out and disappoint your aunt or go out with anyone else who might win.”

“Correct. I’ll give you the money. You don’t actually have to use your own and you can bid as high as you need to. You’d have a blank check, so to speak. The only thing is, my aunt can’t know. It can’t look like we staged everything. I think she’d be furious.” Although he didn’t understand why, because in the end, the foundation would still get the money.

This time when she reached forward, she did pull a handful of pretzels from the bag. Pointing one of them at him, she said, “She’ll find out at some point. Like when we don’t go on the four dates I won with you. The media is going to try to document the heck out of this whole affair, especially when it comes to you and your cousin. They’ll notice when you and I don’t show up at some super romantic places together.” Brooklyn popped her makeshift pointer in her mouth and chewed it. “Besides, everyone in your family knows we’re friends. I don’t think she’ll buy it.”

He’d already considered that and decided not to worry about it, so he focused on her first objection instead. “Who said we wouldn’t go on the dates? And we’d have fun too. Unlike some of the other women who might
win
me, I enjoy spending time with you.” Odd as it might seem to some, Brooklyn was one of his closest friends despite the fact she was a woman. He couldn’t think of a single topic they hadn’t discussed at some point in their long friendship. He trusted her as much as he did any of his relatives.

She went to push up her glasses, but her finger landed on her nose instead. From the time he’d met her until a year ago, she’d worn glasses. Then about a year ago, she’d given in and had corrective laser eye surgery done. Even so, she still wore a pair of fashion eyeglasses much of the time. When he’d asked why, she’d said people didn’t recognize her without glasses. On the rare occasion, like now, when she didn’t have them on, she often still went through the motion of pushing them up on her nose.

“Anything else and I’d say yes, Derek. You know I would. But this? I don’t know.” She stood and paced a little then sat again. “I hate to deceive your Aunt Marilyn. I like her. Besides, I kind of promised my dad I’d give Trevor Jones a chance. We’re going out to dinner this weekend. How would it look if I go out with him and then bid on you at a bachelor auction?”

Anger flared and he slammed his hand down on the arm of the couch, the auction gone from his thoughts. “Christ, Brooklyn, he’s old enough to be your father.”

“Knock it off. Trevor’s not anywhere near that old. He’s twelve years older than us. Besides, I already gave Dad my word.”

His anger toward her father grew because, even before he asked, he had a fairly good idea of what Donovan Novak was up to. "Jones is still too old for you and divorced with a kid. Why is it so important to your father, anyway?” Derek clenched his teeth to keep from saying something he shouldn’t about her father.

“A couple of reasons. You know Trevor’s grandfather is CEO of Atlantic Coast Marketing, right. Dad’s always wanted to take them over. Combine their marketing power with Dimension’s and they’ll be the biggest marketing firm in the United States. Dad and Trevor’s grandfather, Lawrence, play golf together at the same country club. Lawrence mentioned Trevor’s ready to start dating again and he wants more children. Believe it or not, my parents are itching for a grandchild.” She didn’t sound happy about the plan, but rather resigned. “You can figure out the rest.”

Ah yes, marriage, a time-honored way to merge two companies. Despite being the twenty-first century, it did still happen. Damn her jackass of a father. He had another unmarried daughter Trevor could take for a test drive. In terms of having grandchildren, Brooklyn’s older sister had just gotten married. Shouldn’t the man be expecting Paris to pop out a grandchild soon?

“Why can’t Milan be the sacrificial lamb? She’s a little closer to him in age. Why does it have to be you? And won’t Paris be giving them a grandchild in the near future?”

Brooklyn gave him a “get serious” look. “Paris ruin her perfect figure, heck no. She and Seth are waiting until she hits forty or so to start a family. Even then she’s considering adopting. And as for Milan, come on, she’s a female gigolo. She’d never settle for someone like Trevor.”

The only negative remark he’d ever heard about Trevor Jones was what a boring man he was. A history professor at Brown University, the man preferred to be surrounded with his old books than spend time with others. Derek guessed, as far as negative comments went, being boring wasn’t the worst one. And he agreed, Milan would never settle for someone like Trevor.

However, the fact that in her father’s eyes Brooklyn had to, made him dislike the man even more than he already did. He’d admit Brooklyn didn’t have the drop-dead gorgeous looks that landed women like her sisters on the covers of magazines and on the electronic billboards filling Times Square. Instead, she had the whole “hot curvy librarian” look locked in tight. He’d tried telling her so once. All it had earned him was a punch in the arm and her accusation that he thought her fat. He’d never mentioned it again.

Even more important than Brooklyn’s looks was what she had going for her on the inside. He wished her family would get their heads out of their butts and finally realize it. Unfortunately, he didn’t see it happening in his lifetime.

He bit back the curse words he wanted to use to describe Donovan Novak. “You haven’t even gone out with Trevor once. You’ve made no commitment to him. There’s no reason you can’t see other people. Nothing’s stopping him from doing it too.”

Brooklyn fidgeted and again pushed up the glasses that weren’t there. She knew he was right but didn’t want to say so. He hated to make her do something, but he really needed her on board.

“Brooklyn, please help me with this. We’ll have fun. You know we will. We always have fun when we go out together. And if things start to get serious between you and Trevor before the four dates are done, you can tell him the truth. If it makes you feel better, come clean with him right away.”

God, he hated the idea of her with Trevor. She deserved to be happy as much as her sisters. Instead, her father was trying to saddle her with someone to suit his own agenda. In Derek’s mind, it made the man an absolute dick, although he’d never share his thoughts with Brooklyn. She might not always agree with her dad, but he knew she did love both him and her mom.

“We spend time together already, so you could think of the necessary dates as just another fun night out with a friend. You can even tell me what you want to do. And we can make sure one of our dates is out on the
Affinity
.” She loved the water and ocean as much as him. If anything could tempt her, it would be a day out on the open water with nothing around them but blue skies and rolling waves. “It’s out of dry dock and sitting in the water right now.”

She gave him an eye roll. “You’d take me out on it anyway if I asked.”

Of course he would. He always did, but now she didn’t need to ask. “Think of how indebted I’ll be to you. No matter what the favor you need in the future, you’ll have my cooperation, no questions asked.”

Brooklyn let out a deep breath. “Fine. Okay, I’ll help”—she pointed a finger at him—“but if your aunt ever says something to me, I’m telling her it was all your idea, not mine.”

“Fair enough. Thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”

She smiled and he saw the tiny gleam in her hazel eyes. “I’m only doing it because I get to spend your money. Seriously, how often does someone give you permission to spend as much of their money as you want?” She rubbed her hands together. “I bet the bidding for you will go high too. Who else besides you and your cousin will be up for auction at the fundraiser?”

Derek rattled off the names he remembered. Honestly, he hadn’t paid much attention when his aunt told him who else would be joining him on stage.

“Colton agreed? I’m speechless,” she said sarcastically. “Your aunt probably didn’t even need to ask him. He probably called her and volunteered.”

It wouldn’t shock him if Brooklyn were right.

“I wouldn’t have pegged Drew Robinson as interested in this type of event.” Drew worked in another law firm downtown, and they’d both found themselves across the courtroom from the man. “But it’s for a good cause, so maybe that convinced him.”

Although he considered Drew an acquaintance, he didn’t know the man well enough to speculate on his reasons for joining the auction.

“What about Alec? Didn’t your aunt get him to agree too, or does he have more willpower than you and Scott?”

“She didn’t even ask him. He’s still seeing Sydney.”

Brooklyn stood and walked into the kitchen. “Really?” she called. “I’m surprised. I expected their relationship to fizzle out by now.”

“Me too.” He’d met Sydney a few times. She was nice, but not the right woman for his younger brother. “But it won’t last. I give it until maybe July or August.” Thinking about how Sydney and his younger brother didn’t fit together brought up thoughts of Trevor and Brooklyn again. “You’re really going to go out with Trevor?”

She came back into the room carrying a bottle of iced tea and sat down before answering him. “It’s not really a date,” she said, not looking at him. “We’re having dinner together. You and I have dinner together all the time, and no one calls it a date. This isn’t much different.”

Comparing the times they went out for a meal together and what she planned to do on Friday was like comparing an apple to an orange. “Trust me, he considers it a date.” Put in a similar situation, he would too. Of course, he’d never let anyone, not even his family, set him up with a woman simply because they wanted to expand Sherbrooke Enterprises. Then again, no one in his family would consider doing such a thing.

Brooklyn glanced across at him. “I’m having dinner with him Friday, not marrying him. Besides, we might have a lot of fun together, and then who knows what will happen. Now, can we please talk about something else?”

He watched her twist open her bottle and take a long drink. A bunch of reasons sat on his tongue why she and Trevor wouldn’t have fun, but he kept them to himself.

“Like maybe your cousin’s upcoming wedding. Have you asked anyone to go with you?” she asked, putting the bottle down on an end table.

In the long run, she’d see he was right. He only hoped she didn’t let some sense of family obligation cause her to go along with her father’s wishes and make a big mistake. “Nah, not yet. Might not bother. I know they want it to be as small as possible. They only invited family members.” Considering the size of the Sherbrooke family, he used the word small loosely. Christopher, his cousin’s fiancé, came from a rather large family as well. Derek doubted the guest list consisted of anything less than one hundred and fifty guests.

“You, go solo?” Her chin dropped. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Knock it off. You make it sound like I’m….” He paused for a moment and considered Brooklyn’s words from earlier. “A gigolo like Milan.” He’d admit he dated a fair amount, but he’d had his fair share of long-term relationships too.