✯Eighteen✯ - Auction

✷Chapter Eighteen✷

Her entire plan for today was falling apart. Jacob outsmarted her expectations. She had worn that hideous dress to embarrass him into letting him get away from him and the auction before stepping into the ballroom, but somehow he was quick to think.

Maybe she was becoming too predictable for him.

"Don't bring that thing anywhere close to me." She gritted out, placing her hands forward to push him away, as she stepped backwards trying to put some place between them, while he strolled closer to her.

"Afraid already?" He taunts her, smirking at her dismay. Within a twinkle of an eye he covered the little space between them, pushing her hands away from him. "Now can we start?"

Not giving her a chance to reply, he tore at the left long sleeve of the dress. The ripping sound echoing around the quiet area, then did the same to the other one with simple ease.

"Oh my God! What are you doing?" Teresa grasped at the audacity of his behavior, as he took her completely off guard.

Going down on his knees,he took the hem of the gown with the help of the scissor, he tore a straight line by the side of the dress, making it appear as a slit. "Mending your gown." He shrugged as he spoke.

"W-what?" She stammered in shock. That wasn't the exact word she had wanted from him, but again it was Jacob she was talking about for crying out loud.

He lifted himself up using the scissor to cut some of the fluffy puffs away. "What did you expect? I'd let you go just like that? Like I said, this game we're playing is a game of chase and run." He said while trimming the ripped edges of the gown like a professional.

He did it with such ease that Teresa wondered if he had done something like this before. The more she gets to be around Jacob the more she sees new things about him that she doesn't know before.

She watched as he took one of the sleeves he had torn out and used it as a belt on her waist. He stepped back to inspect his work, he nodded for a bit till his eyes reached her hair.

Teresa noticed how his eyes narrowed on her wavy hair, she saw his right hand pull out something from his pocket as he headed towards her. He went behind her making her shiver as he took a hold of her full hair into his hand, as he bonded it up into a ponytail "You should pack your hair up more often to show off your beautiful neck." He whispered to her nape of her neck. She jolted at the shock and shudder that overcame her body the moment he placed a long kiss there.

Jacob appeared opposite her checking out his work. He looked composed like he hadn't just almost taken her entire sense off her head. His eyes locked on hers. He must have noticed the effect he had on her because he smiled at her face.

"Come on, let's go in." He took her left hand in his, and began pulling her with him towards a door.

It took a moment for Teresa to control her body and sense from his kiss to his hand in hers. She pulled her hand off his, placing it to her chest as if she had just been electrocuted. Her eyes were wide in complete surprise. "I'm not going in looking like this." She stated, totally feeling the deja-vu of what she said, when she had personally purchased the dress herself.

Her eyes skim to see the work he did to her dress. Teresa was close to gasping out at the result of what he did. It looked different, and stylishly fashionable, even if she wanted nothing more than to deny that fact.

He really was a professional. She was even more curious about how he knows how to do things like this.

"It seems like you'd like me to carry you in then. I don't mind if you ask me." He spoke, shooting her his familiar mischief smirk. He certainly was enjoying what she was doing. "And you should know, I'd like to be the first you dance with." She snorted internally, almost giving herself away.

At this point Teresa made up her mind on pulling a drink to his face once there were inside and her hand got hold of one. She let out a deep breath, and straightened her spine. "Well lead the way. We shouldn't waste another time here." He chuckled at her, before grabbing her hand against her wish.

Walking into the elevator as it led them up, they both spent some minutes inside in silence, she could feel his eyes in her, but chose to ignore him. It opens viewing a long hallway structured in a royal way. The historic vintage vibe it gave her made Teresa smile at the beauty.

Once they are both on the red long carpet rug on the floor, Jacob diverted to the right revealing a large two-way silver door with glittering designs on it. The man at the door pulled one side of the door while offering his greetings. She could hear instrumental music playing as they stepped into the ballroom.

Teresa gasps out at the magnificent beauty of the room filled with people. Immediately she felt she didn't belong here, as her eyes took in the high social men and women around. Some were seated on one of the round tables while some were dancing to the music playing.

Her hand tightened in his. "Are we late?" She asked him, her eyes lifted to see him staring at her in an unreadable way.

Jacob's mouth opened to respond but was interrupted by a man calling him out.

"Jake!" She whirl a gaze towards the direction the voice came from. A mid age man in his earlier thirties, stride to where they both took with a glass of champagne in his hand. He wore the same outfit as Jacob. His Raven black hair was what stood out the most about him, followed by his very tan skin. While Jacob looked manly in the eyes, this unknown name man looked more mature like life had taught him a lesson. He looked experienced in ways that Teresa couldn't tell.

"Nathan." Jacob greeted smiling so brightly that Teresa feared her eyes almost got blind by the beauty of it. He released her offering a strong hug with a hard slap on both their backs. One could tell there were very close friends and acquaintances to one another.

Freeing each other from their hold, Jacob finally introduced them to each other. "Teresa I'd like you to meet Nathaniel Carter a very good friend of my from college. And Nathan this Teresa Andrew." Teresa noticed the other man's brow raised in recognition. She offered Nathaniel a smile stretching her hand for a handshake, but instead she was pulled to a hug, startling her for a moment, before she reciprocated the gesture.

"Nice to meet you finally. You're very beautiful may I add." He said warmly, offering her a welcoming smile. She doesn't know him, but somehow she finds herself comfortable around him.

"How's your wife Samantha and the kids? It's been a while since I last spoke to them." Jacob asked as he pulled her back to his side, wrapping his arms around her waist. An action Teresa wasn't expecting him to do. She noted another thing about Jacob: he always does the most unexpected things.

At the moment of his family Nathaniel grinned in pure happiness. Teresa could tell how much he really loves his family, with the way he reacted. "They are all doing good."

"And the baby?" Jacob asked his eyes still on Nathaniel, his friend, while his thumb unconsciously rubbed her waist. She doesn't know if he was doing it intentionally or not, but she couldn't lie to herself how much she liked what his thumb was doing.

"Kicking really hard. Samantha can't wait anymore for the baby to come out. The entire family is so excited to meet him really soon." He spoke like he didn't want to stop talking. Something tells her Nathaniel wasn't the talkative type of person. But it seems otherwise when it concerns his family.

He and Jacob continued speaking as they walked towards a round table. Jacob helped her pull the chair backwards for her to sit. She offered a quiet appreciation, as both men took to their seats.

Teresa sat by Jacob's right and Nathaniel by the left. She murmured a greeting to the other unknown people on the table. She was very nervous as she sat with them. One could tell she wasn't in their class and society, but she knew better than to show such weakness, it'll only bring room for humiliation. So she immediately toughened up, if a rock were to hit her just now it would break into two. Her eyes skimmed to the stage that was illuminated with a spotlight.

"Teresa." Nathaniel snapped her away from whatever trance she was in.

Turning her gaze to the man she smiled as she responded. "Yes?"

"I was wondering if you could offer me the first dance when all this is over?" He asked politely.

"I would love to." She said with such certainty before staring at Jacob whose eyes were twinkling in a way that almost brought her down from her seat. He had a smile on his lips like he found her oblivious rejection to his earlier dance proposal amusing.

He loved it. And that only made Teresa frown at him, it seems nothing she does ever angers him. She clicked her tongue in annoyance before returning her gaze back on the stage that was already taken by a man with a microphone facing him.

The auction ceremony started. Teresa watched as people threw in huge amounts of money that almost choked her to death. For a moment she wasn't interested in anything they were saying till a particular item was brought on, it captured her attention immediately.

Teresa gasps at the beauty of it. An emerald diamond necklace, with earrings, bracelet and something else she couldn't see within a square shaped flat box. She wasn't a jewelry type of person, but that jewelry really was beautiful and stood out. But she knew it was far from her reach.

"Now this jewelry is something really special. It once belonged to a British regency family with a royalty lineage. It was said to have been worn once by Queen Victoria the first many years ago, before it was given out to a Marquess family." He spoke fastly, detailing the parts of every jewelry, before he began the auction. "We will start with thirty-five thousand dollars."

The price made Teresa choke as she began coughing. She felt Jacob gave her a concerned look which she ignored, while helping herself with a glass of champagne on the table opposite her.

She became concerned when she felt his hand in her bare laps that had a slit on its side. She jumped at his touch and the buzz it brought into her body. Putting her hands down on his hand she tried removing it, but he was far stronger than she was.

Giving up she focused her gaze back to the stage only to realize the jewelry had already been sold, and she doesn't know to whom. Jacob's thumb began drawing circles on her laps making it tingle wherever his finger left.

Her breathing became thin, and hard, heart almost beating out from her chest. She could feel goosebumps trailing through her body with the way his fingers were moving in her lap. She couldn't deny what he was doing, it made her feel a lot of things that she didn't know were possible.

Teresa's eyes shifted towards him and she immediately gulped at the look in his eyes. For the first time she could read what was written in his eyes.

Desire. Want.

Jacob wanted in a way that was utterly sinful and pleasurable.

She knew in that instant there was no way she was leaving the one month deal and remaining the same again.

Because as much as he wanted her, so did she. She wanted Jacob, and that scares her a lot that she wanted nothing more than to run off from the room and stay far away from him.

Teresa knew she was doomed.

***********

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If you have read Wife By Benefits you'd know who Nathaniel Carter and Samantha are. We will be seeing them both in this book. Can't wait till then.

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